How You Got Into The Industry

What about a mix of both.

Having a gamingdesign education and moding. Is that overkill ?

Might be overkill, only because you get bogged down with assignments from the course, modding takes up enough time as it is , although saying that ... you can contribute towards a mod without doing stupid amounts of work.

Modding isnt fool proof, most projects don't get released but you usually use it as portfolio work. If you're lucky enough to work on a top released modification it's almost a given that you'll be contacted for game work opportunities.

If you're confident with your ability and sure the job is for you, eventually you will get into the industry, just be ready to take advise and learn from mistakes.

Quote from Hourences

Modding can actually backfire. I once had a big studio tell me they didn't want to hire me because I was too involved in modding, and that I was thus too involved with their concurrents...

.

that's the most ridiculous thing i've ever heard...

haha yea thats super ridiculous. I would guess the person who said this knew jack shit about modding and had some weird imaginations about it in his head. like christian fundamentalists who think that atheists worship the devil. you get the picture

They sound like some sucky parents. They should encourage you to follow whatever job you desire.

Quote from Pericolos0

i think thats the case with pretty much everyone that works in the games industry =). Only one way to prove your parents wrong!

Indeed.

I had to "fight" against my mother (and some of my family) since I was 15, when i decided that I wanted to work in the games industry. She always nagged about the long hours in front on the PC, and about me always playing those damn video games!

One thing I can tell you for sure, there is nothing more satisfying than shutting them up when you finally get somewhere, and get a job in the biz and having a better income than theirs!

It's not easy though, this is not a easy industry to get into, especially when you have parents always nagging about it, it makes it even more difficult! But hey, bring on the challenge!

Do not give up on your dreams, I never did and never will, and fuck everyone who ever try to stop me.

Stop your dreams at once!

Used level editors in games since around the age of 14/15 (gta2, nolf, hl), then moved on to learning the source engine when hl2 leaked.

Worked on trying to produce a singleplayer campaign for a couple of years and worked on the hostile planet mod on and off for a year or so. (17 /18 )

Attended uni for one year studying an interactive media course, left to build up a portfolio proper and try and get some contract work. (19)

While holding down a part time job, managed to score some contract work during which i learnt how to model but was unfortunatly not able to complete the product due to time and the size and scope of it. I was then contracted to work on some levels for a source engine game, from having prior connections with the team. (20 / 21)

Finished off my portfolio and created a website for it. Uploaded CV to gamesindustry.biz and monster.com. In retrospect I could have probably done this around 4/6 months sooner.

Contacted by multiple agents during the space of a couple of weeks.

Attend several interviews, offered the job on the first! Went to the second interview and got asked back for a mandatory second but I decided to accept the first offer.

my parents were somewhat worried about it at first too. They kept asking me how I knew games weren't just a fad and wondering if I would have a job 5 or 10 years down the road.

if you are applying for an internship: people won't/shouldn't care.

if you are applying for a full position with 2k+ Euro a month, experience is a must have. having a shipped title might work out. but this really depends on the company.

generally small companies tend to use trainees for exploitation purpose. bigger companies might be quite picky when it comes to full positions.

i don't know you well, so my advice would be: start with being exploited in an internship. gain a first shipped title that way. then try to either get a full position in the same company or leave and apply at different companies. getting into the industry is actually quite easy. gain some experience by internships and hobby projects. ship some low-mid budget titles and you are in

Experience is not always a must have. You can get a junior position with no experience. Of course the pay won't be as great at first but you shouldn't worry about that on your first project. Once you've finished one it's easier to move up.

I remember when my dad told me he would get an axe and slash my computer if I do bad at school because of computer games.

GOOD TIMES!

Regarding parents, I had to drag my parents over to see our building after getting the job here before they would believe that we were not just not a few teenagers in a basement...

IO - developing in basements ins fun

I'm not sure about my university stuff as many said that a specific gamedesign course may not be that good. Though the course I'll be attenting (just got the mail ) is more about Digital Media in general with a focus on Games. It combines programming lessons, art lessons, marketing and design. all state of the art (all practical stuff is going to be cryengine 2, complete new movie and soundstudios bought this summer)... (and the best: it doesn't coast anything apart from the regular public university fee (210€ for the semester)

Quote from Zacker

Regarding parents, I had to drag my parents over to see our building after getting the job here before they would believe that we were not just not a few teenagers in a basement...

yea my parents had no idea about video game development. They were mightly impressed tho when i showed them around in the office. They never expected it to be so big, professional and yet chilled out.

Ha, same for me, my parents thought all my late nights on the computer where of no real purpose, even though I explained many times that I was spending more time making them rather than playing. When I got into the industry they where very impressed One week they dropped me off at the studio so they wanted to see it, I suppose they thought it would be some basement with cadle light and feather pens

The studio at climax is the entire top floor of that weird building on the right ...

[Blocked Image: http://www.climaxgroup.com/web_resource/studio/action1.jpg]

I was going to apply to climax