Comics, Crazy Game Submissions, Careers, Industry Rant, and Production with Nick Laing of Amazon Games

Nick Laing talks about his new role as Senior Publishing Producer at Amazon Games and working before at Turn 10 Studios on the Forza series. Hear how his path diverted from following in his family’s footsteps to going to a specialized comic book artist school. Learn how in the late 90s iconic comic book companies went bankrupt or struggled to stay in business (it’s hard to believe now).

Learn how he transitioned those skills to being hired as a Concept Artist and UX Designer for his first industry role. Hear how he then got into Game Design, Lead Art, then Production. Learn about moving to EA’s Orlando studio and working on MMA, NASCAR, their incubation group, and helping on Madden during a 10-year run. Hear how after a recruiter called he moved to Seattle to work on the Forza franchise at Turn 10 Studios for 5 years. Hear what he knows now that he didn’t know when getting into the industry, along with advice for breaking in. Learn what advice he has for others looking to further their career in Production, or any field in general.

Hear about EA’s Subject Matter Expert track and how it gives a career path for high output, individual contributors. Learn why NFL Street was one of his favorite series to work on, plus MMA. Hear about work on great games that were commercial failures and how to rebound. Learn about the challenge of designing great game experiences versus using data to drive unhealthy compulsion loops. Hear about his biggest concern for our industry, along with thoughts on good and bad loot boxes. Learn the reasons why he’s bullish on the current state of VR.

Hear war stories of submitting discs to console platforms and the crazy challenges of down-to-the-wire deadlines. Hear the games he’s most excited to be playing now online, along with an accurate rant about game industry titles, especially in Production. Learn best and worst Production practices, along with how to follow or get in touch with Nick.

Resources:*Nick Laing’s Twitter*Nick Laing’s LinkedIn*Amazon Game Studios website*Lord of the Rings MMO announcement*The Kubert School website*NFL Street 3 Wikipedia*Forza Wikipedia*Beginner’s Mind Wikipedia*Buzz Monkey Software Wikipedia*EA Sports MMA Wikipedia*Level Ex website - and we’re hiring!*Game Dev Advice Twitter*Game Dev Advice email*Game Dev Advice website*Game Dev Advice Hotline (224) 484-7733 - give a call*And thanks to Charles Dike Production podcast editing *Don't forget to subscribe and go to www.gamedevadvice.com for full show notes with links

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