Douglas Burton - Senior Game Designer @ Polyarc | Ep 1

2021-02-01

In the inaugural episode, we sit down with fellow Full Sail University Alumni, dear friend, Detroit’s own Douglas Burton currently working as a Senior Designer for PolyArc in Seattle, WA. Doug has worn various hats in game development riding the full spectrum between Game Design & Coding to refine his specialty in Puzzle Design. I got to work with Doug at Midway Austin on our first shipped game Blacksite: Area 51 where he’s gone on to work for various studios throughout the US and in the UK. In this episode we'll disc...

In the inaugural episode, we sit down with fellow Full Sail University Alumni, dear friend, Detroit’s own Douglas Burton currently working as a Senior Designer for PolyArc in Seattle, WA.

Doug has worn various hats in game development riding the full spectrum between Game Design & Coding to refine his specialty in Puzzle Design.

I got to work with Doug at Midway Austin on our first shipped game Blacksite: Area 51 where he’s gone on to work for various studios throughout the US and in the UK.

In this episode we'll discuss:

(0:00) the dream of being a game dev consultant for Hollywood
(3:10) cheers, sante , salud, let's enjoy a stout
(4:28) developing in the pandemic
(6:00) working in mobile slot games at Scientific Games in Austin Texas.
(15:28) figuring out game development was his calling
(18:15) meeting Steven Spielberg while working on Boom Blox
(30:20) finding the right college to achieve his goals
(43:20) discuss the responsibilities of a game designer
(53:00) approaching high-level puzzle design
(1:03:00) his perspective on the importance of studio culture and equitable hiring practices at Polyarc