Chris Mair is writing his own adventure in gaming.
He's a game designer and principle of Barking Dog Studios, makers of Homeworld Cataclysm, CounterStrike beta 5 and Global Operations. The company, which he started with five partners, was recently sold to Rockstar Games and is now referred to as Rockstar Vancouver.
Game designers can be artists or programmers, or both. These days says Mair, "Game designers can range from somebody who creates levels, creates content, writes stories, tweaks and tunes and balances the way a game plays, to somebody who figures out the way a front end will flow."
Mair began his career in the mid-90s at Radical Entertainment. His first assignment was junior work no one else wanted. With an educational background in English and music, as well as a lifelong interest in computers and computer games, Mair says he figures he was well prepared for the gaming industry.
Mair's first love is music, something that's essential in his working life as well as in his off hours. He maintains an eclectic and expanding music collection, and has continued to play guitar as a hobbyist.
Barking Dog became known in the gaming community for its contributions to the most successful global first-person shooter game, CounterStrike. The game is a modification of Valve's Halflife, developed by a Vancouverite named Minh Le. Mair's Popdog team aided with the beta five version.
"We didn't get Le to his destination. We got him back on the path and built a solid foundation. We re-wrote most of the code. We made two new levels for the game, we designed some new guns for the game, some new game modes for the game, put in some interactive help text for the game."
While work on CounterStrike elevated Barking Dog's profile, the Popdog team was really stoked about making its own game. "We really needed to make a big, bold step and try to find a publisher to do it for a long game." The result was Global Operations, a game Mair says many called a CounterStrike clone. He says he's flattered by the comparison, even if it's unwarranted. The Popdog team is currently at work on another tactical military-style game.
For those who want to be game designers, Mair says the industry requires dedication. It's not enough to love games. You must love to play; and you must realize the time commitment gaming extracts. It's a bachelor's gig, he says. It's also very team oriented. "Don't think you can work in a bubble and not have other people judge your work. It's your heart on the table."
Mair says he always knew there would be computers in his future. At the age of 11, he drew a cover for the Edmonton Journal comics. "In the little bio, it said what I wanted to do when I grew up was make video games."
CP: Do you have any mentors, or people you look up to, role models?
CM: Wow. Our industry is filled with amazingly talented people. It's hard to say just one person. Minh's a really talented guy and I admire the amount of dedication and skill he has. I'm blown away by what he has been able to accomplish and how he almost doesn't even think twice about it: he's got the biggest game in the world and he's the quietest, most comfortable guy to be around. He's not changed because of the success. That's really impressive to me.
CP: Any secret weaknesses that no one knows about?
CM: I don't know if this is a weakness. You get enveloped by the work. You're willing to give a little too much of yourself, and sometimes I think people know it and they take advantage of it. But sometimes you just can't walk away from it. You sleep with it at night and it comes home with you. I think there's a couple of different types of people in our industry. Some people do the 9-to-5 approach to it, and they can shut it off when they go away and there are other people who are just wholly swallowed by the work. I would fall into the latter category.
