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Words of Wisdom - Archive

 

Note: This is not really an "article", but rather an archiving on the now defunct Words of Wisdom column. The column was a collection of "words of wisdom" from pros in the game development industry. These words of wisdom are geared towards those wanting to get into the game industry. They are real-world insights straight from the professionals already working in the industry. These words of wisdom were collected by Barbara Walter when she was the IGDA newbie forum moderator.

 

Words of Wisdom Index

 

Choosing Your Education Program/Major

Warren Spector, ION Storm Austin (June 22, 2002)

Warren Spector is the studio director of ION Storm Austin and is a co-chair of the IGDA's Education Committee. Here, are his comments on some of the general purpose multimedia and design programs/schools out there. Also, be sure to check out the IGDA's Breaking In student resource site.

First, there are NO university programs out there (with the possible exceptions of DigiPen and Full Sail) that even claim to be a direct route from school to industry.

Second, many programs seem, at a glance, pretty general-purpose and game development is very much a razor-sharp focus business. You're not going to hurt yourself by enrolling in such a program but it isn't a meal ticket, either.

Having said that, I suspect you're a gamer and could twist courses around to be more game-oriented and less web-design- or productivity-tool-centric. (You might want to discuss that with the admissions people or some of the profs...)

Having said THAT, you could probably do yourself as much good by looking for a good, solid CS program or a good, solid, computer graphics program or even check out one of the universities offering some actual game design courses. The IGDA website has a list of such schools online and we're working on fleshing that out (not that that helps someone who needs advice Right Now, I guess...).

However you decide to proceed, start by picking a discipline -- artist, designer, programmer, whatever. Generalists are great but game development is increasingly a business requiring specialization. Then, once you've decided to be the master of...something...get as broad-based an education as you can without compromising on the technical side of things. Anyone who thinks an understanding of tech isn't important in game development isn't paying attention. (And I say this from bitter experience as a non-technical developer myself, something that hurts me every day I'm in this business -- do as I say, not as I did!)

Regardless of discipline and regardless of what school you attend, use your spare time well -- make some games. Grab a commercial game-building tool (a Quake editor or the Unreal editor or or the Deus Ex toolset or, maybe even, the Neverwinter Nights gamemastering tools)... fire up a C++ compiler or a copy of 3DS Max or Lightwave... use whatever tools are available and appropriate to your skill set and make your own games or maps or 3D models. A portfolio of actual gamework, generated on your own time, is still the best way to prove to a game developer that you have the enthusiasm and skills to contribute to a game project. And you can do all of this regardless of what university you decide to attend.

 

Art Portfolios

Chris Mead, Angel Studios (June 4, 2002)

Chris Mead, 3D animator/artist at Angel Studios, kindly offers his real-world view of demo reels and a game artist's life. Chris is a contributor to IGDA's "Breaking In" site.

When it comes right down to it, it really can be as simple as 'you know it when you see it'. But that's only good enough to get a face-to-face interview. After that, your personal skills, knowledge, and enthusiasm are just as important. When I look at a demo reel, I hope to see something that makes me want to rewind it and watch it again. If you're showing off animation, I'm not looking for polished movement, that's expected. I want to see subtle inflections of mood, personality, and emotion. It really comes down to whether your character is a good actor or a great one. If you're showing off environments, I'm looking to see how the geometric shapes, textures, and lighting work together to convey an idea or mood. Again, just lighting and modeling a room is easy, show us that you have the potential to be a great set designer.

As a professional 3D artist, the bulk of work is not extraordinary. Time and budget don't allow it. But your demo reel should be. It is the culmination of your life's experiences as an artist. Even if it's only a minute long, it should be something that you know will impress anyone. I want to work with individuals who know what constitutes great work, and strive to accomplish that with even the most mundane tasks. In the end, very little of what we create is great or even remotely significant. The great artists create a body of work that, as a whole, stands out above the industry standard. Its way too easy to be average in this industry; indeed, most people are. The problem for individuals looking to get 'in' is no one wants to hire another average artist. You may very well interview with people less talented than you, but they are already 'in'.

Now for the practical advice. Look at the games that are out right now that are setting the new visual standards. Make sure your demo reel meets or exceeds that which you see in there. Read the industry magazines and absorb as much of the technical info as one can from this stuff. Don't get too worried about all the details though; it's like trying to learn Spanish without ever speaking it. Just understand the concepts. Be enthusiastic and likeable if you're lucky enough to get an interview. After all, it doesn't matter how good you are, no one wants to work with a putz. Have confidence in your ability, but know that there is always someone better than you.

Lastly, there are a few people in this industry who think a little too highly of themselves. If you find yourself being grilled by someone who throws out way too much attitude, don't get discouraged and take it too personally. From my experience, the best artists are really cool and understand the significance experience makes, and won't hold it against you for not having it. Everyone started somewhere. You just need to find a company that has an opening for an up-and-comer at that particular time. Easier said than done, but good luck.

Barbara Note: To Chris' comments I would add: for a portfolio, VHS demo reel is preferred, CD is OK, website URL comes in third. You want to make it easy for a person to hire you. CDs that don't work right or URLs that can't be found don't help your cause. Also, most people look at an artist/animator resume AFTER they view the demo reel and like it.

 

Mod Building

Gabe Newall, Valve Software (April 2, 2002)

There has been discussion in the forums about (a) whether creating mods of a commercial game will lead to a fulltime game industry job, and (b) the intellectual property/copyright issues relating to mods. Barbara went to the source -- Gabe Newell of Valve Software, whose game Half-Life has spawned a multitude of mods -- and asked him to comment. Here are the questions and Gabe's replies:

1) Does developing mods for games get you a job in professional game development?

A bunch of people at Valve came out of the MOD world (Steve Bond, John Guthrie, Dave Riller, Dario Casali, Adrian Finol, Minh, ...). I think MODs are a great way to get experience, and get the attention of people who are hiring. We stay in close contact with people building Half-Life MODs, and hold the MOD expo, in part, so we can meet these people face to face.

I'm actually setting up a time for a MOD programmer to come out for interviews later this week, so the MOD track works for at least some
people.

2) How can I approach a game developer to obtain an IP/copyright license so I can release a MOD I've made?

In the case of Half-Life, contact cottl@valvesoftware.com or lombardi@valvesoftware.com.

There are a bunch of different issues related to releasing MODs. The first place to look is in the EULA (end user license agreement) that came with the game. Developers usually spell out what rights they are granting with the license of the game. Typically, but not always, they include the rights to create MODs and distribute them for non-commercial purposes.

For additional rights, contact the lead marketing person at the game developer. The larger developers may have someone who is in charge of "business development" and they will be a better bet than the marketing person. Expect to get bounced around a bit, as most developers aren't really used to working with MOD teams. However if you are polite, persistent, and have a lawyer who isn't a pain in the ass for the developer to work with, you should be able to get the developer to give you a license for whatever IP or code you need. For an engine license that allows you to sell on-line, I'd expect you will need to pay something in the neighborhood of a 50% royalty on all revenue that you generate.

As broadband platforms and on-line distribution start to mature, I would expect more and more developers will have commercial relationships with their MOD communities.

 

Becoming a Pure Designer

Rob Hueber, Nihilistic (February 26, 2002)

Rob Huebner, the technical director at Nihilistic Software (and IGDA board member) speaks on becoming a "pure" game designer.

It's not typically very easy to get a pure design job at the entry level. Most of the doors that are open to entry-level workers require some other more 'measurable' skill before the designer can get into the "pure" design role. You see this all the time, some of the best designers out there start out as programmers, level designers, etc. Ray Gresko, the lead designer on our previous game, was the lead programmer for Jedi Knight. It seems weird to go from technology to design, but it happens a lot. Tim Schaffer started out at LucasArts as a SCUMM scripter, which is a type of programmer. Those are just the guys I know personally, I'm sure there are a lot of similar stories out there.


