[QUOTE=dcarrigg;29083400]
EDIT: OH MY GOD MY AVATAR[/QUOTE]
This edit made my day.
My uni tutors do love to continuously remind us that they care more about your portfolio then your degrees.
I also want to become a game designer. I am going to a school specially for that. I am already working on my portfolio and have visited a couple companies in the region. If you get in and stay in then in my opinion it's one of the best jobs out there.
[QUOTE=Thorny;29004275]Do Computer Science at Uni/College, and make big and popular mods. That's the way into the industry, really.[/QUOTE]
Yeah, this and the post about picking something specific.
[QUOTE=Soap_N_Go;29088595]I also want to become a game designer. I am going to a school specially for that. I am already working on my portfolio and have visited a couple companies in the region. If you get in and stay in then in my opinion it's one of the best jobs out there.[/QUOTE]
Good luck becoming a game designer. Maybe an artist or programmer, but damn you're lucky as fuck if you become a designer.
The only way to be a game designer is to start your own project with tons of funding, tbh. You don't just join a game company and become game designer.
[QUOTE=KorJax;29063872]Exactly.
Here's some advice from someone who is dead happy with my direction in life because I am 100% confident I will get to work on the thing that inteprests me most, which is level design, enviornment design, etc. With a side of game design, of course.
It's one of the few creative efforts that actually *charge* my mental batteries, not drain them. I can draw, I can sketch and I can come up with creative concepts but these all drain my mental and creative batteries (but they are all important, so I try to do them and tend to find satisfication from it). Level design however is one of the few things I can do at night and be totally "in the zone" while doing it (I am a morning person who struggles at doing homework past 5pm - this says a lot).
I honestly can't see myself doing any other profession. Except perhaps freelance graphic design, which happens to slightly interest me and is what I am studying in college (Visual Communications degree). There is no doubt in my mind that I will achieve it, because its somethign I know that I want and I know I love to it.
The thing is, you gotta have the mindset to win it. Game design is one of those rare professions where:
1. Your degree really doesn't matter in the grand scheme of things, but it CAN enrich your work, your life, and your deeper knowledge of the subject. It can make you more well rounded, which is an excellent asset to have in any creative field.
2. It's output is directly tied to how much you put into your life, both from a study standpoint and lifestyle standpoint.
3. Extremely rewarding (if you are not working at a sweatshop) and you are pretty much garunteed to work with like minded individuals.
Here's my current staus report:
I am 21 years of age as of two months ago, I've been a major contributing level designer for the award winning Mechwarrior Living Legends mod which won MOTY 2009. I've designed a single player level for Crysis that won 2nd place in Creativity for the ICMC contest. I pay for my own school and am financially sounds thanks to my part time pizza delivery job.
I REALLY want to buy a Kayak this summer and get involved in Kayaking. I'm kinda anxious because I graduate with an associates in Visual Communications this spring, which requires me to show off my graphic design portfolio infront of many people including professionals.
I plan on continuing to do level design and modding realated activies in my free time while all this is going on. If I can't get a job in a design studio, that suits me fine at the moment too. Because my lifestyle of pizza delivery and modding or independant game design sounds just as appealing to me, especially if I suppliment it with doing some freelance graphic design on the side.
I love making shit. As long as I can make my passion come to life and nuture it, then my life is set. And I know eventually, it'll get me noticed. Even if it takes me 10 years to do so, and that's kinda exciting. I'm curious to see what kind of stuff I can make in 10 years, and what kinds of skills I might have. Wiether I'm a professional for a company or a "guru" for modding teams and indies, I'll be doing what I love and that's what counts.
That is what getting a job in the industry is all about, when you just -do it-, and you love it. Then it doesnt matter if you get in or not because you are already "working in the industry" even if it's just as a hobby. Getting paid to do what I love seems like a bonus to me rather than an incentive. And I know that'll get me far in this field.
[editline]9th April 2011[/editline]
Luck = preperation meets opportunity. You can tip luck in your favor, especially if you get your name out there.
Getting into the industrusty is 50% networking, 40% your portfolio and 10% your degree. Networking = who you know. Get to know people, and make yourself involved in people. I'm 99% sure if I applied to Crytek right now I'd be seriously considered as a candidate considering two of the people that worked on MWLL with me now profesionally work there in senior positions. I won't though because I know my portfolio isn't as strong as it could be, I'm not ready to move up profesionally yet, and I still have a lot to experience life wise before I'd be comfortable moving to Germany.[/QUOTE]
:golfclap:
I aspire to be like you, starting to learn modelling/animating and level design this year.
[editline]11th April 2011[/editline]
I think I'd more like level design as a hobby though, I'd prefer modelling and animating I think.
