How to break in the games industry - an insiders' guide

Ok so here's the deal :

I've been doing some 3d work for the last few years but it's nothing special. Usually it's just simple models for Google earth, nothing really that would push me to improve my skills or anything, I would work on that on my own time modding etc.

Anyways some bad financial stuff happened and I'm living with the family rent free. For the last few months I've been working on modding and my portfolio and thanks to a few friends I got my foot in the door a couple places but it didn't pan out. My guess is 2 reasons, I live in Vancouver and know a few people who have been doing game development for up to 20 years who are having trouble landing jobs because of the 2000+ worth of layoffs between the smaller devs, EA, and Radical. Considering I have next to no commercial game development experience and there are quite a few more skilled and experienced people than me out there looking for work it seems pretty unlikely I'll find work until things really begin to pick up again.

So anyways at this point I figured I can do a few things:

1) keep working on modding and the portfolio and try to get a job eventaully

2) go to art school and get some classical training

3) go to college for programming

anyways I've decided to go to school for programming with a specialization in digital processing and then rendering programming for the following reasons

1) in a recession where the entertainment industry is the first to feel it, I can apply for non-entertainmetn jobs

2) In my previous job, even though i was an artist I was constantly doing scripting and some light programming. I tend to join projects as an artist but always end up gravitating towards more technical tasks. Mainly because no one else is willing to or can do them.

3) I have to go live in Japan in a couple years. I've heard while they have no lack of artists they do hire a lot of programmers from the west because they tend to lack the right type of programmer locally.

4) Level design these days tends to benefit from someone who knows how to script. Learning programming kind of helps in that area.

5) Considering I've already done computer game art for the last 6 years I understand a lot of the programming and math concepts. A decent head start

Anyways I'm just about to finish my application. Seems a bit odd to switch to the other side in my mid 20's but ultimately it feels like the right decision.

I think your reasoning is sound (mostly because it's very similar to mine;)

Good luck learning how to program

Quote from Skjalg

I think your reasoning is sound (mostly because it's very similar to mine;)Good luck learning how to program

Thanks how has it worked out for you?

EDIT: Also realized I wrote the 3rd point omitting some words, corrected it so it makes sense now..

Well, getting the foot in the door as a programmer isn't exactly easier when it comes to games. You'd do well to join mods as a programmer (source mods require c++, unreal mods require unreal script).

I finished my education about a year ago and have been working on business solutions since then. You'd do yourself a favor if you checked around the web for the top 10 jobs that you'd want when you're done with your career and then aim to learn everything they have listed in their requirement part of the job listing.

I have noticed that MOST (if not all) programming jobs for games require a lot of understanding in c++. Check with your school asap if they teach that, and if they do, check if they focus heavily on that. Most schools tend to focus on java or c#, since its easier to learn.

anyways, thats just my 2cents for a programmer-to-be

Yo can get some good advices from the iterview with me:

http://worldofleveldesign.com/categorie ... erview.php

I think the whole idea of being able to justify modding as school related is a big bonus

I am quite interested in rendering and lighting methods, I've heard there's a bit of a need for that even with the job situation as it is here. I've started studying the Linear Algebra series on youtube as well as take some math and physics classes at night in preparation for college. The option I picked is supposed to focus the most heavily on C++ out of the 7 options the college offers. I have a meeting with one of the program people this week so I'll be sure to ask them if that's true.

Thanks again for the advice

Do you guys know of any article that chronicles the making of a popular commercial game from start to finish? What are common personnel titles, stages of development and timelines given for a game? Does it vary widely? How big is the average team? Are mappers expected to graduate to higher levels of development like story conception and direction or do you spend your careers within your niche trying to attain mapping nirvana?

I know that every company will do things differently but I'm curious if there are procedures that you'll find across the board at every game studio.

Quote from DUFFY

I know that every company will do things differently but I'm curious if there are procedures that you'll find across the board at every game studio.