I would say if your goal is to get into pure design, the best way to get there would be level design or art. But if you don't have skills in drawing or drafting, (or programming) the best remaining option is to start out as a tester. A tester is a cool position because, given time, they can go virtually anywhere in most companies. It will probably take longer to get to your goal, but basically if you start out as a tester, then steer yourself toward specializing in game balancing and tuning, eventually you might get tapped to work on something like "mission design" or "object placement", that sort of thing. At that point, you are effectively a level designer but without the artistic requirements. From being a mission designer, it is a short but difficult leap to become a pure designer.

 

Pitching a GBA Title

Tom Sloper, Sloperama (January 12, 2002)

Tom Sloper is a former executive producer at Activision, now an independent game designer who has several years' game industry experience and has viewed countless game demos. He has produced and developed electronic entertainment, games and toys that sold 5.5 million units, including game titles Mechwarrior, Donkey Kong and Alien vs Predator. Here, Tom answers a question from the forums regarding pitching a Game Boy Advance title.


Q>First-time team pitching an addictive GBA action puzzle game. We've got a demo together (10 levels, playable),

EXCELLENT. That gives you a BIG advantage over all the folks who have nothing but a 1-level demo, or just a non-interactive animation, or just a paper design, or just "an idea."

Q>and are looking to get an advance so we shift to working on it full time.

No. What you want is a publishing deal. You want a publisher to fund your finishing the game so that they can publish it. If they don't publish worldwide, then you either want them (a) to sublicense it to companies in other countries besides their own (paying you royalties for doing so) or (b) to forego sublicensing rights so YOU can license it to companies in other countries.

Q>It's a simple title,

Oh, that's too bad. Probably makes it difficult to pitch. Have you heard the story about how many publishers rejected Tetris before Spectrum Holobyte finally took it on?

Q>so it looks like we could hit fully tested and ready to ship in 3 months, but the schedule needs to get a lot more detailed before we can say that with certainty.

So what are you waiting for? Work on that schedule already! But be forewarned that any publisher is likely to have their own ideas they'll want implemented, thus your schedule might be out the window once you get a deal.

Q>I've been reading articles about this until my brain hurts, but I still have a few questions, many of them based on specifics that have to do with the GBA, its market, and publishers.
Are any publishers likely to have room for a title in this genre, regardless of quality? Which publishers should I hit (THQ, Nintendo, ...)?

This is a question YOU have to answer. Check the product lineups of all the Nintendo licensees, see if you can find any who publish puzzle games outside of Japan. Most likely, you will find not many.

Q>Any advice on negotiating this? We won't need a large advance; in fact, we might be able to self-fund, or nearly self-fund.

That's good that you have that kind of flexibility. Your best bet is to finish the game first. That will give you a BIG leg up on all those developers who have "only" a 10-level demo.

Q>Would that be the way to go to get a better royalty deal, or is it better just to bet on the advance (and other milestone payments, perhaps) since you get it right away?

YOU have to determine this, based on what offers you get. And on what you can live with. Consider: you have the BEST chances of getting a deal if you sell the game outright, with no royalties (especially if the publisher thinks it will sell well). But if you are very confident that the product will sell well, go for a "little-or-nothing down and high royalties" deal. You'll probably have to settle for something in between, especially since this is your first. IF you can manage to get a deal at all. (More on that later.)

Q>What's the best way to go about contacting?

Contact your target companies and find out who the submissions manager is. Let your fingers do the walking (use the phone).

Q>Should I try to set up to meet people?

Of course! Consider: of the several methods of communication, each one has its own purpose. In decreasing order of effectiveness, they are:

1) Face-to-face meetings -- for self-introductions, for pitches, for relationship building, for multi-member coordination, and (as an added bonus) for handing off of documents or builds or other materials once there is a project going on.

2) Telephone calls -- for arranging meetings, for quick exchanges of short bits of back-and-forth information, and for relationship maintenance as an added benefit (once a relationship has been established).

3) Snailmail -- for printed materials, official documents and delivery of assets or materials.

4) Emails -- for conveying longer packets of information using text-only format (unless you use HTML formatting to include pictures and other formatting features -- HTML format communications might be perceived as intrusive by the recipient).

5) Faxes -- for official documents, or longer bits of information that need pictures interspersed. Cheaper look than HTML email makes this a very poor sales tool.

6) Instant Messaging -- for quick exchanges of very short bidirectional bits of information, when both parties are at their computers. Certainly unsuitable for sales pitches.

You're trying to perform a level 1 function so of course you need a level 1 communication method. Ideally, you ought to start on the phone with these folks, trying to set up an in-person meeting (or to let them know to expect something by snailmail, followed up by an in-person meeting).

Q>I'm sure a lot of people will be at GDC, should I arrange to get some time to talk there, or will they be too busy to give it any attention?

GDC is good. Yes they'll be busy... meeting with OTHER folks pitching products (and with lots of other folks for lots of other purposes). Be reasonably aggressive in pushing for a meeting, then make a really good presentation.

Q>Where else should I ask these questions? I noticed this forum doesn't get a ton of traffic.

Newsgroups, I guess (comp.games.development hierarchy). Doesn't matter. You aren't likely to get a better answer than this.

Q>And finally, anything I'm forgetting to ask?

Yes. (1) "What are my chances?"

I have a rule of thumb on how one's chances of success or rejection are affected, depending on the format of what you submit.

IF YOU BRING: -- YOUR CHANCES ARE (in decreasing order):

FINISHED GAME -- 10% SUCCESS RATE (90% REJECT RATE)

HALF-COMPLETED GAME -- 95% REJECTION RATE.

WORKING DEMO OF A GAME -- 97% REJECTION RATE.

VIDEOTAPE OR OTHER NON-INTERACTIVE ANIMATION -- 98% REJECTION RATE.

IDEA ON PAPER -- 99% REJECTION RATE.

VERBAL PRESENTATION (nothing on paper) -- 100% REJECTION RATE (0% CHANCE OF SUCCESS)

(2) "How do I increase my chances?" You are already well ahead of most who want to do what you are doing.

a. It is truly excellent that you have the capability to develop (and even finish) the game on your own. I presume that you are already licensed GBA developers and you already have relationships with one or more publishers (otherwise how can you have developed software for the GBA).
b. You are in Mountain View, making you easy visiting distance from many publishers in the Bay Area, Los Angeles, and Seattle.

c. As I alluded before, there isn't much of a market for puzzle games in the USA. "Action puzzle" (as you say) - probably slightly better chance. You might be better off pitching to Japanese companies (puzzle games tend to do better there). And/or maybe the game needs to have a license attached to it, to increase its visibility in the marketplace.

(3) I suppose there may be other things that you're forgetting to ask too. If you happen to think of them, post again!

 

What it Takes to be a Junior/Entry Game Designer

Brian Upton, Red Storm Entertainment (January 11, 2002)

Brian Upton is the Chief Game Designer for Red Storm Entertainment. He was the lead designer on the best-selling titles Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six and Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon, and has contributed to the design of many other Red Storm games. Has has a master's degree in computer science from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and wrote graphics software both in and out of the game industry for ten years before switching to design full time in 1997.


> 1) what duties, responsibilities, tasks are assigned to a junior/entry game designer?

We use entry-level game designers primarily for mission scripting. As the lead designer I'll create a level design that loosely describes how a level is supposed to play. The level scripters will then use that as a starting point for populating the level and scripting the AI. They'll play the level over and over again, tuning the scripting to get the desired effect and balance. Entry-level designers may also be asked to do other forms of play-balancing (adjusting the combat levels for weapons, for example) or to play competitive products and write analyses.

>2) what are ideal skills, experience, education for someone who wants to be a junior/entry game designer?

We actually rarely hire someone straight into an entry-level design position. We prefer to move someone laterally from another department into the position. That way we've had plenty of time to judge their design skills while they were working as a programmer or a tester or an artist. The primary skills we look for are:

a. Enthusiasm -- you've got to love playing games and talking and thinking about games.
b. Good Communication Skills -- most of what they will be doing involves writing and talking.
c. The Ability to Trace Deep Chains of Causality -- kind of hard to test for (which is why we tend not to hire straight into entry-level positions). Basically its the ability to not only come up with original gameplay features but to anticipate their ramifications when they interact with the parts of the game.

