After moving from Pacific to Atlantic coasts, I joined HB Studios, a small game development studio in picturesque Lunenburg, Nova Scotia. Lunenburg is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, meaning, it hasn’t really changed all that much since the 18th century.

While HB Studios is now best known for their award winning golf game, during my time there in 2010, they were mostly known for their Rugby simulation titles for consoles.

My role at HB was separate from the sports brands as I was the Producer for two projects include a Harry Potter title known as Harry Potter: Book of Spells. This was a PlayStation 3 augmented reality game using the Move controller as a wand. Although the title wasn’t released until 2012, my team at HB Studios was responsible for determining the feasibility of such a product, working out the basic mechanics, and coming up with some basic puzzles and game play activities.

Along with the Book of Spells, I was responsible for working with the EA Games Sims 4 team to develop a slimmed down, but playable, version of EA’s Sims 4. This version of the game was intended to be a free give away at a game convention and was essentially a custom made vertical slice of the Sims experience. I found irony in leaving EA, moving across the country, only to find myself working on EA titles.

While things may have changed since the release of their successful golf title, at the time, HB Studios wasn’t very stable in terms of employment. They often hired and let go in waves. I didn’t want to be in a position of being in Lunenburg with no work once my two projects were complete, so I made the decision to relocate again, this time to Montreal, QC.