My class is doing a career search, and I chose to be a computer game designer and programer,(because I love games so much). One of the projects I need to complete is getting at least four (4) interviews and get my 10 questions listed below answered. If you could help I''d be grateful. Here they are. 1.Where can I find the most useful written materials on being a computer game designer and programmer. 2.What is the most exciting thing you get to do? 3.Do you think this is a good job? Why? 4.Do you enjoy your job? Why? 5.What do you actually do in your company? 6.How long do you work every day? 7.How long have you worked for this job? 8.What are the “ups” and “downs” to your job 9.What does this job offer to help me live a happier life? 10.Did you ever have second thoughts about this job? Why?

Computer game designer and programmer are two completely different fields. It is rare to find a programmer who is helping to design the game except possibly in the independent part of the business. I''m not personally employed as a programmer, so I can''t really help out with your questionaire though.


http://druidgames.cjb.net/ (If my website isn''t down, it''s a miracle!)

1. Game Developer Magazine (www.gdmag.com), Gamasutra (www.gamasutra.com), Edge (www.edge-online.com)


2. Write code for games which end up on store shelves with adverts and reviews on TV and in magazines.


3. Yup. Variety - every game has new technical challenges to overcome, gaming hardware is forever changing - new techniques to learn. See 2. People you''ve never met tell you they enjoyed a game you worked on.

Although as a career it isn''t as highly paid as other computer related jobs, the industry isn''t as stabily managed and products aren''t as well planned by upper management (which leads to difficult end of project times for people like programmers).


4. See 3.


5.
a. Develop 3D engine code for games.
b. Develop other engine systems for games.
c. Develop some core code for games.
d. Assist in technial design of a game.
e. Technical liason with external companies (hardware manufacturers, external developers etc)
f. Keep up to date with latest technical developments (read technical papers, participate in discussion newsgroups, beta test and evaluate new SDKs, attend conferences and seminars, research new ideas).
g. Read approx 100 e-mails per day. Answer approx 10.
h. Attend meetings to discuss the above.
i. Spend all my money in the Coke machine.
j. etc etc etc.


6. Average 8-9 hours, starting sometime between 9:30am and 11:30am. At the end of a project at "crunch time"/deadline time up to 21 hours a day (usually for say 3 days of a week, the rest sleeping, no personal time).


7. About 4-5 years with roughly the same team of people (we worked in house in 2 different teams of a larger company then split off to form CA). Before that about 3 years of non-games IT work (automation databases + hardware interface utilities). Before that, off and on freelance games stuff for about 5 years, and before that coding demos and games as a hobby for about another 5.


8. Ups:
- relaxed environment, people.
- working on games which the general public see.
- working on products which are a form of entertainment.
- playing with the latest technology before most other people.
- getting to go to trade events which aren''t boring.
- not having to wear a suit or be in work for 8:30am every day.
- variety of work.
- design meetings in the pub.
- getting paid for something which you enjoy (80% of the time)

Downs:
- crunch/deadline time hours/work is hard mentally & physically.
- lower paid than comparable jobs in IT world.
- inadequate development planning
- producers from publishers/clients being bad at their jobs:
a.scheduling too tightly - no room for change/error = long hours at deadline time for programmers + other developers.
b.refusing to accept that unagreed changes will push a title over budget and make it late.
c.demanding changes be made to a feature then changing their mind after its been implemented.
d.not scheduling for demos required by marketing departments/trade shows (up to 30% of the code you see in a trade show demo gets stripped out straight after its done).
[once you work as a programmer in the industry you''ll come to understand the above ]


9. You ? or Me ? - for you, fun games to entertain you when your bored. For me, getting paid for what I enjoy.


10. Yup. Only when broke and working hard while friends working in commercial IT are at the pub with lots of cash... the ups do help counteract.

--
Simon O''''Connor
Creative Asylum Ltd
www.creative-asylum.com