>3) what should be in their demo or portfolio?

Writing samples are good, particularly stories or design docs. I'm very impressed with a board or card game prototype. Board and card games are good because they have a purity to them -- you can't paper over crummy rules with clever programming.

>4) any addl tips or advice you have for someone who wants to become a game designer.

Leverage any skills you have to get into the industry in any way possible. Don't be too picky about whether you get in as a tester or a programmer or an assistant producer. It's hard to convince people that you're a good designer unless you they can actually see you in action, so one of the best ways to get a design position is to be hired as something else and prove to people that you can make good suggestions.

 

What it Takes to be a Junior/Entry Game Designer

Dan Rubenfield, Sony Online Entertainment (January 11, 2002)

Dan Rubenfield has been developing games for close to 6 years now. His career originally started at Origin Systems, and he has worked on such products as Ultima IX, Ultima Online, Ultima Online: Renaissance and Deus Ex along with countless others that never saw the light of day. He now resides at Sony Online Entertainment where he has the privilege of working on Star Wars: Galaxies. (editor's note: Rather than answering the questions I sent him, Dan decided on a "stream of consciousness" answer...and after reading it, I am glad he did :-)

Meat and Potatoes or : How I got a job in the Game Industry

Getting a design position in the game industry is one of the most difficult things to do. This is mostly due to designers having an amorphous job description. Ask 10 people in the industry what a designer does and you'll get ten different answers. Some designers start off in QA or phone support. The more rare type is one who gets a design position outright. I'm going to focus on getting the job outright since that's how I did it. I'd like to mention it also took roughly 5 times longer :-)

So what is a Designer? Our tasks range from level construction, paper design, storytelling, to actual systemic implementation. As I specialize in high level implementation, I'll focus on those aspects.

The first thing I'd recommend to an aspiring designer is to develop. It doesn't matter if it's a Half-Life mod, an Empire Earth scenario, or a modification of the Civilization 3 rules. Pick something that interests you and go at it. The most important thing you can learn through independent development is the actual process. Sure it's easy to think up a nifty idea you'd like to develop, but it's completely different to finish it. Most mods for games out there never see the light of day. Although it's on a smaller scale, the development cycle and problems encountered are almost identical to a fully funded project. Going through an entire development cycle, either solo or with a group, on even a small sprite based project is extremely valuable experience.

After you get a feel for the process (and if you decide you still like it), look into groups of like minded individuals to further your abilities. This can either be done through a local campus, high-school, or just your group of friends. I first became involved with game development when I went to the University of North Texas. A professor there, Ian Parberry, started one of the first on-campus game development groups backed with a full game development course. The LARC Lab (Lab for Recreational Computing) was a group of like minded hardcore gamers that all wanted to learn how to develop games. During the semester long course, we were divided up into small teams of 2-3 people each, which then went through an entire development process. We started with design documents and technical analysis, went through the full development cycle and presented our games at the end of the course. This process was identical to all of the game development I've done up to now. All of the problems, design realignments, funky bugs and crunch time were the same, albeit with a team of 2 instead of 25.

So what's the point of all of this? It gave me a chance to figure out what I was good at. Since it was such a small project, I got to try a little of everything. From a small development cycle with a focused team, you should be able to discover where your strengths lie. Learn a bit of everything. Pick a programming or scripting language, dabble with gMax, build deathmatch levels. The more actual implementation you can do, the better you'll come across when you present yourself.

Once you have decided on the types of design work you most enjoy, put together a portfolio. Include example documentation you are proud of, and as much implementation material as you can. The portfolio will be used as a palette when sending along your resume. When you send work samples, decide what would be the most appropriate for the position you're applying for. Don't overwhelm them with examples, but instead pick what you consider to be your best work.

Don't expect miracles. It took me 3 solid years of work to get into the industry. Keep an eye on the job boards, and if you live in an area with game companies, the classified sections. Most importantly, make friends with like minded individuals. One of these just might turn out to be someone who's looking to hire a designer. (editor's note: volunteer at GDC if possible).

So let's take a look at what you can expect after you get hired. As much as I'd like to tell you we get to sit in posh offices thinking up great game ideas, that's not exactly right. As a "green" designer, expect a lot of grunt work tasks. These can range from data entry, light systems design to level construction. These aren't just tasks for new designers. I still do most of these . The biggest thing you'll learn after you get hired is that a truly great designer does more than just think of the niftiest game ideas out there. They have to figure out how to implement them within the given time and technological constraints.

The documentation you'll work on at the beginning of the project is only the rough framework of where the game will end up when you ship. The high level vision will remain the same, but the implementation details will change. Learn to roll with the punches, and be creative. Sure you might not get the exact functionality you need from the programmers, or the identical piece of art you asked for from the artists, but make the best of what you have.

Work around obstacles, and above all remain positive. As cliche as it sounds, designers are the glue that tends to hold the team together. You've got the enviable position of being in constant contact with all of the other disciplines. This gives you a higher level view of where the entire project is at any given time. And since you have so much contact with the other members of the team, excitement and positive vibes will be contagious.

I hope this is enough to at least give you a direction to go in. And if you do succeed, well, you'll be able to tell your parents that all those hours of playing games DID pay off!

 

What it Takes to be a Junior/Entry Game Designer

Noah Falstein, The Inspiracy (January 11, 2002)

Noah Falstein is a freelance game designer/producer who owns The Inspiracy. He has many years of game industry experience and has contributed to dozens of titles, among them designer for Lost World: Chaos Island, and senior designer for Small Soldiers Squad Commander, both PC games published by DreamWorks Interactive. Freelance clients include DreamWorks Interactive, Cavedog Entertainment, Moeo (wireless games), Totally Games, Intel/Mattel, Hydrogen Games, Disney Interactive and Red Hill Studios. Noah does not currently hire junior game designers, but in his fulltime employment assignments he did. Prior to founding The Inspiracy, Noah was head of the story/design group and executive producer at DreamWorks Interactive; producer/director/designer at The 3DO Company; and game designer/producer and assistant creative director at LucasArts Entertainment.

>1) what duties, responsibilities, tasks are assigned to a junior/entry game designer?

Often a junior designer has other responsibilities - since they are often promoted from within, it may be a tester who keeps making insightful comments, a programmer who suggests creative technical solutions, or an artist who adds to storyboards. It is a fine line though, since companies don't like someone to neglect their assigned work in order to "audition" for a job as a designer. The ones who do their job and then contribute to design above and beyond that often make the cut.

If someone is hired specifically as a junior designer, often they will be asked to flesh out a level design or other work where a lead designer has supplied the basic template or direction. Sometimes a junior designer will be given a small section of the game as their own, like a level for an action game, a mission in a flight sim, or a room in an adventure game. Other times they come in as writer/designers, doing dialog or backstory, and contributing to design in meetings or informally by talking to the rest of the team.

>2) what are ideal skills, experience, education for >someone who wants to be a junior/entry game designer?

Diversity is very important. A good designer knows a little about a lot of things, and a lot about a few areas of expertise. Communications skills, particularly good writing ability, are essential. I always recommend that if a designer does not know how to program that they take at least one course - even a little knowledge of how a computer handles variables can help considerably, and many of the best designers started as programmers. Drawing ability is helpful, but not too critical.

At the moment, I'm not biased in favor of people that have gone to the handful of game-specific schools. I'd rather see a good liberal arts education and an active interest in games as well as other pursuits. It's disturbing to me when I find a person who wants to design games but who doesn't like to play them, or for that matter a person who does little else but play them.

>3) what should be in their demo or portfolio?

Unfortunately, it's rare that a company asks for a designer's portfolio, and you should never send unsolicited designs or concepts to a company. But if they do ask, some well-written concept documents that cover a few different kinds of games are a good way to make a positive impression.

>4) any addl tips or advice you have for someone who wants to become a game designer.

