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How Would One Start A Career In The Gaming Industry?
Bullschmidt asks: "I'm currently a second semester senior at MIT. I will be graduating this term, and I'm looking to get into the gaming/computer graphics industry. I will admit that I have little experience with the gaming industry. I have done some 3D programming for NASA, as well as some for a small computer graphics company. I have taken the only graphics class at MIT, too. So how do I, a soon to be graduate from a high level school, get into the gaming industry, which typically requires 2-3 years experience for almost any job?"
My current position is lead engineer for one of the oldest gaming companies in the industry. I generally do the interviewing and hiring for the people that join my team, as do the leaders of other teams. From the sounds of things, you have a fairly sound education in 3D graphics, but like a lot of people you're assuming that is one and only factor in getting you a job in the industry. Don't get me wrong, I wouldn't hire someone who didn't have the appropriate technical background, but what I'm saying is it's only one qualification of many. The others are much harder to come by. I look for someone who has a good grasp of what "fun" is, what makes a game "fun". I want to know that you are a dedicated gamer, first and foremost. I want to see that you have played many of the currently popular games, and I test that by talking about certain features of the game you would only know about if you had played it extensively. I also talk about the construction of the game, what worked and what didn't. Good phrases to hear are "I wish they had done it THIS way". Don't tell me it sucked, tell me WHY it sucked and what you would have done differently. This shows that you're thinking about the game from a *developers* standpoint, rather than an end-user out for a subjective distraction. I want to see that you've played games in the same genre as the project I am hiring for. You need to understand what the competition is doing in order to understand where the "bar" is. If you're still thinking in terms of Mario Bros. and the rest of the industry is making Donky Kong 3D, it will cost me time to bring you up to speed. It means I can't trust your judgement in matters of style or convenience of the user when I assign you a task to do independently. A lot of people have romantic notions about what it means to be a game developer, but let me tell you it "ain't all fun & games". The first time you're asked to be in the office for 10-12 hour days, seven days a week for months on end to meet that all important deadline (or the company runs out of money and folds), romantic notions will be the furthest things from your mind. Are you that dedicated? Can you make that kind of commitment? Are there other things in your life that are going to preclude making that kind of commitment? We all swear up and down that "we absolutely positively won't have to crunch on the next project because we'll do things differently next time", and we always end up crunching anyway. Crunch-mode is a fact of the industry. It is the single most common reason for people leaving the industry, prime cause of burn-out. Can you handle it? I bet you say yes now, but it will be a different story when you live it. Most importantly, are you someone who will fit in with a small team of people who have to talk to and interact with each other on a daily basis (not forgetting how that will intensify during crunch)? I won't hire the most brilliant rookie 3D programmer in the industry if he doesn't have any social skills. When deadlines approach, things sometimes get tense and tempers get short (I am definately no exception). Can you handle that? When we sit down and have a design meeting, are you going to be able to speak up and defend your opinion of how something should be done, despite the fact that others don't see things your way? Are you capable of negotiating an intelligent compromise that will satisfy the goals of your mandate, while meshing with those of others? Don't assume that when you do finally get a job in the industry that you'll be immediately thrust into the role of building this cool 3D technology from scratch that blows the industry away and gets rave magazine reviews. Most companies license an engine these days anyway, not many develop their own technology platforms. You could be made responsible for the 2D interface, maybe you're going to be the guy who works on the game loader code. There are very few of what most people consider the "glamorous" Carmack-positions on a team, and they are never given to rookies anyway. Plan on working your way up by showing good judgement and a solid work ethic, like any other industry (except politics). Scan the websites of companies you are interested in working for. Most companies post their available positions there, and it also gives you a change to find out if you like the kind of product they make and where they are located. Plan on relocating. With the exception of San Jose and Dallas, there are likely going to be very few game companies in the area where you live now. Hope that helps, good luck! A career in gaming can be very rewarding if you approach it with a realistic outlook and the right attitude!
Having been in (and out, here and there, including right now) the industry professionally for about five years, here's my advise.
Write a game.
No one will hire you without experience (unless you get lucky), so give yourself your own experience. Sit down and create a complete game, 2D or 3D, with graphics (drawn in the Gimp or modeled in Blender), sound (recorded on a cheap microphone and edited in DAP), written in the language used almost exclusively in the US game industry (C++).
It doesn't have to be the most amazing thing since sliced bread, but it should do all the basic things that a game should, and do them well. It should be the kind of thing that someone should look at and say, "Wow, this guy knows how to write a game."
It doesn't have to be long, or even all that much fun. It's really more of a demo than it is a game. But it should carry all the trappings of a semi-professional title, visible the moment you load into the game.
That's how I got my first job, and that's how almost everyone I know in the industry got their first job.
FWIW, here's the companies I've worked for. They are usually always on the lookout for new talent.
Cinematix Studios in Mesa, AZ
Angel Studios in Carlsbad, CA
Treyarch LLC in El Segundo, CA
They want to know what you can do. And it does _not_ have to be 3D. I've seen a lot of great 2D demos.
Howeaver you said you don't know it yet so 2 great books on the topic are:
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Spelling by m-w.com.
Game programming is one of the top most difficult industries in computers. You need to create fast performing code that uses top of the line hardware that most users don't have yet. You also have to do all this in very small time spans. Games have a small turn around time due to the demand and competition and also the rate at which new hardware is phased out.
So what I am trying to say is that almost all game companies want people with industry experience that will prove that they have these capabilities. Graduating from college with a degree doesn't prove you are a whole lot better than most people, even if you come from a name school. If you have a sample game or something you did on your spare time then that might prove something about you. I've been applying to game companies for a while and the only response I get is to apply again after a few years when I have real industry experience.
Outdoor digital photography, mostly in New Engl
For a long time I have wanted to be involved in the games industry, and i face even worse prospects than you, I am in Australia, I am in a school that doesnt have a name like yours. I and a number of other core people who want to work in the industry set up the Newcastle (AUS) University Computer Gamers Society (http://cgs.wox.org), whilst we do play a fair amount of games what we also try to develop links between developers over here and people looking for Digital Entertainment careers. Its been hard work trying to be noticed, but after 2 years its kinda working. For the first time our school will be helping us this year, and not just our student union and we hope to have some deve,lopers come out and look at potential jnr employees and talk to us. We also visit every event involving game development we can. I think what we have been doing is working. I dont know if its going to be a solution for you though. OH and if you are a game developer, or some one else who might be interested in helping us out please contact me here bedel@dingoblue.net.au