Christ's Hospital students explore careers in game design

The pupils had a studio tour when they visited leading games studio, Creative Assembly, in Horsham on May 15.

Using motion capture technology they had a lot of fun learning how to direct and act out characters. They also had the opportunity to speak with video game developers from across the disciplines including design, art and more. This experience gave them a great insight into career direction in the industry and what it takes to create an AAA (major/high budget) game.

The pupils were very motivated following the visit.

They said: “By meeting so many professionals at Creative Assembly we were able to look at a wide variety of jobs within the tech industry. I am interested in AI programming and was able to have a tour of the development studio, and find out first-hand about the job and suitable routes into the industry.

“I am seriously looking at art animation. After a workshop in the motion capture studio and a tour of the Total War: Arena team I am sure that this is the career for me.

“We listened to a talk from a game art designer. He strongly encouraged us to start designing our own games, and recommended some suitable software.

“We saw the HQ of the console team in their open studio. We visited artists, quality assurance technicians and programmers who all showed us their work and gave us time to ask questions.”

Helen-Claire Burt, head of careers at Christ’s Hospital, said: “Our thanks to everyone at Creative Assembly for giving us such an amazing experience and making us feel so welcome.”