Analyze
To research and discover at least 3 different career paths within the games industry to find out where they want to be in the future and consider what paths are being offered to them. To realize the skills and work experience required, in order to get to this dream career. Research actual positions and people within the industry.
Deconstruct
To break down the career that they want to follow and work out the path of least resistance towards getting into that career, to then consider where they want to be in the future and how to get there also.
Students are to reflect at this stage on skills they’ve taken from previous experience.
Develop
Students will develop a SWOT analysis table for themselves and their skill set. Students will create a new asset for their portfolio (3d model, code, design etc.) and then evaluate their progress from the start of their game’s development journey to now.
Strengths
What do you see as your Unique Selling Points, your most important personality traits?
I believe myself to be very self led and with a strong ability to adapt to the task at hand. The self led-ness does occasionally become a detriment as if there is something that is not being done I will automatically assume I am the one to have to get it done and it leads me to take command of a lot of my projects but this also has a lot of benefits like making sure core parts of the game are finished before the due cut off time.
What are you better at than most people/your competitor?
I would say I am more willing to do the work that may less wanted to be done or more difficult that nobody wants to do than my peers, with a dedication to get things done.
What do your customers/friends consider to be your strengths? You might want to ask around for this one, or launch a customer survey. Sometimes, a different perspective can make a big difference.
My enthusiasm in my work tends to be the biggest response to this question. I think this may be due to the fact I can usually find something entertaining about my work regardless of what it may be, causing me to subconsciously put more into my work than I realize.
What resources can you draw on that you already have at your disposal?
I have the strengths listed above, with the addition of a barebones knowledge of the Unreal Engine.
Weaknesses
Which of your traits are you least proud of?
I am least proud of my communication skill as it does create self made barriers in my progress when it comes to group work.
What about yourself/your business would you most like to improve?
I would improve my communication skills when doing team based work as I work better on self led work and I understand the ability to be able to work in a team to be an essential skill when it comes to games development and the industry as a whole.
I would like to also improve my programming ability as I am not currently at the level that I would like to be at and I believe it to be the most important part of game production, also it being the part I am most interested in.
What are you not as good at as most people/your competitor?
Because of where I am in the terms of education and Experience as I only have a foot into the industry with my college course most people/my competitors will have both experience and Knowledge on their side if they have been working for longer
What do your customers/friends consider to be your weaknesses? As is the case with your strengths, you may find that asking around reveals some interesting results. If you’re doing this on a personal level, be sure that you can handle constructive criticism!
I am not the greatest when it comes to being Punctual, but regardless I do make sure I catch up with any missed work.
Opportunities
What could you do to improve your situation on a personal or business level?
Personal
More experience in the Unreal engine as well as attempting to give myself a base knowledge of a programming language (C++ or C# for example)
Business
I could be doing more to get volunteer work that would help with work experience and getting a feel of the industry.
I could also be doing more to make a name for myself or add more positive experiences to my Portfolio.
Are there any opportunities that you can take advantage of, such as learning a new skill?
Doing more Independent learning in a programming language or in the Unreal engine world be beneficial.
Forcing myself into more uncomfortable Social conventions would also be advantageous to communication in general not just to Games Dev.
Could you connect with someone/do networking to take advantage of their connections?
If wanted I could attempt to get back into contact with my Father as he works at Frontier Developments, based in Cambridge.
Do you recognize anything that’s happening elsewhere that others might not have noticed yet?
When games companies go open world it tends to be because they've run out of ideas and they believe if they just funnel enough money into their game it will rekindle old fanbases for a final money grab.
This is not always the case but it can be seen from games such as Fallout 76, Mass Effect, and Far Cry.
Games that are not finished should not be released and should be pushed back regardless as the game will seem less of a money grab and will look like they are dedicating more time to it.
Are there any events that are taking place and that you could make the most of?
Escape room College Trip/Task
Threats
What things are standing in your way and making things difficult?
Current things standing in my way are needing a Uni qualification without massively having the points to go so I need to really put effort into my personal portfolio to hope to get into the courses i will be applying to.
What things might stand in your way, even if they’re not already doing so?
My financial situation unless altered may be an issue with affording equipment for game production or if I need to purchase a commercial license or IP or even advertisement.
The requirements of the customers is also forever altering and growing so us as creators are restricted by what the market wants unless we choose to go independent.
What are other people doing that might have an impact on you? What are your competitors doing or developing that might affect your business?
Competitor companies are always coming out with or in development of a new games so to a perspective we are competing to make a game popular enough to make or grow our names in the industry while putting money on the table.
We are also again bound by what the customers want if we want our game to be played by masses.
Are there any laws, rules or regulations that affect you?
PEGI and ESRB are most likely some of the bigger things that will effect me, as well as any already established Copywrites and Properties.
Are there time limits that are going to negatively affect you?
there is no time limit to getting your game as close as what the creators would consider to be perfect, people of any age can try and get a foot into the industry.
If you join a well known games company there will obviously be time restraints.
