I kept a running total of where people
worked that was divided up into broad categories:
| No affiliation |
17 |
| Outside (non-game) company
|
15 |
| Freelancer |
15 |
| Small, self-started company
|
13 |
| Large game company |
5 |
| Close (coin-op, etc.)
|
3 |
| Press |
2 |
| Professorial |
1 |
Most of the topics stayed the same through all three roundtables
A Summary of the Topics:
What does it take to get into the game industry?
Drive, desire, and talent. A willingness to do whatever it takes…relocate,
take lousy entry-level jobs, work for sub-standard pay.
Is a portfolio necessary?
Almost.
What should be in my portfolio?
There was good consensus from the industry people on this question.
What a game company wants to see is that you are not a "lone wolf" and
can work on a team to a spec, so they like to see a sample product made
in conjunction with several other people. They suggested finding a few
people who were also interested in getting into the industry, and making
a demo game with them. Try to find at least one good artist and one
good programmer. The demo game could be quite simple, and it helps if
you made good design documents BEFORE you built it and then followed
them through to completion.
What should design documents/proposals look like?
A book was suggested for reference: "Inside Electronic Game Design"
by Arnie Katz and Laurie Yates.
What other books are recommended?
Quite a few people suggested "The Ultimate Game Developer's Sourcebook"
by Ben Sawyer. The "Action Arcade Adventure Set" by Diana Gruber is
an excellent introduction to scrolling tile engines. The Waite Group
"Win32 Game Developer's Guide with DirectX 3" by Jason Kolb is a nice
book that avoids the MFC awkwardness of other DirectX books, and doesn't
hide the DXSDK workings inside the author's pet enormous class structure
or library. "The Complete Wargames Handbook" by Jim Dunnigan is good
for strategy wargame designers.
What is an entry level job in the game industry?
The mail room of the game industry is the testing department. Almost
anyone can get a job testing games at $9.00/hour. These jobs are NOT
as much fun as they sound. The good news is that this gives you the
vital "foot in the door", and many tales were told at the roundtables
of the type "Bob got a job as a tester at company X, and one year later
was a programmer/artist/producer/whatever". Being on site/in the company
allows you to learn about the industry from the inside, and gives you
a chance to show everyone your other abilities. Most companies will
entertain design proposals from anyone in the company, often hosting
"anyone welcome" design meetings.
How can I start my own game company with no money?
A game company is a business. If you can't raise money to start a business,
you're probably not the sort of person that should start a business.
That being said, you could try the team technique from the section on
"What should be in my portfolio?" with an eye to selling the result
via shareware or promoting it to a publisher.
What is the standard salary for…
There are no standard salaries. A lot of entry level jobs begin as low
as $24K. Pay rates can vary as much as 10:1 for similar experience levels
for the same job description across various companies. Typical wages
for an experienced employee fall roughly in the $60-120K range. Stock
options and other benefits further muddy the water. Salaries rise dramatically
with experience, and as companies generally value what they don't have
more than what they do many people trade employers to obtain a raise.
Do employment placement agencies work?
A few people claimed that they do. They certainly can't hurt. Some people
stated that they don't care to use them, as the placement company adds
a large fee to the hiring process. It shows more initiative to go directly
to the company and figure out how to get considered for the position
yourself.
I am already a professional writer. How do I convince a game company
to hire my services?
A couple of people asked this question. It's tough, because as a professional
they don't wish to consider entering the industry via the mail room,
yet their portfolio does not reflect any direct experience with interactive
entertainment. Representatives from two game companies suggested making
a demo, perhaps by joining up with/forming a group who wish to make
a demo product. It was also pointed out that some writers have entered
the industry through a good agent.
What educational opportunities are there? Are there schools that
teach game-related courses/programs?
There were two schools mentioned, one being Digipen (located in Seattle)
and the other NBCC Miramichi (in New Brunswick, Canada). Both have offered
2 year programs focused on electronic game development, although Digipen
is switching to a 4 year program. Digipen's tuition is $15K/year, and
Miramichi's is $1600 Can./year. Digipen's phone number is (604) 682-0300,
Miramichi's contact number is (506) 778-6747.
I've heard that some companies require that wannabe programmers
complete a programming test. What are these like?
People who had seen these said that they varied, with some companies
asking language specific questions, and others looking for general logic
abilities. Most pose a few C/C++ programming problems to be solved,
and at least one asked very tough assembly-language questions in a take-home
format.
