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Seriously Considering Entering in to the Games Design Industry
Flay
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
So... The end of year 12 (grade 12) is fast approaching, and the time has come for me to start figuring out exactly what I'm going to do with my life. After looking through the University Admissions booklet, I stumbled upon a certain university offering a Bachelor of Science in Games Development. Unfortunately the course requires an applicant to have completed this two-year, full-time program at TAFE.
Let the record show that I have absolutely no experience in programming. I suppose I'm more interested in the visual and design aspect than the technical side.
So what do you guys think? Is there a career to be had in the games industry? Do I really need to throw away two years of my life and wind up stuck with a qualification that would be so specific I'd really have no other choice than to go in to the games industry? Is it possible to enter in to the industry through another qualification other than one that specifically oriented towards games? Is there any money to be made working on games? Is there anyone out there who is in, or has experience in, the games industry that can give me any advice? Are there any other comments you guys would like to make?
Ack! So many questions... I really have no idea what I'm going to do.
Let the record show that I have absolutely no experience in programming. I suppose I'm more interested in the visual and design aspect than the technical side.
So what do you guys think? Is there a career to be had in the games industry? Do I really need to throw away two years of my life and wind up stuck with a qualification that would be so specific I'd really have no other choice than to go in to the games industry? Is it possible to enter in to the industry through another qualification other than one that specifically oriented towards games? Is there any money to be made working on games? Is there anyone out there who is in, or has experience in, the games industry that can give me any advice? Are there any other comments you guys would like to make?
Ack! So many questions... I really have no idea what I'm going to do.
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The game industry is generally just tough to break into. Getting a degree specific to making video games probably isn't the best idea. Employers, from what I understand, would much rather hire someone with a degree in computer sciences or something along those lines -- you'll be more skilled and have a wider range of abilities than if you just focus on just game development. You'll also be happy to have a degree that's more general in the fact that while you're waiting to get a job in the industry you'll still be able to apply and work other places.
I have a friend who's really very talented and makes a lot of games on the side and once he got out of school he still had trouble finding work in the game industry. He's doing programming work now, not in the game industry, but he was really glad that he had a general degree in computer sciences.
Another important factor is location. With a job like this, you're going to need to be where the companies are, so you'll have to look up the best places and think about moving there if you're really serious, most likely.
There's money to be made, of course, but it is a hard road and it is hard work, but it's totally worth it if it's something you really enjoy. Take some programming classes, learn and make a few games by yourself first, I'd say. You're going to need to build up a portfolio of independant work, anyway, to show employers that you know what you're doing.
I'll probably try some programming course alongside my education and possibly make an attempt starting from there.
It's relatively new when compared to most established entertainment industries, therefore the people hiring aren't necessarily looking for people with big long fancy titles due to big expensive degrees at big expensive schools because the fact of the matter is they just plain don't teach you what you need to know in school to be a game designer/game artist. If they had told me when I got my job that it'd be mostly doing UI designs using flash I'd be like "well... I don't know flash so don't hire me" but they saw potential, I learned the software as I went along and am now very comfortable with it and with my job position.
My contact at Valve told me flat out, "Valve hires people for people. If we like someone, if we think they have the right attitude, we take em on, let them find their niche." They even go so far as to hire artists, then the artist is like "I wanna do programming" and Valve is all.."okay then, go for it" pretty fucking awesome company.
Programming is different, many university computer science degrees cater to gaming programming as much of the concepts carry over between all industry jobs where programming is used.
But I got my job as a graphic artist without a university degree, just with my portfolio, and we just shipped EA Sport's NBA Live 09
One of our company's best 3D artists has no formal training, he taught himself, much like I did
most of our game designers have backgrounds in writing and journalism since game design specific programs only started popping up very recently.
So if you really want it and think you're cut out for game design, then go for it dude
Funny that you should mention game design, I had a sit down with the designer on my current game just on Friday and we discussed how his job is actually not so much just him sitting down by himself determining game flow, it's a team effort, everyone contributes to a game's design, producers, execs, etc, he just gets the ball rolling, takes those ideas and puts them together into a workable flow. He made the comment that many people coming out of school with these game design certs\s don't seem to understand that it's a team thing, it's not about just sitting there and drafting up docs for a new game, it takes coordination and flexibility. So there ya go, first industry tip i guess haha!
