The Games Game November 2011

Each month, industry veteran Tom Sloper provides career guidance to game biz wannabes, newbies, and junior professionals with the goal of helping them break into the industry, and stay in. Submit a question to Tom for developer-oriented advice in this column (IGDA members only).

Korea Games Conference

Dear Mr. Sloper,

I heard that you were going to the Korea Games Conference.  Why?  What's in an overseas conference for you?   I know they have conferences also in China and Europe and Singapore. Should I go to one?  Which one would be best for someone who is just looking for a job?

-- Anyeong haseyo

Dear Anyeong,

Just kidding. Of course "anyeong haseyo" is a Korean greeting.  I did indeed go to KGC2011 this month.  I went and spoke on the topic "The Evil Triangle: A Constantly Rotating Target."  An engineering principle says that while everybody wants a project to be "good, fast, and cheap," it's impossible to obtain all three.  That's the "evil triangle."  In my speech, I examined that notion in some detail.  My finding was that "good" is not really a single triangle point -- it's a four-pointed shape in its own right: "fun, features, quantity, looks" (actually, "looks" also includes sounds).  And because of this finding, I concluded, the triangle isn't really evil.  And it isn't even a triangle.  The KGC2011 website is http://kgconf.com/eng/html/main.html

Why did I go to KGC2011?  To deliver that speech.  And to meet with other speakers -- to network, to schmooze.  It's useful, in my work and in my teaching, to have connections with knowledgeable people in the industry, not just here in the US but also in other countries. 

If you are a jobseeker, a game conference can be very useful for the networking.  Say you meet John Johnson of Company X.  When you later send in an application to Company X, you can say "I met John Johnson at the Y Games Conference, and he suggested that there might be openings in my specialty, which is Z."  At some conferences, they might even have hiring booths.  And of course, if you can afford the sessions pass, you can also meet lots of people in the industry, collect their business cards (by giving them yours).  You can also meet other jobseekers like yourself, which can be good because you can share tips, leads, and ideas, maybe even join up and make some portfolio pieces together.

As for which ones to go to, I don't recommend that a jobseeker travel too far afield.  A conference in your own state is better than one in another state.  A conference in a nearby state is better than one in another country.  You should only go to the China conference if you already have a Chinese connection, speak some Chinese, stuff like that.  Rather than spend money on travel to an overseas conference, I'd recommend saving the money to move to a game hotbed.  If you already live in a hotbed, then having the money saved up is still a good thing. 

Please note that there is no guarantee that Tom will be able to respond to all the questions he receives. It is up to his discretion which questions he uses for this column. For further advice and resources, check out the IGDA's discussion forums, the Breaking In web site and the Students & Newbies Outreach section.

Tom's Bio

Tom Sloper's game biz career began over twenty years ago at Western Technologies, where he designed LCD games and the Vectrex games "Spike" and "Bedlam". There followed stints at Sega Enterprises, Rudell Design, Atari Corporation, and Activision. In 12 years at Activision, Tom produced 36 unique game titles (plus innumerable ports and localizations), designed four games, and won five awards. Tom worked for several months in Activision's Japan operation, in Tokyo. He is perhaps best known for designing, managing and producing Activision's "Shanghai" line. He is currently consulting, writing, speaking, teaching, and developing original games. Find out more at Sloperama.

© 2011 Tom Sloper. All rights reserved.