I have a bunch of articles about design and production on my web site, www.theinspiracy.com. Of particular interest to aspiring designers would be my articles "Monsters from the ID" about hiring designers, and "50 ways not to get your game published". But the single most helpful thing I can offer is to be persistent. It's the designer that is determined to make it and will not be dissuaded who becomes a professional. Another key point is not to be too focused on one particular idea or design - a good designer must show the ability to come up with scads of ideas, and jealously guarding one tends to be the mark of an amateur.

 

What it Takes to be a Junior/Entry Game Designer

Brian Sullivan, Ironlore Studios (January 10, 2002)

Brian Sullivan is one of the most successful game designers ever, having co-created the Age of Empires series of computer games. These games are a huge commercial and critical success, selling over 8.5 million copies worldwide and winning almost every award possible. As a founding partner of Ensemble Studios, the developer of the Age series, Brian helped build the company into the premier game development powerhouse it is today. Among his many roles while at Ensemble, Brian was the co-designer and project manager on Age of Empires, and executive producer of the other games in the series. In 1998, Brian won the 1998 Computer Game Developers Association (aka, the IGDA) Spotlight Award for Achievement in Game Design for his work on Age of Empires. Previous to his work in the game industry, Brian managed the successful design and development of many multi-million dollar software systems, for organizations including Harvard, MIT, Fidelity, EDS, the New York Department of Economic Development and the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection. Brian is currently co-founder of Ironlore Studios, which is developing its first game title.

1) what duties, responsibilities, tasks are assigned to a junior/entry game designer?

Junior designers may work on just about any part of the design of the game, depending on the person and circumstances. Tasks and areas of responsibility may include:
* Creating levels or scenarios
* Writing dialog for NPCs
* Writing the Player Guide
* Writing sections of the Game Design Document
* Working on the game systems (combat, AI, random map generator, etc.)
* Play-balance
* Working with programmers and artists to communicate parts of the game, and get feedback for any issues they might have
* Maintaining the game database which includes attributes for everything in the game
* Participating in general design discussions

2) what are ideal skills, experience, education for someone who wants to be a junior/entry game designer?

* Must be able to write!
* Good verbal communication skills.
* Must be able to analyze games - figure out what is going on and why, what works and what doesn't, how to make a game better
* I generally prefer a college graduate. Degree doesn't really matter - I have seen good designers from every type of background from engineers to biologist to history majors.
* Mature and professional.

3) what should be in their demo or portfolio?

* Design documents for own designs (for computer, board or role playing games). Be sure to tell who will like the game and why it will sell well. I appreciate designers who have a marketing outlook with respect to game design.
* Other written materials, especially reviews or analyses of games
* Level or scenario designs for the type of game to be worked on

4) any addl tips or advice you have for someone who wants to become a game designer.

* Be persistent, because this is one of the hardest jobs to get for someone who is not in the industry. A good way to get this job is to start as a tester or intern (or any other position you can get), and then do everything you can to show how you can help on the design and make the game better.
* Become very active on fan sites for similar products, and show your knowledge and ability by creating levels, writing strategy guides, and showing your understanding of the game in any way possible.
* Be well versed in the topic of the type of game. If it is an historical based game, make sure you know a lot about history. Same for Sci-fi, fantasy, etc. Don't limit your knowledge to what other games have done in the past, have a lot of real world and real literature knowledge.
* Becoming an expert player at a similar game never hurts.

 

What it Takes to be a Junior/Entry Game Designer

Raph Koster, Sony Online Entertainment (January 10, 2002)

A professional game designer and frequent writer on issues of virtual world design, Raph Koster was the lead designer on the seminal online world ULTIMA ONLINE, which first brought online worlds to the mass market and has sold over one million copies. He is currently creative director at the Austin studio for Sony Online Entertainment, makers of EVERQUEST, where he is in charge of the design of STAR WARS GALAXIES. He is in demand as a speaker and lecturer on issues of online world design, particularly in the area of community building, is a regular speaker at the Game Developers Conference, and maintains a website covering many issues of online world design at http://www.legendmud.org/raph/.

1) what duties, responsibilities, tasks are assigned to a junior/entry game designer?

Really, very similar to the tasks that are assigned to senior designers. The junior designers are often responsible for content generation, but are full participants in the system design process, brainstorming, and document generation. We typically wouldn't assign them a large system, but would try to find smaller systems with less variables or dependencies so that they can feel ownership over the system, and that way we don't assume too much risk because of inexperience. Basically, we want to ease them into the more complex stuff. A lot of course depends on the skill set the new designer brings to the table in the first place.

2) what are ideal skills, experience, education for someone who wants to be a junior/entry game designer?

We look for junior level designers who have a fairly wide range of skills. In general, I believe that the best designers are Renaissance (wo)men. They should have technical skills, artistic skills, writing skills -- basically, the more knowledge they have of every discipline that goes into a game, the more effective they will be as a game designer, because designers stand at the fulcrum of all the disciplines, in many ways. You have to know what the limitations are, and be able to speak the language of the other professions so as to convey what you need or want. That doesn't mean you have to be all that good at those different things--just have enough grounding in it to know what's possible, what's not, and where to push the boundaries.

Liberal arts educations often give that sort of background, but there's lots of other ways to get it. The best designers I know, like Warren Spector or Will Wright, are intellectually curious people who are always reading and exploring new subjects. Analytical minds are extremely helpful to game designers--working purely off of intuition won't help you reliably make good games.

Obviously, not every candidate will have all this knowledge when they start, but I'd look for the willingness to learn or openness to this mindset.

3) what should be in their demo or portfolio?

Games. Any sort of games, really, but the more the better. In the case of Sony Online Entertainment, we make online games. So I want a candidate who isn't just a longtime player of EverQuest, but someone who went and downloaded a mud codebase and tinkered with it, and better yet, actually ran it for a public audience for a while. Someone who has shown that they are more than just idea people. Ideas are cheap (and often wrong!), it's the nitty-gritty that really counts. When I get a resume that has a game sample in it, I look at it more closely than one that doesn't; and between two that have game samples, I'll look more closely at the one where the game was actually played by someone other than the designer.

4) any addl tips or advice you have for someone who wants to become a game designer.

Don't go in expecting to be a "game designer" in the sense most people think. There aren't that many jobs for sole visionaries who are the ultimate word on how every aspect of the game works. Computer and video games are *collaborative* work, and a lot of subspecialties are required, like movies. The game designers whose names get tossed around are team leaders, who are good at sharing a vision with the team, and knowing when to surrender aspects of it to other people - -not control freaks who do everything themselves. Becoming a master of a subspecialty is a good idea because it means that you're a valuable asset to a team. Too many people wanting to break into design think that movie directors run everything too, and that's just not how it works.

 

What it Takes to be a Junior/Entry Game Designer

Joe McDonagh, Elixir Studios (January 10, 2002)

Joe McDonagh of UK based Elixir Studios worked for two years as Designer on the forthcoming, award-winning game Republic: The Revolution. He is currently working as Lead Designer on a new project.

1) what duties, responsibilities, tasks are assigned to a junior/entry game designer?

Usually some combination of level design and responsibility for several non-core elements of the game (for example, weapon lists, descriptions and play balance).

2) what are ideal skills, experience, education for someone who wants to be a junior/entry game designer?

The most important thing is to be able to give tangible evidence of a desire to design games. This can come in many forms. Good examples include:

- Involvement with the mod communities around games such as Half Life.
- Levels designed with one of the many the widely available tools (such as Worldcraft).
- Paper and pen work. Published articles for role-playing and war games, home made rule sets, well documented worlds and settings

......all of this stuff shows that you're serious about being a game designer.

3) what should be in their demo or portfolio?

See above.

4) any addl tips or advice you have for someone who wants to become a game designer.

It helps to get some work experience with a games company first. Designers generally come through the ranks as testers, artists or programmers. If you don't have technical skills as an artist or a programmer, try a get your foot in the door as a work experience tester. Offer to work for free for a period.

