Another (Half)brick in the wall.

All images with the approval of Halfbrick.

So for the last few weeks I've been spending time once a week at Halfbrick Studios here in Brisbane as part of my intern-ship class for this semester. Being under an NDA (Non-Disclosure Agreement) means there are a lot of things I can’t talk about. Things like what I'm working on, what Halfbrick are working on, etc. What I can talk about though is how it feels to get to spend time working on a project inside a working studio.

And to put it simply, it feels amazing. Everyone has been really welcoming to myself and my three colleagues. We've all had a chance to spend time with our mentors who are great and allow us to pick their brains as we make our best effort with the project we are working on. We even have our own little area that’s been set aside for us where we work, just like the guys in the other teams. In a nutshell, we've been made to feel as though we are part of the Halfbrick team.

Everyone also gets to see how a working studio operates on a day to day basis as well. For me, this isn't such an eye-opener having come out of a software developer previously (even if I wasn't actually doing the development), I had plenty of exposure to the various dev teams through my support roles. But for the other guys I think it’s been an invaluable experience for them so far to see how things operate in the real world and not the rarefied atmosphere of a University classroom.

One of the coolest things we've seen, and one I can talk about is the kitchen and staff meals area at Halfbrick. The area itself is quite large in order to support the number of staff and it is also very open, but the thing that really jumps out at you when you first walk down the stairs into this area is the sign hanging down from the ceiling (seen at the top of this post), which is very quickly followed up by the artwork on the walls. That sign says as much about Halfbrick as it’s people do. This is a place of work, but it’s also somewhere that isn't afraid to poke fun at itself either. Or celebrate it’s success with a mural celebrating the indomitable spirit of the star of Jetpack Joyride, Barry Steakfries.

Barry Steakfries, greeting the day in his own inimitable style

The final part of the kitchen area that ties in with the research theme and Barry is on another wall, this time containing a mural of various blueprints, schematics and final build versions of a number of different items.

Is this a game studio or a made scientists lab?

Walking through here each time I go to my part of the office just makes me smile and think that I really am very lucky, not only for the opportunity I’ve been given to spend time in this environment, but also for the fact that this is the kind of environment I want to work in each day once I graduate.