There is more freedom with Indie companies but a finance restriction usually
Evaluate Progress
Start
I always wanted to get into the industry but my progress began around the end of year 10 or 11 as I attempted to learn the basics of games creation and C++ in my own time
My progress really took off after the first year of college as we touched up on creating maps and creating 3D assets.
During second year we began level design and produced 1 2D and 1 3D level by the end of the year
as well as presenting ideas for our own games and addons to games that we know.
Now
Because of all of this I am relatively knowledgeable in the Unreal engine and have had multiple different experiences making games and levels and doing challenges such as Game-Jams and soon I will have experience being enquired to make a game for a local Company
Career Paths
What do you want to do, and how are you going to get there?
I enjoy very Logic based work and I believe these three encompass that feeling. Most of these jobs focus rather heavily on code and programming which is what I would like to learn to be able to do and to the industry standard. To get here I will usually require a University Qualification to teach me further and refine my skillset and direct it towards this goal. With this Uni qualification I will hopefully learn one of the core game code languages (Usually C++ or C#, and occasionally Java) and then apply to either an already established games company or an Indie one.
Explain each of the roles in detail, what are the needs of the roles?
Game Programmer
This role is usually one of the most Technical of all, Combining all of the other work in the computer and turning it into a game and telling it what to do with what and using multitudes of software to do so. In this job you have to work very closely with the artists and developers in the design process to make something of quality on schedule. You will also have to do code reviews over everything you do to ensure everything works and reworking what doesn't.
People in this qualification usually require University degrees either in Games Programming or Computer Science.
Starting salary can usually start between £26,000 and £34,000 and further lead to around £50,000
Games Producer
Games producers deal with all of the business side of games production and ensure all parts of the dev team are following within the timeline and everyone is getting work done. Producers are also the people who raise money for the game and get people on board to be on the dev team. As a Producer you will also be the one handling the budget of the entire project.
A qualification is favored but experience is one of the most important parts of this job, the best way to get a foot in being a producer is to try to get on to be an Assistant producer and work up from there.
Average pay can span from £40,000 to £65,000 at entry and after 5 years can rise to around £100,000, then again rising around the decade mark to £150,000.
Penetration Tester
Pen testers perform fake attacks on companies systems, networks and looks for backdoors and weak points. these help improve the companies security and remove vulnerabilities in preparation for hackers.
most of these jobs require at least a bachelors in a tech field. (I.e. Cyber security or Comp science)
in the UK, the average pay for this job is around £60,000 but this depends on your qualifications and levels of experience.
End of task piece of work
Research real people in those roles (e.g., look at game credits) and find them on social media, blogs etc. Can you document their path into the industry?
Todd Howard
Game Producer
majored in business while taking computer classes for credit
rejected from Bethesda first 2 times applying and told that he needed to finish school as a prerequisite and lack of jobs open.
started working for a smaller game company
continued approaching Bethesda to request being hired
recruited Howard in 1994 as a producer
first game development was Terminator: Future shock, then was involved with Skynet and Elder Scrolls 2, and both released in 1996
Shigeru Miyamoto
Executive Producer/Creative Director
graduated with a degree in industrial design
hoped to become a professional manga artist before considering a career in video games.
inspired to make games because of Space Invaders
Miyamoto's father arranged an interview with Nintendo president
Did art for his first game "Sheriff" which was an arcade game
Did work that nobody was free to do or wanted to do, overseen by their head engineer
First large hit game he was heavily involved with being Donkey Kong
Then went on to work on Donkey Kong Jr and Donkey Kong 3 before starting the Mario games
Gabe Newell
Co-Founder/President of Valve
Convinced to drop out of Uni and work for Microsoft by Bill Gates
Assisted in the first Windows OS systems
Spent 13 Years working for Microsoft on 3 Windows systems
Led a Port of Doom on Windows 95
Co-Created and funded the first developed Valve game Half-Life
Developed Steam
Nolan Bushnell
Became familiar with arcade games whilst working at an amusement park in the games department
Started own advertisement company
began work as an electrical engineer
Moved to Utah in hopes of being picked up by Disney
instead worked at Ampex
Shared ideas with co workers of making pizza parlors and making games
Made a game clone of a game called Spacewar, called Computer Space
Game was a failure
Created Atari company
inspired to create Pong after attending a convention showing off consoles
spoke to creator of first at come commercial console
Had neighbor secretly establish a game company that would make clones of Atari games
This company created a popular game called Tank
Began retailing at home pong consoles and other at home type consoles
· Explain what are you doing to try get there and what can you now start to do? Break down the steps you will need to take to take on these roles.
What I would need
Willingness to Learn
Enthusiasm to create
Inspired by games
Qualification in a Tech or Electrical based Course
Attend multiple types of different conventions in the games industry to communicate and build bridges with other likeminded people in the industry and see things currently in the rotation of creation
Build portfolio
Get as much experience in the industry (Doesn't hugely matter if AAA or Indie as long as the experience is there)
No comments:
Post a Comment