What job is this?
Hi, I'm a senior in high school and I know I will go into the game industry but I'm not sure what job is right for me. What I want to do is come up with basic game plots, and ideas and such. What job description(s) fits this? I need to know so I know what I need to study for.
Fine. I'll ask a question I haven't seen answered: What is the most necessary of these to become a game designer, going for a degree, getting an internship, or getting any job at the company to get your food in the door?
Originally posted by Mechsrule
Fine. I'll ask a question I haven't seen answered: What is the most necessary of these to become a game designer, going for a degree, getting an internship, or getting any job at the company to get your food in the door?
Kind of all of the above and a bit of luck. There is no one best route.
The best thing you can do is research this stuff yourself.
http://www.sloperama.com/advice.html
Is the starting point for most of us that come here. Another good resource is http://www.igda.org/breakingin/
Go through, do some reading, after you've gotten some information, if you still have questions a lot of the guys around here are definitely willing to help, had it not been for them i would have made many dumb choices.
Is the starting point for most of us that come here. Another good resource is http://www.igda.org/breakingin/
The IGDA breakingin link doesn't seem to work for me, I keep getting a ''page not found''
Does anybody have an idea if this has something to do with the site and/or knows how to fix this? Its been like this for a few days.
Thanks in advance,
-Bjorn Dingeldein
John Ehresmann wrote:
Is the starting point for most of us that come here. Another good resource is http://www.igda.org/breakingin/
The IGDA breakingin link doesn't seem to work for me, I keep getting a ''page not found''
Bjorn, this website has been recently totally redesigned. The old Breaking In page is now located at http://archives.igda.org/breakingin/ (you can also get there by clicking "Student/Academic" on the IGDA front page).
Bjorn Dingeldein wrote:John Ehresmann wrote:
Is the starting point for most of us that come here. Another good resource is http://www.igda.org/breakingin/
The IGDA breakingin link doesn't seem to work for me, I keep getting a ''page not found''
Bjorn, this website has been recently totally redesigned. The old Breaking In page is now located at http://archives.igda.org/breakingin/ (you can also get there by clicking "Student/Academic" on the IGDA front page).
Thanks for your help and time Tom! I'm just trying to find as much information on the subject as possible and your articles were a big help too!. *thumbs up*
-Bjorn
Originally posted by Mechsrule
What I want to do is come up with basic game plots, and ideas and such. What job description(s) fits this? I need to know so I know what I need to study for.
There is no such job, seriously. Game Designer is not "coming up with ideas" it is turning ideas into an actual game.
Coming up plots and ideas is 0.001 of the game design process (as in not nearly enough to be an actual job). Turning those ideas into a design doc is still only a small part of the development process. Real game design means taking ideas and creating them in a real development environment using the tools and technology available.
If you want to be a game designer start building game levels - get Unreal 15 or Half Life 3 or Quake 17 or Never Winters.... All these games come with level editing tools. The same tools that the guys who actually made those games used. Start learning to make actual game levels.
What is the most necessary of these to become a game designer, going for a degree, getting an internship, or getting any job at the company to get your food in the door?
All and more. Check out the breaking in forum (as in read past threads where this question has been answered before).
Oh yea and welcome to the IGDA. We may seem a little mean but its because we want you to realise that making games is tough (but rewarding) and requires you to do a lot of work.
Originally posted by Mechsrule
Fine. I'll ask a question I haven't seen answered: What is the most necessary of these to become a game designer, going for a degree, getting an internship, or getting any job at the company to get your food in the door?
All of the above! If you want a good shot at a job as a game designer, you will probably want to
- Read all of Tom Sloper's FAQs at http://sloperama.com/advice.html
- Get a 4 year degree. This doesn't necessarily have to be a "Game Design" degree. Pretty much any 4 year degree is fine.
- Get an internship working on games. This may have to be unpaid, and you may have to wait until after graduation before you can get one. Even then, there is a lot of competition.
- Network. This is super important and it was definitely the biggest factor for me getting my first (and current) real game job. You'll want to have business cards, go to conferences, meet people and follow up with them, starting ASAP. There's a great blog with advice about networking in the game industry at http://tinysubversions.blogspot.com/2005/10/effective-networking-in-games-industry.html
- Get a different (not game design) job at a studio. Game design is rarely an entry level job. You'll have a much better shot at it if you have some experience working on QA, level design, production, or art or programming if you have the skills to get you those jobs.