The program will not hurt your chances, but my best piece of advice is read up on all of the companies you're interested in, start going to the gaming conventions in your area, e-mail the game designer of your favorite game, ask them for tips, get your name out there, make contacts. Who you know will get you places in this industry, the rest is just how far you're willing to push to get what you want, but that advice applies to every other career choice under the sun.
Look for small companies too. Experience is everything, get into a small company, spend a few years there, other places won't even look at your education if you tell them you shipped 3 titles on 3 skus. it'll be a "welcome aboard" basically.
my advice is so staggered tonight, sorry about that i'm sleepy
edit: Game Designers don't do programming, game designers come up with how the game is going to look and function, design docs that the programmers/artists/producers use as guides. Programmers and software engineers do the programming, so I dunno, maybe the definitions of the positions are different elsewhere? I know EA, Blizzard, Midway and Valve all call the people who design the games the GDs, and the people who code programmers or software engineers.
Look at design schools where you can study traditional drawing along with motion graphics and 3D. The Savannah College of Art and Design, The School for Visual Arts in New York, and the Academy of Art in San Francisco are all good places to look (i have no fucking clue if there’s anything down there in Ozland). But be wary when you talk to schools about video games—right now there are lots of kids who want to learn design as it applies to games, and plenty of schools will lie to you about what they offer to keep their enrollment numbers up, so don’t enter any program without talking to some seniors or recent graduates.
My bro did Game Art at Tafe South Australia. Assuming its the same or similar course to one over in Sydney, he says that it is a really good course. They learnt about modelling in Maya, as well as developing concept art. The second year group project was to make a game using the Half Life 2 engine. At the moment he has just about finished the course and is developing his portfolio.
Although he did game art, he is not restricted to the games industry. As you learn a range of skills there are many other industries where you can go to. He is doing freelance work for the council developing 3d concept models for new homes and suburbs. Obviously not what he wants to do as a career, but a good way to earn a few $$$.
I'd say if you're interested in games, either the creative or technical side, you should give it a go. I know i will after i finish my uni degree
There's the problem of distance right there... I live in Australia.
Three people working with me used to work for EA in Australia, so I could probably find you some connections to good people to talk to.
Really?! 'Cause if you did that I'd probably need to hunt you down and give you a million dollars or something.
Or at least a really big hug.
You don't want to spend $30,000 on a year of game design courses at a private college only to discover your passion lies elsewhere. At least with university, you would still be able to get credit for the courses you took already if you decide to change your focus. It would result in a much more well rounded education, and you would gain more transferable skills, for less money.
yeah i'll talk to them on tuesday when i go back to work. One of them is a great guy, Glen, and he worked down there for quite a few years before we nabbed him and brought him here. He's a producer on 3 titles at once right now.
Outside of Sydney - ANU is running its first year of the new BVA (Digital Media) (if you want to talk about this one particularly, this is the degree I am doing atm so feel free to PM me. There are a few people looking at doing game related things in the class. Honestly though, don't move to Canberra. Canberra is a hole and it's really hard to get an industry related job here because there is pretty much no digital art industry of any sort, let alone game design).
Melbourne has several, including RMIT and I know Swinburne Uni does a game design course that I'm fairly sure has less to do with programming and more to do with concepts and design. AIE (tafe, but specifically for games) has campuses in both Canberra and Melb.
I second the advice to do a broader degree than just a game design. If you pick the right degree, you'll get the same skills and you'll have a little more flexibility once you've finished the degree.
You might like to take a look at www.sumea.com.au if you haven't already. Great locally run site which includes the recommendations and stories from a range of Australian industry professionals and aspiring game developers.
Game artists tend to have much more varied educational backgrounds than game programmers. There are a range of different types of courses you could do, a general design degree or diploma might be a good start depending on where your skills are at. Doing 3D specific or animation courses may also be an option. Its hard to say without knowing a little more specifically about your current skillset and industry aspirations.
For lurkers who are are predisposed to the programming side, I'd suggest a university computer science course later supplemented with a game specific diploma. The former will give you a range of career options. You don't strictly speaking even need the latter, but it will really help get you into an initial role and set you up well career wise (there is great demand for talent, but the bar is still pretty high).
