Jobs in Video Games
Getting a job in this industry is hard. Entry-level positions are about as fleeting as super-heavy transuranium elements in particle accelerators.
So here are seven pointers (in no particular order) that might help.
1) Know your games...and not just the ones from last year, either. Know the classics from the last few decades, and know what makes them great.
2) Have work to show. For example, writers have scripts and character bios; artists have a portfolio; programmers have some kicking code. There are some great (and cheap) editing tools out there so you can even make your own sample game!
3) Go to college or not? On the one hand this will greatly increase your lifelong salary potential regardless. On the other hand, very few schools can teach you how to make a game. Unless you...
4) Go to a school that teaches how to make video games. There are good ones with specific video game curricula. There are some bad ones, too. CAUTION is the operative word. Check placement rates and that the companies they place into are legit and successful. Going to one of these schools never guarantees a job, however.
5) Take the tester route. This is the most accessible entry-level job. Many who have started as a tester go on to become designers, producers, and test leads. College helps here: computer science degrees are common, but I’ve seen literature, history–anything that shows you have a keen analytic mind.
6) Start at the bottom. Most well-established game developers want experience, so check out the smaller companies with a just a few titles produced. Most have websites where they post job offerings (make sure you play their games before you contact them).
7) Don’t be a psycho/stalker/weirdo. People in this industry have an ultra-low tolerance for these behaviors. Be cool and professional. Always.
NOTE: if you like to work alone this business is not for you. You and anywhere from 5 to 50 other creative guys and gals will all have ideas and must work cooperatively to make a good game. Do you work and play well with others? If not, what you think is a dream job in games isn’t going to be so dreamy.
Check out EPIC GAMES’s Lead Designer Cliff Bleszinski’s take on how to get hired as well.
Good Luck!
So here are seven pointers (in no particular order) that might help.
1) Know your games...and not just the ones from last year, either. Know the classics from the last few decades, and know what makes them great.
2) Have work to show. For example, writers have scripts and character bios; artists have a portfolio; programmers have some kicking code. There are some great (and cheap) editing tools out there so you can even make your own sample game!
3) Go to college or not? On the one hand this will greatly increase your lifelong salary potential regardless. On the other hand, very few schools can teach you how to make a game. Unless you...
4) Go to a school that teaches how to make video games. There are good ones with specific video game curricula. There are some bad ones, too. CAUTION is the operative word. Check placement rates and that the companies they place into are legit and successful. Going to one of these schools never guarantees a job, however.
5) Take the tester route. This is the most accessible entry-level job. Many who have started as a tester go on to become designers, producers, and test leads. College helps here: computer science degrees are common, but I’ve seen literature, history–anything that shows you have a keen analytic mind.
6) Start at the bottom. Most well-established game developers want experience, so check out the smaller companies with a just a few titles produced. Most have websites where they post job offerings (make sure you play their games before you contact them).
7) Don’t be a psycho/stalker/weirdo. People in this industry have an ultra-low tolerance for these behaviors. Be cool and professional. Always.
NOTE: if you like to work alone this business is not for you. You and anywhere from 5 to 50 other creative guys and gals will all have ideas and must work cooperatively to make a good game. Do you work and play well with others? If not, what you think is a dream job in games isn’t going to be so dreamy.
Check out EPIC GAMES’s Lead Designer Cliff Bleszinski’s take on how to get hired as well.
Good Luck!
posted by Eric Nylund at 4:49 AM
21 Comments:
Last week I was on the road and unable to post. I had to go through O’Hare airport again--and again I found myself running from one terminal to the other to catch my connecting flight. I swear I’m cursed in that place!
I decided to post these tips because I usually get asked this question about once a week Last week I got about a dozen separate queries on how to get a job!
Mayhap find an alternate transportation to and from the Chicago area?
This is good info, though. The only thing I've ever wondered about the game industry is how does someone who has no technical ability (or social ability) get their idea for a game in there outside of being rich and having developer minions make their idea into a reality. Not that having minions doesn't have its appeal. Of course, they'll want things like benefits and days off and complain about being chained to their desks.
Nikoda--believe me if there was any other possible route through O'Hare I could have taken, I would have.
If you have no technical or social skills, nor minions--then you need to have a killer idea, or a killer intellectual property to get a game made. If you create the next Harry Potter series it's easy. Developers will call you, not the other way around. : )
I read this and started to disagree with it, but i guess i see what you are saying. Its a job in making games, not necessarily in video games alone.
I say this because I technically have a job in the video game industry (as of 2 weeks ago) as a freelance writer for a UK based website. If you are taking the media route, you may find yourself working for a game company as well, as the example of Frank O'Conner from Bungie. I'm sure there are more examples, but i knew that one already.
I'd also like to point out that being a resident of southern california, i live 20 minutes away from at least 50 different game development studios, the largest of which being EA Games. However, if you want to get into the business by QA (game testing) you have to work 40+ hours a week, including weekends and overtime. This may sound all nice and good, but I have enough trouble playing a game for 3 hours straight, let alone 8.
There were openings all the time that I could have taken, but if you really want to get into the industry in that way, you really need the drive to go all the way. I knew i wouldn't be able to or want to do that, so I do what I do instead. Its not the best way, but it gives me journalistic experience, which works in many other fields as well as getting my name out there.
SB—yep, I meant jobs with video game developers. It’s true that testers are some of the hardest working members of any game dev. team! Keep in mind, though, that in the natural cycle of a game in development there are slow times as well as crunch (40+ hour week) times. Excellent news about you new job. Congratulations!
kewl.