Not giving the courtesy of acknowledging receipt of job applications or simply saying "Sorry we have no positions available" :ssj:

When people say it is good for level designers to learn scripting is that as in Unreal kismet and the same sort of thing in the source engine etc?

Level designers must know scripting.

Quote from sarge mat

When people say it is good for level designers to learn scripting is that as in Unreal kismet and the same sort of thing in the source engine etc?

Every engine have their own scripting tools. In most cases it's Lua code or own script language + GUI... You can't just learn one type of scripting method and use it anywhere...

Quote from seir

Every engine have their own scripting tools. In most cases it's Lua code or own script language + GUI... You can't just learn one type of scripting method and use it anywhere...

Indeed, it's more important to have touched a few of these scripting languages and develop the mindset necessary to do it, so you can learn just any other one. It's simple programming logic after all, shouldn't be too hard to grasp, but you need to have some experience beforehand. Doing scripted levels also teaches a lot about planning the player's actions and reacting in consequence: your scripting needs to take every single case of player interaction into account, and you'll acquire the mindset to do that by practicing.

Thanks guys.

Another Question, again :roll:

I would assume knowing 3D modelling would be a plus, but I am just wondering how important is it, I would guess it Varies from studio to studio. Tried it a good wile back and kind of struggled with it a bit but I just noticed I could get Max, Maya, Mudbox and some other stuff for just over £100 as I am a student.

A lot of studios I applied for wanted you to know basic modelling but were willing to help teach you if you were unfamiliar with them, which is cool. On NS2 all I do is 100% mapping which I . So it does vary from place to place.

Thanks for the info dux

Any UK people know much about the game design degree at tee side, i have it down as my place to go if i don't get a job by September. Heard its not as great as you can be lead to believe and the area is a bit of a shit hole, but it still looks like one of the better options in the UK.

Quote from dux

A lot of studios I applied for wanted you to know basic modelling but were willing to help teach you if you were unfamiliar with them, which is cool. On NS2 all I do is 100% mapping which I . So it does vary from place to place.

Edit: Just to preface these questions, it's not a "is it worth it to learn x" question, more of a "how important is x relative to y" question.

Just out of curiosity, is this just for slightly complex shapes needing to be included for grey/white-boxing purposes, being able to model a level/scene in 3DS/Maya for projects that don't yet have a fully functional engine/editor, to make full blown small custom assets, or all of the above? I'm focusing most of what I learn on scripting and predicting player actions since my understanding is that most studios have environment artists who do all the modeling work.

Granted, I know the situation can be vastly different depending on the size/philosophy of the company. I have a limited amount of free time, so I'm trying to focus my energy on what will give me the biggest return on time invested and be most attractive to potential employers.

Quote from Serenius

Edit: Just to preface these questions, it's not a "is it worth it to learn x" question, more of a "how important is x relative to y" question.

Just out of curiosity, is this just for slightly complex shapes needing to be included for grey/white-boxing purposes, being able to model a level/scene in 3DS/Maya for projects that don't yet have a fully functional engine/editor, to make full blown small custom assets, or all of the above? I'm focusing most of what I learn on scripting and predicting player actions since my understanding is that most studios have environment artists who do all the modeling work.

Granted, I know the situation can be vastly different depending on the size/philosophy of the company. I have a limited amount of free time, so I'm trying to focus my energy on what will give me the biggest return on time invested and be most attractive to potential employers.

you will be creating rough shapes using either a "brush" based tool (think hammer, unrealed) or using a 3d program (3dsmax, maya, xsi, and most places now will use sketchup if they have any sense - because how easy it is to use for basic level creation).

a good idea (imho) would be to get into an engine you are familiar with, that has a single player campaign. use the assets, textures and "universe" of that game to create your own levels. because this is what you will be doing in a job, placing assets created by someone else, into a level built by you. heavy emphasis should be placed on the gameplay - but unfortunately you will have to make sure it looks relatively appealing as well.

I remember back when I thought I had a chance to get into the industry, everywhere I applied they needed me to know 3d studio max, since everything got blocked out there.