Treyarch Interview Questions
& Process

I was given a game design test to do on my own time. They gave me a general design outline, and I had to flesh it out and implement it using tools from a previous Call of Duty game. The public documentation is kinda sparse, so it took some finesse to get it working. Then, I had a phone screen where I talked about the design test and my past experience with the Lead Scripter. After that, it was an on-site interview where I met with the senior design team. We talked about my experience, the design test, and my design philosophies, and they threw some hypothetical design scenarios at me. I also met with one of the engineering leads, who asked me some engineering-focused questions. I'm guessing this was just for me since I have an engineering background.

I started with a 1-hour video call where they asked me some basic programming and C++ questions. After that, they invited me for an in-person interview at their Santa Monica office. We were a group of three candidates, and they gave us a tour of the office. The in-person part had 6 one-hour segments: a theory test, a programming test, lunch, and then 3 coding interviews. The first couple of hours were pretty standard, covering programming and C++ stuff, much like the video call. Lunch was a nice break; we ate with 5 developers and chatted about ourselves, and we could ask them questions too. It was about an hour, relaxed and not stressful. Each of the 3 coding interviews were with different pairs of developers from various teams. They'd start by asking about my interests and getting to know me, then move on to coding questions. Some questions were straightforward, others were more open-ended and challenging. The topics varied, often relating to the devs' current projects, like networking or gameplay. If I struggled, they'd offer hints and warn me before posing really tough questions. I felt well-prepared and did pretty well. It was actually more enjoyable than I anticipated, and everyone was really friendly. They also encouraged questions throughout. Overall, I think Treyarch runs a great interview process.

Applied online through their site, recorded a video answer to questions, then an on-site interview. Overall straightforward but tripped up on a "this isn't a trick question" question. Although I was told the interview process would happen at a certain time, include lunch, and last for 3+ hours, the interviewers came in late after having lunch (I ended up waiting 30 minutes or so for them in the lobby), and the whole thing lasted maybe 50 minutes before they showed me out. Overall neutral experience if not a little unprofessional.

I applied in December for the level design internship and the whole thing took about two and a half months. It felt like a really long time and there was a lot of silence between stages, plus the recruiter was slow to respond. First, I had to record a six-minute video about why I'm interested in Treyarch and my design process. I sent that in and then a few weeks later, I got a design test. The design test was pretty hard but also fun. I liked that it was a 2D map in the style of COD multiplayer maps and it took me about 36 hours. Finally, I got to the interviews, which were two back-to-back Zoom calls. Even though the recruiter called them Zoom interviews, nobody ever turned their camera on, so they were basically phone calls. The first interview was supposed to be with two level designers, but one was sick, so I just talked to one. She was nice and I felt good answering her questions about how I learn and what I'd do in different design scenarios. The second interview right after was with two other designers and it was way worse. One was late, and then they asked me what I'd do if I got feedback I didn't agree with and about leadership experience. They both sounded really bored and groggy, like they just woke up. One used some weird Treyarch-specific terms that just confused me. A couple of the questions were tough and checked how well I know the COD games, especially Black Ops. The hardest ones were about COD in general, like what I liked about Black Ops and what could be better. I definitely think not knowing the latest COD games well enough hurt my chances. They never asked about my design test, my process, or my past projects. It felt like the interviewers were just picking random questions off a list. This interview felt flat from the beginning compared to the previous one. It's surprising how many steps there are for a short internship. They didn't even give me feedback on my test or the interviews.