[QUOTE=Penis Colada;29099952]The only way to be a game designer is to start your own project with tons of funding, tbh. You don't just join a game company and become game designer.[/QUOTE]
One of the best game designers I know has a degree in Electrical Engineering. While he was in college he played a lot of MMOs, so much that he was the leader of a large WoW guild. He spent a lot of time decompiling how everything in WoW worked, what all the stats did, everything. He could show you tons of spreadsheets you could use to determine what items were best for your character, how the low level combat equations worked, etc. The MMO company I worked for hired him right into a design position.
Another one of my friends started as QA for an MMO. Eventually he was promoted into a position where he helped organize in game world events. From that he became a systems designer and has been doing it ever since. He's got a fantastic job now designing games, and has a very good salary. No college degree.
The point is, to be a game designer you just need to be good at what you do. Game design isn't just deciding what the mechanics are like, it's also figuring out EXACTLY how those mechanics work.
For example: You want combat? Great! What stats does the player have? How do items modify those stats? How does leveling modify those stats? When I swing my sword how do I know if I hit? What about the targets stats? How much damage do I deal? How do I figure out how much damage I deal?... and so on.
The same goes for any other type of game. Imagine the first Tony Hawk game. A designer sat down and figured out exactly how grinding rails should work. That designer determined how hard it was to balance on them, how easy it was to fall off based on your stats, etc.
-Dave
To get in, you need a paedo moustache, bad body odour and a DS.
I'm hoping to discover and work on what I'm good at in college. I cant easily pick one thing I like more, I like them all a lot. I have 3-4 years to work on everything and pick one thing I like or I'm good at. I'm looking forward to doing this now, even more-so than before.
[QUOTE=Galoi;29110425]I'm hoping to discover and work on what I'm good at in college. I cant easily pick one thing I like more, I like them all a lot. I have 3-4 years to work on everything and pick one thing I like or I'm good at. I'm looking forward to doing this now, even more-so than before.[/QUOTE]
Thats perfect. When you first start you'll probably want to have some idea of what you'd like to be doing, such as doing art or the tech side. Once you're about 3 years into it then you'll have a better idea what you'd like to focus on doing.
I started with my degree in Computer Science, and never even thought about using it to be a game programmer until I was in my third year. I remember one day I was just thinking to myself, "Holy crap, I could actually do this for a living now". After that I started working as hard as I could to align myself with that goal in mind.
Find a job you enjoy and you'll never work a day in your life. One of my favorite quotes.
-Dave
[QUOTE=dcarrigg;29110563]Thats perfect. When you first start you'll probably want to have some idea of what you'd like to be doing, such as doing art or the tech side. Once you're about 3 years into it then you'll have a better idea what you'd like to focus on doing.
I started with my degree in Computer Science, and never even thought about using it to be a game programmer until I was in my third year. I remember one day I was just thinking to myself, "Holy crap, I could actually do this for a living now". After that I started working as hard as I could to align myself with that goal in mind.
Find a job you enjoy and you'll never work a day in your life. One of my favorite quotes.
-Dave[/QUOTE]
I want to say its for the money, that I don't care about making games. But I really really like that whole idea, of being able to tell a story using an environment and campaign. I'm sure that even If I never make it far enough and end up working in mcdonalds. I'm still going to try to learn to make games by myself. simply making a big amount of money from a game isnt what I want so much as the power that comes with it.
Man this thread is awesome.
I still think it would be more fitting in a technical side of the forum though, not in GD.
[QUOTE=xeonmuffin;29114986]Man this thread is awesome.
I still think it would be more fitting in a technical side of the forum though, not in GD.[/QUOTE]
I didn't really know here to put it. I thought It fitted in here ok since It was only a question. Lesson for next time right there.
wonder if we sent enough messages to valve they'd respond.
Also Gabe is on autoreply so don't try him.
[QUOTE=xeonmuffin;29115377]wonder if we sent enough messages to valve they'd respond.
Also Gabe is on autoreply so don't try him.[/QUOTE]
I think we wouldn't need to send a ton of emails, Just 1 nicely phrased one.
[QUOTE=Galoi;29111044]I want to say its for the money, that I don't care about making games. But I really really like that whole idea, of being able to tell a story using an environment and campaign. I'm sure that even If I never make it far enough and end up working in mcdonalds. I'm still going to try to learn to make games by myself. simply making a big amount of money from a game isnt what I want so much as the power that comes with it.[/QUOTE]
Money is really non-existent for most game devs. They get paid an average salary really.
okay i spent 6 hours working on this
dear gabe
gibe job p.l.s.
thanke
Do something more along the lines of general C++, C♯, Java, and general computer programming. It's a lot more versatile, so you won't have to worry about the industry.
See, computers are taking up more and more of our lives, and are almost essential to our everyday lives at this point. It's pretty much guaranteed to grow unless AI start learning enough to do anything we want them to do in terms of programming, which will not happen in the next 50 years. You have a variety of options, from designing a subway AI system (to adapt to scenarios such as prolonged stops and such) to creating programs for Microsoft. Web design is pretty needed right now as well, so maybe you would consider that.
