1 June - Creative Careers

A still from one of Ricky's games

We asked a range of creative professionals to tell us something about their education, background and career. Todays contribution is from video game designer, Ricky Haggett

Your background and education

My name is Ricky Haggett. I am the creative director / game designer / a programmer of a small, London-based independent game development studio called Hollow Ponds. I have been in this role since 2008...

Before that, I worked for a small videogame studio called Morpheme, making mobile, flash and PC casual games, from 2000 until 2008, where I made a lot of games in small teams (usually 1 programmer + 1 artist)...

Before that, I studied Computer Science at University College London 1997 - 2000, although I mostly enjoyed the freedom and fun of university, played in bands, went out a lot, and didn't take my studies too seriously...

Before that, I did A-Levels in Computing, Maths and Physics. During this time, I spent a lot of time in the computer labs at school working on my own videogame projects in C and Visual Basic...

Before that, I made a lot of my own videogames in AMOS and Deluxe Paint on the Amiga, from 1990-1995...

Before that, I did some programming on the BBC Micros we had in my Primary School, aged 8 - 10.

What you're currently working on

We are usually working on two games at once: a big one and a small one. Right now we're working on a technically complex game in Unreal Engine 5 with a team of 6 people, and a smaller game with 2 people. I am the game director, and one of two programmers on the big game, and a design consultant on the smaller one.

What you feel is the biggest barrier to having a sustained career in a creative field

It took me a long time to get good enough at making videogames to be able to sustain a career running my own studio: Between the ages of 10 and 25 I made a lot of different things, and spent a significant amount of my free time doing it as a hobby.

I was lucky that I had the opportunities early on to do this: it was uncommon for primary schools in 1986 to have computers, but mine did. My parents generously bought me an Amiga (and later a PC), and I was lucky to discover AMOS, which was an excellent game making tool for beginners at that time.

I was fortunate to get a first job working for a company which made lots of small games, in a creative industry (mobile + web games) which grew and changed rapidly in the 8 years I was there. I had already done a lot of programming and made lots of games as a kid which prepared me well for this job, and the founders of Morpheme gave me a lot of responsibility and creative freedom, which I will always appreciate.

So, to finally answer the question: I feel one of the biggest barriers is having the time and opportunities to make lots of things when you're younger, in order to hopefully find the thing you want to spend your life doing.

Any advice you would provide for a student interested in entering their creative field

Make lots of things! Try out lots of different tools! Try to figure out the sorts of projects and tools which suit your best, and you're most enthusiastic about.

Some people say you should make lots of small things and finish and release them, but I'm not sure finishing and releasing lots of things matters as much as trying lots of different things. But it definitely seems bad to overscope personal projects so that they would take years to finish, or are never substantially realised.

My other piece of advice is to look for collaborators: All creative fields have places where beginners are hanging out (whether in the real world or online): go to those places, look at what other people are doing, and consider whether it would be a good idea to work together. Two people working on something with complementary skills are nearly always much more powerful than someone working alone.