Category Archives: Career Advice
Sorry, There Is No “Idea Guy” Position In The Game Industry
Whenever I meet a new group of game production students at The Los Angeles Film School, I ask them what role they want to have in the game industry. Every so often, I get one who says, “I’m really good at ideas. That’s what I want to do in the game industry: be the guy who comes up with the ideas for games, stories and characters.”
Well then, stand in line behind the game designer, the programmer, the artist, the sound engineer, the quality insurance tester, and the project manager, all of whom bring valuable skills to the development team, because they all have ideas too.
Everyone has ideas. Good ones. Lots of good ones. As an exercise for my introductory game design class, I divide my students into groups of three and ask them to come up with 100 game design ideas in an hour. No one has failed the assignment yet.
Now, there is a game designer position whose responsibilities is to come up with game ideas; however, in practice a game designer is often given an idea to develop, either because the game was the idea of the boss or someone else on the team, an adaptation of a movie or another type of intellectual property, or a sequel to an existing game.
Even when the designer is tasked with coming up with an original game concept, the entire development team might be involved; after all, they are the ones who will be required to develop it, and they have probably have lots of good ideas too from the many games they have collectively played. When I worked as a producer at Jet Morgan Games, we would call the entire company into the conference room — producers, programmers, artists — to brainstorm ideas for projects we were pitching to our various clients.
But let’s say that you and only you are responsible for coming up with the game ideas at a game studio. What do you think you will be doing while the rest of the development team is actually creating the game? Coming up with new ideas to choose from when the team is finished eighteen months from now?
Ideas are, as they say, a dime a dozen, and no one is going to pay you to come up with one. What employers and clients pay for is the ability to execute ideas; that is, turning an idea into a finished product, preferably one that is popular enough that it will earn more revenue than it cost to develop.
If you want to get a job developing games, you need to have the skills necessary to do one of these positions:
- Game Designers define the way the game is played and the player experience. They develop the rules of the game, the setting, story and characters, objects such as weapons and vehicles, different ways the game may be played. This is more than just coming up with the game’s “idea”; it is coming up with all the details about how the game works. Even after the game is fully designed, the game tester is busy running playtest sessions with other players and refining the game based upon the session results.
- Level Designers are a sub-specialty of game designers who uses a level editor tool to not only create levels (environments) for a game, but may also program scripted events for player interaction with game objects.
- Game Writers write character profiles, backstories, main stories, mission and item descriptions, dialog, instructions and all other text appearing in a game.
- Game Programmers, or Developers, use programming languages such as C++ to develop code for implementing the design and displaying graphics and audio for video games. They also develop related software, such as game development tools like level editors and game engines.
- Game Artists create the visual elements of a game, such as characters, scenery, objects, vehicles, surface textures, clothing, props, and even user interface components. They also create concept art and storyboards which help communicate the proposed visual elements during the pre-production phase.
- Sound Designers are responsible for a game’s music, sound effects, and dialog. They may use audio libraries for finding music and sound effects, or they may compose music or record sounds themselves.
- Testers, or Quality Assurance personnel, verify that all of the game’s planned features and assets have been implemented and work properly.
- Project Managers, or Producers, oversees the entire project and ensures that the team is delivery quality within the time and budget constraints. They run meetings, write reports, and manage budgets, work schedules and project timelines.
Any one of these people can come up with an idea for a game. But if that’s all you can do, then you need to develop additional skills if you want to work in the game industry. Game development teams are very collaborative, and if you can’t contribute to a game’s execution, you’re not yet ready to contribute to its conception.
What You Need To Learn To Work In The Game Industry
Many young people (and to me, college-aged is “young”) tell me that they want to break into the game industry yet have no clear idea about what work they actually want to do in it. All they know is that they “want to make games.” Unfortunately for them, positions in the game industry are highly specialized, and you need to have the right education, experience, or portfolio of work to be considered for them.
Here are some of those positions, and what’s you need to learn if you want to pursue them.
Programmer: You can obtain an entry-level games programmer position if you have either an excellent knowledge of the required programming languages — C++ for console/PC games and objective C or Java for mobile games — and a portfolio of examples to back this up. Most big companies require you to have a Bachelor’s Degree, preferably in Computer Science or Software Engineer, although self-taught programmers are sometimes hired if they impress the hiring managers with their knowledge and skill.
