I get tons of e-mail from high school kids that want to learn about ways to get started in the game industry. It’s amazing to me to see these kids seem to get younger every year. It doesn’t seem uncommon to me to see a 12-year-old kid leading a mod team. But more power to them! When I was that age, I think I was sketching Dungeons and Dragons maps and making terrible home movies about a murderous roll of toilet paper (that invariably got sucked into a handheld vacuum, sprayed with hairspray and lit on fire, thrown into fire, lit on fire and thrown into the snow, etc.).
I always wanted to put up a game development resource page that I can refer these guys to, so this blog entry will serve as that, and I hope to update it from time to time.
Guidelines and resources for new game developers
1. Use free or cheap versions of popular industry tools:
Microsoft Visual C++ Express Edition
Gmax
SoftImage|XSI Mod Edition
Unreal 2004 2-disk DVD edition (2nd disk is full of great tutorials explaining every aspect of the engine)
2. Join your local IGDA chapter, or create one in your area if you don’t have one. You can meet lots of interesting people every month at these meetings as well as build industry connections that could lead to a future project or job. Read their whitepapers if you’re interested, they’re great.
3. Read everything you can about making games.
Learn how to make a mod
Gamasutra
Gamedev.net
Subscribe to Game Developer Magazine (you can probably get a free subscription if you answer the questions well)
4. When you’re serious and have some money, attend the Game Developer’s Conference in San Jose, CA every March. It’s expensive, but you’ll learn a lot from the tutorials and make great contacts. As you get more experience, you will go less for the tutorials and more for the contacts and seeing old friends who have been relocated. You can also apply to go as a Conference Assistant, which will get you in for free but you have to work as well, doling out sandwiches or checking badges. Working as a CA seems put you in the ‘untouchable’ category, so try not to wear the shirt if you’re not on duty. Sad but true.
5. Make your own game. It doesn’t matter how small, just make one and release it. It should have a simple and unique concept, executed well. After failing to release my first couple efforts, I learned this one the hard way. Start small and build from there.
6. Work hard to get your first game job. Getting that first industry job is very difficult and is much akin to getting a job in the film industry. There are so many people that will work under such terrible conditions just so they can get their career started that it makes the competition frightful. If you’ve made a game (above) then this part will be MUCH easier. You don’t have to have created the whole thing, but you need to have screenshots or a final level you can bring on CD and say “I created this and it was played by X people”. That value is huge. In general, if you have a small amount of very impressive work, that will be better than a larger amount of less impressive work, so only show your best stuff.
When applying for jobs, don’t just send your resume and portfolio and wait. You need to meet people that work there at the GDC and IGDA. Scour the net for e-mail addresses of higher-ups and find out about the founders and what kinds of games they’ve built and why it’s a perfect place for you. If you don’t hear a response, write them again. I once got a job by asking them every day “Do you have a job for me today?”. I thought they would get annoyed, but after about 2 weeks, they suddenly had a job for me and that’s how I got my (at the time) unqualified start in computers.
After you get into the industry, stay there for at least 5 years and learn everything you can about the whole process of making games, working with publishers, shipping, etc. There’s a lot to learn here and doing it on someone else’s dime is invaluable. Save up some money during this time, so you have options later. This is very important.
A lot of people, after working in the industry for a few years, tend to burn out. This often happens right around age 30. They realize that they just spent most of their 20’s doing crazy amounts of work for their employer, and they never saw any royalties and each succeeding game wasn’t any easier. This is the point you either need to find a game job that will let you have a life along with it, leave the industry, or start something on your own.
Of course, if you start your own company, you’re not likely to have a life for quite awhile…but if you get off the ground, you might be able to create a company atmosphere that LETS your employees have lives.
Starting a game company
If you do decide to start something, one great way to do so is to have a core talented group all leave a company together. They’ve saved up 3-12 months worth of salary and now you’re going to work like crazy on your own demo for a publisher.
I would also recommend not going the full-fledged “AAA” route right off the bat. Make a small game, release it, get some early revenues and slowly build your company. You can do contract work on the side, grow relationships with publishers and other companies, grow your team, and then a few years later, you might be in a position to attempt the project of your dreams. It’s extremely risky though, so I wouldn’t recommend starting a game company unless you’re the kind of person that’s not generally happy working for others (me).
Degree or no degree?
I think the jury is still out on this one. I’ve heard of some success with people getting good industry jobs with no degree but lots of talent, and also about students getting good training from places like Full Sail and GuildHall, but I’m not sure if they are better then a traditional degree in your field (architecture, computer science, art, etc.). I think that if you are training to be a game programmer, a traditional school is probably best still.
Also think about how much you would learn if you spent four years workig on your own games. I think that saving up some money after a job to take a break and work on your own project a bit like getting a Master’s. It costs about the same and you learn a lot, but you better make sure you can leverage your “Master’s” when you go back into the job market.
I really just skimmed over these big topics, but hopefully you’ll find it useful. Good luck and don’t forget to enjoy the journey!
Charlie Cleveland 