Interview Questions

tim-cain interviews game-development communication media team-credit

Abstract

Problem: What kinds of interview questions does a veteran game developer actually enjoy answering, and which ones fall flat?

Approach: Tim Cain responds to a viewer question by reflecting on decades of media interviews and fan Q&As, sharing specific examples of great and terrible interviewing experiences.

Findings: The best questions are specific, knowledgeable, and show genuine engagement with the games — asking about team members, production stories, design evolution, and specific level/feature decisions. Generic questions ("what were your influences?") and publisher-domain questions ("what platforms?") are draining. The interviewer's energy and preparation directly shape the quality of the conversation.

Key insight: Deep, specific questions that show the interviewer has actually engaged with the work produce the best conversations — and asking about the team rather than the figurehead gives credit where it's due.

Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6CNtLuKyx3E

1. Questions Tim Wishes People Asked More

Tim identifies several categories of questions he rarely receives but loves:

  • Questions about the team. Publishers pick a "face" for each game, and that person gets credit for work they didn't do. Tim notes he's constantly asked about characters and dialogue despite not writing them (except on Temple of Elemental Evil). He'd love to redirect: "You know that feature you like? She did that. You know that character you love? He wrote them."

  • Fun production stories. Every project has amusing stories — usually involving bugs, whether fixed or deliberately left in. These rarely get asked about.

  • Specific level and feature questions. "Where did you get the idea for this area?" or "What made you want to try this feature you'd never done before?" show real engagement.

  • Design evolution questions. The gold standard: "Your last game did X, but you changed it in this one — why?" Tim loves these because he can speak from actual experience rather than hypotheticals. He recently had a lengthy client discussion about a mechanic he implemented one way in one game, then completely differently in two others.

2. Questions That Bore Him

  • Publisher-domain questions — platform availability, localization plans. Tim has no say in these decisions and just parrots what the publisher told him to say.

  • Generic questions from cards — "What were your game's influences?" "What was the hardest part?" "What hurdles did you overcome?" "Any unique features?" These apply to literally every game ever made, and Tim says he can tell when interviewers are using the same card deck they use for everyone — or even for non-game media like movies and books.

  • The energy problem — Tim compares it to acting: when the other person doesn't bring anything, it's hard to give anything back. He describes putting on a "fake face" while "dying inside" during uninspired interviews.

3. Two Great Interview Experiences

3.1. Game Informer's 100 Rapid-Fire Questions (The Outer Worlds)

During The Outer Worlds press cycle, Joe Juba from Game Informer visited the studio and did a 100 rapid-fire questions segment. Tim expected to dislike the format, but Juba was clever — he interspersed generic questions with "hardcore" probing questions, trying to extract information the team hadn't revealed yet. He'd casually ask about companions or intelligent aliens, knowing full well they couldn't discuss those topics. Tim appreciated the sparring dynamic: "Joe was doing his job — trying to find out as much as he could to give to his audience. That's smart and clever."

3.2. TK Mantis Interview

Tim describes a recent in-depth interview with TK Mantis (a Fallout content creator) as one of his favorites. Mantis flew to Seattle for an in-person interview and asked questions Tim had never heard before, with no advance notice. Tim notes that Mantis's Fallout lore knowledge may exceed his own — Tim sometimes can't remember what made it into the shipped games versus what was discussed internally and cut. They'd never met before, yet spoke like old friends for hours. Tim attributes this to Mantis being genuinely knowledgeable, specific in his questioning, and casually authentic rather than scripted.

Tim adds a personal aside about their first meeting: walking down the street, he spotted someone who "looked like he was wearing a vault suit" — and Mantis later told him "you're taller than I thought you'd be," a comment Tim gets constantly (he's 6'1" but looks shorter due to his build).

4. What This Means for Fan Questions

Tim applies the same principles to questions on his YouTube channel:

  • He prefers game development questions over personal ones
  • Questions need to warrant a longer video answer — yes/no questions get answered in comments
  • The best questions are ones nobody has asked before, or offer a new angle on a topic he's already covered
  • He notices and appreciates repeat contributors who consistently ask good questions

5. On Authenticity and Preparation

Tim reveals he deliberately doesn't over-prepare for talks and interviews. Practicing more than a couple of times makes his delivery feel "robotic" and "inauthentic." He prefers genuine, off-the-cuff reactions — which is why he told Mantis not to send questions in advance.

6. References