We're starting to miss our students a whole lot now and wanted to catch up with some of them!
That's why we talked to Mikael Danielsson a Designer Student from 2018, and asked him how's he doing and what he's been up to since graduating from PlaygroundSquad.
Where do you work right now? I work at Illusion Labs located in Malmö as a Level Designer.
My main job is to create levels using our in-house level editor. I also script different gameplay scenarios for our game projects.
You’re a PSQ Alumni, did you enjoy your time at PlaygroundSquad? Yes, it was fun and challenging in a good way.
The high pace the school has was challenging and our tasks/game projects were mostly really fun and giving.
Do you miss PSQ? (we sure miss you!) I do. It was sad that we could not have the graduation party (for obvious reasons).
I really wanted to meet everyone again.
What was the best thing about PSQ in your opinion? The first thing that popped up in my head was our world building assignment.
We created a world with its own fauna, animals and intellectual creatures that had some kind of history to each other and the world.
The other part of that assignment was to create a Game Concept Document (manuscript of a game) of a game that takes place in this universe.
I had a concept I followed. I wanted to create something where those who follow the storyline would have a hard time to predict different events.
But when they witness them they will get this moment of clarity “ahhaa! That's why this happened!”.
Creating a game in this world will in a sense take care of itself. Because of how all things are structured within the world.
I don't really know if I succeeded but I surprised myself with what I was capable of within the small timeframe we had. And it’s probably because of that this assignment pops up in my head.
It was really interesting to think about the structure of something like that, what makes it good and bad.
Did PSQ prepare you well for working in the Game Industry? Yes. I did learn a lot from our three game projects.
All of them were very valuable in their own unique way. And most of them were not that different from how I'm working now.
Did you learn any go-to tricks during your time at PSQ that you see yourself using now in your career? I'm not really sure if it counts as a "go-to trick" but the importance of prototyping and testing different game mechanics.
Some ideas work a lot better than expected.
Would you recommend others to study at PSQ?
If you love creating games and can see yourself working with mostly creative work, then I would recommend PSQ.
To everyone thinking of a career within Game Development, do you have any tips or do’s and don’ts for them? Thousands of people have done very similar things to what you will do if you get a job in the game industry.
It’s very unlikely that you can't do it if you have an interest and motivation for working with games.
- Working at a smaller company can have more variation. If that's something you're looking for.
- Getting an internship can be hard. Even if you have a good portfolio.
You need to be the right person at the right time. Don't be afraid to apply for a lot of internships.
Thank you, Mikael!
Please come visit us soon 💛🖤
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