MCV/DEVELOP News, events, research and jobs from the games industry
Every working day this month, as part of our New Year, New Job 2014 special, Develop brings you a game industry professional to explain what their job involves and key advice to help you follow in their footsteps.
Creative services director
Riot Games’ Kieran Weir offers an insight into his job working as creative services director for Europe at the League of Legends developer, and how you can obtain a similar role.
What is your job role?
What I do changes on a daily basis, it’s a shape-shifting beast. Today I have been scouting for new creative talent, yesterday I was drilling a hole in the face of a statue and installing a camera and GPS tracker. Tomorrow, who knows?
Why I do it never changes, I’m here to help create cool stuff for our European players. Whether it’s building a new technical platform, launching the next champion or penning a quick tweet, it all matters and all makes a difference to the experience.
How would someone become a creative services director?
Spend time in and around as many creative disciplines as you can, soak up all the good (and not-so-good) stuff. That’s not to say you need to have experience in all of them, but exposure and understanding can go a long way.
I have worked both agency-side and in-house in a range of roles spanning client handling, planning, copywriting, creative direction and production. It not only gives a rounded view of the creative process, but also means you can engage at pretty much any level.
What qualifications / experience do you need?
I’m less concerned about qualifications, more about attitude, aptitude and passion. You don’t have to be a seasoned games industry veteran to join Riot Games. If you’re the best in your craft, have a love for games, and are driven to do things differently, you sound like our kind of person.
What do you look for when recruiting into Creative Services?
We’re currently recruiting across a number of disciplines in the studio, including visual design, development, writing, film and production. Individual skillsets aside, it’s important that candidates demonstrate a balance of humility with ambition. Drive is good, but delivery is key. A good sense of humour also helps…
What opportunities are there for career progression?
Do you remember the ‘Choose Your Own Adventure’ books? It’s like that, except the possibilities are endless, the story is ever-evolving and you can’t cheat your way to the end. I never did that.
Why choose to follow a career in your field?
You get to work with brilliant people on brilliant things. You also get to give both sides of your brain a good workout.
If you’d like to get involved with Get That Job Daily, contact aaron.lee@intentmedia.co.uk. You can take a look at all the available design vacancies over at our Develop Jobs section.
This feature is part of New Year, New Job 2014, Develop’s month-long guide to games recruitment. You can read more at www.develop-online.net/jobs2014.
