By Eric Kapp
Who doesn’t like to play video games? Every person has been involved in some way with a game before, but what if that was what you wanted to do as a career? UK graduate Heather Chandler spoke at the University of Kentucky Wednesday at 6 p.m. in the Whitehall Classroom Building. Chandler, executive producer of Media Sunshine, Inc., has been working in the video game industry for 15 years, including production work on “Sacred 2: Fallen Angel,” “Two Worlds,” “Monster Madness: Grave Danger,” “Rainbow Six 3: Raven Shield,” and eight games in the “Ghost Recon” series.
She is the founder and executive producer of Media Sunshine, and her clients have included Villain, Play Eternal, Psyonix Studios, cdv Software, Her Interactive, SDI Media, SouthPeak Games, Artificial Studios and Batallion 52. You can see why she’s so respected around the gaming industry.
John F. Clark, Associate Professor School of Journalism and Telecommunications, on why the school brought Chandler to UK to speak, said, “She’s the real deal, and has even written books and book chapters on the subject of video games”.
She talked for about 30 minutes and then opened for a question-and-answer portion. Her lecture consisted of facts about games that not many people know about. Chandler explained to the audience that just playing games doesn’t make you a real gamer. She showed different slides describing the top people in the gaming industry, on one of the lists she showed was:Heather Chandler, Executive Producer Media Sunshine, Inc
Top Publishers:
- Nintendo
- Electronic Arts
- Activision
- Ubisoft
- Sony Computer Entertainment
According to: http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/3800/game_developer_magazines_top_20_.php
“The video game market has been on an explosive track of growth worldwide in the past decade, and it continues to evolve into new territories on multiple fronts. Along with this industrial development comes the growing need for innovative, forward-looking talent among college graduates. Our students need to get a good grasp of these emerging trends, not just from a player’s perspective, and understand how this means for them for their future paths and life prospects,” said Zixue Tai, a professor in the Media Arts and Studies program that sponsored Chandler’s talk.
There was a mixture of people in the audience . Chandler reached out to not only the older people in the group, but also the freshmen and sophmores who haven’t decided on a major. There were even parents and teenagers that wanted information on the topic. Heather had a list of advice for anyone interested in getting a job in the gaming world:
- Play games
- Learn about industry
- Pick a role
- Make games
- Find a mentor
- Be flexible/adaptable
If you are interested in speaking to Chandler, you can contact her at [email protected].
