Based in Nottingham, Lockwood is a highly successful online publishing studio specialising in social games, virtual worlds and desirable virtual items. Some of our students popped over to get some ‘Do it for real’ work experience – we caught up with our FdSc Games Technology students Oliver Swales & Confetti Student of the year winner Recce Taylor to see how it went.
Hi Oliver, we heard you’ve visited Lockwood. Who did you get to meet?
We met with Robert Bumbanescu the Senior QA Manager and Kris Ashton the Senior QA Technician. They introduced us to many members of the team including members of the design team working on lighting, animations and 3D modelling. They also introduced us to some of the programmers and server technicians.
Sounds like you met a good few talented people, Reece what did you learn?
Well, we were given tips to help us create our own games, which was really helpful. I got a lot of information throughout the visit and it opened my eyes to what it might be like working in a game studio. I’d say that it’s undoubtedly widened my understanding of the games industry and what an average working day would be like and the types of work I would be expected to do.
Did any of this change your thoughts on your career goals in the gaming industry?
Oliver: I originally thought before the visit that I was mainly interested in working on development in games, but after seeing the different roles in action in the studio I have definitely opened myself up to more of the management and QA aspects of the industry. I’m excited to learn and experience more about project management and the stages surrounding games development in my second year.
Reece: I still aim to be a 3D artist within the game industry, and this visit has given me a push to work even harder to achieve my goal. In the future and after gaining some experience within a games studio, I would still like to start up my own independent studio. Top tip – take business cards and hand them to the people you meet!
Want to get this experience? Check out our FdSc courses and book an open day today.