- Be prepared to work on non-mainstream games. It's a lot harder to get a job working on the sorts of games you and your friends probably play than it is to get a job working on games in general. You may need to work on casual games, serious games, educational games, or something similar before you can work on the sorts of games you're probably hoping for.
- Work very hard and be really lucky. There are LOTS of people who want to work on games, and not nearly enough positions for them all to have jobs. Of those positions, some of the hardest to get are actual "Game Design" jobs. Even with a lot of hard work, you will need some luck to get you where you're hoping to be.
Edit to add another one I forgot:
- Live in a place where multiple studios are a reasonable day's commute away. Check out http://gamedevmap.com/ to find the big cities. If you don't live close to any of them, you might need to move to one of them before you can start much of a job hunt. Hiring non-local entry level candidates is not very common, even if they say they're willing to relocate.
The only thing I'll add to Kate Baxter's excellent post is this:
Although it's true that it's not particularly important whether your degree is in Game Design or not, a game design degree DOES provide a significant advantage in environment for someone who is trying to build a portfolio and a skillset to land a design job. You'll be surrounded by peers who are researching the same things, sharing resources, etc. You'd have professors and faculty that will help facilitate some networking and other opportunities. Stuff like that. As long as you choose a good one, of course.
Additionally, we all have a hard time predicting what the state of the HR process will be four years down the line; I for one am convinced that degrees specifically in game development will grow more and more important.
The flip side is that most degrees like this either have very high attrition rates (above 50%), or they have low placement rates. Success requires perseverance, significant self-discipline and work. Unless you're sure that this is what you want to get into, it can be dangerous to dedicate your college career to such a focused degree.
Originally posted by maxnichols
The only thing I'll add to Kate Baxter's excellent post is this:
Although it's true that it's not particularly important whether your degree is in Game Design or not, a game design degree DOES provide a significant advantage in environment for someone who is trying to build a portfolio and a skillset to land a design job. You'll be surrounded by peers who are researching the same things, sharing resources, etc. You'd have professors and faculty that will help facilitate some networking and other opportunities. Stuff like that. As long as you choose a good one, of course.
Additionally, we all have a hard time predicting what the state of the HR process will be four years down the line; I for one am convinced that degrees specifically in game development will grow more and more important.
The flip side is that most degrees like this either have very high attrition rates (above 50%), or they have low placement rates. Success requires perseverance, significant self-discipline and work. Unless you're sure that this is what you want to get into, it can be dangerous to dedicate your college career to such a focused degree.
Everything Max said is true. That's one of the reasons I hesitated as long as I did before picking my program. Do I go for something more general, and risk flipping burgers because I can't find a job? In the end the more I look, the more I'm seeing "Or degree related to job" listed for jobs. Hence my current path down the Game Art path. It's all about how sure you are Games is what you want to be doing.
Originally posted by maxnichols
Although it's true that it's not particularly important whether your degree is in Game Design or not, a game design degree DOES provide a significant advantage in environment for someone who is trying to build a portfolio and a skillset to land a design job. You'll be surrounded by peers who are researching the same things, sharing resources, etc. You'd have professors and faculty that will help facilitate some networking and other opportunities. Stuff like that. As long as you choose a good one, of course.
Absolutely! Portfolio is a big one I forgot, and a game design or other game development related degree will definitely help you build that. It also gives you a big bump in networking, since you meet all the students and teachers.
One option to consider, and the one I ended up taking, is a more general degree, but at a school that offers game degrees. You get the networking benefit, but graduate with a degree that will make it easier to get a non-game job in case you can't find anything game related. You'll just have to supplement your studies with more game-related side projects to make sure you have a portfolio to show off.
Originally posted by centaur2048
Sounds like a garbage man, to me.
Yup. Definitely a garbage man.
You may move on.
...
Well, if you don't know the basic roles of the industry, maybe you should do some research? And, by research, I do not mean asking on a professional board. Rather, utilize one of the resources you will have to interact with in your professional career:
Google.
Also, check out Tom Sloper's site. And the FAQ. Etc.
