Getting a Job in the Games Industry - Part 3
Welcome to part three of my series on getting a job in the gaming industry. This part focuses on discipline specific advice. You can find parts one here, and part two here.
Programming
Programming arguably has the most quantifiable “hard” skillset. Most schools don’t offer game design degrees, but will have entire computer science departments. You’ll be able to create and show work that can be judged by any competent tech company with an existing programming group. Writing good code can be an astounding creative work, but assessing good code is less subjective. If it runs fast, stable, does its intended job, and can be worked on by other programmers without them pulling their hair out, it’s good.
If you want to increase your chance of getting a job in the game industry focus on a specialization that is less popular but highly valued. It’s much easier to find gameplay-focused programmers than it is to find ones focused on rendering, and even harder to find ones focused on tools. Programmers able to handle networking are worth their weight in gold. If you aren’t interested in these specialized areas then don’t pursue them, because you’ll be up against people who have a passion for them. But all things equal being a specialist can make a big difference.
Programming is also a job that’s in high demand across the tech sector, so you can gain employment while you seek that coveted game job.
Art
Art is similar to programming in that there are readily available degrees you can acquire, potentially in even more categories of specialization than programming. It can be harder to find a job outside of the game industry, but if you have a strong accompanying technical skillset, like animation or modeling, its not uncommon for game artists to jump back and forth between working on special FX and concept art in multiple entertainment industries. If concept art is your focus, my main advice would be that you better be damn good, and fast, because the best in this area are both. I realize good is hard to quantify, but it comes from practice and seeking critique as much as innate talent. Fast just requires practice.
Also, as an entry level artist think about what a game company needs as well as what is cool to work on. I’ve said this before, but it bares repeating: everybody likes to make and build crazy cool heroes or monsters, but games have tons of trees, rocks, walls, crates, boxes, pipes, dirt, etc. Someone needs to make these things. If you can prove you have the ability to produce quality work on a wide variety of subjects you have a better chance of scoring a job. Sure, you may make trees for a while, but if you really want to work on games it may be worth it. You may even learn to like trees. :)
Artists also have the advantage of being, well, artists! You have the most visual and accessible means of showing off your work, and catching people’s attention. As you are building a portfolio, be it physical or digital, do anything you can think of to catch people’s attention. Create a leather bound and decorated portfolio book, 3D print one of your characters into an action figure, build a website storybook that showcases your art. Make sure the art always remains the focus, but doing something extra is a great way to get your foot in the door. Games are often about what is awesome, so be awesome in your presentation like no other discipline can be.
Audio
I love audio, and think it’s as valuable as all the other disciplines, but I’ll be the first to say that I know the least about how to get a job in this area. I know you can get degrees, and by observation I can say that people who love creating good audio are a tight-knit community, so building contacts is likely more valuable in this discipline than others, but I’m speculating here. Get a degree, make great work, look for areas of need that game companies might have that you don’t see your fellow students focusing on. If you are an audio person looking for advice contact me and I’ll see if I can get one of my audio friends to make a post on this page.
Production
If you want a job in production or any element of the business side of games you should definitely get a degree. Follow my general advice and look for internships. Again, like audio, this is not as much an area of focus for me, but I’d be happy to get more information if there is interest.
End of Part 3
So ends part three. In my fourth and final installment I’ll go over the design discipline and offer any additional advice I can think of.
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