Q&A with Alyssa Dettling, Engineering Line Manager

Can you tell me a little bit about what you do?

I’m Alyssa Dettling, an Engineering Line Manager at Ripple Effect, which basically means I manage engineers! I’ve been an engineer my entire career specializing in gameplay engineering, and worked my way up to senior/lead in previous roles. Coming to Ripple Effect, we have a kind of a unique structure where we separate out the people managers from the project managers into something called the Line Org. I was at a junction point in my career - do I want to keep programming, or try managing. So I decided to see what it's like to take a step back from programming and help others with their career.

What inspired you to get into gaming?

So, this is a fun story for me! Some background here – growing up, my mom was an electrical/mechanical engineer. And as a result, we always had a computer and the newest tech in house because of the nature of her role. So I was exposed to games when I was young, I even got to try out early 90s VR headsets when she worked on them.

Around then most people didn’t expect girls to play games, but my friends all did. At home I’d been playing games on PC, but they all had consoles, and after I saw Final Fantasy VII, I thought ‘Oh my god’ and convinced my parents to get me a PlayStation. One of the earlier games I played, a JRPG called Lunar: Silver Star Story Complete, had a behind the scenes bonus CD and that was the first time I realized ‘making games is a job.’ They were working in a tiny office in Japan, with 90s tech, and very little light, but all I saw was that people were working on a game! At that point I thought ‘I would really love to do this’ So even back in elementary school, middle school, I realized I wanted to be a part of making games.

I couldn’t design things, I couldn’t draw, I didn’t know production was a job, so I thought ‘Programming.’ And since my mom was an engineer, I thought ‘Of course this is something I can do. I’ll do it.’ I took comp sci in high school, went to college, and really hyper-focused on getting into games.

Who inspired you in your career?

Probably my mom. Because my mom was in a tech position already, I always just viewed it as ‘yeah, this is a valid career, of course I can get a career in tech.’ In a lot of ways it was my mom that normalized it. She was one of three in her graduating class, I got to see the struggles she did face as she went up the ladder, but it was also great cause I could see things that worked for her. And my dad too! If my mom showed me how to operate in a technical world, he was the one that was more outgoing, comfortable talking, and great at connecting with people and speaking. So from my dad I learned the people skills, between the two of them they were really great role models.

What inspires and energizes you now in your work?

One moment I remember that really energized me was when I finally joined my first AAA team, I got to go to a con and have everyone play it. We ran a little competition - I learned I can’t be an esports commentator - but I got to see people PLAYING the game. That was always kind of the dream for me – to make something and see people get lost in it the way I did when I was a kid. Someone brought their little girl with one of our shirts – she was three, and it had a skull on it! - and it was a really sweet moment to see people having fun and enjoying something I worked on. That was a big moment of ‘OK, it was worth it. I’m glad I got into it.’

Learn more about our team and careers at Ripple Effect here.