Hi all,

So I am currently enrolled in my second year in game development program at a four/five year school (RIT). I will need an internship as part of my program but I am a little uncertain of what companies would expect from a student in my position as far as a portfolio. I have strong programming skills but as this is only my second year, therefore most of my time has been spent on the core of my education, math/physics/programming/liberal arts. I've produced two "games" but they are not polished since the goal was learning some specific area and not finishing a game. I'm working on a personal/portfolio website now but I am not sure weather I should put it on my resume since I don't have any huge projects yet.

Thoughts?

1. I am a little uncertain of what companies would expect from a student in my position as far as a portfolio.
2. I've produced two "games" but they are not polished since the goal was learning some specific area and not finishing a game.
3. I'm working on a personal/portfolio website now
4. but I am not sure weather
5. I should put it on my resume since I don't have any huge projects yet.
6. Thoughts?

1. Not very much.
2. Exactly what we "expect" (from a normal student, i.e. not a stellar one).
3. Good
4. You mean "whether."
5. If the website is worthwhile, then you should share the URL in your resume. If the website is not worthwhile, then you should take it offline.
6. Mmmm.... Upstate New York raspberry pie...!

well this is my work in progress http://people.rit.edu/zwh8795.

Constructive criticism is always welcome!

well this is my work in progress http://people.rit.edu/zwh8795.

Constructive criticism is always welcome!

I got this error message:


http://people.rit.edu/zwh8795/stacker/HelloWorldBoxes.swf not found


Doh! Should have tested it with IE first. Thanks for pointing that out.

Your stacker demo is quite interesting. I would make it more clear that you need to drag the shape from the side to place it. At first I was expecting it to fall from the sky Tetris-style and thought your program was stuck.

I couldn't see your resume due to a missing plugin. Someone looking through a pile of resumes won't even bother trying to install the plugin and move onto the next applicant.

You do need more then one project to be viewable in your portfolio. Like loom_weaver, the stacker game was interesting but lacking in terms of instructions or polish.

Regarding your web site generally, finish it. The section "..Pics and/or Video here" is incomplete. If you know CSS and HTML so well, why do you insist on forcing us to a fixed width version of your website? If my screen is 2000 pixels wide let me decide how much of it to use. Your color palette is not that great, so it's a good thing you're not applying for an art position: gunmetal-blue on a blue gradient for the body and white with hover+gray over brushed steel aren't exactly inspiring colors. Consider spending a few bucks to buy your own name or something that is descriptive as a domain name. Having a playable demo on your site is good, and assuming you get your video of the X360 game up there is even better.


Regarding your resume, provide it in MS Word format. Go read a bunch of other resume reviews on the site for details, you make a lot of common mistakes. Cut the Skills section, especially the skills-within-skills section. A Windows programmer doesn't need to list MS Office as a skill. Instead of a short list of skills with no basis of comparison give me something to judge your skill level. Instead of "C#, ActionScript, Java, JavsScript", tell me what you programmed in C#, what you programmed in Flash, what you developed in Java, etc. Instead of just dropping the word XNA, tell me about a project where you actually used it and preferably give me a link to view pictures, video, or a playable copy. Rather than saying "Strong Math and Physics" prove it by pointing me to a demo or describing what you did on a project. You've written some demo games but do not drive me to your site, reformat so they are prominent. Your "relevant coursework" is irrelevant as listed, I don't know or care what "Game Software Development I,II,III" means, instead, I care about what you actually learned and what projects you did.

Considering you still have three years left of school it is promising. Make sure you include lots of demos on your site that show your actual abilities, including solo tasks. While it is nice to see that you can work with a team your interviewers will want to see what you can do instead of what your teammates contribute.

On the topic of not having "huge" demos -- I don't think its necessary or even a good idea to attempt some epic project. Small, but non-trivial, projects which are polished are far better than some half-finished epic that whigs-out all the time. Polish doesn't mean that everything has the gloss of a retail product -- it basically means that there are no "half-solutions" that are glaringly obvious-- a good demo should never give the impression that you did the easy half -- even the easy 90% -- and then moved on. They want to see that you can stick it out and solve the hard problems all the way through.

Try to get decent art if you can, but its not a requirement -- whatever art you do have, show it in the best light you can.

They understand you're a student, they understand you're just one guy, they understand you're not an artist and they understand that you have limited time. Don't undertake a huge demo project, because you'll just look like someone who understand his own limitations even less than they do.

Thanks for all the feedback I definitely have a lot to think about. I'll post back when I feel I have a decent second version.