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Jennifer Egan

Game Designer

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"Being able to communicate efficiently and clearly with people who are busy with their own tasks helps me a lot. Another huge part is being able to tell a story or at least recognize what is important in a story."
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When did you graduate from BYU?

BA English 2016

What is your job/position? And how would you describe what you do in that job/position?

I am a level designer/narrative designer for video games. I work with programmers, artists, and writers to make sure the game is fun and accessible. For instance, my main job right now is on the missions team, and I make sure all the dialogue is hooked up and all the items are in the right places. This is important because you can't do things out of order, and things need to reset correctly if you die, fail, or reload a save. It's almost like being a dungeon master in Dungeons and Dragons.

Describe the path that you took from your BYU English degree to your current career, highlighting the important realizations and turning points that paved the path for you.

I worked in marketing at first because I had gotten a double minor in editing and digital humanities while at BYU. I did everything from web development to PR writing. I realized I wasn't being valued in my positions, and I knew that I could have better jobs if I got more education. I started looking into postgraduate study, looking particularly into animation, web development, and then video game development. After all, SOMEONE has to make video games, so it might as well be me! After applying widely and relying heavily on networking through past professors and reaching out to new people, I got a feel for what I would need to be able to enter the industry. I found several grad schools that had very promising job placement rates. I ended up getting a very good offer from the University of Utah's EAE program, which is ranked globally. I didn’t want to come back to Utah (I'm from Texas), but it ended up working out wonderfully.

What are the specific skills that you cultivated as an English major that you now use in your professional life? And how do you use those skills in ways that set you apart from your colleagues?

Communication for sure. Being able to communicate efficiently and clearly with people who are busy with their own tasks helps me a lot. Another huge part is being able to tell a story or at least recognize what is important in a story. My job specifically is to tell a story through the placement of assets, characters, and timing of dialogue in the game, as well as where enemies are in the level and their behavior.

What are some of the surprising ways in which your English degree helped you in your life?

It has given me an appreciation for good writing (I just can't read poorly written books) and being able to read between the lines. Critical thinking is so important in real life. You need to be able to get a good idea of people's motivations, especially when they don't always line up with their words or actions. Also, problem-solving is enormous. English helped me to be able to figure out how to approach a problem and take it apart.

What do you wish you had known as an English major? Is there any advice you’d like to share with current students?

You really should be finding opportunities WHILE you're in school. Don't take the easy route and assume you will figure it out after graduation.

Contact

jjoyceegan@gmail.com