Getting Into the Games Industry Isn't Easy

simoniker writes "Lots of people want to be game developers — but it's not as simple as it sounds, as the Game Career Guide website explains in a new feature on game schools. Game professor Peter Raad: 'The number of job seekers who are seriously pursuing this field is staggering. It used to be the case that studios had the liberty to take bright, fresh, new employees with no specific game education background and train them in the methods, tools, and style that are required to make games. This is no longer true.'"

Comments

3am TV Meets 3pm /.

[eldavojohn]

I see these advertisements on television all the time at obscure hours of the morning. I sure would like to program games, that sounds like an interesting career. But I'd imagine the industry isn't as huge as they make it out to be and that there has to be a lot of frustrations/complications when trying to deal with licensing and hardware.

Why are these 1 year game programming schools a bad idea? Because they're highly specific. Even a 2 year technical college would give you more options than a tech school.

I am currently a developer but I went through a four year liberal arts program at a state University. I would recommend at least that experience and I value those classes above everything else I have learned. My number one fear is that people sign up for these game academies and make the mistake of investing a lot of money (through loans probably) while coming away with only the potential for working on games. This isn't a good decision, the results can be quite devastating.

I think that game emphasis should be something only sought after a four year degree at a respected university. If you don't have at least a bachelor's degree, you're setting yourself up for some big time risk.

Re:3am TV Meets 3pm /.

[p0tat03]

Moreover, I do not see game schools as providing coders with the education they need to be game programmers. We're talking about strictly intermediate, cursory knolwedge of C++, little to no education in algorithms & data structures... These guys are the VB programmers of the industry, their education covered none of the CS basics that are wholly necessary in apps as optimized and low-level as performance 3D apps. the only good coders I've seen come out of game schools are the ones that went in experienced programmers already, and drove themselves to learn everything on their own, the school can take little credit for that one.

I disagree with TFA that there are an astounding number of people trying to break into the industry. Game development is the 20-somethings' equivalent of "I wanna be an astronaut!". A lot of people say it, a lot of people fantasize about it, but mostly everyone has no hope in hell of doing it, nor would they stay if they got there. In terms of the real contenders, I think we're doing just fine.

Re:3am TV Meets 3pm /.

[grammar fascist]

Moreover, I do not see game schools as providing coders with the education they need to be game programmers. We're talking about strictly intermediate, cursory knolwedge of C++, little to no education in algorithms & data structures... These guys are the VB programmers of the industry, their education covered none of the CS basics that are wholly necessary in apps as optimized and low-level as performance 3D apps.

I don't know about that. I go to a school with an accredited CS program, and somehow we have time for five classes that aren't strictly necessary, but exist to give general background in specific areas. My user interface design and artificial intelligence classes would have been helpful for games programming, but machine learning, image processing, and quantum computing could have been substituted for 3D graphics, networking, and a specific games programming class. Some extra focus on optimization in the class I learned assembly language in (or would have if I hadn't known it) would have been good.

Yes, I did get the core stuff (discrete math, programming language design, operating systems, file systems, multithreading, very low-level hardware, etc.), but that was all 300-level and below.

I'm not saying you're not correct, just that you're not necessarily correct. My school could offer a games programming emphasis in our CS major without losing accreditation.

Undisclaimer: I've written various 3D applications (couple of simple games, volumetric terrain generator) and a couple of Quake 3 mods (Alternate Fire, Unlagged). I almost broke into the industry once, but backed out when I saw the working conditions. All that said, I may or may not know what I'm talking about. :D

Re:3am TV Meets 3pm /.

[RingDev]

You realise that Human Head and Raven software are both located in Madison, WI right?

-Rick

Hell yes, it's easy!

[Rob T Firefly]

You just hjave to tighten up the graphics.

Re:Hell yes, it's easy!

[Gropo]

Am I the only one who expected that commercial to start getting really steamy-gay at any moment? I think not.

Not that I have a problem with that... They just could have toned down the iZod/70's hair thing a bit maybe? Tightening the graphics probably wouldn't have helped.

Game schools are basically jokes

[kinglink]

So yes, there's "colleges" that teach people the game industry. And yes they have decent tools. But the problem with those schools is a lack of discipline. I'm not talking S&M but coding discipline. When I left my college after 4 years with a CS degree, I knew Java, C, C++, the differences between the two, Lisp, and Prolog, as well as SQL, and how to connect and admin a database, I also had a great understanding of Networking and some exposure to XML.

Out of all those things they all have helped me now that I'm in the industry, these "schools" are basically 16 month programs where if you really work you can learn a lot however there's not a huge drive to work hard, you can pass with a little work or you can excel if you push yourself.

