From tool rental shops and science fiction novels, to tabletops and the Marine Corps, Christian Allen's path into game design took him down the road less traveled.  And he puts the wide variety of inspiration and experience he picked up along the way to good use in his Design Lead role at Bungie.  If you want to prepare yourself for your own role inside the studio or the industry at large, listen up, Christian's about to give you your marching orders.  Scroll down for an informative question and answer from one of Bungie's designing minds.

Q. Who are you and what do you do?

A. My name is Christian Allen, and I’m a Design Lead at Bungie. This means that as well as being a Game Designer and being ultimately responsible for gameplay, I have the honor and challenge of leading an elite team of Bungie designers. Day to day, I have meetings, hold brainstorms, write documents, and work on elements in-game, focusing on gameplay and the player experience. Currently, I’m working on Bungie’s super-secret next project, codenamed “Super-Secret Next Project.”

Q. What are some of your not-so-super-secret hobbies and inspirations outside of the office?

A. My biggest inspirations are my wife of thirteen years, Angie, and my daughter Isabel. My wife also works in the industry at Microsoft, and my two-and a half year old daughter loves playing with her Master Chief figure and the arcade games in her play room. Besides video games (of course), my biggest hobby is target shooting and gun collecting. I’m a C&R collector, focusing on WWII and cold-war era firearms.

Q. Back when you were playing with action figures, how would have completed the following sentence?  When I grow up, I want to be a…

A. …tool rental owner and science fiction novelist. Growing up, my Grandparents owned a local equipment rental and hardware store. It was a fixture in our community, and I worked/played there ever since I could walk. At twelve, I assumed that my career would be managing a store renting out bulldozers during the day, and writing science fiction at night. Meeting my (now) wife senior year in high school and joining the Marines changed all that.

I didn’t know it at the time, but even in those days I was prepping for my career in game design. I was on the local BBS at night, gaming in MUDS (I even wrote a bot script for Galactic Empires!), participating in the community. I was playing Modem Wars and Starflight on my PC, and Battletech tabletop, writing new rule variants and designing scenarios. Most people at the time looked at those things as distractions, not as career preparation.

Q. What career preparation did your High School Aptitude Tests offer you?

A. I took that aptitude test they were giving out in school, and it came back that I should either be in textile manufacturing or law enforcement. I didn’t even know what textile manufacturing was at the time, so I looked it up and was like, “You’re telling me I should make clothes? So…why am I going to school?” I did end up working in Law Enforcement in the military, so I guess it was at least half right. When I was in high school in the early 90’s, there was really no concept of working in the game industry; everyone just pictured “those guys” in a garage makin’ stuff.

Q.  Did you eschew the confines of the garage and go earn a college degree?

A. I did…but only after I was already working as a game designer. I was first educated at MCRD San Diego. After the Corps, I got into modding, and that is what really propelled me into the industry. I was working for the State of Alaska during the day, and making mods for Rainbow Six: Rogue Spear in the evenings. After a few years of this, I decided what I really wanted to do was games, so I quit my job and moved to Arizona, where I started school at the Art Institute in Game Art & Design. I actually got hired during my first year there by Red Storm, so I dropped out and moved to NC to work on the Ghost Recon games. Later, I went back and finished my degree online. I actually finished my degree right before I shipped my last game, GRAW2.

Q. And how did that career path ultimately lead you to Bungie?

A. I had been at Red Storm for about five years, and was looking to move out of North Carolina to a climate that was more compatible with my Alaskan roots, and less of an allergy fest for my family. So I made a list of companies that I would be interested in working for, and cities I was interested in living in. Once cross referenced, that list was narrowed down to about four places, and one was Bungie. I checked their website, and they had a listing for a Design Lead, so I sent in my resume. A few weeks later, they emailed me.

Q. Obviously that email led to an interview.  What did you take along with you to help seal the deal?

A. Well…nothing. Leading up to the marathon two day interview process at Bungie, I had around ten different phone interviews, and most folks were familiar with my work on the Ghost Recon games. As a designer, you generally don’t really come with a portfolio or a demo reel, just your brain and the ability to think critically and apply your game design skills to problems. I didn’t even really prepare (except to go back and play through Halo and 2 again).

Q. Is there one moment of critical thinking during the process that sticks out in your mind?

A. Jason Jones likes to take off his shoes when interviewing.

Seriously though, the one thing that sticks in my mind was the thorough way Bungie approaches hiring. During one phone interview, on a Friday night, Jason had asked me which project I had worked on that I thought was the best single player game, and I mentioned GR2: Summit Strike for the Xbox. Jason hadn’t played it, so he said he’d check it out. The next Monday, he called me back, having played the entire game, and had detailed questions about the direction of the various gameplay elements. I was impressed that he would take the time to go to that length, especially as this was in the middle of Halo 3 crunch.

Other than that, two days of solid interviews is pretty draining, so it’s pretty much a blur. Normally, we only do one day, but because the Design Lead position is normally not something that Bungie hires in for, I talked to a LOT of people.

Q. In a single sentence, describe what it’s like to work at Bungie.

A. Imagine living in a commune where everyone loves what they do and does their all for the community, but instead of growing hemp and playing hacky sack, you are making kick ass video games and playing hacky sack.

Q. Any advice for aspiring applicants looking to get in on the hacky sack action?

A. Remember that you are going to be competing for a position with some of the best. Definitely put your best foot forward, but be honest about your skills and experience, don’t front; we’ll be able to tell. Also, and this one is a big one for me since I’ve been reviewing resumes recently: Have a good resume. If you need to, take a class or look at one of the gabazillion examples online. A crappily formatted resume will get you tossed to the bottom of the stack when I have dozens to go through, especially for designers!