 

What it Takes to be a Junior/Entry Game Designer

Bruce Shelley, Ensemble Studios (January 10, 2002)

Ensemble Studios game designer Bruce Shelley is hailed throughout the gaming industry as a pioneer of computer gaming. Bruce has been a professional game designer and developer since 1980. He began working with paper and board games at Avalon Hill, and switched to computer games in 1987. He has helped start or worked for five game companies. Prior to the start of Ensemble Studios in 1995, Bruce is best known for assisting Sid Meier on the design of the original editions of Railroad Tycoon and Civilization when they were colleagues at Microprose. At Microprose he also helped design F-19 Stealth Fighter and F-15 II. Bruce is a senior designer at Ensemble Studios, where he helped organize the company and evolve their development methodology. He contributed to the design of both Age of Empires and Age of Empires II: The Age of Kings. He also has written a number of gaming guidebooks, manuals and strategy guides. His answers to questions about junior/entry game designers at Ensemble Studios (www.ensemblestudios.com, now a subsidiary of Microsoft) are below:


1) what duties, responsibilities, tasks are assigned to a junior/entry game designer?

Answer: Scenario design. We call the position content designer.

2) what are ideal skills, experience, education for someone who wants to be a junior/entry game designer?

Answer: Be able to communicate well, including writing; have lots of experience playing and analyzing games; experience making games of any sort is good, even if not published or as a professional.

3) what should be in their demo or portfolio?

Answer: We usually require candidates to submit a scenario for one of our games that is made using our in-game tools. Any other game credits or game design documents are useful to us for review.

4) any addl tips or advice you have for someone who wants to become a game designer.

Answer: One traditional path into game design starts in playtesting. Large and involved strategy games like we create, for example, require thousands of hours of testing. Testers who not only do their job well, but are proactive about suggesting good ways to improve the design and play are usually noticed and given the opportunity to become designers. That has happened at ES and happened at Microprose when I worked there.

 

Soundtrack Opportunities

George "The Fatman" Sanger (December 3, 2001)

An IGDA user asked: What kind of oppurtunities is there in the world of composing and producing soundtracks for the games industry.

And, Barbara asked one of the best known game music composers/sound designers for his advice - George "The Fatman" Sanger - and he kindly responded below. George's bios (both of them:-) also are below. Visit George's website, www.fatman.com, for more info on his latest project which is designed to showcase indie game music/sound. And take time to read his stories. George is a master storyteller in the Texas tradition.


The Fat Man, George Alistair Sanger, has been creating music and other audio for games since 1983. He is internationally recognized for having contributed to the atmosphere of over 130 games, including such sound-barrier-breaking greats as Loom, Wing Commander I and II, The 7th Guest I and II, NASCAR Racing, Putt-Putt Saves the Zoo, and ATF. He wrote the first General MIDI soundtrack for a game, the first direct-to-MIDI live recording of musicians, the first redbook soundtrack included with the game as a separate disk, the first music for a game that was considered a "work of art," and the first soundtrack that was considered a selling point for the game. On a 380-acre ranch on the Guadalupe River, The Fat Man hosts the annual Texas Interactive Music Conference and BBQ (Project BBQ), the computer/music industry's most prestigious and influential conference. His current project, GamePlayMusic, is aimed at redefining the business and creative models of music for games, to benefit users, developers, and musicians alike.

AND

The Fat Man is a big-hearted alien who wears the skins of cowboy heroes whose bodies he has found in the desert. He finds it to his liking to hover over Austin in a huge radar-cloaked zeppelin, composing music for games with his legendary team of Cowboy Composers, Team Fat. His work on hit games has more than once changed the face of game music. People Magazine called him "a top candidate for the most prolific--and obscure--living American composer," yet as he consumes only ammonia and uncooked brown rice, his rates remain reasonable, and he is very well-behaved.

Programming experience isn't necessary for working as a musician for games. Neither is a music degree. Neither is musical ability. Neither is a good personality, nor the ability to complete work on time, nor the ability to spel.

I would say that your greatest and most necessary assets are your sincere love of games, and your deep desire to have them sound wonderful. From
there, it's up to you how that gets done and where you fit in the scheme of things.

Preparing and educating yourself, then, becomes like a game. You fill your pockets with the keys that you think might open the doors you need to get through to fulfill your vision. George Oldziey (Wing Commander III and up) was a world class orchestral trumpet player. Bobby Prince (Doom) is, I believe, a lounge musician and a Public Defendant. Tommy Tallarico, perhaps the most successful of us all, started with little more on his resume than "musician" and "passionate gamer." You'll have to write your own story.

Can you make enough money to get by easily? I don't think so. I think you must be earnest. I think you must break a sweat every day.

Can you even get work that pays? Maybe. It's real hard. Think of the supply and demand. A lot of people make music, but when was the last time that you knew somebody who wanted music badly enough to pay for it? I think the best thing you're doing is that you're out there asking, working, and trying to make music for games. Make friends. Treat them well. Enjoy their company. Enjoy their games. Love every second of making music for their games. Treat your composition time as a concert for a captive audience of 10,000 kids.

Then you will be absolutely successful. Even if the games don't ship.

If that doesn't pay the bills, sell vacuum cleaner parts. Currently, the one friend I have who finds that he can make enough money to get by easily sells vacuum cleaner parts, and is only sad because he isn't making music that goes out and gets heard. If he was writing music for games for free in his spare time, he'd be as successful as anybody I know!!!

Thanks for askin'.

Just for fun, here's something difficult and fun and musical that I'm involved with. http://www.fatman.com/torch.htm

 

What are developers looking for in a demo

Russ Williams, UK game programmer (October 30, 2001)

Russ Williams is a UK game programmer who is wise beyond his years... Russ responds to questions regarding what developers are looking for in a game demo.

1. Is it better to work alone on a smaller project rather than cooperating with others to write a bigger, more impressive project?

There is no "better" way to write demos, all approaches have their benefits and drawbacks:

2. Is it better to write a small demo?

No. It's also not better to write a large demo.

What *is* better is to write a demo that works perfectly. If you can do that on a small project, you look good. If you can do that on a large project, you look better - because, as many teams have found to their cost, it's an extremely difficult task.

3. If so, what is a feature list of functionalities that is small, yet impressive?

There isn't one.

You might as well ask what font is most impressive to use on a resume - it's irrelevant except when you make an awful choice.

The key things to bear in mind are:


4. Could you describe a couple of demos that have really impressed you?

Yes, but that won't help, so I won't.

Any demo that gets declared "impressive" will be cloned until we're sick of the sight of it. The entire industry is extremely jaded and what we don't know we want. If you can put a new spin on an old classic, that's cool. If you can come up with something new, that's cool too. If you think you can impress us with a second-rate copy of something that Future Crew or iD Software did years ago, forget it.

Want some ideas?

If you're doing a web download:

If it's going on a CD:

For everything:

What might fulfill all these criteria?
Well, in about three hours' coding, you can make a 40k executable that opens a window, creates a DIBSection display and shows "fireworks" or a shower of multicoloured particles. Nothing more, nothing less. It will run instantly, at a good frame rate and on anything from Win95/NT4 upwards. It requires no artistic talent, yet looks pretty and provides a continually changing display. It won't affect my other applications, it won't leave files lying around, it won't corrupt my system files and I can quit on a whim with the X button in the corner. Is it original? No. Anyone can do it, many have and, after reading this, many more probably will. Does that matter? Well, that's up to you... What else have *you* got to offer?

 

What are developers looking for in a demo

Brian Sharp, ION Storm Austin (October 30, 2001)

Brian Sharp, a relative newcomer that's now working at ION Storm Austin (he must have made one heck of a demo). He comments here on what developers are looking from applicant's demos.

When you're talking about a demo as part of a job application, it's important to keep the context -- the rest of the application process -- in mind to stay focused on exactly what purposes the demo serves. I'd say there's two: It's a hook, and it fills out some more info in the potential employer's mind.

