Interview series celebrating the women of Firesprite this March.
For International Women’s Day 2021 we celebrated the amazing women of Firesprite! Working in Code, Art, Animation, Design, QA, Production, HR, People Engagement, Marketing, Recruitment and Finance, some of our talented women explored questions on the topic of women in games in our IWD 2021 video.
Inspired by this year’s #ChooseToChallenge theme, and the awareness and empowerment celebrated during Women’s History Month, we’re continuing to showcase the women of Firesprite, their work, and insights as women in the game and tech industry throughout the month of March. Our team will be discussing the importance of diversity, how to increase the number of women in games, offer their advice to others aspiring to work in the industry, and much more.
Today we’re exploring our sprites’ passion for games and what inspired them to purse gaming as a career and we’re asking:
When did you know that you wanted to work in games?
“When I was younger, I was a huge fan of Final Fantasy games and how well the story/cutscenes would have me glued to my chair and have me in awe. To this day, they still make me want to go back and replay them, how could you not be fascinated in a career that made you feel like that?”
- Abby, Animator
“After finishing A levels I was still unsure what career I wanted to go for, but I wanted it to be in the Art sector. I took an extra year at art college and about half way through the year, one of my teachers suggested going for a course in games design. The thought had never crossed my mind, but it made a lot of sense with all the characters I was drawing. After finishing the course, I applied for a Computer Games Design degree and got into University for it. The degree course went over programming, digital art, 3d modelling and game theory. I was still very invested in the art side, however, game testing came up in conversation and I thought that it could be a good starting point to get into the industry.”
- Victoria T, QA
“As a child I remember I liked to mess with the family’s PC, and play with my brother’s Sega Mega Drive console, I could spent hours in front of the screen, amazed by the things you could do with a computer! But what really make me decide to work in the video games industry was that in my last year at the university I started working a few hours a week in Citibank, there I realised that if I had to spend a lot of hours in my life programming, it should be programming something I really enjoy…”
- Ester, Senior Engine Programmer
“I was working in TV and feature animations when I got an opportunity to join Rockstar games. I wanted to experience how games are developed and thought I might go back to feature and TV if I did not like it. I fell in love with the entire process of game development as it allows artists to collaborate on wide aspects of the game and have never looked back since.”
- Darshita, Senior Cinematic Animator
“I knew I wanted to work in games when I was a kid. I was always on my mom’s laptop playing games from Cartoon Network, Disney channel and Nickelodeon. It was amazing to see my favourite animations being made, not only in tv series or films, but also in games and I was in awe playing as my favourite characters.”
- Tiffany, Junior Animator
“I’ve played games since I was a kid but didn’t really see a career in games or in programming until I was applying to university, before that I actually wanted to be a nurse!”
- Natalie, Junior Programmer
“I loved games from a very young age, my brother and I spent countless hours on the Mega Drive, PS1 and PS2! Gaming was also something we did as a family, my dad having “just one more turn” at Shinobi, or all of us challenging my Mum’s Columns high score. So gaming has always meant a lot to me, but I never actually realised it was such an accessible career path to anyone who wasn’t a super coder! It wasn’t until my Masters in Interactive Entertainment - which covered all elements of game design, narrative, business and marketing - that I realised I could turn my skills into a career that I could be so passionate about!”
- Caroline, Senior Social Media and Content Manager
“Working in games is not something I particularly knew about when I was young. At first I thought about doing something character related, but I mostly thought about working in comics as an illustrator. Then, as I started researching into universities, I realised that working in games is something that’s actually possible - that I could be one of those people working behind the awesome games that made my childhood. That’s when I decided that I wanted to be a part of it. I didn’t particularly know that I was going to do 3D at the time, but as I was going through my university course it was something I really got into and I really really enjoyed.”
- Nagia, Character Artist
“From a young age, I’d always played the games my cousins were playing. The first game I was obsessed with was The Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time, I loved the adventure that it took me on! When I was leaving college I found out there was a course in games, so I did a course in game design and I never looked back after that.”
- Victoria G, Environment Artist
“I knew from a very young age that I’d like to work in the games industry. My brother is a few years older than me and he’s always been an avid gamer, so naturally I took an interest in it, and years later I’ve carved out the path which has ultimately landed me in the role I’m currently in which is my dream job and I love it!”
- Chloe, People Engagement Manager
