Abstract
Problem: How does a game developer go about hiring people to build a team, and where do good candidates come from?
Approach: Tim Cain reflects on his career-long experience with hiring, from his early days at Interplay through founding Troika Games, covering the various sources he used to find talent.
Findings: Tim didn't hire a single person for his first 17 years in the industry (1981–1998). When he finally had to build teams at Troika, his best hires came from five key sources: previous co-workers, school connections, industry networking, press coverage, and cold résumés. Including a playable demo with your résumé was the single best way to stand out.
Key insight: Building relationships over a long career — through co-workers, school, and even socializing against company policy — creates a deep talent network that pays off when you finally need to hire.
Background: 17 Years Before Hiring Anyone
Tim Cain spent 17 years in the game industry before he ever had to hire a single person. For his early games at Interplay — Grand Slam Bridge, Bard's Tale Construction Set, Rags to Riches — he was simply assigned to projects along with the rest of the team. Even on Fallout, where he served as producer, lead programmer, and designer simultaneously, the team members were assigned to him by Interplay administration as they came off other projects.
The Fred Hatch Exception
The one exception on Fallout was assistant producer Fred Hatch. Tim was overwhelmed juggling production, lead programming, and design — including busy work like Gantt charts in Microsoft Project. When he asked the executive producer for an assistant producer, he was initially told "you only have one project." Tim pointed out that other producers with single projects already had assistants — and those producers weren't also serving as lead programmer and maintaining an OS abstraction library used by four or five other games. The executive producer relented, and Fred Hatch proved invaluable, handling production reports, Gantt charts, voiceover logistics (driving to Hollywood for recording sessions and bringing back tapes), and organizational tasks.
The Five Sources of Hires
It wasn't until Arcanum at Troika Games (late 1998) that Tim actually had to hire people — reviewing résumés and building a team from scratch. By then, 17 years of industry experience meant he knew a lot of people. He breaks his hiring sources into five categories.
Previous Co-Workers
When Tim left Interplay to co-found Troika with Leonard Boyarsky and Jason Anderson, many former colleagues reached out — especially once news hit that Troika had been funded. Tim didn't recruit them; they contacted him wanting to work on whatever came next.
School Connections
Troika's first office was just a mile or two from UCI's campus. Many people Tim had been in grad school with (1987–1991) were still in the area seven years later and looking for work. Additionally, Tim taught a game development class in 1999, and at least one person was hired for Arcanum based on code Tim had seen in that class. Several more were hired for Temple of Elemental Evil through the same channel. School — both attending and teaching — was a great way to casually vet people who wanted to enter the game industry.
Industry Networking
LA was a dense game development area, and despite not being a natural networker, Tim met people from other companies. This was despite Interplay's policy forbidding employees from fraternizing with people at other companies — threatening termination if caught. Tim found this ironic since Interplay's higher-ups had a weekly poker night with executives from other companies. He ignored the policy, figuring if he got fired for playing D&D with people at other game companies, he'd wear it as a badge of honor. He ended up playing D&D with people at DreamWorks, which let him build connections across companies of different sizes and departments.
Press Coverage
Press coverage proved to be a powerful hiring tool, though not one available for a first game. When Tim, Leonard, and Jason left Interplay and started Troika, the press attention meant people in the industry knew a new company existed. Fallout's reputation drove applicants to Troika for Arcanum. Then Arcanum's reputation attracted people who worked on Temple of Elemental Evil and Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines. Every time a game magazine covered Troika or announced a new project, résumés would flow in.
Cold Résumés
Some people simply sent résumés unsolicited — which is exactly how Tim himself got his job at Interplay. He cold-sent résumés to several companies, got hired as a contractor for Bard's Tale, then moved to full-time work on Rags to Riches and eventually Fallout. At Troika, they kept résumés on file and contacted people months later when positions opened, hiring several people this way.
The Power of Including a Demo
Tim emphasizes that résumés which included a working demo got moved straight to the top of the pile. In the 1990s this was especially impressive — there were no free game engines to download. Candidates had to build something from scratch, which demonstrated real effort and capability. Even without polished, complete games, seeing that someone had put in the work made Tim prioritize their application and prepare specific interview questions for them.
Summary
Tim's hiring philosophy was shaped by the fact that he spent nearly two decades building relationships before ever needing to hire. His advice for both sides of the hiring equation: build genuine connections through work, school, and socializing; make your previous games your recruiting tool; and if you're applying, include something playable with your résumé — it still works.
References
- Tim Cain. YouTube video. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VBT1CrLGOAo