Say Hello to Brian Giaime
Senior System Designer
What does a Senior System Designer do at Undead Labs?
My responsibilities cover making sure that the game systems we build are reasonable to work with and produce fun experiences that stay fresh and interesting for many hours. On State of Decay 2 and its DLC, my focus is on base building, ranged weapon gameplay, consumables, items, and the scavenging experience.
Wow! That is an important job!
What made you get into the game industry?
I’ve played games since I was very young, often with my younger brothers or our cousins. For fun, I used to make mods for Warcraft 3 when I was young. One day I realized someone was getting health insurance for doing the stuff I was doing for fun, and from there I made a breakneck sprint to get a job as a game designer, heading to DigiPen Institute of Technology cross-country from NY to study for some 80-100 hours a week, and working full time starting in the summer of my junior year.
Nowadays, I get to make stuff that my family enjoys playing, and I find immense fulfillment in this.
How did you end up at Undead Labs?
I wasn’t originally going to go to PAX in 2013, but my wife insisted we go, so she gets some of the credit for me working here.
Though employed, I was quietly looking for new job opportunities that year, and while we were at PAX, we happened to bump into some of the Undead Labs crew manning the old booth spot at the top of the stairs. I asked some questions, liked the answers I heard, and asked if they were hiring any designers. Luckily for everyone involved, Undead Labs was, in fact, looking for a designer! I was working here less than a month later.
Please pass on a big thank you to your wife from all of us at Undead Labs!
You seem to be very happy working here, what is your favorite part about working at Undead Labs?
We make large games for our studio size and as a result each developer has relatively significant agency and areas of responsibility. It’s really fulfilling to be able to make such an impact on the games we work on.
Last but not least, we would love to hear an interesting fact about you, maybe some information about your life outside work?
I have purchased Escape Velocity Nova 6 or 7 times, used to play Jazz Trumpet in my youth, and have two very talkative cats.
Have questions for Brian? He’d be happy to answer them! Just comment on the Facebook, Twitter or Instagram post this link was on, and we will collect his answers and send them back to you.