Captions Magazine - Bethel University

and interests. As a level designer, I build
worlds. I am like an architect who knows
nothing of building codes, a landscaper
who doesn’t have to worry about watering
plants, and an interior decorator. I have
to understand various architectural styles,
different cultures, art theory, psychology,
math (especially Algebra which I do
actually use nearly every day), physics,
other sciences and even philosophy. Add
to all of that an encyclopedic knowledge
of games and game theory…in any other
field my expertise is too broad and not
nearly specific enough to be employed.”
But Pittman said as a game designer,
her broad and expansive liberal arts
education from Bethel, along with her
education at Southern Methodist University’s
Guildhall video game development
program was exactly what she needed.
“There are some specific Bethel events
that ended up being oddly useful in game
development. While at Bethel I participated
in theater productions. I worked
tech, both building sets and running the
light board. I distinctly remember one
late evening with Audrey Cross resetting
and fixing the lighting for the production,”
Pittman said. “Other than theater,
when would that be useful It has been
very useful to me in game development.
At two of the companies I worked at, I
actually had to deal with lighting my level
and world. The things I learned about
blending lights, gels, filters, and creating
shadows all applied to video game
production.”
Pittman said even learning about human
psychology from Dr. Laddie Lollar
was very helpful in figuring out ways to
incentivize players into the behaviors
video game designers want them to do.
“And most of the things I learned
in my Humanities class at Bethel havebeen
very useful, as games are a creative
process,” she said. “Despite what some
may think, video games are as much art
as tech.
“If I weren’t making games, I would
likely be an English teacher right now.
I had an English assistantship lined up
before going to Guildhall, and I had every
intention of teaching at the college level.
It’s funny, as just recently I started teaching
Game Design at the local community
college. I never expected to do that, but it
has worked out to let me share my experience
and skills with people who want to
make games too.”
Above: Kim Acuff Pittman (BA’04), a
video game developer for the company
Toys for Bob, sits beside a collection of
her favorite Skylanders figures. Pittman
has designed game levels for the
Skylanders video game.
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