As a hook, a demo is a lot like screenshots are for games. A bad game can have really catchy screenshots, and a good game can have unimpressive screenshots. Despite this apparent lack of correlation between game quality and screenshot quality, though, people still use screenshots as metrics for buying games, I suppose because every so often the correlation holds. In much the same way, a well-constructed demo is a way to make sure someone sits up and takes notice of you. The analogy only extends so far, though: By "well-constructed" I don't mean that the demo has to be visually stunning. In fact, if, as a programmer, you pour all your time into programmer art, and it even looks pretty good when you're done, I'll still be kind of confused as to why you spent all that time there. I'd rather see a demo with crude artwork that does some cool stuff.

For the second purpose, providing extra information, keep in mind the other ways the company has of learning about you. Your demo shouldn't really focus on demonstrating information I can readily get from you in a phone interview or face-to-face interview. If your entire demo is a pure implementation of a couple pretty well-documented algorithms from the field you specialize in, that won't really do me a lot of good. I can ask you to explain a couple algorithms during our interview and get the same info; that's not showing me anything new.

What I can't get from your resume (unless you have a decade-long track record, in which case a demo is not so necessary) or from an interview are things like your capacities for innovation, for completing what you start, for clean software engineering, and budgeting your time sensibly to realize a vision within a set timeframe.

So I'd say the ideal demo would be one that does stuff in your particular field of specialization, but in some innovative ways: If you're an AI programmer, don't just give me a canned A* pathfinding search, give me a cool particular application of it with a particularly innovative set of heuristics for the search. If you're a graphics programmer, don't just do a canned demo of (insert name of latest PC graphics board's capabilities) -- come up with some neat application of it, do some cool render-to-texture stuff or shader things I haven't seen before. Stuff like that.

Furthermore, you get mad bonus points if your demo has some amount of polish / production value and infrastructure there, too. Load your models, sounds, whatever, via a basic resource loading system (using a super-simple text file format) that interfaces as cleanly as possible with the rest of the system, for example. Write a couple well-abstracted objects for handling input. That kind of stuff. I wouldn't expect a full game engine, but a good demo harness that shows the potential for reuse and easy plugging/unplugging of your demo stuff would be pretty impressive, as it shows the good software engineering and forethought (and forethought is a key element of good scheduling!)

Oh, and as kind of a side point, make sure you can talk somewhat eloquently about your demo, too. That goes for any material, on your resume and whatever else. Anything you give a potential employer as part of an application, you should be prepared to talk about. If I were to get a demo that grabbed my attention and did some neat things, and then talked to the programmer who wrote it and got the feeling he just kind of hacked it until it worked, I'd be far less impressed than if I talked to him and he made it clear that he knew exactly what he was doing, understood the academic theory behind the things he'd done, and had really gone about implementing it in a structured way.

 

What are developers looking for in a demo

Jeff Lander, Darwin3D (October 30, 2001)

Jeff Lander, owner of Darwin3D, 3D graphics guru and writer of the "Graphic Content" column for Game Developer Magazine comments on what developers are looking for in a job application demo.

I can offer some advice for people writing a demo or doing a piece for an art reel.

Don't try to do too much. Meaning games are pretty big these days, no one expects people to do every piece of the puzzle. Development companies don't work that way. Programmers largely don't do the animation or create the characters. If they do it is a bad sign. Don't throw every sexy effect you have seen or pulled out of samples off the web into one big thing. "Here's my particle system engine, here's my terrain rendering lod engine, here's the metaball portion, etc." You are not trying to sell a team (usually) you are trying to sell you. So no need to get all these Internet people together to help on the demo.

I would rather see someone explore one aspect of something interesting and do it well. For example, if you are interested in particle systems, do a demo that creates really cool explosions. Have a lot of tweaks and controls that gives you lots of different effects. Explore the space of what you can achieve with that small piece of technology. That as a programming demo is good because it shows you can research and work on a specific task in a way similar to how you may be used on a project. That kind of thing is much more impressive then a demo that loads and displays a "Quake" level. Most developers are pretty sick of seeing the Quake assets being reused in the same types of demos. But when I gets something like "I tried to build the ultimate real-time fire simulation" that's interesting. If you want to work on character animation as a programmer, don't worry about how the character looks. I am not going to hire you as a modeler. Just use the wooden doll from Poser and work on the animation system. Blend some poses together and add an IK element and some look at constraints. Perfect.

This applies to artists as well. A friend is a technical director at a big viz-fx house in town. They get thousands of reels a year. Most are long animations of spaceship flythroughs and robots and walk cycles and such. Big stories, performance pieces and such. Some good some bad. One day they got this reel from a guy who said, I was always fascinated by waterfalls so I worked my whole last semester on creating an animation of one minute of one waterfall. Everyone who saw the tape knew how hard this was to make look good and he hit it and with that one simple specialized piece, he was hired immediately.

 

What are developers looking for in a demo

Sean Timarco Baggaley, bangbangclick (October 28, 2001)

Sean Timarco Baggaley is a former game programmer from the UK and long-time iconoclast. Sean talks about demo submissions.

1. Is it better to work alone on a smaller project rather than cooperating with others to write a bigger, more impressive project?

I think any industry veteran would say that the Golden Rule is to show you can *complete* a project, so start small and work your way up. The specifics of your project are less important than demonstrating your ability to create a plan and see it through to the bitter end.

Management is HARD. It makes programming look like a walk in the park. As proof of this, look at the games industry itself...

The games industry itself is littered with people who became managers more by accident or necessity than by design. Many ex-8-bit developers now run big teams, yet these people had little or no formal management training or experience and have been learning it as they go along. Being fluent in 6510 assembly language and the innards of a Commodore 64 doesn't really prepare you for running a team of ten or more people or juggling a budget of millions, so strong management is still rare in our industry. (I say this because it is obvious some companies have succeeded more by accident than by design. You'll need to learn to avoid these unless you're masochistic by nature!

If you're going to start up a project with a virtual team, be warned: you WILL need to plan. You WILL need to design. You MUST make sure everyone involved is willing to commit themselves to the project 1000% (no that's not a typo). Motivation, particularly when you never physically see each other face to face, is especially hard to maintain over the lifetime of a project, so if you absolutely must have a team, go for a small, two- or three-member team and work on a relatively short, simple project. When all the team members can see the light at the end of the tunnel, it makes life a lot easier.

2. Is it better to write a small demo?

Demos are good for showing off your technical abilities. However, most good managers will also be looking for evidence of your ability to work in a team and see a project right through to completion. The difference between amateurs and professionals is the ability to see a project through even when you've lost your interest in it.

For this reason, most codeshops now expect to see evidence of your professional abilities, so producing a game as part of a small team is a very good way of making a favourable impression. However, I'd opt for setting up a team of people who live in the same area as you, so that you can work together in the same physical location when occasion demands.

3. If so, what is a feature list of functionalities that is small, yet impressive?

A demo that works first time, every time, is best. It must look polished and complete. It should not require strange and arcane procedures to make it run.

First impressions last much longer than visuals that will date rapidly and look old hat within six months. Also, try and make sure your demo draws the viewer in and lets them participate in some way. Make it interesting and fun, rather than merely shallow and glitzy.

4. Could someone describe a couple of demos that >have really impressed you?

Not really. Demos have a very short-lived ttraction; within a couple of months, any whiz-bang effect will have been copied and done to death, diluting the memory of the first demo to do it.

The point of a demo is to give context to the source code that you provide with it as an example of your work.

Nobody expects you to produce a world-beating, sumptuous graphical tour-de-force with top-notch gameplay and stunning audio, but you *should* be able to show an ability to program all aspects of a game, rather than one narrow part. These days, the rise of middleware means flexibility is becoming more important than specialisation. It's a lot cheaper to buy a license for Renderware Graphics or netImmerse than to hire a 3D graphics engine specialist.

