Aaron Foo

Sony PlayStation 2

PowerSlide

Current project:
Research and development...

Academic Info

College: University of Adelaide
Degree: None, was a Computer Science Major but was persuaded to join a game company after the first year of study.

Were there any particular projects or areas of study that you pursued?
Yes, all things math. The undergraduate course was about 50/50 computer science/pure&applied mathematics. If I could do it all over again, I would switch and complete a mathematics degree.

Did you do any internships?
No.

Career Info

Tell us about your first job in the industry. How did you get the job? What was it like? What were your responsibilities?
My first taste of game development was a summer holiday job after the first year of university at a local start up company. Responsibilities were odd miscellaneous tasks, but enabled me to get a foot in the door. They were impressed and convinced me to work full time.

What jobs have you held in the games industry thus far? Briefly describe the career path you took to get where you are today.
Mostly graphics engineering, sprinkled with a bit of management.

Advice

What fields of study, specific courses, or life experiences would you recommend to students interested in your field?
Mathematics and, depending on your background, computer science. Valuable life experiences are things involving teams, as working effectively within a team is critical - the 3-5 people 'A class' game development project are long over. This doesn't necessarily mean playing soccer or football but perhaps CTF Quake, making Quake mod's with friends, or getting involved with the Demoscene. The Demoscene is a place where you can learn a great deal of the skills required in game development that typically are not covered by universities. This isn't just programming, but also modeling, texturing, animation, music and design. It's a great place to lean about teamwork and understanding/working with people in different domains. How often do computer science projects require artists or your animation course require programmers? In any case its how I got started on the game development route and highly suggest it. Check out the IGDA's Demoscene Special Interest Group for more information.

Is there anything you wish someone had told you before you got into the games industry? Is there anything you would have done differently?
Don't be taken in by glitz, hype and promise of 'being the next id Software'. Having said that, do keep your dreams alive, as it's a fast-paced and passionate industry that can be very rewarding. Also don't be tempted away from undergraduate study. The knowledge learnt far outweighs a few years delay in your career.

As games increase in complexity, what are the various kinds of jobs that you foresee development companies needing in the next five years?
I think we'll be seeing an increasingly larger portion of the work being outsourced. This means jobs will become more specialized requiring engineers to write less core general purpose technology, spending more time tackling specific problems. What this translates to is you should find a specific area of interest and become an expert on the topic. For example a popular choice is graphics but must be more focused on say, procedural geometry. The downside is your field of view and the number of available positions narrows, so it's a difficult line to tread. Also to handle the increased complexity there will be a greater focus on tools, and tool development, which unfortunately people out of college aren't that keen on but can get you a foot in the door.

Do you have any other advice or recommendations to share with students who are interested in doing what you do?
Once again the Demoscene, its one of the best places to learn game development skills and have a very cool demo attached to your resume. Apart from that, while very cliché but very true, there's no secret to success, it's just hard work.