I apologise if these questions have been asked before, but they are for the purposes of an Essay about the gaming industry, and evidence of research into the industry is needed. I am a multimedia student currently involved in a one year preparatory course, where, upon completion I hope to attend college to study interactive multimedia, as the course that is taught in the college I have chosen allows me to pursue a career in the gaming industry, with a lean towards the more visual side of the industry, either as a 3D modeller, or 3D animator, and I also have experience with Fine art, which involved painting and sketching from life, and some sculpture, though I was pretty weak in sculpture, just was not my forte ( I don't have the patience for sculpture, wherease I do in other areas of art, though I know I have alot to learn). Sorry for the backstory, just letting people know where I am coming from. I was hoping that some members of this forum could answer some of my questions, as this would help me greatly in my research. These questions relate to Game Development, and so cover a number of different areas, such as programming and audio, not just the visual element. 1. Why choose Game Development as a career? 2. What are the personal skills needed to gain employment in the industry? ( The "skills" I am referring to, to give an example, would be focused, or patient, rather than software skills, as this would be too varied). 3. Are there any drawbacks to the industry? (This can refer to the treatment of staff, or material featured in a game itself). 4. How has the industry changed in the last 10 years, and are these changes for the benefit or detriment of the industry? ( This is a broad topic, and refers to improved technology, software, career opportunities and other ares which I am drawing a blank on at the moment. ) Any and all help is highly appreciated. Sean C

Question 1 is more of a personal question since you're the one picking a career and no one else is doing it for you. If you mean to ask for the benefits of the industry, then that's a question that can be answered the same way you can answer questions 2-4: research. Mr. Sloper wrote an article about aspiring developers who asked questions and the research they should do. I'll let you find it =)

Sean wrote:
>Some questions about the Gaming industry

Please don't use the word "gaming" in reference to our beloved industry. That word has become associated with the gambling/casinos industry. Our industry has enough baggage to deal with already. Whenever you think the word to use is "gaming," try "games" or "game" instead. It almost always works.

>1. Why choose Game Development as a career?

Anyone who needs to ask this should not go into game development.

>2. What are the personal skills needed to gain employment in the industry?
>( The "skills" I am referring to, to give an example, would be focused, or patient, rather than software skills, as this would be too varied).

The skills needed vary depending on which sort of job in the industry we're talking about.
But it sounds like you're asking, not about skills, but personality traits or character traits. Again, that would vary depending on the job (the specialty within the industry).
You really need to focus your questions - they are too vague to get you any good answers.

>3. Are there any drawbacks to the industry?
>(This can refer to the treatment of staff, or material featured in a game itself).

Yes.

>4. How has the industry changed in the last 10 years, and are these changes for the benefit or detriment of the industry?
>( This is a broad topic, and refers to improved technology, software, career opportunities and other ares which I am drawing a blank on at the moment. )

Since 1998 a very big thing has made significant changes in the industry, and in the world - and that thing is the Internet. The first question is far too broad (it would require writing an entire book to give you the answer). The second question cannot be answered. The changes cannot be quantified as "good" or "bad" (a simplification of "benefit or detriment") because the changes are what they are. The industry makes the adjustments it needs to make to react to the changes.

Turning the tables, a question for you: where the heck is Tralee? Is it in the United States, and if so, which state?

>1. Why choose Game Development as a career?

Surely you know the answer to this.

>2. What are the personal skills needed to gain employment in the industry?

You need to be very patient. Doing 3d Modelling correctly usually takes a bit of time and preperation (using blueprints and such)

Nearly all the fields in Game Developement require you to be patient, because you will always be making changes to your current project, you'll always have to debug it, and sometimes things just won't work out.

>3. Are there any drawbacks to the industry?

There's drawbacks to every industry. Except Chocolate Bar Designing, those guys have it made.

Can't really answer four myself.

Good luck on whatever, anyways ;)

>> 1. Why choose Game Development as a career?

Why choose ANY field for your career? Some people love it, others hate it. The same is true of any career path, such as politics, agriculture, medicine, law, and so on.

Generally people who choose the career are those who enjoy it and are passionate about it.


>> 2. What are the personal skills needed to gain employment in the industry?
( The "skills" I am referring to, to give an example, would be focused, or patient, rather than software skills, as this would be too varied).

"The industry" is very broad, as others have mentioned.

Producing - Somebody needs to be the boss. They need business experience. They don't make games, they make teams and enable them to work well, and need to understand the human side much more than the technical side.

Designing - Managing the ideas, sorting out what sounds fun from what really is fun. These people are usually coming in from other areas (programming, art, audio, marketing, ...) and really good ones can usually can recite details about every game they have ever played.

Programming - You need to know how to program in the languages required for the project. You need to possibly be specialized in AI, physics, 3D, data processing, optimizations, hardware, tool chains, etc. You need appropriate education and experience for whatever field you choose.

Artists - You need to know the kinds of art required for the game. Pixel art, texture art, vector art, 3D modeling, animation, and other stuff that I don't know about because I'm not an artist.

Audio - You need to be able to compose and synthesize appropriate musical scores, be able to put together audio samples for effects and such, and understand the tools enough that you can meet whatever technical restraints are placed upon you. (recent example from my job: Sound engineer complaining about the Wii remote's high-freq and low-freq response, the limited sample rate, and the (in)ability to produce the desired sounds.

All the above items need a college degree if they are serious about the career path.


Testing - QA is very important. There are the people who are there for a few weeks as a button-masher, but there are others who stick around for many years, writing comprehensive test plans and working with the designers and leads to sculpt the entire process. Education can vary from high school dropout to degrees in mathematics and statistics.

Translators - Major games are released in many languages. Our last title had support for 14 languages.

Voice actors, writers, mocap engineers, etc. These are only needed for some games, but somebody has to do them.

Other executives and support staff - These include HR, payroll, marketing, licensing, legal, hardware, B2B relations, facilities management, and everything else.

On top of that, every team has a lead, an individual who has a lot of experience and works as a middle-manager of sorts. Those aren't entry level, so I'm guessing you aren't interested.


There are several more areas that are more specialized, and you can find them easily enough with your own research.




>>3. Are there any drawbacks to the industry? (This can refer to the treatment of staff, or material featured in a game itself).

Obviously.

This is true of every career field. Every company is different. Every project is different. Every team is different. Every boss is different. Every co-worker is different. Every individual is different. To complicate it even more, what one person may see as a drawback another may see as a benefit.


>> 4. How has the industry changed in the last 10 years, and are these changes for the benefit or detriment of the industry? ( This is a broad topic... )

It is too broad to be answered.

First of all, thanks for your answers, most of them I can use.

The purpose of my assignment is to research the area I wish to work in. This research requires asking others who are already involved in the industry whether they are independant, or part of a commercial development team. This is a required element of the essay, to show that I investigated the industry by speaking to people who work or have worked in the industry. I cannot appear to be arrogant and claim I know it all, I need to show that I have spoken to others and gained their reaction or response to their job. I have researched it, both on the web and in books I bought from Amazon, Play.com and others, and looked in local libraries.

I know why I want to work in the industry, but, for the purpose of my assignment, I have to inform the lay person why it is that I have chosen this as a career, and, if someone shares my interest, they could then decide, based on information, if they themselves are interested in pursuing it as a job or not. My assignement is looking at the different employment opportunities and the reason one might have for choosing that role.


Tralee is a town located in the South of Ireland, which is the home of IT Tralee, among other things. So, no, it's not in the united states.