 

What are developers looking for in a demo

Tom Sloper, Sloperama (October 28, 2001)

Tom Sloper is a former executive producer at Activision, now an independent game designer who has several years' game industry experience and has viewed countless game demos. He has produced and developed electronic entertainment, games and toys that sold 5.5 million units, including game titles Mechwarrior, Donkey Kong and Alien vs Predator. Tom answers several questions regarding what a developer is looking for in a game demo submission for hiring purposes.

1. Is it better to work alone on a smaller project rather than cooperating with others to write a bigger, more impressive project?

That depends on a variety of factors. It's impressive to produce a demo that you created entirely yourself, but a demo that was created by a team might inherently be more impressive in and of itself.

With a team project, you have to explain what tasks you performed (and which tasks you did not).
It's harder to find folks to work on a team project. Or if you do get involved with a team homebrew game, how do you know the other members are doing their part if they're in another state or country, and how do you make sure their parts will work with your parts, and whose job is it to make them work? You could learn a lot from such an effort, but with nothing tangible to show for it in the end.

2. Is it better to write a small demo?

Than to write a big demo, you mean? That depends also.

It's unlikely that anyone who will be interviewing you will have the time to spend exploring a large demo. Something small that runs cleanly will probably do fine.

Technical directors who interview prospective programmers want to see code that you have written. They don't want to see a ream of code. They'll probably just want to give you a test during the interview.

3. If so, what is a feature list of functionalities that is small, yet impressive?

I pop the CD in my WinXX computer and an Autoplay screen pops up. If installation is required, it goes quickly and smoothly. I don't have to restart my computer. I try to run the game and it runs. It's user-friendly to play and you did it all yourself.

That would be impressive right there, IMO.

Other functions that would be good: Artificial intelligence. Realtime 3D. Solid fun game design.

4. Could you describe a couple of demos that have really impressed you?

Usually they have excellent graphics, and/or innovative gameplay. Solid, run on a PC without requiring downloads of DLLs or drivers.

 

UK scene

Robin Green, Sony Computer Entertainment Europe (October 16, 2001)

Robin Green from Sony Computer Entertainment Europe comments on the UK development scene vs that of the US (queston posed by someone in Iceland).

I have worked both in the UK and in the US, plus I have been on the interviewing side of the table as well.

The gaming industry in the UK is alive and well, and most major cities have representative companies - Bristol, Bath, London, Leeds, Liverpool. There a lot of choice out there and a huge differences in pay, quality of life and interesting work. Your Icelandic background will help a lot with moving to the UK and securing a job (I have worked with many people who have done the same thing: Danes, Dutch, Norwegian, Germans, French.) The EU is your friend, use it wisely.

Your first job is to look at your skills - what is the story you want to sell yourself with? You say you will have a degree and 3 years of professional web design and you want to work in the games industry. OK, good. Are you a "leave everything to me" self-starting leader or a reliable, skilled employee looking to learn from the masters? Would you be suited to reviewing and reporting on games or do you want to be in the trenches making games? Be honest with yourself, making games will dominate your life so be sure this is what you want to do and know where you want to fit into the grand scheme of things.

Your next decision is to decide whether you're interested in a large company (like EA, Eidos or Microsoft) or a small company (like Lionhead or Intelligent Games). Different companies recruit in different ways - the large companies usually use recruiters and employment agencies to fill their vacancies while the smaller companies will probably use personal contacts or targeted magazine adverts.

You asked about three points: job, salary, opportunities.

1. Job. Getting a job is a case of getting good offers. The idea, as with all recruiting, is to send a CV (or Resume as it's called in the US) of not more than 2 pages as the "bait" that gets you interviews. Think of it from the companies point of view - they have a slot to fill in their project. They know what the job will entail so they look for candidates with the specialist skills they need. They do this by reading resumes and matching buzzwords. The CV is there to secure you an interview and nothing more.

At the interview itself, you can assume that the company thinks that you can do the job, otherwise you wouldn't be there. Sell them on what *else* you can bring to the job. Show them that you can fill this slot that they have, do the job well, and also be valuable in subsequent projects. That's how you secure a job offer - give them what they want.

2. Salary. In the UK your quality of life will vary hugely from area to area. Just because it's a small country don't fall into the trap of believing that it's the same all over. Cost of living varies widely from area to area - remember that Central London is one of the most expensive places to live IN THE WORLD (right up there with San Francisco and Central Tokyo), so keep that in mind when looking at salaries. Salaries outside of London can be 30% less and still get you the same quality of life.

The UK games industry has many very experienced people so it can be hard for new people to get big starting salaries. Rest assured that after the first year or first shipped product, salaries rise sharply. You may need to hang in there for a year to gain experience and prove yourself on projects. Experience and shipped titles are more important than anything else you can have on your resume.

3. Opportunities. Again, this is linked to experience. Choose your specialisation, work well with other people, ship games. The industry in the UK is so close that everybody knows everybody else. Get the basic level of experience and opportunities will open up.

My advice? Contact a recruiter. Talk to them about locations and jobs. Give them your resume, do as many interviews a week as you can handle. Interview the companies back - ask them about housing, quality of life, upcoming projects, staff turnover, what's the worst part about working here, talk to people in the office when you get shown around. Don't take the first offer you get given.

Good luck!

Some UK games industry websites for you:
Edge magazine
Develop Magazine
Aardvark Swift

Barbara Note: Robin has several years' programming experience in the game industry, first at Bullfrog/EA in UK and now in the R&D group of Sony Computer Entertainment America. He has offered good advice (thanks, Robin!). My only change would be: unless things are different in the UK than the the US, an external recruiter/headhunter/search firm generally cannot help individuals who do not already have 3+ yrs of professional game industry experience. Contact a few UK recruiters and ask them, How many people have you placed in the last year who had no professional programming experience? If answer is none, don't send them your resume, just contact game companies directly. You may find some UK salary/cost of living info on www.homefair.com, Salary Calculator. See CareerLink (www.sandiego-online.com/forums/careers/), article on "Interviewing" for best way to handle "What salary are you seeking?" interview questions.

 

Hiring at entry level

Chip Burwell, Gratuitous Games (August 24, 2001)

OK, folks, you asked how you can get hired by a game development firm when you have no experience in game development (i.e., you are entry level). Here is one game studio owner's opinion. Chip Burwell hires entry level staff occasionally. He owns Gratuitous Games in San Diego, California, a three-year old independent game development studio that has developed three published console game titles and is working on a fourth. Chip has several years' game industry experience, starting in music, moving to programming, and now heading his own small and successful game development shop.

First thing I would stress is that every company has different policies and different practices. These policies and practices can change over time also.

Gratuitous Games does hire both programmers and artists with no prior experience, but anyone applying needs to understand that competition for these positions is very competitive. Of the resumes we receive, less than 5% get called for an interview and of those interviewed only about 10% get hired.

When looking at candidates the first thing we look for is honesty and lack of hype. Lots of candidates try to present themselves as the greatest thing since sliced bread, about how they are going to "rock" our company, yahda, yahda, yahda. First thing I'm looking for is someone humble enough to be trainable. After that, I start looking at the person's potential. What makes someone trainable really depends on the position.

For programmers, we look for that person who has a lot of extra-curricular programming. While the classes they were taking had assignments, they went far beyond that to start working on their own collision system, or their own ray tracer, or what have you. So for programmers we usually are looking for extensive experience in C/C++ and 3D graphics, even though they haven't worked in the game business. If we don't find that on the resume, the candidate never gets called.

While there are some programmers in the industry who don't have college degrees, this is becoming less common. Given that there are so many good entry level candidates these days, it's hard to imagine we would hire anyone without a degree that included a good bit of programming. And we definitely look at the school they attended, giving strong preference to people who have gone to schools with records of being strong in technical fields and the computer sciences.

For artists it's much more subjective. We are basically looking for art talent. While it's good to have experience with programs like Photoshop, and 3D Studio Max, that's not the critical issue. The issue is a strong eye for art. For that reason we often put a good bit of focus on things like drawing skills. Although
candidates can show art ability in other ways.

Last, and perhaps most importantly, we look for someone who is committed to improving their skills. Someone who thinks that a tuition reimbursement plan is an important benefit. Someone who wants to come work with us because they think it will be a great learning experience.

