A Game Development Blog

Breaking into the Video Game Industry

For many people, getting a job in the game industry is their dream job. Of course, the first thing that comes to mind is being a game designer, making great games that people all over the world will play - oh, and get paid for it is good too!. The problem of course is how to get there. There was a catch-22: Companies wanted people but the people had to have experience - and those companies didn’t want to pay those new people to learn, they just wanted them to hit the ground running. This made it hard for those wanting to get in and prove themselves. So unless you got creative, it was very difficult. How can you get experience when they won’t give you the chance? When up against a wall what do you do? Make your own exit through.

When I broke into the industry, there wasn’t any courses to take at schools, tools that are used in the industry were so costly the average person could never get a copy to use and learn (I remember paying $1500 to get my first Lightwave3D license) rarely was there an intern program and where I lived, I stood very little chance of getting into the industry unless I did something a little out of the ordinary. Because at that time, you had to live in or near the city, country and perhaps know someone on the inside and of course, be able to prove your skills - whatever piece of paper you had from a school (at that time) meant squat - it’s what you could DO that was key.

Thankfully, there were some games being shipped that had editors and allowed people to customize their games. At this time, it really wasn’t the norm so only few games (i.e. Duke Nukem 3D, Quake to name a couple) only had this ability. My opportunity came when Duke Nukem 3D was released with custom tools. I took that as my chance to get experience my own way. So I gutted the game entirely and put in my own levels, own art, own music, new weapons and other new content. At this point in time, TC’s were *just* gaining popularity so when I finished “Layre” I released it as a free TC and submitted it as my resume to 3D Realms. Within a month I had a job working in the industry.

That was how I got into the industry. That was then and things were a lot different then. Doing the same thing now probably wouldn’t have the same impact. While almost every game ships with content creation tools and TCs, MOD creation are still a popular way of giving yourself experience, there are so many out there that it now takes a team of skilled people to make one that stands out above the rest. One way of getting this experience on your own is to pick up a game and familiarize yourself with their tools - because so many games now are using licensed technology, chances are there are a half dozen other games out there based from the same toolset (i.e. Quake based and Unreal Tech based games). However, to back up a bit, you must first narrow down what it is exactly you’re looking to do in the industry. Art? Programming? Modeling? Level design? Know what you want to do, be realistic about your goals, assess your skills so you can focus on the area that will give your the best experience. Then go from there. There are a chunk of resources out now that didn’t exist back in ‘97.

We’ve entered a new generation within the game industry. We’ve got a slew of other platforms aside from the PC that have recently opened up the doors for incredibly small teams finding ways to make and distribute their games. It doesn’t take much nowadays for a person to start or find a group of people making a game in this new age. So the question better becomes, in what way do I want to enter the game industry? If it’s still wanting to get a job at a major company then submitting a demo reel and/or portfolio (artist), demo code + answering a programming placement test (programmers), submission of levels made using their tools (level designer) are all valid courses of action. Having a popular MOD pack on your resume is also a good thing. Some companies will scout local art schools and some of the ever-popular video game design schools. With the growth of video game design schools, it would be wise to perform research on the school and it’s success rate prior to application. What placement programs are in place? More importantly, WHO is teaching the courses, do they have industry experience, shipped titles etc..?

With the industry becoming more technologically complex, folks with degrees in mathematics & computer science are always considered for core technology development. With the heavy use of shaders, being familiar with how to use the specialized tools to write & test shaders is a major bullet point to have too. I guess the point I’m getting to here is there is an abundance of stuff out there now for people to use and gain experience. Even if you’re a “regular joe” looking to get into the industry (which I was) there’s a lot of tools around to keep yourself busy and learning. This also has something to do with the fact that games 10+ years ago didn’t require 100 people to make. Usually, it was 5-10 guys who took on multitude of tasks - now you have tool developers, engine developers, audio/dsp specialists, network programmers, A.I. programmers, shader & script writers, texture artists and 3D modelers/animators who now must learn to use and apply shaders …the list goes on. Since several companies are licensing technology more frequently, being familiar with the modern engines and their tools (i.e. Quake or Unreal based) can only help as well.

As you can see, there are plethora of options now that didn’t exist previously. Tools that the average person could never afford to buy are now freely available to download - provided you’re using it for learning purposes. These range from 3D modeling applications, image manipulation software, shader development, even Microsoft’s Visual Studio Express edition of their development tools - now you just got to use them.

In closing, I’ll leave you with this thought: A new generation of the game industry is upon us, leading to new and unexplored paths. For someone really serious about getting into the industry and doesn’t have the millions of dollars to do so, think “XNA”.