Adrian Walker is a game designer with Black Lantern Studios in Austin, Texas, US. Here, Emily King interviews him about becoming a designer, working on designing games for the Wii and DS, the world of family friendly gaming, motion controlled gaming, 3D technology, holodecks, and what kinds of games Adrian enjoys unwinding with.

- Okay, first off, and this may seem like a pretty pointless question, but a lot of people are interested in game design as a career so: How did you start your career as a game designer?

Well, I started my actual career as a game designer by applying for game designer positions after assembling a portfolio. As simple as it may sound, there are remarkably few people who follow through on those two steps - build a portfolio and then apply.

A lot of people dream of being a game designer and spend a lot of time talking about the games they would like to make. A small percentage of those people put those ideas down on paper and put the effort into turning those ideas into something real to use as an actual portfolio.

I've seen a lot of "game designs" written by people that are these broad, super high level descriptions of the next WoW-killer. First off, no entry-level designer makes those high-level design decisions behind a multimillion-dollar project. That being said, how is this high level MMO design that this aspiring designer has written going to be of use to a game development company then?

The Black Lantern Studios website

- Did you study any particular subjects at college that helped you get into this career?

My actual major was Computer Graphics Technology. I studied processes and practised such subjects as storyboarding, video editing, 3d modelling, animations, digital lighting and rendering, and some programming. All of these helped to provide an understanding of the pieces that go into the development of a game. I also took a simple game development course where we developed a cell phone game and built a 3D demo. For my senior year project I took the initiative an assembled a team to develop a mod using the Unreal engine. I also was involved in the game development club and took part in a competition in which the winner was awarded a large grant for a serious games project. This serious games project was to create a "game" that could be taken for course credit, or used as a virtual classroom for credit.

- That sounds a great deal similar to what you need to do to get into various creative/media based industries: get involved in all aspects, and keep evidence. Okay, now Black Lantern Studios, who you work for, develop a great deal of family friendly titles for the Wii and DS, so what makes a good family friendly game as opposed to shovelware?

Your question is hard to answer, as there are a heck of a lot of factors that go into it. Having a good team, a good licensor, and a good publisher and they all have to line up with each other. When you have the right combination you can produce titles that provide a great experience for kids. When it doesn't then well, you wind up with shovelware.