In his careers talk at EGX Rezzed, Monument Valley Producer Dan Gray describes how he finally managed to bag his dream job.
From leaving university to creating a multi-BAFTA award nominated game, Daniel Gray’s journey has been one of persistence, focus and vision. In his career talk at EGX Rezzed, Gray described a time after finishing a computer entertainment degree and being unsure where to go next with his qualification. He had great ideas, pages of creative writing and enough detail to fill dozens of design documents. But the role he had in his mind of didn’t seem to exist - a game designer.
With thoughts of simply giving up swirling around his mind, Gray made a last ditch decision to follow his gaming hero Lionhead Games. Their graduate work experience placements were extremely popular however; and he was told there was an eight month waiting list for a spot. Disheartened but not defeated, he rang the studio every Friday asking the same question: “Has anyone dropped out and can I take their place?” His persistence would eventually pay off two months later when he was informed that a space had opened up.
But for Gray that was just a foot in the door. This was the career he wanted, so during his time at Lionhead he worked tirelessly - taking on extra hours and getting friendly with important figures at the company. Focusing on where your talents lie will get you far but you can also “make a career out of smiling and being nice,” he joked.
It worked. After a stretch of time at Lionhead and ustwo and was given the creative freedom to make the game he always wanted to make. Eleven months later the team would ship Monument Valley, a beautiful and elegant game that has seen much critical praise.
Furthermore, in 2014, Dan's achievements were recognised by BAFTA when he was identified as an up-and-coming talent to watch and selected as one of the Academy's Breakthrough Brits. Find out more over in the Initiatives section of the BAFTA site >
Following Gray’s talk at EGX Rezzed, Monument Valley was awarded two BAFTAs at the British Academy Games Awards in 2015. The game picked up the BAFTA in both the ‘Mobile & Handheld’ and ‘British Game’ categories. See the full list of BAFTA wins and nominations for Monument Valley >
BAFTA/Jamie Simonds
Words: James Pickard
