Marion Dreo has been working in the video game industry since the birth of the PS1 in design and game tester roles. He has worked for many leading game companies over the years including Sony Playstation, Sega, and 2k Sports, and has credits on over 30 games including Crash Bandicoot, the NBA 2K series, the Twisted Metal series, Zombie Apocalypse, and Conan. Marion's ramblings can be found on Twitter under @drcane.
I interviewed Jerson Sapida a producer at 2K Sports who has been working on the NBA 2K series since its early years on Xbox and PS2. I asked him his thoughts on making it as a producer for a sports development studio and his career experiences.
Do you have aspirations to become a game designer on a game like God of War, Mortal Combat, or Devil May Cry? Well then you’re really looking at becoming what is called a combat designer in most studios these days. Combat designers should know the inner workings of great fighting games like Street Fighter, Marvel vs. Capcom, and Mortal Kombat. The combat systems in these games are very complex and have stood the test of time for good reason. Although games like God of War are not straight up "fighting" games, they borrow from these systems to make the player controls feel tight and fun. Having passion for fighting games is a big plus. If you've been involved with the popular EVO tournaments then combat design is probably your type of gig.