An entry-level position is normally that of Junior Programmer. In this position you will often be implementing other people’s designs under the watchful eye of a more experienced software engineer. It is unlikely that you will remain in a junior position for too long as the games industry is very dynamic and it is possible to rise through the programming ranks very quickly. Many programmers specialize in certain areas such as engine programming, tools programming, AI, multiplayer, audio, client-server interactions, and so on.
Artist/Animator: Artists are needed not only to create the graphics needed in the game itself, but also to do art for packages, promotional materials, and websites. People interested in becoming artists should get a four-year degree as an arts major. You should be adept at using art software such as PhotoShop, Illustrator or Maya, but just as important, you should be trained in traditional art concepts and theory.
Hiring managers look for a spectacular portfolio when interviewing artists, so you should be creating a lot of game art on your own. Employers also look for passion in their artists. If you just create some art because you “have to” to get a job, you’re not going to get very far. The successful artist is constantly drawing, sketching, animating… and talking about comics, cartoons, animated films, anime, manga, even classical art.
Designer: Game designers don’t just come up with the idea for a game — anyone can do that! — they create all the content and rules for creating the player experience. Large-scale games ames need several designers, focusing on particular aspects of the game such as the levels, game economy, user interface, and artificial intelligence. The lead designer is an experienced designer who also has managerial skills.
Game Designer is not an entry level position. That means that if you do not have any prior experience working in a game company, you’ll likely not be hired for the position. You do need a four-year degree — although it can be in a wide range of majors such as Art, Film, History, Computer Science, Economics, or English, since a game designer needs to know a little bit about everything, anyway.
There are schools that offer degrees in Game Design, and this will help you build up a portfolio needed to get you an entry level job — although, as I said, most likely not as a game designer. Game designers usually start out in Level Design, Q.A., Production, Programming, Art, Audio, Customer Support, or Marketing.
To prepare to embark on a career as a Game Designer, you should play a wide variety of games, analyze them as to why they are fun or not, and make games or game levels on your own. You don’t need to be an expert programmer to be a Game Designer, but it helps to know a bit about game programming, so it helps to download Game Maker, Game Salad, Unity or Unreal and learn how to use them to make games from the wide variety of online tutorials available.
Audio: A career in game audio also should begin with a four-year degree. Study music, the physics of sound, even psychology. Learn about musical instruments, acting, directing, and how speakers are constructed. Learn about computers.
Sound engineers in the game industry handle the creation and recording of sound effects, music, and voice-overs in games, as well as tinkering with sound files to match corresponding animations or laying down tracks in a cinematic. So, skills.
Most sound engineers in the game industry are freelancers, going from one contract gig to another, so you do need to also have skills in selling yourself.
Production: Producers (or Development Directors, Project Managers) oversee the entire development process. The producer’s task is to both get the game done, but also ensure that it’s fun. That means constantly balancing resources and scope to hit schedule, cost, and quality goals. For big projects, the Producer may have one or more Associate Producers and Production Coordinators helping take on the workload
This also is not an entry-level position. You typically need at least 2 or 3 years in the game industry to be a producer. Producers often get their start in the game industry in QA, programming, art, design or even marketing, or even game design. The producer cares about much more than just the budget, the schedule, and the personnel management. The producer’s task isn’t just to get the game done no matter what – it’s a big balancing act. S/he has to not only get it done, but also make it fun.
Writing: Game writers need to know how to write and write well, both creatively and technically — character biographies, game world descriptions, missions and quests, dialog, player instructions. Most hiring managers look for game writers who already have experience writing (published) stories or (produced) television/film scripts.
Quality Assurance: Testing is an entry-level job, and it is how many people break into the game industry, particularly if they don’t have a degree in programming, art, or business. Hiring managers look for testers who not only play a lot of games but also have good observation and communication skills and who are diligent despite long, tedious hours and low pay.
The game industry also has positions available in Accounting, Finance, Marketing, Sales, Human Resources, Information Technology, Office Management, and other roles you would find in most other businesses, and these all require the relevant degrees and/or experience.
This is where a more general degree in Game Production or Game Design may come in handy.
Just remember that whatever job you want to get in the video game industry requires you to actually know something beyond just how to play them.
Now, you can enter the game industry as a generalist, but that often means working at a small company where the chances of success are even smaller than working at a large studio or publisher. You need to have a broad range of skills, and perhaps in each one being only “good” instead of “great”. This is where a more general degree in Game Production or Game Design may come in handy.
Just remember that whatever job you want to get in the video game industry requires you to actually know something beyond just how to play them.
David Mullich 