getting a job in the game development industry

So you want to make games for a living? A look at the basics for would-be game makers by Kenn Hoekstra

This is the first of a multi-part series on getting a job in the game development industry. This installment will cover the basic in-roads to what can seem like an impossible field to penetrate, including commentary from various developers about how they got their starts. Future articles will break down the various types of positions available at game companies today and the best ways to go about developing the skills you will need to acquire those positions. Finally, it'll look at education, resume writing, and job placement, and all articles will include tips from developers on how to break into the industry.

You cringe when computer-controlled characters walk into walls; you despair when half of your party gets stuck behind that tree; you smack yourself in the forehead and say, "That is the stupidest dialogue I've ever heard in my entire life. What were they thinkingwhat were they thinking?" Finally, with full confidence that you can certainly do better, you find yourself asking, "How do I get a job in the games industry?"

I can't tell you how many times this question has crossed my desk in the five years I've been at Raven Software. It's a good question, but how do you answer it? Every game developer has a different story, and I have yet to find two that are exactly alike. About the only thing that ties them all together is an overwhelming desire to play and make games and a certain degree of good old-fashioned luck.

If the following things don't apply to you, there's no point in reading any further. But then again, if you didn't have these things going for you, you wouldn't be reading this in the first place.

Know games
A lot of the questions in my own job interview with Raven Software were about games. What was the last game you played? What's your favorite game? How long have you been playing games? What's the worst game you've ever played? What's your favorite console system and game? It was a far cry from any job interview I'd ever had before.

Raven was trying to determine, among other things, my commitment to gaming, my knowledge of games and how they work as well as what I liked and didn't like about gaming in general. In short, they wanted to determine if I truly knew and loved games and gaming. Which brings me to my next point

Love games
This may sound like a silly thing, but most game companies list "love of gaming" as a legitimate job qualification. 3D Realms, makers of the Duke Nukem' series of games, listed the following requirement for a recently posted programming position: "Die-hard game player. If you don't have a passion to play them, you typically don't have the passion to make them." Further down on the application was this question: "What are the last five games you've played?"

The reality is that game development takes a lot of time, energy and commitment. A game developer can expect to put in long hours throughout a project's development and even more hours during "crunch mode" when deadline pressure mounts. The bottom line: if you don't love what you do, you won't be very effective in doing it.

"This is a career that is incredibly demanding, both in aptitude and obligation," says Richard "Levelord" Gray of Ritual Entertainment. "One needs to be very talented, and one needs to be very devoted. I think if there is an answer to the question, 'What does one need?' that answer is passion."

In-roads to the industry

Know someone
Nothing helps your chances of being hired more than knowing someone who's already in the industry. Game companies get thousands of applications each year, and it's a lot safer for them to hire someone they know than someone they've never met. This reduces the risk of breaking team chemistry, and the person who knows you can give management a lot more insight into your personality and skills than any interview session can. A good number of Raven Software employees secured interviews with the company based on recommendations from friends who were already working there. I've found that to be true for most other companies as well.

"My first professional job in the industry was with 3D Realms/Apogee," says Randy Pitchford, President of Gearbox Software (Half-Life Opposing Force and Blue Shift) says of his own induction into the business. "I met George Broussard [President of 3D Realms] and Scott Miller [President of Apogee] on Compuserve before the Internet had taken off and I really got George's attention by beating him in a modem games competition. I was doing amateur development for some time and submitted some work to a number of development studios that were interesting to me, but my prior interactions with the owners of 3D Realms likely had a significant influence over my ability to get an offer."

The Game Development Industry -- Part 2