Hi, I've been wondering what it takes to break into the game industry. I've heard that getting involved with quality assurance is a good place to start (especially for someone like me with little to no experience), but that job does not appeal to me at all. I have little to no knowledge of programming or design, my area of interest is in writing and concept development. I assume developers get hundreds of submissions for game ideas, few of which are any good, but I know that several of my ideas have great potential. I'm wondering if this is a typical, highly unusual, or impossible stituation; can someone outside the industry with no experience break in with one or two great ideas? If so, how would I go about such a feat? What should my pitch look like? What should it include and what are developers looking to see? Is this a rediculous fantasy that I should just forget? cheers.

Official Initiation for Game Development beginner (otherwise known as n00bs).
Game Designer need to know for breaking in.

Some reading will be needed for your part to decide where or how you want to pursue this venture. Other members can helpful greatly if you're caught up on the basics of game development/programming/designing.

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Original post by asdfasdf12341234 Hi, I've been wondering what it takes to break into the game industry. I've heard that getting involved with quality assurance is a good place to start (especially for someone like me with little to no experience), but that job does not appeal to me at all. I have little to no knowledge of programming or design, my area of interest is in writing and concept development. I assume developers get hundreds of submissions for game ideas, few of which are any good, but I know that several of my ideas have great potential. I'm wondering if this is a typical, highly unusual, or impossible stituation; can someone outside the industry with no experience break in with one or two great ideas? If so, how would I go about such a feat? What should my pitch look like? What should it include and what are developers looking to see? Is this a rediculous fantasy that I should just forget? cheers.

That depends on you.

I'm gambling on the answer to "can someone outside the industry with no experience break in with one or two great ideas?" being "Yes, if you do the research, if you manage it smartly and if you put in a lot of work, as well as money."

As to it being a ridiculous fantasy, it does depend on whether you're willing to do the work. One thing that's strikes me, though, is that, since I joined this forum, I see an average of 2 threads a day started that ask this question, despite the fact that the answers are on this very same website if you spend a day just reading everything. I will do you a massive favor and send you to http://sloperama.com/advice.html

Tom Sloper has created a phenomenal set of hints, tips, advice and information. I spent a whole day just reading all of it, and it's a diamond mine of great advice.

You might try to get hired as a writer with a development team somewhere. I've heard that writers are more and more in demand, but I don't know personally about all of that.

I agree with the previous posters, though, that for you to have a chance will require a lot of hard work and determination. As someone else noted, asking this question for the 15,000th time (rather than searching) isn't a good indicator of your work ethic, nor is sequentially banging the fingers of your left hand against the first and third rows (from top) of your keyboard when asked for a username.

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and it's a diamond mine of great advice.

Except the advice that QA is an 'EXCELLENT' way to get your foot in the door.

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There is a common perception that testing is a "lowly entry-level job" and that testers are at the bottom of the totem pole. The fact is, testing is extremely important and the test phase is vital in polishing a game into a fun experience for the end user.

Sure; testing is vital to a well functioning, well polished, intuitive game. That though does not perclude the perception that QA people are the bottom of the totem pole doing an entry level job. Face it, if it wasn't an entry level job, you wouldn't be able to enter into the industry doing it...

Working in QA gets you two major points compared to not working in QA.

1. You get experience with enterprise software development.

You learn some of the terminology, the importance of deadlines, how a bunch of developers and artists working on something for over a year differs from even a small team working on something for a semester.

Which is great and all, but it isn't development experience. It isn't a proven ability to make software. Hiring managers will still pick someone who excelled in college over you.

2. You get personal experience with insiders.

Which is great. Interpersonal networking is the single most powerful tool you can use in getting a job... And you can do it at your local bar or idga meeting; without the mind-numbing torture that is QA work.



I got to spend the past three years doing QA work as a stepping stone to development. It was a non-game QA position, which means there was at least some coding in the process of test automation. Take it from me, hiring managers and HR people could care less. The only thing it's gotten me is the inability to go back to SysAdmin work that I did before QA, because I'm not "current" in it.

Going into QA is nothing more than a good way to do more QA.

If you want a job as a designer read this... http://www.obscure.co.uk/faq_becoming_a_designer.shtml.

There are no jobs in the industry for "ideas people" - only for people who actually do things, such as writing up copious and detailed design documents; building, testing and tweaking game levels and writing well structured stories.

If you want to be a designer you will have to study hard and work hard and even once you have your degree you will still probably have to get an entry level job as a tester and work your way up to design. As for writing, that is equally hard to get into (and hard to do well) because most projects only need one writer (compared to 30-100 other development staff. Companies will only hire you if you can prove that you are a great writer. As with design you will most likely need a relevant degree and you will also need a body of work to show as a portfolio. That means that to get a job as a writer you already need to be one - you need to be writing for your local paper, getting short stories published by real publishers, writing for your schools magazine, writing, writing, writing.

[Edited by - Obscure on February 26, 2006 5:51:37 AM]

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Original post by asdfasdf12341234I assume developers get hundreds of submissions for game ideas, few of which are any good, but I know that several of my ideas have great potential.

That's not how it works. Game developers come up with their own ideas; they do not take submissions. In fact, a lot of game companies (and corporations in general) are actually required by upper management to immediately shred any "cool ideas" that people send them in the mail without reading them, to avoid the potential of getting sued by some guy who says "hey! you ripped off the idea of the triple laser shotgun from the letter i sent you!"

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Original post by makeshiftwings Quote: Original post by asdfasdf12341234I assume developers get hundreds of submissions for game ideas, few of which are any good, but I know that several of my ideas have great potential. That's not how it works. Game developers come up with their own ideas; they do not take submissions. In fact, a lot of game companies (and corporations in general) are actually required by upper management to immediately shred any "cool ideas" that people send them in the mail without reading them, to avoid the potential of getting sued by some guy who says "hey! you ripped off the idea of the triple laser shotgun from the letter i sent you!"

I think that may actually be part of some employee contracts now.