Kirsty's Work Experience at Mm!
23/01/2017
We love making games, it’s one of our favourite things to do (good job really), and one of the most rewarding things about making games is being able to invite budding young developers into the studio to show them the ropes and give them a taste of what life is like inside a game dev studio!
Last year Kareem and Francis went along to the Arts University in Bournemouth to give a talk about Dreams and do a demonstration of the game/creation tools to a group of animation students at the university. Kirsty Garland was one of those students at the talk, and she was really keen to try out Dreams for herself to help her visualise a film she was currently creating. We invited her to come and visit us in the studio for a week of work experience so that she could see what it’s like creating sets and film props in Dreams, and it sounds like she had a fantastic time!
If you’re curious to find out more about Kirsty’s week with us, she’s very kindly written up a piece for us all to read:
“My week at media molecule was INCREDIBLE. I wasn’t really sure how to start this, so that pretty much sums it up and gets it going! After a lecture from Mm at Uni in February, I’d asked whether I’d be able to use Dreams in an animated film, and although it didn’t really seem possible at the time, I was invited to do a week’s work experience, AKA playing with Dreams; not only to embrace the industry setting, but to also see if Dreams would work as a medium (I’d be lying if I said I didn’t squeal with excitement when I knew I was going to be there for a week!).
I know every work experience blog post mentions this, but peeking through their front doors and seeing the bright pink carpets was an experience in itself, as was the studio; it was a literal wonderland of toys, inspiration boards, tech and friendly faces! You could spend days just reading the walls and admiring the decor. The rest of the studio tour was equally wonderful with the lovely chefs and kitchen area upstairs (+1 adorable puppy!) as well as a balcony and TV/ games area.
As for my week, I attempted to make props and sets relevant to my film idea, initially worried about the steep learning curve of using the move controllers, but those fears were quelled really quickly, and it felt really natural and intuitive by day 2. The sculpting mechanics are phenomenal and really fun, with you being able to change sculpting styles and texture effects with a click and twist. Luckily due to the nature of my film, I could make loads of things glow and move, which made me ridiculously giddy! Thanks to the move controllers, you also can’t help but look like a wizard, which is always a great added bonus.
Within days I’d made a whole variety of trees, and learned so much about the program to improve my work. By the end of day 3, I’d finished around 5 separate sets, and could have effectively begun work on my film, though I’ll have to wait for the game’s release before I really do that. It’ll be so worth the wait- despite it not ready for release, it works beautifully, and this can only mean the finished product will be truly breath-taking!
Everyone at the studio was genuinely lovely and helpful, and their work was incredibly inspiring, both in Dreams and on a larger scale in general! The food was immense, watching the show and tell was crazy and the whole week was just a fantastical and magical experience! Sadly this meant it was reaaaaaaaaally difficult to leave, but hopefully I’ll be back soon!! Another huge thanks to everyone that helped me out, I hope you made it to the box of celebrations before they ran out! :)“
We wish Kirsty the best of luck with her future studies and film projects! We can’t wait to see what you’ll create when Dreams comes out!
If you’re interested in applying for work experience, feel free to drop us a line at jobs@mediamolecule.com, but please bear in mind that we're only a small studio so sadly we can't fit everyone in (as much as we'd love to!) but we'll do our best :) Thanks folks!