Also worth mentioning are negatives, or things that will cause you to not be interviewed. (Note that other companies might have different opinions about this, so this only applies to Gratuitous Games.)

1) Saying that because you have played so many games and are so dedicated to games you are going to be able to tell us what's good about our games and/or you are going to design games for us. Sorry, but most everyone in our company has played games for many many years. They are all dying to get their chance at game design, and are working hard paying their dues to earn the opportunity to do so. No way are we gonna let someone just walk in and do the fun stuff for us.

2) Saying that because of your skills you would be a great artist and a great programmer. Most people are extremely lucky if they have enough talent to do just one, when you apply to be either/or, then my general experience is that you aren't very good at either. When applying decide where your skills are and then go for that position.

Lastly I would say, to be honest, the game business isn't for everyone. As a matter of fact, most the people I see come into the industry leave within a matter of a couple of years. But if you really feel you want in, then pick one side of the development process, art or programming, and really work hard to hone your skills. You'll need to be damn good, since the competition will bury you if you aren't.

 

Scripting Languages

Geoff Zatkin, Verant Interactive (August 4, 2001)

Geoff Zatkin, senior game designer at Verant Interactive/Sony Online Entertainment, replies on questions regardning scripting languages and hiring designers with programming skills:

When I learned, I was on a MUD and learning a bastardized version of C++ (LPC C++). Every time I have used a scripting language since, it has always been a custom one - but my LPC C++ has always helped me out.

Most of my friends really like Python. Learn Python, and you will have a great start. Another to learn might be Java, or go find a MUD and learn some C / C++ / LPC C++ / etc. Do a search on Google - you can
pick up most scripting languages very easily.

To approach it from a different direction, pick up a game that allows you to design missions and make a few missions. Try the StarCraft or Age of Kings Mission / Scenario Editor, or design a few levels for your favorite FPS. Let your friends play the missions, and get their feedback. Go through a few iterations of the mission, and see how good you can get it. Put it out on the net and see what other people think.

This is a great way to build up a bit of game design experience (or at least, mission design) without actually working for a game design company (and it gives us players more stuff to play with). Developers usually love this, as it extends the life of their games (CounterStrike maps, being a good example) - you might get a few job leads just from this...

Barbara Note: several game co's have hired people as fulltime employees on the strengths of their 'mods', Valve Software being one of them.

 

Getting in via QA/testing

Kurt Boutin, Infogrames (July 29, 2001)

Here is a posting about getting into game industry via jobs in QA/QC/Test Dept.The QA Certification Group at Infogrames Interactive, Inc., headed by Kurt Boutin, Senior Manager, is responsible for testing game titles built for a variety of platforms, including titles from external developers. Here is what Kurt said he seeks in an entry-level game tester:

Generally speaking, for an entry level tester, we're looking for the following:

1) Good communication skills, specifically in the written form. This is very important as this is our primary way we communicate with developers.

2) A genuine love of games. What I personally look for is someone who may or may not specialize in a specific genre of games whether it be console in general, or PC FPS types. I want to know the type of game they know inside and out.

3) Technical skills. A person is more likely to get a job with me if they possess the above two requirements AND has somewhat of a technical knowledge of the PC end of things. Ideally, someone who is familiar with hardware AND software would be my first choice.

4) A college degree is helpful as it shows a certain level of discipline with the employee, but it's not necessary. What I find MUCH more necessary is a good work ethic. During crunch time, there's nothing worse than having testers, who get paid time and a half, whine about working overtime. If you want to work in this business, it's a fact of life.

 

Getting in as a junior designer

Geoff Zatkin, Verant Interactive (July 28, 2001)

Regarding entry level game designer requirements, here is what Senior Game Designer Geoff Zatkin at Verant Interactive/Sony Online Entertainment (Everquest, Sovereign) says he seeks in a new hire:

A lot of what I look for is dependent on the level of position - Junior Game Designer vs. Game Designer vs. Senior Game Designer. Also, keep in mind that I always think of people in the "going to work on a MMOG" context, so my list may be a lot different then other people's lists.

For a Junior Game Designer, I usually look for the following:

- Enthusiasm, passion and channeled creativity.

I want a person that I can hand a system / idea to and say "run with it." I want to be able to come back and have them give me a list of 20 cool, crazy and do-able thing that I didn't think of. Enthusiasm and passion go with that - people should get in to the industry as a designer because the want to design cool games. If they don't have the enthusiasm and passion that goes with that, I wouldn't want them working with me - especially when we are pulling a 120 hour work week.

- Ability to multi task

A lot of the time we don't have the luxury of working on a single task. Also, even when working on a single task, you have to keep in mind what everyone else is working on so that all of the systems integrate.

- Ability to work well both individually and in a team environment

Designers work by themselves a lot - and they work with others a lot. A good designer should be able to go off by themselves for a week and come back with a finished component of a project. They also must have the ability to work closely with others. A good personality goes a long way - especially when we pull the pre-mentioned 120 hour work week. I'll hire someone that I get along with or like over a more talented designer, simply because I know that I have to work with the person for the next few years.

- Lack of an ego

Some ego can be a good thing, but as a Junior Game Designer, not having the ability to compromise and work things out is very bad.

- Ability to manage, set and meet schedules / milestones

Very obvious, but very necessary.

- Cursory knowledge of programming and art skills / tools

If you are writing a design document element for programmers or artists (i.e. a lot of your work), it helps to know a little bit about what they can do and how they do it. This is often the different between designing a
feasible and infeasible system.

- Knowledge of at least one scripting language

Many games end up having their designers spend a lot of time writing scripts. Therefore, knowing a scripting language makes learning the one your game decides to use that much easier.

- Intimate knowledge of other games in the genre

I expect a designer to know a lot about the genre that we work in, and to have played a lot of other games. In the same way that a literature professor should be well read, a game designer should be "well played."

Well, that is my brief list - I'm sure that I missed some basic game design attributes, but that should at least be a good beginning.

 

Concept art portfolio

Bill Stoneham, Cyan Worlds (July 23, 2001)

Bill Stoneham, senior artist at Cyan Worlds, and featured artist at Gamasutra, comments on what he likes to see in concept artist portfolia.

My preferences would be strong composition and drawing skills, and most important, imagination. Include scenic, structural and character examples. It's important that all of these carry the artist's command of form and space and continuity of style. Especially in Real Time environments, where form is simplified, the use of texture, line and color defining an object's detail is the next thing I'd look for. A good conceptual artist will draw your eye into the composition with the right use of color and line. I'm always impressed with originality and imagination. There are way too many derivative, generic artists in this industry. Take risks! If you're capable, your work will show your enthusiasm. Most important, your portfolio is only as strong as your weakest piece. Less is more. A CD with an interface to the samples is great, but always include some hard copy of both b&w and color.

 

Level Designers

Cliff Bleszinski, Epic Games (June 21, 2001)

Cliff Bleszinski of Epic Games kindly replied to the question regarding responsibilities of Level Designers:

Level designers are 1 part architect, 1 part game designer, and 1 part construction worker.

The pipeline for building games must change now...before we were working with a few hundred triangles and now we're working with so much more
that it's impossible for one person to do it all.

The current methodology that we're using involves:

- ARTIST draws building design on paper.
- Level Designer builds it while keeping in mind playability - for instance, that one tower over there - is that going to allow for too much of a
tactical advantage in a firefight?
- Level Designer builds basic gameflow of interiors (much of which is also based upon sketches and style guides by artists) and attempts to make something fun and enjoyable.
- Level Designer hands level to Artist for embellishment for a few days.
- Artist makes it look prettier with custom decorations, adjusting lighting,
etc... he does not mess with gameflow or gameplay, just visuals.
- Artist hands level back to designer for more gameplay tweaking and any expansion necessary. Repeat.

p.s. Not much experience with 2d level design lately.

 

Related Resources/Links

 

The opinions expressed in this article do not necessarily represent the IGDA.