Getting A Job At A Publisher Or Developer

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Overview

There is no one way to get into the game industry. If you have been reading along with the designer perspectives throughout this book, you’ve probably noticed that each individual designer has a unique story to tell about how he or she got a start designing games. No two took the same path, and you too will have to find your own way. But in this final chapter, we provide you with a number of strategies for selling yourself and your vision to the game industry. The three basic strategies we discuss are:

1. Getting a job at a publisher or developer

2. Pitching and selling an original idea to a publisher

3. Producing your ideas independently.

Most game designers don’t start out by selling original concepts; they get a job at an established company and work their way up the ladder. Once they have some experience, they may break off to start their own company, or pitch ideas internally to the company they work for. But how do you find your first job in the game industry? What are the qualifications? What should you bring to an interview? These are questions that don’t have easy answers. Unlike many career paths, game design doesn’t have an established route to success. The ideas we suggest are ways to maximize your chances in very competitive arena.

If you can get a job at an established company within the industry, even if that job does not involve game design directly, you will still be exposed to the process of game production and be able to gain a real understanding of how games are developed, the technologies involved, the roles and responsibilities of the team, and current trends in the industry. Once you have a significant amount of production experience, you will have a better chance of getting your own ideas heard and know how to present them when you do.

As we said in Chapter 12, it’s very hard to sell original ideas to a publisher. If you have some production experience with an established developer or publisher, you will be in a much better position to get your ideas heard. But what exactly is involved in pitching original game ideas? What materials will you need to prepare? How do you follow up afterwards? Again, we’ve laid out some solid strategies for this process, based on information gathered from companies across the industry.

The last part of this chapter takes a look at developers who have decided to just go out and “do it.” Independent game developers face huge challenges in today’s high-profile industry, but they are driven by their passion for their ideas and are free to explore those ideas to the extent their resources allow. More and more, small development teams are turning to the web as a way to distribute their independent games to niche audiences. If you have the resilience and the resources, independent development may be the answer to getting your original game made.

No matter which route you take, the exercisesyou’ve done throughout this book will help you develop an excellent beginner’s portfolio. Whether you are trying to get a job, or trying to convince your friends to work on an independent game, having a working set of prototypes and several well-written concept documents will lend credibility and focus to your efforts, and differentiate you from other candidates.

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