Developer Stories: Zynga’s Katie Ites on getting into games and working on Game of Thrones Legends

• Katie Ites has over ten years of experience filling various roles such as art director, concept artist and technical artist
• “Don’t let anyone take credit for the work that you are doing. Take pride in it, talk about it, and don’t shy away from being proud of your accomplishments and experience”

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Behind every great game is a team of creative developers making it happen. In our developer stories series, we highlight some of the individuals working in the games industry, whether they are veteran developers with big hits under their belts or entirely new to the industry working on their very first title.

In this interview, we caught up with Zynga’s lead art outsource manager, Katie Ites, who has over ten years of experience filling various roles such as art director, concept artist and technical artist.

We discussed Ites’ current role at Zynga, working on the recently released mobile title, Game of Thrones Legends, and advice for making it into the industry.

PocketGamer.biz: First, can you tell us a little about yourself? How did you initially get into the games industry? 

Katie Ites: I went to college in Chicago for Media Arts and Animation. In my final year, I had the opportunity to work as a concept artist for a day with a small start-up studio called “Spooky Cool Labs”.

I worked well with the team so they offered me an internship. I worked there until about a year later when they offered me a job. This little studio was acquired by Zynga about two years into my role, and the rest is history.

You’ve now been at Zynga for around ten years, how do you reflect on that journey so far?

It’s been an amazing roller coaster. I’ve worked on about four game launches and experienced the company growing from a start-up mentality to the giant it is today.

I am very fortunate to have found a home here that has allowed me to experience different roles on the game teams, from technical art to concept art and ex-dev management. 

Is there any advice you could offer someone looking to pursue a career in games, particularly with roles around art?

Don’t give up; keep working on your portfolio and pushing your abilities.

While you’re in school, make connections with your peers and teachers. The industry is surprisingly small, and it’s likely you will work or stay connected with the people from there. You never know who might be able to help you get a foot in the door later.

Go for startups to build experience, but take care of your mental health in those environments. Making games for a living should be fun. I think it’s worth exploring and having skills in a few art disciplines.

If you apply for a specific role, you can share the other skills you are interested in working on, which can help you move into different roles within a company. 

Do you have any advice for women pursuing a career in games? Or, in general, what do you think, as an industry, we can do better to make a more inclusive and safe space in our industry?

Don’t let anyone take credit for the work that you are doing. Take pride in it, talk about it, and don’t shy away from being proud of your accomplishments and experience.

I think Zynga is a great example of what the industry could do to be more inclusive and safe. We have a lot of employee resource groups like Women At Zynga and ZPride that lift others up with training, seminars, and events full of people who are there to support each other. 

What do you enjoy most about working in the games industry?

I get to be myself and push my creativity every day. I have different-coloured hair every couple of months and several tattoos. It would be hard for me to work somewhere that wasn’t OK with that because it’s part of who I am.

Every week is a new project, challenge to overcome, or asset to design, so it never becomes monotonous. I like my skills being challenged, and the gaming industry has allowed me to continually improve as an artist and a leader. 

Let’s get into your most recent project! Game of Thrones: Legends. Can you tell us more about your role in the creation of the game art? What does a usual day look like for you? 

I am the lead artist for the internal team and the lead external development manager, so my usual day will include creating new character design briefs and providing concept art feedback for both the internal and external artists on characters, environments, and feature work.

I coordinate schedules with the production team and handle forecasting, budgeting, and asset tracking. I also make sure assets that have final approval are prepared to be shared with our licensing partners.

I enjoy doing some concept art, so I’ll take on smaller tasks here and there to support the team and avoid any quick assets from affecting the team’s schedule or creating thrash.  

What is it like working on a game that is attached to such a loved IP? Is there more pressure to get the look and feel of these characters just right?

It’s extremely important to make sure the beloved characters match the look and feel of their counterparts in the show. I find the work to be fun, making sure to find as many references as possible and even reading through lore or character wikis to know more about their setting.

More than just the look of the character, we try to capture the character’s attitude in the posing and expressions we choose as well.

And roughly how long does the process take from the initial choice of a character to having the art and a full 3D render of them done? What phases does this process go through? 

It can take about three months for a single character. The character starts with our amazing design team. They figure out the move sets, abilities, balance with other champions, and what time in the series they want to base the specific character on.

Then their design comes into my hands where my team and I find references for clothing and poses to write up a project brief document, and we will draw a rough version of the character at this stage.

From there, the character moves into the concept phase, where either an internal team member or our external partner teams will finalise the character’s flat art. Once the flat art is completed, it goes to our animation team who bring the character to life in 3D.

After 3D, our VFX team takes over to make the abilities and effects you’ll see when battling with that character. Along the way, we check in with the licensing team to make sure we are greenlit to keep moving forward. 

Do you have a character that has been your favourite to create art for so far? If so, why them?

It’s hard to pick one favourite character; I love to dig into the costumes for the characters. They evolve over time to show the characters’ growth and have so many small details that communicate where they are from their allegiances, and their outlook for the future. Many of the costumes have intricate details and embroidery that are a fun challenge to emulate in the concept art.

These are meaningful to the character’s mindset at the time. Sansa’s outfit at Winterfell after the Battle of the Bastards, for example, retains elements of armour and design that she picked up from her time in King’s Landing but also incorporated subtle sigils of the Stark Direwolf and Tully Trout as a homage to her family origins. 

Do you have a favourite Game of Thrones or House of the Dragon character overall? Or perhaps a favourite dragon?

I’m really loving the new dragons we are seeing in House of the Dragon. Sunfyre is beautiful gold, a perfect dragon for a King, and recently Sea Smoke as well is my favourite shade of blue. All of the dragons have such unique looks that they are a fun challenge to work on.

From Game of Thrones, my favourite character was Margaery Tyrell. She is a brilliant, smart character who played the game well and had beautiful costumes. 

And finally, with more spin-offs upcoming from the IP can we expect the game to keep introducing more characters? Is this game something you’ll personally still be working on or will you be moving onto something new?

Yes! We have so many new champions on the way. Aemond Targaryen was recently made available, for example. House of the Dragon has introduced many new dragons for us to add into our game as well, so I can’t wait for their future releases.

I expect to be on this project for at least a few years. After the game launch, we are moving into the live service cadence, so there will be no shortage of champions and events to create as we settle into a rhythm that works best for the team and for players.