Portland/Eugene/Seattle

[Ouren]

Hey fellows!

I'm moving from Nashville, TN to Portland to find career opportunities. While I'm up there, I plan on visiting Eugene as well as Seattle.

Are there any good places to meet industry peers, or companies up there that you might know of?

Or, would anyone on here be interested in meeting up and discussing games and their creation?

I'm very much pursuing this as a career path, and I'd like some tips for the region.

Thanks so much for your help guys,

Wolfgang Wozniak

[Bunglo]

Valve, Bungie, Runic, Nintendo, Microsoft, and others are all around the Bellevue/Seattle region.

[Rick_D]

your portfolio is apalling, what do you even want to do? i would probably work on that instead of moving to a place where you might not even get a job.

you follow the jobs, not move somewhere and hope to get a job, this isn't the film industry and there is no hollywood.

[e-freak]

http://arwym.com/wolfgame/index.php/arc ... gory/print

did you create the artwork on these dvd boxes? it looks like the strongest pieces of your portfolio.

[Ouren]

http://arwym.com/wolfgame/index.php/archives/category/print

did you create the artwork on these dvd boxes? it looks like the strongest pieces of your portfolio.

They are design comps.

ALSO! PAX is this August, which is wonderfully convenient.

[insta]

What do you want to work as? Your portfolio is very "jack of all trades".

Also, are you moving there without any leads on a position, but intend to find work once you've relocated? Most people get the job first, then do the whole relocation thing.

[Ouren]

I know exactly what it is I want to do, trouble is that it's not really anything too terribly "concrete".

The particular work shown is simply to get in as some sort of 3D artist, or level designer at a smaller studio.

I have no interest in working on a 100person~AAA team.

I do, however have an extreme passion for smaller, more dangerously creative projects.

I'm most interested in plain old story-telling in games.

I'd be fine getting in as an intern, or entry level anything, really.

I understand some of you all's confusion what with my decision to move to Portland for a while, but I've been unemployed for almost a year now, and I literally have nothing to lose, and a lot to gain.

There is —no— industry in my state, and I have some family up in Portland I can stay with until I find something.

I just need to be surrounded by like-minded people, y'know?

EDIT

But, please, if you guys have any other ideas or opinons, please feel free to shame 'em.

[e-freak]

nah a change of walls is a good thing if you're stuck. defo go for the move. try to pick out one of your current skills and try to push it to the max over the next year. if 3d modelling is it, try to become a real master and focus your portfolio around that. in the industry you most likely need to have one or two very strong skills and everyone will take for granted that you have basic skills in all the other areas.

[Ouren]

nah a change of walls is a good thing if you're stuck. defo go for the move. try to pick out one of your current skills and try to push it to the max over the next year. if 3d modelling is it, try to become a real master and focus your portfolio around that. in the industry you most likely need to have one or two very strong skills and everyone will take for granted that you have basic skills in all the other areas.

Thank.

I'll do just that.

[Steppenwolf]

Your portfolio needs a lot of work if you want to find a job in the industry. There are pretty much no finished, game ready assets or levels on it. If you want to be a 3d artist or level designer in the industry you have to proof that you got what it takes to finish a project. Only posting those clay renders gets the complete opposite message across.

Finish some of these assets, create textures and materials for them, get them in a game. Then make an ingame screenshot and post your texture sheets also. If you want to be a level designer make levels! Noone will hire you as a level designer when all you've done so far is placing a dozen assets in UDK. At the very minimum create a good looking multiplayer map with stock assets for a game.

Going by your portfolio you don't posess these skills yet so focuss on that over the next 2-3 years. Imo it will take that long before you can even think of a job or an internship.

The cover designs, while looking nice shouldn't be on your portfolio if you didn't do the artwork for them. It's misleading, almost a fraud because people will assume you did it and get in touch with you under this wrong assumption.

In the pixel art category you should also post some texture sheets, sprites etc. if you want to convince.

Moving to Portland will not do the trick for you. And in times of internet it's not important where you live. Companies will invite you and pay for the trip if they deem your portfolio worthy. My advice: get a shitty job at McDonalds, or as a dish washer or something for the time being and in your freetime work your ass off to improve your game art and design skills. Then join a mod team or help someone on his indie game for free to get some practical experience in game making. Only then you're ready to apply for jobs and internships at real game studios.

I know these words sound harsh but it is a harsh reality out there. There are plenty of unemployed games people out there with better portfolios and a track record of released games/mods. So in order for games companies to consider you over them you have to step up your game considerably.

[Rick_D]

well said

[Ouren]

Moving to Portland will not do the trick for you. And in times of internet it's not important where you live. Companies will invite you and pay for the trip if they deem your portfolio worthy. My advice: get a shitty job at McDonalds, or as a dish washer or something for the time being and in your freetime work your ass off to improve your game art and design skills. Then join a mod team or help someone on his indie game for free to get some practical experience in game making. Only then you're ready to apply for jobs and internships at real game studios.

You guys really don't understand.

It's not a life shattering move. I really don't have anything going on here.

I already have my tickets.

All I was asking for in the thread was just to meetup, hang out and generally socialize with any natives.

Yes, I know my portfolio isn't a AAA studio portfolio.

Yes, I could make it better.

But for now, I need to be around peers.

There's no reason I can't get that shitty job at ______ somewhere more relevant to my education and experiences.

I've tried the internet thing.

It's not worked at all.

People just up and vanish all the time. There's no sense of accountability for an unpaid mod/indie game.

Generally people just vanish.

Anyway, thanks for the advice everyone, and I hope to maybe meet some of you during my stay.