Thank you for the advice (not the quote but the rest). What would be better, get a job at a game company then work on a degree on the side, get a degree then get a job, or work on a degree while having an internship?
Also centaur, this is a board for questions and I am more likely to get a direct answer here.
You probably want to get a degree first, then a job. But look for internships for the summers after your Sophomore and Junior years. If you got a job without a degree, it would almost certainly be QA. That's a great place to start if you're trying to move up from there, but it might be harder to move up without a degree.
also -
Centaur is right, in a sense. Rather than asking more questions here now, I think you would learn a lot more if you take some time to read the links people have given you (especially Tom Sloper's FAQs) and then come back with more focused questions after you have some more background information.
Originally posted by Mechsrule
Hi, I'm a senior in high school and I know I will go into the game industry but I'm not sure what job is right for me. What I want to do is come up with basic game plots, and ideas and such. What job description(s) fits this? I need to know so I know what I need to study for.
I nearly spit out my drink when I read this.
So you basically want to be the "idea man" and let people with some technical and artistic ability do all the real work for you? Am I correct? Game design is a far more complex task that coming up with "basic game plots and ideas." Please educate yourself a bit more before you come in here asking for help, because it's obvious you haven't done your homework.
I'm amazed how much some of you can type just to tell someone that you're not going to answer their question.
As for the question, specific game design roles vary from studio to studio. One place the designers might be primarily in charge of creating levels for the game in Max or Maya, in another it might be a scripting role, in another it might all be theory and direction of other people.
Design is a big role, you may want to focus on an area you enjoy and pick up some skills along the way. Learning a 3d authoring package like Max or Maya will take you a long way. Good writing skills will take you a long way. Even dabbling in programming will help.
I'm not sure how you get hired as a designer really. I think most people probably move up to it from other places like QA or production. Lots of people get hired for their work on mod projects, this is a really really good place to shine and should be a priority for you. Whatever you choose a cross-discipline skillset will be really really helpful.
So yeah it won't happen overnight. Dabble in all areas, find a more specific one that interests you. If you're not going for a game degree at one of the specialty schools you can pretty much get any four year degree and succeed. Find something you enjoy and go for it. An English minor wouldn't hurt, especially if you're focusing on writing.
Originally posted by bobstevens
I'm amazed how much some of you can type just to tell someone that you're not going to answer their question.
If people are going to give vague questions, the best we can do is give vague answers back.
The best advice given here is to tell someone to go do some research to have at least a foundation of knowledge before asking questions.
I think everyone isn't comprehending what mechsrule says completely, but then again, it is kinda comprehend what he's asking hah hah.
mechsrule, if I may recommend something, I would say explore as many careers and "jobs" there are in the gaming industry as possible. This is something you want to get into obviously, but I would say keep an open mind towards other careers within the industry. Also, know that the video gaming industry is very open to many people, so it helps to be as well rounded and as knowledgable as you can.
I originally wanted to get into game design as well, still kind of do actually. However, I've heard from many game designers I've come across that it takes a pretty big deal amount of luck and tenacity to make it big as a game designer. Being a game designer is a lot of work, and it's not that I didn't want the challenge (if anything I wanted to embrace it), it's just that I wanted some more guaranteed, and also have a future in getting into the science of the industry. So that's why I'm a computer engineering major now versus going to some specialty school (which isn't a bad idea by the way) and getting my degree in game design.
So, like everyone said, do your homework and keep an open eye for any events you see coming around your way where you can ask about the gaming industry and what you really want to do.
Good luck man. 
Good to know someone realizes no one gets what I'm asking. I'm not asking what job does that solely but what job would include that.
game designer,
you have your answer
Except for the part about "coming up with ideas."
http://www.sloperama.com/advice/lesson9.htm
http://www.sloperama.com/advice/lesson14.htm
http://www.sloperama.com/advice/lesson10.htm
Sounds like a garbage man, to me.
Yup. Definitely a garbage man.
You may move on.
...
Well, if you don't know the basic roles of the industry, maybe you should do some research? And, by research, I do not mean asking on a professional board. Rather, utilize one of the resources you will have to interact with in your professional career:
Google.
Also, check out Tom Sloper's site. And the FAQ. Etc.