He initially joined Playtonic Games as a student intern and so impressed the company that he was offered a permanent role there. But Matt faced a dilemma as he still had a year to go before completing his BSc (Hons) Computer Games Design and Programming degree at University of Staffordshire.
The 46-year-old, from Swadlincote in Derbyshire, said: “The University set up a unique course code just for me, so I could go back part-time over two years. It was perfect.
“I might have been at a lecture in the morning and then at Playtonic in the afternoon. My work was also done in the evenings and at weekends. They were very flexible.”
Now, Matt has been celebrating his degree success. He was one of hundreds of graduates from our Staffordshire Games Institute attending awards ceremonies last week.
He said he wanted to thank everyone who has supported him along the way and hopes to continue his games career. Matt is employed as a quality assurance tester at the Burton-based games studio.
“QA testing is where you play the games and check for bugs and glitches and support improvement. But I’m now moving more into level design. I’m interested in becoming a level designer, where I put my head inside what the player experiences and think how to design that,” he added.
One of the best parts of his internship was being able to see a game from concept to release.
“It’s not something you can really see at university and I learnt so much. They would give me design tasks to do.”
He also worked on nostalgia game Yooka-Replaylee, a remastered and enhanced version of the 3D indie platform collectable Yooka-Laylee. It went on to inspire his final-year degree project, where he created his own level for the game.
Matt said: “My level, Rextro Bytes Back, is about a small dinosaur called Rextro who is back in the ‘90s. It’s like an old-style retro game, where you have to get from A to B and collect things.
“I got the Playtonic staff to play-test it. There was talk at one point of creating a standalone game out of it.”
Before his degree, he had spent time working as an electronic engineer, building PCs, and then made car seats. But he realised he wanted to switch careers and go into games design, so joined a college course. It led to him applying to University of Staffordshire.
“I visited the University and was impressed with the facilities. They also had good connections with the industry. When we did a collaborative project, we had Rockstar Games judging us,” he said.
“I joined a mentorship programme as well and got connected with a guy from Sumo Digital, who helped with my CV and portfolio. With employability, it’s all about showing your work.”
Discover more about studying at University of Staffordshire by booking your place at an Open Day or apply now through Clearing for a September start.