Need some advice, where do I start?

    Right, I'll go back to the start.


    About 4 years ago I started a Games Design course at University, however shortly after starting I had to leave due to a change of circumstance. Since then, I've worked my way up in E-commerce, but Games will always be my passion. I'm finding myself losing interest at work, I'm not working to my full potential because it's just not what I want to be doing.


    I've realised I need to do something about it sooner rather than later and I'm determined to one day have a career in the Industry, I just need some advice on the best way to pursue it.


    I'm torn between going back to University, or just working my ass off to build my own portfolio. From what I've read on here, other websites and heard from my friends, taking the portfolio route is going to give me just as good of a chance at landing a job as going to University would.


    The only benefit I can see from University is the networking and the years work placement, which is what seems to have landed previous students jobs straight out of education. However, this means I'll be nearly 28 when I'm finally graduating and I'll be in around 40k debt to potentially end up where I am now anyway.


    What do you guys think? Are studios just as likely to hire someone with a decent porfolio and no degree? At the moment, I'm leaning towards self-training.


    Where would I start? Are there any websites/communities other than this that I should be involved in? Any particular tutorials/guides that helped you when you were first starting out? Any standards which I should work towards? Any advice is much appreciated. Thanks!

    Portfolio is king. This time of year portfolios of graduates pop up on places like polycount. It's often abysmal what's on there after 4 years of study.

    I would only consider spending so much time and going into debt over it if the school is known to produce kickass artists/designers. So if you want to go the study route check portfolios and projects of students who went there. Otherwise your degree is worth squat when you have a portfolio by the end of it that is subpar. You would be way better off to continue with your regular job and work on some indie games/self educate in your free time.


    As for your other questions. Be a bit more specific. What exactly do you want to do? Environment art, levels, concept art, characters, coding? I can give you some pointers but more information is needed.

    Quote from Steppenwolf

    Portfolio is king. This time of year portfolios of graduates pop up on places like polycount. It's often abysmal what's on there after 4 years of study.

    I would only consider spending so much time and going into debt over it if the school is known to produce kickass artists/designers. So if you want to go the study route check portfolios and projects of students who went there. Otherwise your degree is worth squat when you have a portfolio by the end of it that is subpar. You would be way better off to continue with your regular job and work on some indie games/self educate in your free time.


    As for your other questions. Be a bit more specific. What exactly do you want to do? Environment art, levels, concept art, characters, coding? I can give you some pointers but more information is needed.


    Thanks for the reply.


    To be honest, some of the content they produce is really good. The University I was looking at has an 'in-house' studio which students can attend during the third year (placement) to work on and publish a complete game.


    In the past they have released several XBL and iOS games and it seems to be the students that were involved in these projects (or that got lucky with placements elsewhere) that have gone straight into work afterwards as Junior Designers and Programmers. Rockstar, The Blast Furnance (Activision Mobile), Team17, Codemasters, Rare... quite a few different studios - the Uni is known for having a good placement scheme.


    However, I'm guessing it was this one year placement and the resulting portfolio of work from it that helped rather than the 'degree' itself - that and the fact they were lucky. Which again makes me think, I'll just do it myself...


    My main interest is Design/Level Design, I've always wanted to create maps aimed at Multiplayer environments as I enjoy the competitive side of gaming. I have basic knowledge of UDK/Unity and C++ and I'm also brushing up on Maya/3DSMax too.

    With focus on mp maps you are limiting yourself to a very small niche. Most level design jobs nowadays are about grey boxing and scripting single player levels. Not sure going to school for this has much benefits as you get all the experience for that by doing it and ther's great ressources available to learn it the autodidactic way from making hl2 maps to mods for skyrim etc. At least not worth to get 40k in debts over it imo.


    Be aware that the creative aspect of it is very limited nowadays aswell since most studios will use environment and lighting artists to make the maps beautiful.

    So i think to study would make more sense if you aim to work on the art/design side of things. And in that case i would go as far to say that a conventional art/design education would be more benefitial then one specificaly aimed at games. I notice this time and time again that what's holding me back is a lack of art fundamentals not the use of specific software and tools.

    So looking back i could bite myself in the ass that i didn't get a proper art education. I don't think "oh damn i wish i gone to a game school when i was younger". Someone made an interesting point about that on polycount recently when he complianed that his fellow character artist at the studio where he works don't know the basics of human anatomy.

    Multiplayer is just something that interests me, not necessarily the only thing I'd want to work on professionally. From what people are telling me, the general consensus seems to be self-training, which is the path I think I'd rather take so I can continue with my regular job and not have any debt hanging over me.


    So the best way to go about it is to simply start creating maps and mods? Are there any particular engines, pieces of software or scripting/programming languages you would recommend starting with and/or including in a portfolio?


    If you can recommend any resources that'd be great, just trying to get an idea of where to start. Tutorials, guides, books... anything.

    I'm sure others can give you more elaborate answers since i don't do scripting. I guess getting familiar with Unity, UDK or Cryengine and their respective scripting system would be a good starting point.

    I'd try to keep things simple at the beginning. If you say you like multiplayer games, pick a game that you enjoy playing yourself e.g. Battlefield, Starcraft 2 - whatever, but a level editor for the game needs to be available. Think of a layout that could be fun and go ahead and try to create it in the editor. Use assets from the original game-keep it simple. Look up tutorials online if you don't how certain parts of the editor/engine work. The good thing is that multiplayer levels usually require little amount of scripting. Release the map to the community, participate in playtests and get feedback. You'll improve it, finish or scrap it, the important thing is that you keep going. Create a 2nd map. If you want to create something that's more original from a visual perspective and gets more players to check it out, learn how to create models and textures. But that's a different art by itself.


