"Being a game developer is like being a movie director and screenwriter in one. I come from an amateur filmmaking background so I applied movies to video games and that allowed me to carve sort of my own niche with games like God of War and Kinetica. I'd recommend a background in something outside of gaming, because designers are constantly pushing the envelope and an obvious way to do that is to have a different perspective.

"The thing about making games is that it's a collaborative effort. No one man can make a game, so it's all about your team. You have to surround yourself with self-starters. I find that it's better to know your team's strengths and weaknesses and tailor your task list to them.

"The trick with designing is to have one foot firmly planted in reality. Your job is to entertain a lot of people, so you must keep that in mind throughout the whole process, otherwise you end up making an artsy-fartsy vanity project. If you want to succeed as a game designer the most important thing is researching who you want to buy your game, and then catering to them from start to finish."