That's not to say they are useless, one guy I work with went through these programs and he actually said that because he had a lot of drive he really went far, but that doesn't mean the school did anything other then give him people to learn from. It was his own personal push that got him through the school and got him a job at our company.

The only problem is that if he doesn't like the game industry it would be significantly harder for him to leave and get a job in IT or programming outside the game development world. The degree is so precise in what it teaches and so fast that with out experience it becomes null and void much faster then even basic CS degrees. But I guess you get what you pay for, my friend got the cannon which he loaded with the blasting powder which shot him up to our level (a decent sized studio making blockbuster sized games), while others in his class barely had enough to blow their own nose with.

Duh. Wha?

[Aladrin]

"The number of job seekers who are seriously pursuing this field is staggering."

Right... It's called 'every teenage boy wants to do this with his life.' It's the next generation version of 'rock star.' It also means that not everyone who is 'seriously pursuing this field' is even remotely competent at it. They just want it really bad.

"It used to be the case that studios had the liberty to take bright, fresh, new employees with no specific game education background and train them in the methods, tools, and style that are required to make games. This is no longer true."

What? Sure it is. They are totally at liberty to take completely unknowledgeable people and try to expensively train them while ignoring semi- and mostly-trained people that also want that job. They'd be fools to do it (in most cases), but hey, that's their right.

I don't think there's any news here at all. Especially since there have been school entirely dedicated to this for quite some time. (I won't bother to advertise for them, as I feel they are all scam artists. "We promise to get you a job" etc etc. My sister's boyfriend just went through one... $80,000 later he's still looking for a job as a clerk.)

Riiight, redux

[Travoltus]

And how do you get into the game industry now without a fairly glowing resume that shows years of prior experience? I'm talking about now... not 2-5 years ago.

There's no such thing as an entry level tech job any more. Even a tech support rep position requires 2 years of tech support experience (see: catch-22). A job in the gaming industry requires not only that but soon it'll require one other thing: fluency in Hindu and Chinese. Preferably both, according to a recent Gamasutra article.

Re:Riiight, redux

[Ryan Amos]

"Experience" does not necessarily mean "paid experience."

There is plenty of work in the tech industry for almost-entry level positions. The catch is that so many kids are good with computers that they grow into already-trained young adults. The projects you were wasting time in high school and college on might end up being more relevant than the high school or college degree (not that having either of these hurts your chances at all. :) If you have no experience whatsoever though, don't expect on-the-job training.

Kids going into gaming have probably worked on a couple games, or at least developed mods for an existing game. In the gaming industry especially, companies want to see that you're really interested in being a game developer, as opposed to just being really interested in playing videogames (most people who think they want to develop fall into the latter category.)

Companies expect you to have a portfolio of your work. If you don't have one, get to work. Make a mod for Half-Life or Quake 1. Write a Donkey Kong clone from scratch. Odds are, if you wouldn't do it for fun, it's probably not for you.

Game development is hardcore development

[CptPicard]

I mean no offense for anyone enrolled in such education and might be interested in hearing what exactly it entails, but...

I don't know whether to cry or laugh when I see mentions of these schools offering specific game programming courses and "degrees" that last for a year or two. Who are they kidding? Even colleges that offer 3-4 year programs with some kind of game programming specializations would, in my view, hardly prepare a person to actually develop games. Design, maybe, from the user's point of view, but "develop" in the programming sense? No.

Maybe I am out of the loop and game programming has indeed turned into some drag and drop excercise, but I am of the old skool where we used to optimize inner loops in assembly to get our pixels onto the screen as fast as possible when me and my friends were coding some crappy little games in high school. Nowadays I'm just about to complete my M.Sc. in CS, with studies both in fundamental algorithmics and all sorts of applied fields, AI, graphics, the works you'd find in a game engine. I STILL wouldn't dare actually seek employment in a game development company, as I don't feel like I am strong enough in the pragmatic aspects of coding (I'm mostly a bookworm, not a geek who codes into the night) and I'm sure I would have a lot to learn about the algorithms side of things, too.

There's this stupid idea floating around that just because most people in the world these days are involved with technology and even like it and an increasing number are even gamers, this inflation of geekness actually means that more people also have the capacity to master this technology so profoundly as to be able to actually create more of it. I am absolutely certain this is false, because people haven't all of a sudden got smarter, and because the offerings are becoming increasingly complex. The fact that a lot of the stuff is being moved into libraries and thus not all games are just written from scratch anymore probably doesn't compensate for this.

You can't just take Joe Random off the street and educate him into a game programmer. Likewise, if you want a career in game development, become a developer first. You need to be a really GOOD developer to actually get to develop games, as you will have to master a large set of complex theoretical ideas and apply them.

