How I Got a Job with Capcom...(Not me, this guy!)

Brian as Shredder, I think I had this dream in grade 7.

Mega Man, Street Fighter, Resident Evil... These were my adventures growing up. Legendary developer Capcom has been making games since Atari, I even remember playing original Street Fighter on my Commodor 64. Recently, I was on a trip to Mexico and met the man of my dreams... well... sort of. His name was Brian... and he works for Capcom (I swear, I read his name on Dead Rising 2!). He was cool enough to share some insight on how he got every boy's dream job... including mine...

 >>Interview after the jump. 

(Photo Credit levelselect.co.uk)

Growing up, Capcom was THE company that made the best games, in my opinion.  So when I met Brian, I  chatted his ears off over all you can drink drinks about how "Mega Man music is still the best NES soundtrack". A fellow Y2K survivor, Brian grew up in our era. He was into cartoons like G.I. Joe and Transformers (clearly our type of guy)... and like us, he played a lot of video games growing up, only he was able to make a career out of it. According to sources, he's a master Tekken player and can't be beat. I wanted to find out for myself, so I conducted a sit down interview with the man himself (I am assuming he was sitting when he e-mailed me back =P) about who he is, and what he does. 

Brian as Destro, regular office attire.

TD - What do you do?
BRIAN - I am currently a Designer at Capcom Game Studios Vancouver. My expertise is content creation and mission design, but being a designer means you have to wear a lot of hats. Some days you’ll be working with animations and AI, others will be working on interaction matrices. A good designer is versatile enough to fill in holes when they present themselves.

TD - What have you worked on? 
BRIAN - My first design credit came on Dead Rising 2, followed by Dead Rising 2: Off The Record. I’ve had my hands in the downloadable DR2 games as well, and prior to that I was a tester for a few baseball games at Blue Castle, and several games at EA Canada (a few of my favorites were SSX3, Def Jam: Fight For New York, and NHL 06).

TD - How did you get a job w/ Capcom?
BRIAN - I always wanted to get into gaming as a career. Since my brother’s NES and my first Gameboy, I knew this is what I wanted to do. I went to Video Game design school in Winnipeg, but found that that didn’t really help much. The course was in its infancy, and no one recognized it. I moved to Vancouver shortly after, and applied a couple times at EA as a Tester. I was picked for the SSX3 team, and worked as a tester on several games there. After several years testing games, I was moved to a tester position on the web development at EA. I lost my drive at then, web development wasn’t really my thing, so I typed up my resume and sent it out to other companies. Blue Castle liked all the experience I gathered at EA and decided to give me a shot. I was lucky to get in at Blue Castle as a Senior Tester, and worked my way up through the company. I was already a designer when Capcom made the purchase and turned us into Capcom Game Studio Vancouver. Working at Capcom is a dream come true. Their games essentially molded my childhood.

TD - What game are you playing currently?
BRIAN - Saints Row: The Third – This is everything I wished GTA was.

No More Heroes HD – The quirky nostalgic gameplay brings me back to my childhood, with the addition of over the top violence.
And I’m looking forward to the latest installment of SSX.

TD - Top 5 Video Games ever?
BRIAN - Mega Man series – Great, challenging games. The story is hit and miss at times, but the gameplay is always top notch and I love stealing abilities from Robot Masters.

Tekken 2 or Tekken Tag – The depth of this fighting game really spoke to me. The Left/Right, Punch/Kick system allowed me to experiment, and really made me feel like I was mastering something. Something in the later versions didn’t feel as smooth. Some of the combos and combinations stopped making sense in terms of the Left/Right system, and it also stopped feeling as responsive.


Wrecking Crew – An old school NES classic. The game itself is amazing, and I still play it today, but this was also the first level editor that grabbed hold of me.


Metal Gear Solid – Great cinematic/immersive feel to a game. When I first felt the dual shock respond to the DARPA Chief’s heartbeat, I was hooked.


Dead Rising 2 – For Shameless Plug reasons 

>thanks Brian... Happy Thrifting.