reaking into the industry can be an extremely tough endeavor. As someone who has been an outsider, a game journalist, and finally a game designer, I'm going to tell you a bit about my own "breaking-in" experience. The advice that follows is far from exhaustive, but hopefully it will arm you with more knowledge than I had in the pursuit of a career in video game development.
Since I was already a video game journalist of several years when I decided to actively pursue my dream of actually making games, I thought I would have an easier time than a total outsider would. Unfortunately for me, that wasn't the case at all.
At first, all I knew was that I wanted to make video games badly, but I didn't know exactly which road to follow. Associate Producer? Designer? Product Manager? Marketing? Who had time to ponder such details, I just wanted in!
It's often been said that the best way to get in is through testing. It requires the least amount of experience, and allows you a great deal of opportunity just because of your physical proximity to the rest of the team. Plus, it will give you an important perspective of the development process. But there are compelling reasons to avoid testing as a primary method to break in: First, there are far more testers than there are former testers who have been able to make the jump. Second, because of the way the industry tends to pigeonhole one's skills, you will have to work even harder to distinguish yourself as being more suited for non-testing work. Third, a lot of your time will be taken up by your immediate tasks, leaving less of it for you to develop your other skills. Becoming a tester guarantees you nothing except testing, and that's why I focused my efforts in other directions.
After several feeble attempts at interviewing, a high ranking producer at one of the major studios gave me this piece of advice: You might not know exactly what you want, but don't let anyone else know that.
I learned that if you don't communicate a clear vision of what kind of job you want, in the interview process you will likely end up looking like an unsuitable candidate. Even if you are a multi-skilled individual, don't leave it up to the interviewer to figure out what you're going to do once they hire you. Research the various positions well (for example, on gamasutra.com), pick one that you are best suited for, and focus on that when you present yourself.
Screenshots of Ara's UT 2k3 Level
Taking that producer's words to heart, I spent a lot of time thinking about precisely where my passion was strongest, and I made up my mind: I was going to be a game designer. But something essential was still missing. I continued to have unsuccessful interviews, despite my press experience and newly refined focus. Then, one interviewer gave me another piece of advice that seemed like the most obvious thing in the world after the fact: Go buy Unreal Tournament, install the level-building tools that it comes with, and make a level yourself.
That's when I realized my passion for game design wasn't enough to convince anyone to hire me. It didn't matter how smart I was. It didn't matter that I had a bachelor's degree in computer science from the University of Maryland and a background in user interface design. It didn't matter that I had published articles about game design or that I was in the press. None of that matters. The missing piece was that I didn't have anything specific to show for myself. It doesn't necessarily have to be an Unreal level; any exposition of your own work that directly relates to the position you are seeking will do. So I got Unreal Tournament 2003, taught myself the tools that it came with, and after six months and approximately 300 hours of work I had a level that I was satisfied enough with to call "finished."
Next, I made a web page to advertise my skills, experience, and of course the Unreal level I had just finished, clearly positioning myself as a video game designer. I visited every video game studio's website I could think of and sent my resume and website links to the ones that were hiring game designers. Despite several more rounds of interviews, I still didn't get any real results until I got a call from somebody at Acclaim who had seen my web site.
To my surprise, I got through the multiple levels of interviews and was finally offered a job as a designer on The Red Star. It took me roughly 40 direct contacts over a few years before finally hitting the one that led to a real job offer. It might take you less or more, but the fact of reality is that the job application process will be totally unfair.
You must resign yourself to keep trying and to continuously work on a relevant portfolio. The ease or difficulty of your career search is absolutely not a measure of how good a game developer you are. And don't immediately discount companies based on their image. The Red Star was such an incredible experience for me, there was no other development project in North America that I would rather have worked on. It was totally contrary to the types of games Acclaim was known for. I didn't even learn about how cool it really was until the second round of interviews.
After Acclaim shut down operations, I found myself in a very familiar predicament. But the trouble I had gone through the first time around really prepared me to do the same thing all over again. Throughout my own efforts, the most important thing I learned was best expressed by Sylvester Stallone: Success is usually the culmination of controlling failure. If failure deters you, maybe you aren't suited for this line of work. No matter how many times it happens, if you can learn from failure, then you have a chance to succeed. Do you have what it takes?
- Ara Shirinian, Game Designer, Rainbow Studios
(The views and opinions expressed on this page are strictly those of the author and not necessarily those of Game Informer or its staff. This article was originally printed in Game Informer Magazine issue 145.)