Here's a good test: grab any entry-level university textbook on linear algebra. If it makes your head spin, move on.

Re:Game development is hardcore development

[99BottlesOfBeerInMyF]

Maybe I am out of the loop and game programming has indeed turned into some drag and drop excercise, but I am of the old skool where we used to optimize inner loops in assembly to get our pixels onto the screen as fast as possible when me and my friends were coding some crappy little games in high school.

So here's the deal. To make a fun game, you don't need really fast, impressive graphics. You need gameplay. You absolutely need some good coders to develop good gameplay, but you also need people with vision and who know what works. The next two items on the list are graphics (both coding and artwork) and story. Some of the best games of all time are the ones that managed to get all of these components. Some of the worst games of all time have great graphics and coding behind them, but the gameplay and story is a big pile of crap. The thing is, a lot of people recognize that the coding to make good gameplay can be reusable. That is to say, with a good gaming engine, some scripting, artwork, story, and map makers, you can make a really good game without having to do a lot more actual coding. Companies try this and sometimes succeed all the time when they buy access to engines and dev tools others made.

There are a lot of people out there who are talented storytellers, or artists, or just have a really good idea of what makes a fun game, but they don't have a good way to leverage those skills and those skills are often not valued by many of the clueless development houses.

Since they have no chance to get into the regular gaming industry, a lot of amateurs with other pieces of the puzzle (or who think they have them) would like to have access to a chance to contribute. This creates a big market for gaming schools and for easy to use game dev software.

The gaming industry wasn't for me

[PIPBoy3000]

I develop Neverwinter Nights modules for fun and have done so for the last few years. My modules have been included in gaming magazines and I've won several awards. For awhile, I was getting quite a few job offers.

Now, don't take me wrong. I love games and I love making games. The main problem is that I seem to love them when I can develop games on my own terms, something of a rarity in the gaming industry. The pressure in the game industry is intense, with crunch time and publisher demands and an uncertain career path. Plus, if you falter, there's a dozen other people ready to take your place.

I opted for a much more stable and lucrative position in the healthcare industry. The work is interesting (web application development) and I like the people I work with. In what seems like a rarity these days, I can easily see myself spending the bulk of my career where I am. Already I've been here for 10 years and another thirty sounds just fine with me.

Making games as a hobby seemed to be the best choice for me. I enjoy the creative aspect of the work and the freedom to make the story I want to tell. It's fun to be able to give my work away for essentially free and bring a bit of joy to the world. There are occasional frustrations, such as debugging and post-release tension, but for the most part it's an enjoyable pastime that I hope to continue well into the future.

Re:The gaming industry wasn't for me

[Profound]

I used to work for EA, 80+ hours a week.

Now I work 37.5 hours a week doing financial web apps, and code games at home.

I make more money, have less pressure and get to spend more time on doing innovative, interesting games development.

The only downside is that I'll never have 6+ million people play a game I worked on, and young boys don't say "wow you have the coolest job ever!"

Why would I hire someone from a "Games" school?

[MiceHead]

One of the largest benefits of many of these programs is that they bring a student through the entire development process, from concept to polishing.

Take De Blob, created by nine Dutch students for (I believe) the city government of Utrecht, in The Netherlands. I think it's a fine game; not perfect, but well-polished and (most importantly) complete. This means that the team has seen both the great and nasty aspects:

* "Let's create a great concept! This is going to be so rad!"
* "Prototype's done. Let's kick the tires."
* "I know we have the same machine. I'm saying it's not working on my machine."
* "That prototype sucked. We need to re-design our core game mechanic."
* "What do you mean we created our art assets too early and have to discard them?"
* "Time for the alpha. Our programming lead just left to become a nun?"
* "This game is so much fun that we play it for hours on end instead of working."
* "We have a bug where the game crashes if you move the mouse too much."
* "Why does everyone outside the dev team not like our game? We love it."
* "I want to quit. I want to quit. I want to quit. Rrrrr!"
* "Okay, now more artwork. Someone tell the artist to stop using 4096x4096 textures."
* "Everything's running smoothly. Beta time! This should be cake."
* "What do you mean, 'nobody can run the beta'?"
* "It's finally done! Hahaha!"
* "Wait, what do you mean it's not done?"
* "I'm so freakin' tired. Damnit, if I quit, I'll fail the course. Can't quit. Gotta keep going."
* "Finishing the final 10% should only take us 10% of our total dev time, right?"
* "Our playtesters are smashing their controllers against the walls."
* "Okay, our playtesters are finally happy."
* "Time to ship. That wasn't so bad. What's that yellow thing in the sky called, again?"
* "I need a drink."

