Oliver Dowling

2013 BSc(Hons) Computer Games (Design)
King - Senior Level Designer

Why choose GCU?

I wanted to do game design and I heard there were two decent places to do that in Scotland. I wanted to stay in Glasgow so I thought GCU would be the best place for me. It was great!

What was most important?

Being in the city of Glasgow around the awesome culture and meeting new and amazing people. The massive open-plan library is also amazing!

Biggest lesson learned?

There were some really good game design fundamentals taught by John Sykes and great pieces of the psychology of design from Gianna that I really enjoyed and which I still use today.

Describe GCU...

GCU is a great University. based right in the centre of Glasgow! Awesome campus with a great feel to it!

Who inspires you?

I don't really have any singular person who particularly inspires me. I get inspired by the people around me. People who are driven, and determined to do something and actually take action on it. People who are enthusiastic and motivated to create awesome experiences. I love working with these people and they inspire me every day.

What's next for you?

I feel so lucky that I've had the opportunity to work on Minecraft and Candy Crush two of the biggest games in the world. I've grown from intern to now leading a level design team creating amazing experiences for our players and also mentoring and growing the team. I'd like to gain more experience working on other teams and projects. My ambitions haven't changed too much...ultimately, I'm going to create my own games company whereby I can work with inspiring talented people to make something awesome.

Anything else?

I thought the Computer Game Design course I attended was great, but I feel we can make it something much more. I'd like to try to help improve this. I've gained a lot of knowledge and connections working in the games industry and I'd love to try to shape the future of the course you teach at GCU.