I can't recommend any Australian specific universities or courses, but if you are willing to travel (and for any other Australasian lurkers) I can certainly suggest looking at Media Design School in Auckland, NZ (http://www.mediadesign.school.nz/). They have both graduate and undergraduate game development diplomas, both split into art and programming streams with some shared modules. They may also be offering a degree in the near future, and could be opening additional campuses in other cities. Our studio has hired a bunch of people who have gone through their programme.
You might also consider attending this http://www.conceptart.org/workshop/ It will be awesome and one of the few opportunities to tap into such talent locally.
Hope this helps.
If you want to be an artist, what kind? Environment, character, concept art? 2D environments or characters? Interface design? If you're a competent artist you most likely will be able to work between these fields, of course, but every one needs a different skill set. For example, there are a ton of people going into level design who are qualified architects. You do not need a game-specific degree in order to work in games.
Be prepared to work bloody hard, too. I didn't for the first two years of my course, really (Software Development for Games, and Interactive Media), and last year in my year in industry I was lucky enough to be placed at a games company. Seeing the skill on display there for a game whose graphical quality was very basic made me realise how much further I have to go as an artist. I'm about to start my final year and I really need to pull my finger out.
If you want to be an artist, don't just be a game artist. Go out on the weekends and draw. Draw whenever you can. Study posture, composition, hell, proper shading. A game art degree will most likely not teach you any of this, in my experience. I suppose it depends on what your passion is - art, or games.
You may well be much better served by studying illustration, or something else with a very heavy artistic bent, and learning modelling tools in your own time.
@gamefacts - Totally and utterly true gaming facts on the regular!
If I can scrape the money together I am so there!
All this advice has really put things in to perspective. Thanks, everyone.
EDIT: You know, I really should have looked at the pricetag on that NZ workshop first. I don't really think I can afford $495 US dollars...
I am 31, have a Bachelors in English, joined the U.S. Army to be an Airborne Journalist, was stationed in Hawai'i for 3 years, and the past year and a half have attempted to be an independent videographer and community organizer of a border community that is suffering high unemployment and pollution issues....
I should apply to Squareenix to work on their next Final Fantasy game.
What I am thinking now is I should pursue a job where I can channel my skills of observation, my creativity, and my love of history, war, and video games into an environment where I can work alongside like-minded creative individuals who can think in terms of an environment that is modifiable.
And I guess Game Designer is where I should look, or Game Script Writer. I am good at listening and taking people's ideas and adding to them, helping make them better. (On the Final Fantasy eMail List [FFML] back in 1996, a guy was gathering individuals to create a game, and from a few emails and the guy's initial outline of a game, I turned a half page overview into a four page layout of map areas, major characters, enemies to encounter, boss bottles, character and skill development. He was impressed.)
Thanks again guys for this thread.
I went to school for interactive design/development, and now work at a very large (it's big in au too!) financial company as a developer of interactive training. I currently lead an initiative based around, you guessed it, gaming, and how we can incorporate them into the financial world and use them to successfully train our employees (especially new hires) to be not only better at their job but better professionals.
Prior to working here, I don't think I ever expected to do what I do in the place that I do it.
I'm going to go ahead and not recommend thinking along these lines for now.*
In my opinion, you're only 18. You really have no way of knowing what you want to do with the rest of your life, and that's okay and totally appropriate. But you DO need to plan for that reality. I personally would recommend going to a school that performs excellently with a broad spectrum of subjects, so you can switch majors without being completely fucked. (E.g., if you go to a tech school and want to get into a Liberal Arts program or a Biology program, you'd be screwed. Go somewhere where you actually have some options and can experiment.)
I'd recommend in your first year getting all your core classes out of the way and take ONE major class per semester. If you like Computer Science, then you know it's right for you and you can go from there, no harm done. If you don't, then you haven't wasted a semester on a bunch of classes you aren't going to use, and that Computer Science class didn't hurt because you satisfied a basic core requirement. (Most colleges have some kind of Comp. Sci. requirement.)
And don't forget about your minors. There's nothing keeping you from getting a major in Computer Science and then picking up a couple minors to gather some skills for other things you're interested in, like Graphic Design - or even business management, economics, or some other important management-level skill.
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