Presumably, folks who have been through a project of any reasonable size have some idea of how development goes, and can recognize some not-so-obvious mistakes. And the ability to stick with it through a grungy project (and they're all grungy at one point or another) is a plus.

While that's not enough to recommend these programs outright (and there many be many other points that make them not worthwhile), I view it as a big benefit.
________________________________________
Dejobaan Games - Bringing you quality video games for over 75 years
Indie Superstar - Indie games news in an exciting video webcast. Woo!

Knock, Knock... it's opportunity

[99BottlesOfBeerInMyF]

Right... It's called 'every teenage boy wants to do this with his life.' It's the next generation version of 'rock star.' It also means that not everyone who is 'seriously pursuing this field' is even remotely competent at it. They just want it really bad.

All these fly by night gaming schools are tapping into this market, but there is another way. A few really competent developers could clean up by grabbing one of the open source gaming engines out there, getting some venture capital and building it out into an open source gaming virtual console. Here's the basic idea. You build an open source, cross-platform gaming engine that takes modules, just like neverwinter nights, but a bit more versatile. You build into this a service that allows people to sell and/or give away modules they develop, supported by advertisements. At the same time you build freeware and more comprehensive payware development tools for this engine. You build one game, or maybe half a game including art and the whole shebang as your hook and you give the engine, game and freeware tools away for free. Get it bundled by Windows OEMs and in Linux distros and heck on Apple machines if you can. If you can't, make sure it is a free download everyone knows about.

At this point you have dropped a pile of money on this game/engine and don't have any real return on your investment. This is where the aforementioned market comes in. All the people who want to be game developers will mess around with your free tools and a few will make something worthwhile. A number more will shell out for your professional dev tools. At this point you have a fairly widespread service and will be getting a lot of good press. You have a lot of the work of making a game done for people, so the investment to bring one to market is small. This means companies might consider releasing cheap titles. They will want your dev tools. They may well want improvements to the engine which will benefit you or which they will pay you to make. And who better to hire to do development than the makers and maintainers of the engine?

Throughout all of this you'll be able to undercut other companies developing engines because you are leveraging free work from the open source community. Heck, there are a number of engines now you can leverage. If nothing else you can make and sell more modules, providing low cost games and building brands. If it takes off enough you'll be able to clean up simply on the advertisements on the site and the dev costs will be incidental.

I seriously think this would work, but am way too busy/comfortable to go for it myself. Someone, steal my idea.

Re:Knock, Knock... it's opportunity

[99BottlesOfBeerInMyF]

I wish somebody would, but not because I think it'd work... But because I'd like to use it ;)

I've seen similar models work to build mod communities, even around relatively obscure games. Back in the 90s I remember the Macintosh only game "Realmz" which shipped with really cheap dev tools and had a built in service for downloading and selling these new modules. People were happy to pay $15-$30 for more content, some from the original author and some from other people. The key is to build a game that has lots of value in the story and in addictive gameplay. Role-playing style games where you build up characters and inventories are ideal for this. I knew people who installed mac emulators just to play that old tile-based game, because despite not having the most detailed graphics, it was just fun.

The other component to this is that there are lots of open source engine and game projects now. Some of them are pretty cool, but none of them has any real commercial backing or business plan involved. It would be a huge boon to be able to leverage this pool of code and talent and all of it comes off of the cost of developing your for-sale games. You can probably sell modules for such a system for as little as $15 and still make a reasonable profit. And all the time the community will be donating ideas, models, textures, bug fixes, and revenue from the ads on the site.

Another nice aspect of this, is it does not preclude the boxed sale market. There is nothing stopping the maker of one of the modules from packaging the whole engine and their module and shipping it, at which point the game purchaser is subjected to the whole community. It is like free advertising for it.

You are by no means the only one who would really go for a chance to try this out, and even some fairly competent coders would like a chance to build some resume fodder to help them get into the market. Even without any large companies getting on board, I think the original developers combined with the amateur community could make some really good money on this. And if the developers happened to have an easy way to port these to consoles, for a reasonable fee, well that is just icing on the cake.

How I got into the games industry as a developer

[exp(pi*sqrt(163))]

I found a problem that games people were having - a 3D rendering issue. Figured out a solution. Posted it to USENET. Was contacted about a job interview the next day. I wasn't even looking for a job in the business. But it does suggest a possible strategy: you need to try to find time to work on some project that'll impress people. Pick up Game Programming Gems M or GPU Gems N and look at the kinds of algorithms people are using. Many of the articles point out limitations or suggest future avenues for research. Try tackling one of these problems, and when you have a solution, tell everyone.

PS I got back out of games a year later...