Jeff On Games

The 2007 Game Career Guide issue of Game Developer magazine is out, and a nice digital version is available for download. I actually wrote one of the articles for this in the Top 10 Tips section for programmers looking to get into the game industry. Now, the tips in the guide are pretty generic, and really aimed at a high school / starting college demographic. However, if you're in that audience I totally suggest you give it a read. It can only help.

When I was writing the tips, I actually thought of a whole bunch of others that I wish I had known just coming out of college and looking for a game job (or when I was looking after a year as a government contractor). I thought about putting these tips in, but they were really for a completely different audience (namely, me 3 years ago) and partially politically charged. So, I left them out, made the article advice more focused and generic, and decided when the article came out I'd post the other tips to my blog. They make better blog fodder anyway.

So here’s a few tips for those of you that are about to take that first job in the game industry. This is from personal experience and a few years of misery in the game industry, and it should all be taken with a grain of salt.

1. Know you development style, and know the company’s as well. Before you commit to working for a company, know how they work. If you’re a stickler for process (like myself) make sure you know whether the company you’re about to work for is as well, or if they’re willing to adjust to become so. If you’re more the “get things done” type, besides being doomed in the long run, you shouldn’t go to work a place advertising that they’re full agile, full XP. Granted, working there might do you some good.
2. Don’t undersell yourself. Money isn’t everything, but being underpaid really sucks, regardless of nebulous bonuses that are promised (Note: I was underpaid in the IT world way before I went into the game industry, so this really applies across the board). Know what other people are making in the industry in your area. Know what you’ll need to live comfortably on, and know how skilled you are. You’ll be thankful later.
3. Always improve. After you get your first game job, don’t think you can coast around on easy street. Don’t ignore new technologies coming out (outside of games too guys), because you never know how much you could improve things at a company just by paying attention to advances in things like .NET and database development
4. Know what you’re getting into. Make sure your significant other knows too. Crunch sucks. And it’s almost everywhere in the game industry. Avoid places that have horrible crunches (very hard) or make sure your significant other knows that there will be months at a time where you might not see each other. It’s sad, but a reality.
5. Know the company’s stance on conferences. If you’re the type of person that likes going to GDC and likes talking at GDC (like me), know whether your company will allow you to do that. Also find out what they’ll reimburse you for, and what they won’t. You don’t want to find out a month before GDC that they don’t want you going. That just sucks.

Now, this advice is kinda slanted toward people that have a lot of confidence in having a lot of offers in the industry (which doesn’t happen often), but following this advice will at least let you know what you’re getting into before you jump in and become miserable.

I know I promised these slides on Monday, but I was busy driving (yes, driving) back from Orlando and it totally slipped my mind. However, better late than never, so the updated slides are now available. There were only a few minor changes to this talk, mostly just in explanations of some of the patterns, as well as an additional slide explaining why engineering is important. Other than that, pretty much the same.

GDC is coming up. I'll have much to say about it afterward. By the way, if you are not subscribed to it already, I highly recommend reading the ScholarBlog. It's a blog I started 3 years ago for the IGDA GDC Scholars to write about their experiences at GDC. Although not as rife with content as I would like, we've gotten a few people to volunteer this year, and I'm hoping they'll supply some interesting insight into the life of a GDC Scholar.

I’ve been getting a lot of email and complements on my game career guide article, as well as some questions concerning various items. I wanted to address one question in particular though, because it comes up very frequently on forums and now in my email box. The question is this:

Is school (x) good? or Does school (x) have a good game program?

One of the things I tried to address in my article is that the first form of the question is unanswerable. Good is very subjective. The second question is just phrased poorly. Usually, when a person asks that, they are asking one of two very different questions. The first is “If I go here, will I get a job in the game industry when I get out?” and the second is “If I go here, will I learn what I want to learn?” Though both of these questions are answerable, they are not usually answerable by the people that they are asked to, namely game industry professionals.

Professionals are really the wrong people to ask these questions to. Why? Because, unless they’ve had personal experience with the program, they’re not going to know about it and they won’t be able to tell you anything. Worse, if they have ties to another program, they may lead you away from the one you’ve asked about and (through personal bias) lead you to a school you may not be happy at, which (as my article explains) is worse than not going to school at all!

So, whom should you ask this question to? Honestly, it’s a question for the school itself. Asking the school for their placement rate of graduates will help you understand whether it is likely that you will get a job after graduation (though, remember, it’s not the best indicator). Asking for as much information you can about all of the classes you’ll be taking there (schedules, descriptions, syllabuses if you can get them) will give you an idea of what you’ll be learning and whether it matches your personal goals. Lastly, talking with the professors and getting their insight into the program (and asking them questions to gauge their level of expertise) will let you know whether you’ll be actually learning what you really want to learn.

So, what’s the moral of the story? When looking for a school, always make sure to ask the right questions to the right people. It’s the only way to get the answers you actually want.

So I went to VGXPO / Game Career Seminar in Philly with Darius last weekend, and because another speaker got sick, I actually ended up giving an "Intro to Programming" type talk to the attendees (with about an hour of prep time). I actually really enjoyed giving the talk, even with the short amount of prep, and wanted to thank Jane for the opportunity. Although I may post the slides for the talk (if I can ever get them from Coray), they're pretty useless without the notes, which I didn't have time to write. If I get the presentation, I'll try to add them before positing it.

Probably the coolest thing to hear at the conference though was the positive response from my "Choosing a School" article, especially from students in all stages of education (from high school to college graduates) and from people like Rob Catto, from Full Sail. I meant the article to be as "unbiased" as possible, although I certainly have a bias towards liberal arts degrees, and hearing from students and game school professors that the article was good makes me think I definitely hit the mark, and that's always encouraging.

The CMP Game Career Guide (another excellent resource for people looking to break into the game industry) has published my article on Choosing a School for Game Development. If you're a high school student looking for a school to attend (or a college student wanting to know if you've made the right decision) you may find the article useful.

If you happen to give it a ready, feel free to comment and let me know what you think!

On the 17th, I gave a talk to the IGDA DC Chapter on breaking in to the game industry. The slides for that talk are now available on my website here. Also, there are a bunch of resources I forgot to point out on the slides (though I think I caught them all in the talk). Thankfully, the IGDA Breaking In forums FAQ covers most of the resources, so I highly recommend that as a starting point.

I have a recording of the talk, but I want to listen to it before posting it online. I'll see if I can possibly get a transcript of it up if nothing else.

Good luck to everyone looking for their big break!