Ya know, I would LOVE to work for a game developer. I mean, LOVE it. But, personally, I would much rather work in video game journalism. That particular job market is just as if not more competitive is the big problem. But I know that the key to either is to make oneself stick out. This can be tricky, but it can be done.
Woo, saw the new Halo 3 ad, was blown away massively. Looks great, even if there's a lot of CGI in there.
Eric, how well do you think they've shown the young Spartans (if that's what they are), even if one of them is just an outline and a voice?
Pinecone -- I thought the kids were done very well.
Are they young Spartans?! Bungie wants to leave this up to personal interpretation so I'll keep the rest of my opinions to myself. Great commercial, though.
I hope you at least had the good fortune in all of your O’Hare difficulties to view one of the many enormous murals that have been produced there. A friend of mine worked on the production of one entitled the Good Stew.
You can (if you have the time) take a flight to the South Bend airport and take the train from There to Chicago. Its one of very few interurban city to city rails systems left and it’s a worthy ride if you have the time.
I always thought it would be a good idea to make a game about the role of minorities in the military throughout history. Many people forget in the face of the very peaceful civil rights movement that the first desegregation occurred in the military and would never have happened without the sacrifice of many men who died for a country that held them in such low regard. The kind of person who fights for the freedom of another person even when his own is limited is the greatest kind of hero. There are some daring stories to tell. The Tuskegee airmen, there is a battalion from WWI that is to this day the most decorated in American history and never received a single casualty, The Buffalo Soldiers who stormed San Jaun hill before the rough riders during the Spanish American War and received none of the credit, The contributions in the horrendous battles of the American Civil and revolutionary wars, African Americans engaged in the conflicts in Ethiopia and Spain trying desperately to stave off Fascism in Europe.
From what I gather the video game writing process is rather intensive. Because dialauge is needed for hours of gameplay and hours of events must be scripted and stpryboarded. This is by nature a collaborative process how has that collaborative and indeed massive envoronment affected your writing.
Excellent post. If I'd read this back in the nineties, I'd probably be working in videogames by now :)
Sorry, I know this is rather off-topic but it's the only source I could find for this:
What's Mortal Coils about?
This will be my first comment. i got two questions but before that i just got to say i love your work. Especially the HALO novels.
first: I would realy like to work with a game developer as a tester. is there anything specific you need to be?
Second: How would i go about?
And sorry if my spelling is bad, since i am from sweden and dont speak english as my first language.
Once again: love your work
r104d, i can actually answer that for you.
First off, there are no requirements, save you have to have a lot of free time. Game testing usually requires 40+ hours of work a week, including (possibly mandatory) overtime and weekend hours. All you need to do is be able to test games and find the bugs in them. Which basically means that you won't just be playing for fun, you'll be playing every single part of an individual game, possibly spending over 100 hours on a single one.
To actually get to doing it, you have to first find one near you. Chances are that if there isn't any company around you that develops games, you won't get the job, as in any business. Once you get a list of all the different developers, go on their websites and see if they have any openings. Some may not have any listings and you'll have to go to their offices and check, but don't sign up right away. Get your bearings with what you can do first.
Once you have your list of who you can work for, then make a decision based on what games they make and whether you could stand playing that type of game for so long. Remember, you won't get a choice at what you'll do, but if possible, you'll get to choose who to work for.
And voila! Now just work hard and be good at what you do and you may get a promotion to QA director/head in 2-4 years. Or faster if you do your job really well.
Razorsmile—RE: Mortal Coils. I don’t like to talk too much about in-progress novels, but I can say that MORTAL COILS is a modern-day fantasy for the people who have enjoyed the Harry Potter series, but are now grown up with tastes more sophisticated and dark.
R104d—sir brilliant pretty much answers your questions. Find a developers website, know their games, and apply. Thanks, btw, SB :)
That's more than sufficient, Mr. Nylund. Thanks.
Big fan of Signal Shattered by the way:
The computer had attained consciousness, only to reject it, claiming it was too unstable an operating system.
That line in particularly filled me with so much *glee*.
Yo, I heard you mention something a few weeks ago about a possible movie deal for one of your novels. Has anything ever happened with that?
Tj-
Razor—I’d forgotten that line : )
Tj—no news on the movie front...
Hi I just wanted to say for a 14 year old kid, I love your Halo books so rich in detail and fantastic story in them.
I wanted to ask since I just finished reading Halo: Ghosts of Onyx and I loved it but I was wondering will your next book be focusing on on John Spartan 117 and on the spartan 3's inside the sphere of the forerunners.
Also is there a date of when the next might be finished and published out because I'm desperate to find out.
Thanks in advance.
William,
There’s nothing I can say about the next HALO novel. Bungie controls all the information on content, who is writing it, and the release date.
Sorry. Hope you understand
This post has been removed by the author.
I am only 16 years old but if you are going to write another Halo novel will you please let me know. I was planning on writing my own books and if I ever complete one I will say that you inspired me to write it. If you have any tips on writing a book could you please share some with me. Thanks Erik.
Hey Eric,
I was wondering if you are going to write another Halo novel that takes place after Spartan-052 dies with the fenris warheads and CPO Mendez, Dr. Halsey and Fred, Kelly, and the other Spartan IIIs are lost. I have already read the Fall of Reach three times, First Strike twice and I am currently reading Ghosts of Onyx for the second time. Please let me know.
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