He had no experience in this area when Creative Assembly entrusted him with the task, yet he still managed to succeed.

Have you ever felt lost during your first days at a new job? Scott Pitkethly, a battle designer at Creative Assembly, certainly did. In an interview with PC Gamer, Pitkethly said that his start at the studio in 1999 was like being thrown in at the deep end. Initially, he was assigned to work on the studio’s sports games, but he wasn’t interested in that at all. Then, when he finally got the chance to work on Total War, he had never programmed a game before. His opportunity came when Creative Assembly began work on Rome: Total War.

“I remember Shogun: Total War looked incredibly cool. I said, ‘I want to work at that company!’ But when I got there, I was working on sports games. I personally have no interest in sports whatsoever. I really wanted to work on Total War. Then, Shogun: Total War had just come out, as well as Medieval: Total War had just started. We were doing this whole new initiative: Rome: Total War. It had a completely new codebase. Everything was 3D. All the characters were 3D. The campaign map was also going to be 3D. I was given this opportunity right after graduating from university. I had never worked on writing game code before. Someone said, ‘There you go! Make the game!’ I’ve been here for every project since then. Except for the one that everyone says is their favorite: Medieval 2. I didn’t actually work on that,” said Pitkethly.

He definitely had an affinity for art because after Rome: Total War was released, it quickly became one of the most popular games in the series. In fact, it was so popular that it got a remastered version in 2021. The game engine was eventually used in the BBC’s Time Commanders program, although the program turned out to be based on a big lie.

At least no one is forcing him to develop sports games anymore! In any case, this is really deep water in which not everyone could be successful.

Source: PCGamer