Introduction

For this week’s guest lecture, we heard from Bea Grove, a Senior Game Designer in the Mobile Publishing department at Kwalee. Bea is a University of Southampton Games Design & Art alumni with seven years of industry experience, making her journey particularly relevant to us as students preparing to enter the industry. Her talk covered her career path, her responsibilities as a designer, and the essential skills needed to stand out in today’s game development landscape.

Personal Story

Bea began by sharing her path after graduation. She stayed at Southampton for a summer school programme while working as a UI/UX freelance designer, before later securing a role as a Junior Game Designer at Kwalee.

She was hired based on the strength of her Game Design test and her “find the fun first” approach, which stood out to the team. Her early responsibilities included:

• Creating and polishing levels
• Supporting game balancing
• Expanding design documentation
• Providing and receiving feedback

Over time, she progressed to leading features, pitching ideas, and eventually taking on a senior publishing role with more autonomy. Today, she focuses on overseeing designs, giving structured feedback, working with cross-disciplinary teams, and mentoring graduates through Kwalee’s internal scheme.

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Insight into the Games Industry

Bea gave us insight into Kwalee, a developer and publisher focusing on mobile and PC titles. Two games mentioned during the talk were:

• Town to City – a cosy city builder currently in early access
• The Precinct – a police simulation game

Kwalee’s publishing team works on multiple projects simultaneously, meaning designers often juggle different genres and development stages.

This talk was directly related to what we’ve been learning this semester about team roles, documentation, and design communication. Bea emphasised that design is not only about coming up with ideas—it’s also about clearly explaining those ideas to other departments.

She highlighted how interconnected roles are within game development. Designers need to understand how programmers, artists, analysts, and producers work, and often collaborate with each of them daily. This resonates strongly with my current group project, where cross-discipline communication has been essential.

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General Advice

Bea offered extensive advice about getting into the industry. Some of the key points included:

Portfolio Advice

• Show specific projects and explain what you did and why
• Highlight areas of ownership
• Include self-led prototypes, redesigns, or game jam entries

CV & Application Tips

• NEVER lie
• Use keywords from job descriptions
• Keep everything concise and readable
• Tailor each cover letter to the specific studio

Interview Skills

• Show genuine passion for games
• Give role-specific praise and criticism
• Provide examples of teamwork challenges and how you overcame them
• Do research into the company and play their recent titles

She also reminded us that AAA is not the only option. Mobile, indie, web, and cross-disciplinary roles are all valid and growing career paths.

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Reflection

Bea’s advice has given me a clear sense of what I should work on to improve my chances of being hired after graduation. Some of the steps I’m now considering include:

• Strengthening my portfolio by showing ownership and explaining design decisions
• Creating more self-led projects or prototypes, especially ones that highlight design thinking
• Improving the clarity and structure of my documentation, since it’s a major part of design work
• Practising role-specific game analysis to prepare for interview questions
• Gaining experience across disciplines, especially QA or design-focused tasks, which could provide valuable starting points
• Tailoring my CV and cover letters to match each application

Overall, Bea’s talk provided a practical, grounded understanding of what studios like Kwalee expect from new graduates. It helped me identify the skills I should continue to develop, and it made the prospect of entering the industry feel both achievable and exciting.