People Make Kwalee: Adam Willis
Our video editor Adam Willis sits down with us to talk about his favourite projects here at Kwalee. Our company is made up of a diverse bunch of people, and we’re growing all the time! To provide some insight into the multitude of individuals and roles that go into releasing chart-topping games, we’re pulling back the curtain and focusing on the people who make it all happen.
Hello Adam, could you introduce yourself to our amazing audience?
Hey, I’m Adam Willis, and I’m a video editor and motion designer at Kwalee, who makes wonderful, joyful adverts for our mobile games. I started my career as an apprentice for a creative digital media company. I would continue working there for almost 10 years. It involved filming, digital design, and eventually [led me to] the mobile gaming industry.
What’s your favourite game or genre?
I love construction and management simulation games. Games such as Planet Coaster (and not forgetting the old classic Tycoon games that I grew up with) are my absolute favourites. They allow me to be creative in a game and give me a sense of achievement.
What does your day-to-day look like at work?
I live in the world of Adobe Creative Suite such as After Effects and the game engine platform Unity. With these key softwares, it allows me to create more dynamic and out-of-the-box ideas for our game adverts. It gives me the freedom to completely reimagine a game for marketing. For example, new environments, characters, animations, that kind of thing.
What is your mantra/saying?
YOLO! (You live only once.)
It’s a pretty simple one, but to me, it helps me get out of that negative mindset and tough times in life. You think of the positives you have in your life, and the potential you can bring to the table if you push through whatever it is you’re going through – health, finance, social stuff… It’s always been a great belief system personally.
If you could instantly learn a new skill, what would it be?
I’ve always wanted to learn more languages. It makes travelling a lot easier when you have to talk to the locals.
What’s the one digital tool or app you cannot live without?
Oooh… the glorious UNDO BUTTON!
Imagine living without an undo button and we’d have to redo hours and hours and agonising hours of video content.
Perfect nightmare for a good ol’ video editor like me.
What is the one project you are particularly proud of?
I created the video that showed off our 1 Billion Downloads achievement this year, and I really enjoyed doing that because it was a little different from what we do here every day.
So it was nice to explore something bigger, more different, projects, and see how 1 billion measures up on a global scale with interesting comparisons. It’s like a fun data-centric video that you can watch on the Kwalee YouTube account, for which I did the voiceover too!
What’s some advice you’d give to those who want to work at Kwalee as part of the Creative team?
Just be yourself. This is a fun, easy-going environment where you can let your skills just fly. I mean, that’s what I’ve learned since I joined a while ago. When I first joined, I was reserved – I always knew I could do stuff, but I was always silent, sort of. But Kwalee allowed me to just go for it, to just do it.
And now I’ve learned so much from the past 12 months of working here. While looking at all the adverts and videos I’ve created, this is so much more than what I had in mind, and it’s because I was able to just be myself through my work, which has been amazing.
Watch the new People Make Kwalee episode on Kwalee YouTube channel.
We have many job roles available for everyone, including remote opportunities! Head over to our jobs page and see what’s in store at Kwalee for passionate folks like yourself. You can also reach out to us and our recruitment team to ask about roles that fit you. Follow us on social media (TikTok | Twitter | YouTube | Instagram | LinkedIn | Facebook) to get the latest news on our recruitment efforts.