    This is as far as mp level design goes. There are some resources listed here:


    If you want to create a game by yourself, then more game design and most importantly scripting/coding will be involved. And you'll still need to create art assets yourself or get somebody else to help you with that. It's a more daunting challenge for sure. Ultimately it depends on where you want to go, but I wouldn't start by trying to do everything at once.

    Thanks for the advice, I think that's what I'll do - start small and eventually move on to things that require custom assets and more scripting/coding.

    I'll ask this here rather than start a new thread.

    Can someone explain to me exactly what a 'Games Designer' does? I see the term Games Design(er) thrown around a lot, but don't really understand what it would involve. I think I've seen one job ad for a Designer in the last month or so and it just sounded like mixture of everything? Asking for experience with Level Design, Scripting, Art, tools such as Unity, UDK, Maya, 3DSMax...

    Sorry if this is a stupid question, I just can't find a decent definition anywhere and figured it was just best to ask the people that actually work in the industry.

    Allot of talking, jotting ideas down on paper and sharing them with others, discussions, a pitch! then if all goes well ... work with programmers to get basic implementation of something done, try it, iterate, work out how to scale it up for production, implement properly, work with artists, level designers, animators and sound dude and tech guru's to get the feature in alpha shape ... then balance, tweak and nerf to your hearts content.


    That's a very crude look at it, that's a rough process for every single feature the game has.


    These days for big titles even game designers are specialized, systems, interface, balancing and technical to name just a few lets not forget level design ... point is all these position although named differently have broadly the same mentality and processes, just focused on slightly specialized parts of the game. The best designers I know could do any of those well.

    Here's a suggested "to do"-list.


    1. Get started IMMEDIATELY

    Don't postpone or plan to do something at a later date. Get started now.


    2. Find out which specialization suits YOU

    There are very few jack of all trades in our industry. This is more common in the indie scene (small teams). In any event, you should have one MAIN focus. Find out what it should be (level design, art, code etc).


    3. Learn the fundamentals of your chosen specialization

    Once you know what you want to do, learn how to do it. It's as simple as that. There's loaaaaaadsssss of resources online.


    4. Choose projects WISELY

    When you've got a hang of things, start doing things that you can actually show to other people (potential employers primarily). Consider the pros/cons of projects. A strange, fluffy art game that's designed to challenge gender roles in Zimbabwe probably won't win recruiters over when you apply to FPS-studios. Large mods can often take very long time to complete. Solo projects are way more manageable.


    5. Make a portfolio, ask us for crits and start applying

    Get your stuff together, present it in a decent way. Ask us how you can improve it. Then start applying.


    6. Keep fleshing out your portfolio

    Once you have a folio with stuff in it, you aren't "done". Keep at it son!


    So yeah, do this. I was in your position 2,5 years ago or so and I got my industry job about 6 months ago.


    Good luck!

    Games/Level Design are my main focus. I was thinking I might start with Hammer (and follow your to-do list ) and make some CS:GO maps. That way I can also incorporate the thinking behind game play, balance, the documentation and so on when putting my portfolio together - which would hopefully demonstrate the 'Games Design' thinking behind it, right? I'm also hoping to eventually work on a couple small solo/collab game projects to further my design/scripting knowledge, probably in Unity (from start to finish). Fingers crossed after a couple of years that might be enough to land me an entry level or junior designer/level designer position somewhere.


    I might set the portfolio up now, just that it's ready for me to add work to it as I go.


    I really appreciate the advice guys. By the way Puddy, I just purchased Operation Bravo and Agency is incredible, love your work, inspiring stuff!

    Focus on level design imho. An entry level game design position is a very rare thing indeed and it's generally not how you get that sort of job. Working with level design will give you a good foundation to stand on if you want to work more with game design at a later stage.


    Don't feel the need to go too heavy on showcasing theoretical stuff (documentation, analysis, post mortems, etc). A good level speaks for itself and actual content weighs more heavily in your portfolio IMHO. CS:GO maps is probably a good start since it let's you focus on layout and gameplay, but I recommend you start scripting as soon as possible after that. I haven't seen a designer position in some time that didn't have scripting knowledge as a requirement.


    And thanks!

    Thanks guys


    Spronyvan/Puddy, just out of interest, how much time per day did you spend learning? I'm working full time, so I'm trying to put a few hours in every evening and then more on the weekend.


    Going by what people have said, University isn't the best option, so I'm hoping this way I'll still be able to land a job in the future (maybe sooner than I would if I'd had to wait to graduate) and I can save in the meantime.

    I would say that the main benefits of Uni are the social "having a university life", the deadlines; forcing you to learn and finish something, and the paper; if you would like to move to say the US in the future, having a degree will help.


    However, if you already had a taste of that life (or don't feel you would miss it), have enough motivation without needing deadlines, and acquire enough talent to move abroad through your talent/portfolio... then I would actually suggest not going back to Uni at that age and incurring debt.


    Completely up to you, but I would actually advise you to get your foot in the door in QA (quality assurance, testing) right now... and learn level design in your spare time. It's similar to keeping your current job and learning/building up a portfolio in your spare time EXCEPT that you'll have daily contact with talented and inspiring individuals that (hopefully) will motivate you, you'll see the company from the inside and will be able to see if you really want to be a 3D Artist, or a Level Designer, or a Environment Artist or a Scripter. You'll play a bunch of levels that are broken and learn what not to do. Your networking will include more useful contacts than people you meet at University. You might even get promoted within the company into the Design or Art departments after earning your stripes.

    I'll make sure to check for QA positions regularly then. I have previous QA Lead experience at a software company but I wasn't sure if a games studio would even consider that relevant. Thanks for the comments though, if you have any advice for someone applying for QA positions please do tell

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