03-07-2008, 01:30 PM
Well I finally got around to it.
This is a look into the video gaming industry. Many people have the life-long dream of getting a career in video games. Now granted there are many, many ways to go about this, but these are things I've learned from my time spent in college in a Game Design program as well as talking with many companies at the Game Developers' Conference a couple weeks ago. Keep in mind none of this is set stone. Things can change from company to company as people in general are never identical to another.
As with just about every career you apply for, you'll need a resume when you apply to be in the gaming industry. The trick is what to put on this resume though. Many people would simply put past employment and their education. This is by no means a bad thing that you went to college or had that previous job in gaming, but how many other people went to college for gaming as well? The answer is a lot. You are not the only one who has a degree in Game Design, Game Art or whatever it is from which you graduated. The trick to this resume is to make yourself stand out. This is one of the most important things you can do. You must have something unique. Include any projects you may have worked on while in school or in your free time, but also include what exactly you did for the project. Did you organize other people on the project to get things done on time, program everything yourself, do all the art work or modeling, or did you do a little bit of everything? Maybe you received an award from a competition regarding your work. Individuality is a huge plus. Remember, there may be a lot of programming and even math with signs of science or history, but the video game industry at heart is truly an art field. Even if you're sitting at a desk crunching numbers or writing thousands of lines of code, what you're doing is actually creating a form of art. When you think of it this way, would you want to walk through an art gallery at look at paintings made by people who were all the same? Well the video game aisle at your store is the same as an art gallery. The differences in people are what made those games so different from each other, so showing how different you are from the rest of those who are applying is practically a must. The difficult part is letting people know everything you have done in a limited space. Your resume should only be a page long unless you have an extemely long history in game development. It should completely fill the page(s) though. Resumes with white space at the end do not look nearly as neat as those which are completely filled. Another important thing about the resume is wording. Many companies have turned to machines which scan resumes and look for keywords. If the resume does not have these keywords, no one actually looks at the resume. These words can differ from employer to employer (even if there are some standard keywords), so a good way to combat this is to simply talk to the employer. Schedule a short conversation with someone who deals with the applicants. Find out as much as you can about what they are looking for. Many times they will say the words they want to see on that resume.
Showing off what you can do is also a great way to get that dream career. In this area, it can be a lot easier for those artists in the industry. For people who are looking to do art in the gaming industry (which would include, but is not limited to, concept artist, 3D modeler, 2D modeler, texturing or even level design), a portfolio is easier to create. Having that folder with a selection of your best achievements speaks volumes about what you are capable of doing. Other fields can have a slightly harder time showcasing their work. A programmer can code an entire game to work smoothly, but the only way to really see this is to fully play the game which can take quite awhile. It only takes a few moments to look at a dozen images drawn by an artist, but reading through thousands of lines of code or playing a complete game can take hours. Unfortunately, that is about the only way to go about it. Employers who don't want to take the time to read all those lines of code or play that whole game will lose out by not seeing how good you are at what you do. It is their loss; not yours. Another problem a programmer may come across is requiring the assistance of other people to really show off their work. After all, that programmer may not have any talent when it comes to creating the images displayed during their game, but those images are necessary. This is where the power of the project comes in.
Organizing a project is one of the best ways to portray what you are capable of creating. Artists are able to create those backgrounds, levels, characters or textures and show them off. The programmer is able to write the coding and implement it into a game that not only plays well, but also looks nice. Remember, a video game has many components, and in most situations it is better to have someone else do the work you lack in than showing you can code very well, but cannot draw at all. When you submit the project, simply state what you contributed. The credits are a good way to do this, but also include a written document with the credits. If people from the project are applying to different jobs, it may be best for each to write a paragraph or so describing what exactly he/she did for the project. For those who go into a game design program at a college, you'll likely learn how to do a lot of things, but you probably won't be good at them all. If you find yourself working with others who have experience with several aspects of creating a game, find out who is the best at different fields. The person who can model better than the others should be your lead modeler, but should not be the only modeler. It is ok to say one person did the majority of the modeling, but you contributed with some models of your own. You may not have written 100% of the code, but don't be afraid to say you wrote 10% as well as created all the levels for the game. Remember, if something makes you stand out, even if it is working on several aspects of the game despite your lack of talent for it. Now if coding is not your strongest suit, don't focus much on it. Make sure to let employers know that although you did help with the coding, they should really focus on the levels or models you made for the project. There is a lot of common sense when it comes to applying. If you work primarily with audio, hand the employer a CD with your work with your resume. Artists should have a physical portfolio with their best work. Programmers can put their game online to display it. Online portfolios have become very popular and are very useful, but make sure it looks professional even if it means getting someone else to create the site for you. There are many websites that offer free hosting, but these are not a good idea as they are cluttered with advertisements and are very unprofessional looking. Take the time and money and invest in a website you own and looks its best. Try to register a simple domain name; generally just your name. You name may already be taken as a domain name, so try to find something that is still professional, but is tied to you somehow.
If anyone has questions or comments, please post a reply here or [the better option] send me a PM. Off Topic threads can easily get lost in the shuffle, but I always keep up with my PM inbox. I hope people found this helpful and I'll be happy to help anyone in their journey into the video gaming industry.
