How I got into the Games Industry
A small recap of events starting from I decided I wanted to be a games developer to present day including all the mistakes and turning points along the way.
Young and lazy
During A-levels, I started to get really lazy at school and more or less went through a rebel phrase where I honestly didn’t care about anything let alone my future and just wanted to have fun with my friends. So, when it came filling in the UCAS form (UK University forms), I really didn’t know what to put in and I didn’t talk to my parents about it. The deadline loomed so I literally made a snap decision that I wanted to do something with computers since they interested me somewhat.
How to be a Games Tester
This is a commonly asked question with surprisingly little resources for information available. There are a few sites such as Only4Gamers which will provides information on testing and a list of jobs that are available for a membership fee. However, similar information is already readily available freely but is just scattered across several sites. I am writing the this article to consolidate all the freely available information into one place so aspiring testers do not have to resort to paying for information, that in my opinion should be free.
Playing games for money? Awesome, right?
Games Testing is sometimes referred to as ‘Getting paid to play games’ and from that, it sounds like an awesome job. After all, most (if not all) aspiring testers play games every day, why not get paid to play them? The reason is because the quote is wrong, testers are not being paid to play games, they are being paid to test them and that is the crucial difference. Playing games involves choosing the games you want to play and playing them the way you want to play. Games testing involve neither of these. Testers are assigned games to test and will need to play the games according to test scripts. To give a real life example, the article ‘Testing Video Games Can’t Possibly Be Hardware Than an Afternoon With Xbox’ describes a tester’s short experience on the job at Volt. The article doesn’t exactly paint a pretty picture. Games testing is effectively the minimal wage job of the games industry and the turnover of staff is the largest out of all departments in development. People get promoted, leave on their accord, get fired or are made redundant. Whatever you do, don’t expect to get rich just ‘playing’ games via games testing.
Company of Heroes Designer, Brian Wood Memorial Fund
As some of you may know, Brian Wood who was a designer on the PC RTS game, Company of Heroes died last week in a tragic crash. His last act was to save his wife and unborn child by swerving the car so he would take on the full brunt of collision from the oncoming vehicle whom the driver may have been under the influence of drugs.
Quoted from the Daily Mail:
The horrific accident happened on Friday as the Woods were driving to a family home on Whidbey Island in Washington State.
A Chevy Blazer crossed the centre line when the driver tried to take off her sweater - asking the other front passenger to take the wheel.
As Mr Wood braked and swerved, the Blazer’s momentum drove it right over the top of his Subaru.
Police said drugs may have been involved. All of the Blazer occupants were known to officers. None were wearing seatbelts.
Mrs Wood told The Province that the first thing she wants her baby to know if that her husband died to save them.
‘All the policeman say that if we had hit the car head-on all of us would be dead.
‘At the very last second (Brian) braked really hard and turned right so that he would be put in the path of the SUV and not me and the baby, and that is the only thing that saved us both.
‘I am not going to waste the gift he gave us.’
A memorial fund has been setup where you can donate in Canadian dollars at brianwoodmemorialtrust.com.
(Source: escapistmagazine.com)
"Indie Game: The Movie - see what you’ve been missing - http://bit.ly/8Xkdgh"
— Blitz1UP
EA Louse - Inside Story of EA Mythic? »
It really annoys the hell out of me when I read stories regarding studio closures/layoffs as normally it isn’t the fault of developers but decisions made by higher-ups and executives yet they stay employed and the developers are the ones that get the cut.
If what EA Louse has written is true, then EA Mythic is no exception.
Revenue breakdown for Solipskier iOS and Flash game »
It is great to see developers share breakdowns of their revenue as it does help others to project possible income. I was surprised to see only $1k generated from ad revenue on Kongregate since it was a popular game and considering it generated over $70k on iOS sales.
Still, it made a very tidy profit for two months worth of sales and look forward to seeing their next game.
i'm mid way through my masters degree. i'm studying msc 3d games modelling and have indeed though of giving up but decided to just go for it anyway.
i know your probably busy as anything but if you could spare any time at all to contact me about any tips or tricks about getting into the industry or what industry is looking for in particular within a portfolio i would be so indebted to you.
my email is - blitz1000@hotmail.co.uk
Anonymous
There is a good series of articles from Lee Winder at Blitz Games on Portfolios. It is geared towards programmers but the same rules apply about what should be shown, the quality of work and presentation of work.
Make sure the work you show is relevant to the type of job you want to get (for example, seeing a written story in a 3D modelling portfolio is just noise) and make sure it is of high quality. Anything half finished doesn’t belong there.
My old colleague’s portfolio (Max Boughen) should give you an example of work that should be in one. Bear in mind that he is experienced so his quality bar is quite high compared to what a student would be.
Network. You are more likely to get a job through a contact that you have met and talked to then through generic company application process. This also includes other students who have not yet got a job because when they do, it then becomes possible for them to recommend you and/or you apply through them.
This happened to quite a few of us on our MSc. One person got a job at EA via the application system and then pass along his HR contact contact details to us and essentially fast tracked us through the system.
You may also find that few companies will reply back. This can mean many things ranging from your portfolio and CV may need some work to the job has already been filled. You just need to keep trying and applying while improving your CV and portfolio.
Without industry experience, your application to interview ratio will be quite low which is why many recommend doing an internship if possible. Once you have a few published games under your belt, you find getting a job interview much easier.
Finally, here is a site of games companies in the world (may be outdated): GameDevMap.
To recap:
- Network
- Show only your best work
- Continue working on your portfolio
- And keep applying
Hope that helps.
So You Want to be a Game Designer?
Just been linked to this today and I think it is a great video in what it takes to be a games designer in the industry. It be a rude awakening for many budding designers as in my experience, they think it just it is about creating ideas and games.
The reality is that only forms a tiny part of the role and the rest is about communicating that idea and vision to the rest of the team and making it a reality.
Enjoy!
(Source: escapistmagazine.com)
Games Design Courses - Are they worth it?
Disclaimer: Everything here is of my own opinion and do not necessarily represent any other party’s views.
Note: When I refer to game developers, this means I am referring to everyone involved in the development of the game such as programmers, artists, producers, designers, etc.
There has been increasingly more enquires about becoming a games developer in forums related to games careers such as the ones on IGDA and GameCareerGuide. As much as I am happy that more and more people are interested in entering the games industry, the majority of these are asking on how they become a games designer and which games design course should they choose because they naturally see it as the best way to get into the industry. After all, if you want to be a plumber, you do a plumbing course. So if you want to be games designer, you do a games design course, right?
If only it was that simple.
