Work Experience with Fergus!
26/09/2016
A couple of weeks ago we opened up our pink Molecule doors and warmly welcomed another budding young game developer into the studio as part of their work experience week. Fergus, who is 20 years old and currently studying Music and Sound Recording at the University of Surrey had a great week with us here, working closely with our Audio team and producing some really fantastic work at the end of the week.
I asked if he wouldn't mind sharing his Molecule experience with us all and he very kindly obliged. Take it away Fergus!
"A Week at Media Molecule,
I don’t really need many words to fully sum up my week at Media Molecule. Fun, friendly & productive: I think those three sum it up perfectly. I do feel like I owe MM a few more words than that however, so let’s elaborate.
First off, fun:
I spent a week playing the most creative video game I have EVER played. Day to day, my ‘job’ was to work alongside the audio molecule to learn the creative tools made available to me in Media Molecule’s new game Dreams and provide user feedback on the game from a first time player’s perspective. Coming from an audio background, I focused primarily on creating an immersive sound experience for my creations in Dreams that was as refined as is possible within a week.
The environment I worked in can be fully summed up in that one word “fun” too. The bright pink carpets, little models on people’s desks, large lego creations, VR station upstairs and an office filled with people using the very cool looking PS Move controllers in wonderfully creative ways. I can’t really use any other word to describe it.
I would include the incredible lunches provided daily to us from the awesome caterers at MM under the fun bracket also. I’m still full up writing this two days on, thanks guys!
Friendly:
I truly cannot think of anyone I met or came within 30 meters of who I wouldn’t classify under this term. From the very get go on Monday morning I was given the warmest welcome I could’ve asked for by Lizzie and Angela. (I was even made a cup of tea!!!) and taken on a tour of the building.
I then spent the majority of my time working alongside the audio molecule and thus I will give special mention to all of them for being the most helpful and nicest guys you’d ever meet. If I ever had any questions on how to achieve one of my goals, without fail they would answer it and then proceed to take time out of their busy schedule to introduce me to other features and tips to help me progress even further. So Tom, Bogdan, Ed and Martin thank you so much and I hope our paths cross in the future! Having given this specific mention, I am also 100% confident that anyone I didn’t meet during my time at MM would have been just as helpful and friendly.
Productive:
By the end of the week I had made two entirely contrasting mini games with sound design, music and level design all completed by myself. I think this is testament to the incredible simplicity of the game made possible by the hard work of everyone at MM. I have never made a game before in my life, and yet within 5 days I could feel proud of the creations I had made. I was given many tips by people about the industry in general and learnt a lot about what it’s like to work for a game development company, as well as how the actual process of making a game in undertaken.
I also hope my week’s work was useful in any small amount to the MM team as I was able to provide some feedback on the tools and even report a bug or two to the QA molecule.
So there we have it. I wish nothing but the best to the team at Media Molecule and good luck to them in the coming months with Dreams. Thank you for a week I’ll never forget.
Fergus “
Fergus with Tom, Bogdan and Ed from our Audio Molecule, kicking back after a fantastic week of work experience!
Fergus, we wish you the very best of luck with your future studies and hope to see you again soon :)
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!