This is a look into the video gaming industry. Many people have the life-long dream of getting a career in video games. Now granted there are many, many ways to go about this, but these are things I've learned from my time spent in college in a Game Design program as well as talking with many companies at the Game Developers' Conference a couple weeks ago. Keep in mind none of this is set stone. Things can change from company to company as people in general are never identical to another.
As with just about every career you apply for, you'll need a resume when you apply to be in the gaming industry. The trick is what to put on this resume though. Many people would simply put past employment and their education. This is by no means a bad thing that you went to college or had that previous job in gaming, but how many other people went to college for gaming as well? The answer is a lot. You are not the only one who has a degree in Game Design, Game Art or whatever it is from which you graduated. The trick to this resume is to make yourself stand out. This is one of the most important things you can do. You must have something unique. Include any projects you may have worked on while in school or in your free time, but also include what exactly you did for the project. Did you organize other people on the project to get things done on time, program everything yourself, do all the art work or modeling, or did you do a little bit of everything? Maybe you received an award from a competition regarding your work. Individuality is a huge plus. Remember, there may be a lot of programming and even math with signs of science or history, but the video game industry at heart is truly an art field. Even if you're sitting at a desk crunching numbers or writing thousands of lines of code, what you're doing is actually creating a form of art. When you think of it this way, would you want to walk through an art gallery at look at paintings made by people who were all the same? Well the video game aisle at your store is the same as an art gallery. The differences in people are what made those games so different from each other, so showing how different you are from the rest of those who are applying is practically a must. The difficult part is letting people know everything you have done in a limited space. Your resume should only be a page long unless you have an extemely long history in game development. It should completely fill the page(s) though. Resumes with white space at the end do not look nearly as neat as those which are completely filled. Another important thing about the resume is wording. Many companies have turned to machines which scan resumes and look for keywords. If the resume does not have these keywords, no one actually looks at the resume. These words can differ from employer to employer (even if there are some standard keywords), so a good way to combat this is to simply talk to the employer. Schedule a short conversation with someone who deals with the applicants. Find out as much as you can about what they are looking for. Many times they will say the words they want to see on that resume.
Showing off what you can do is also a great way to get that dream career. In this area, it can be a lot easier for those artists in the industry. For people who are looking to do art in the gaming industry (which would include, but is not limited to, concept artist, 3D modeler, 2D modeler, texturing or even level design), a portfolio is easier to create. Having that folder with a selection of your best achievements speaks volumes about what you are capable of doing. Other fields can have a slightly harder time showcasing their work. A programmer can code an entire game to work smoothly, but the only way to really see this is to fully play the game which can take quite awhile. It only takes a few moments to look at a dozen images drawn by an artist, but reading through thousands of lines of code or playing a complete game can take hours. Unfortunately, that is about the only way to go about it. Employers who don't want to take the time to read all those lines of code or play that whole game will lose out by not seeing how good you are at what you do. It is their loss; not yours. Another problem a programmer may come across is requiring the assistance of other people to really show off their work. After all, that programmer may not have any talent when it comes to creating the images displayed during their game, but those images are necessary. This is where the power of the project comes in.
Organizing a project is one of the best ways to portray what you are capable of creating. Artists are able to create those backgrounds, levels, characters or textures and show them off. The programmer is able to write the coding and implement it into a game that not only plays well, but also looks nice. Remember, a video game has many components, and in most situations it is better to have someone else do the work you lack in than showing you can code very well, but cannot draw at all. When you submit the project, simply state what you contributed. The credits are a good way to do this, but also include a written document with the credits. If people from the project are applying to different jobs, it may be best for each to write a paragraph or so describing what exactly he/she did for the project. For those who go into a game design program at a college, you'll likely learn how to do a lot of things, but you probably won't be good at them all. If you find yourself working with others who have experience with several aspects of creating a game, find out who is the best at different fields. The person who can model better than the others should be your lead modeler, but should not be the only modeler. It is ok to say one person did the majority of the modeling, but you contributed with some models of your own. You may not have written 100% of the code, but don't be afraid to say you wrote 10% as well as created all the levels for the game. Remember, if something makes you stand out, even if it is working on several aspects of the game despite your lack of talent for it. Now if coding is not your strongest suit, don't focus much on it. Make sure to let employers know that although you did help with the coding, they should really focus on the levels or models you made for the project. There is a lot of common sense when it comes to applying. If you work primarily with audio, hand the employer a CD with your work with your resume. Artists should have a physical portfolio with their best work. Programmers can put their game online to display it. Online portfolios have become very popular and are very useful, but make sure it looks professional even if it means getting someone else to create the site for you. There are many websites that offer free hosting, but these are not a good idea as they are cluttered with advertisements and are very unprofessional looking. Take the time and money and invest in a website you own and looks its best. Try to register a simple domain name; generally just your name. You name may already be taken as a domain name, so try to find something that is still professional, but is tied to you somehow.
If anyone has questions or comments, please post a reply here or [the better option] send me a PM. Off Topic threads can easily get lost in the shuffle, but I always keep up with my PM inbox. I hope people found this helpful and I'll be happy to help anyone in their journey into the video gaming industry.
heheh