Newb Alert

[ladycat]

Hello! I have just joined as a member of this forum in hopes of learning a thing or two about the gaming industry. I am a college student at Cal Poly Pomona with a bachelors in Liberal Studies and minor in Music, who has just realized that I should pursue my passion instead of settling for a mundane life.

I am trying to learn as much about the industry as possible, in any way that I can. Although I play video games way late into the night I still do not know a lot about how to make a game and what have you. Over the past summer I took a testing job, which I loved, and hope to return this upcoming summer.

Please offer any advice you would have for someone trying to break into the industry. What I should be learning, and what skills I should develop... I would greatly appreciate it! I am eager to listen and contribute to the forum.

[Coyote]

These forums are a bit more oriented towards going "indie" and running your own game-development business than 'breaking into the industry,' but there are a lot of industry vets who have since gone on and done the indie thing that may be able to give you advice.

Was your testing job in the games industry? If so, you've got your "in". The other thing you'll need is an excellent portfolio.

I come from the programming side rather than the art / music side, and my information is starting to get a little out-of-date anyway. Having some actual game-credits (even if they are for independent - yet still commercial - games) can really help.

[Musenik]

Here's a rough list, in my personal priority order:

First, involve yourself in the rules of games. When I was a kid I loved to read game rules. Play lots of different game, but especially board games, as their play is very hands-on. They don't have an interface to get in the way.

Second math! (more rules) Be sure to learn your trigonometry, at the very least. It's great for spacial thinking. I was slow at math, and it wasn't until my first year of calculus that I really learned trig, because I had to use it!

Next, literature. Involve yourself in stories! Take some drama classes, play role-playing games, the book and dice kind with other people. Write!

Art, music and visual, learn to sketch and become familiar with the language of art. Play a musical instrument.

Programming, take a C/C++ class and a Python/Perl/Lisp class at the very least. Try modding games like Unreal Tournament or The Sims 2.

Volunteer at the Game Developer's Conference. www.gdconf.com. That'll give you great insight into the games industry.

Play more games! All kinds of games. Am I repeating myself? I sure hope so.

You probably have a lot of these skills already. I'm just trying to be thorough. You don't have to be great at all of these, but be competent. Be great in the specialized field you eventually choose.

Keith Nemitz

[luggage]

and if you're decent enough at music offer your services here. People are always on the lookout for decent tracks. Even better if you're a dab hand at creating sound effects as well.

good luck

[Dan MacDonald]

My best advice would be not to wait for a job. Dont wait for the industry to come calling, just make your own job. Dedicate a few hours a week (or a day?) to doing the job you wish you had. If it's music you are interested in, then find out what developers use for their games. (A lot of developers use .ogg which is fairly easily created from your basic .wav files) Spend time making some music samples and stick them on a webpage somewhere. There's always a demand for this stuff, assuming you have some skill you should be able to work with a few teams and build some experience. From there it's up to you what you want to do....

[ladycat]

My best advice would be not to wait for a job. Dont wait for the industry to come calling, just make your own job. Dedicate a few hours a week (or a day?) to doing the job you wish you had. If it's music you are interested in, then find out what developers use for their games. (A lot of developers use .ogg which is fairly easily created from your basic .wav files) Spend time making some music samples and stick them on a webpage somewhere. There's always a demand for this stuff, assuming you have some skill you should be able to work with a few teams and build some experience. From there it's up to you what you want to do....

Definately something I've wanted to do for a long time. I so many ideas for music that I really need to make concrete. I have the ability, I just need to do it! Thanks for the vote of confidence, I'll get on it right away.

[ladycat]

You probably have a lot of these skills already. I'm just trying to be thorough. You don't have to be great at all of these, but be competent. Be great in the specialized field you eventually choose.



Great advice! I really love math and I have a natural ability for it. I definately want to at the very least have a thorough understanding of programming. At this point I really just want to immerse myself in all these subjects to get the creative process going and just take off from there.

[Triple_Fox]

EVERYTHING is useful in game development. Well, almost. Let me put it this way....

I'm a second year uni student(UCSC) and now I'm seriously considering dropping out(or at least taking temporary leave) to focus on development for a while, get a product out and see how well I can handle it. The first year here was very useful because I was taking classes that gave me the little bump I needed to get rolling. The second year has been miserable because I'm already capable of making a game now, there's very little to take that would help me further and I feel little motivation for getting a degree when I'm already in a position to start some full-time work! School's just gotten in the way and drained my enthusiasm.

I was doing game work, stuff like mapping and modding, game design discussions, tests with game-maker tools long before I even got here, which is probably why it only really took one year for me to fill in the gaps. I wanted to attain a passable mastery of everything needed in development even while I was in high school. Not there yet, but I'm working at it :)

Since you're coming at it more suddenly than I did it is probably best to follow the advice of working in a specialty - at least at first. There is a dichotomy between the indie world and the retail one, where retail titles have massive teams and top-level producers like a movie production; indies are closer to writers or musicians and while they can contract out parts of the work, the total number of people contributing work(not including testing) is still usually under half a dozen, and more likely two or three. So while retail developers tend to be near the top of their respective fields(and on some occasions are more interested in their field than in games), indies have to have more kinds of skills, and they need business skills in particular.

I personally chose to go the indie route because I want to have total control over the product. In the retail world you get a bigger budget but less control - and I know that many leave because they get burned out or frustrated with the workings of that business.

[ladycat]

School's just gotten in the way and drained my enthusiasm.

I know the feeling...

Although I see the many pro's of going indie(game control and what not), what is the market like for indie games and how do you make money?

-veronica

[GBGames]

This is possibly outdated, but check out Dexterity's Indie Developer FAQ (http://www.dexterity.com/articles/indie-faq.htm).

[Triple_Fox]

Although I see the many pro's of going indie(game control and what not), what is the market like for indie games and how do you make money?

This is the source of a lot of discussion/argument. For indies, the largest-volume market since at least the last ten years has undoubtedly been "casual" gaming - light, moderate-paced games like match-3 puzzles or cards. Easy to pick up, challenging and interesting for players, and not incredibly hard to program, but in the crowded field of today it only gets harder to find casual games that are original enough to sell without a very sophisticated marketing effort. The other high-volume market is that of mainstream or "hardcore" gaming - people who like big, flashy retail titles but will try an indie if it can find a way to cater to their particular expectations of refinement and polish. The third, and probably least-formulaic method, is to aim directly at a small niche audience, ranging from "retro-classic" to "detailed simulation" to "crazy and wierd," and make a monopoly in the kind of game they want. In all cases, if you can get a thousand people to buy a $20 game every year, you're making a profit of $20k, enough to live poorly on in the USA. With a modest conversion(downloads-to-purchases) ratio of 1%, a thousand purchases should require about one hundred thousand downloads in a year. So the business problem is a combination of making a game that will make people enthusiastic to buy it, and of generating high-volume traffic on your site with good marketing techniques.

The questions that we debate here are usually over which of these markets one might have the best chances in, and what the best method of marketing and delivering the product is. Pretty much everyone's come to agree on the benefits of a shareware or demonstration version, and on electronic payment and downloads. But there's a lot of room to try whatever else you think will make more money - or please your heart, if you feel you can afford the risks of failure.