Video games are a pleasure item, and are not too useful. I play them quite a bit, and it would be something interesting to know about, but I would not base a career on them unless you have great ideas and are willing to start your own studio, or see a huge boom in the game-making industry.
[editline]11th April 2011[/editline]
[url]http://www.langpop.com/[/url]
This may be useful for simply judging the industry.
You could say the same with art Chez :v:
[QUOTE=Swilly;29116827]You could say the same with art Chez :v:[/QUOTE]
If I'm not mistaken, its pretty difficult to make it big in any art related career for a lot of the same reasons.
You need to really stand out from the crowd.
[QUOTE=Demache;29118524]If I'm not mistaken, its pretty difficult to make it big in any art related career for a lot of the same reasons.
You need to really stand out from the crowd.[/QUOTE]
Which is probably why a lot of people go indie or have to do some bum rush across a ton of different media jobs. Its retarded really.
And a majority of these "stand out" people have done a good job, eh?(Call of Duty :v:)
I'm doing Game Design then Architecture.
[QUOTE=dcarrigg;29109937]One of the best game designers I know has a degreue in Electrical Engineering. While he was in college he played a lot of MMOs, so much that he was the leader of a large WoW guild. He spent a lot of time decompiling how everything in WoW worked, what all the stats did, everything. He could show you tons of spreadsheets you could use to determine what items were best for your character, how the low level combat equations worked, etc. The MMO company I worked for hired him right into a design position.
Another one of my friends started as QA for an MMO. Eventually he was promoted into a position where he helped organize in game world events. From that he became a systems designer and has been doing it ever since. He's got a fantastic job now designing games, and has a very good salary. No college degree.
The point is, to be a game designer you just need to be good at what you do. Game design isn't just deciding what the mechanics are like, it's also figuring out EXACTLY how those mechanics work.
For example: You want combat? Great! What stats does the player have? How do items modify those stats? How does leveling modify those stats? When I swing my sword how do I know if I hit? What about the targets stats? How much damage do I deal? How do I figure out how much damage I deal?... and so on.
The same goes for any other type of game. Imagine the first Tony Hawk game. A designer sat down and figured out exactly how grinding rails should work. That designer determined how hard it was to balance on them, how easy it was to fall off based on your stats, etc.
-Dave[/QUOTE]
You're an awesome poster
[QUOTE=Galoi;29111044]I want to say its for the money, that I don't care about making games. But I really really like that whole idea, of being able to tell a story using an environment and campaign. I'm sure that even If I never make it far enough and end up working in mcdonalds. I'm still going to try to learn to make games by myself. simply making a big amount of money from a game isnt what I want so much as the power that comes with it.[/QUOTE]
You don't really get money making games. You get long work days and stress of the crunch period or next milestone. But what I get is satisfaction from seeing it all ingame and working, nothing turned into something that has function.
[QUOTE=PLing;29123613]You don't really get money making games. You get long work days and stress of the crunch period or next milestone. But what I get is satisfaction from seeing it all ingame and working, nothing turned into something that has function.[/QUOTE]
Unless you're a manager :v:
Y'all rated me dumb, but I go to college and I share facilities with said Game designers and they all have: Paedo moustaches, Horrendous Hygiene and Nintendo DS's.
This is fact.
Face it.
Now.
We have a special school for game design in our city and it's really good, one of the best (if not the best) in the world. I'm so lucky that they decided to base their school in my city (as if it were made for me :v:)
I do plan to go study 3d Visual Arts there, which covers; Animating, Modelling, Texturing, Level Design, Lighting, and so on. I'm already experimenting with the programs they use in that 4 year course so I hope I have a head start (it isn't going to be an easy course).
Link: [URL]http://www.nhtv.nl/ENG/bachelors/games/international-game-architecture-and-design/startpage.html[/URL]
The page doesn't look that promising but I've been at the school and did my research and it's actually pretty good. A lot of game developers support the school and visit sometimes to give lectures (guerilla, crytek, etc.) and it's international which means that it's an English course. You're also 100% guaranteed to get a job in the games/movies industry [B]if you pass[/B], a lot of people drop out because they think they're going to play games and mess around to do their own thing, it isn't like that.
I'm really looking forward to studying there (and possibly the career that follows).
Dammit the only college here is Qantm, not sure how much industry support they have though
A guy I know might be flying from Ireland to study Games Design in Newport, Wales. So if you really want to do this, your choices are not limited at all.
And all the people who are saying the Game Design course is useless, are wrong, different people get different things from it, I already have the skills to design environments and model objects, I've chosen to go on this course to broaden my understanding of working in a team, get an idea of how a pipeline for a team project will go and to be involved in something which has been a team effort to get it from the ground up.
You can't really get these experiances from sitting in your room, you can work in mod teams, yes, but theres only so much experience you can get from this, the Game Design course I'm taking try and replicate a proffessional job the best they can, so this is as close as I can get to being proffessional until I go and actually get a job in the industry.
To say I'll get nothing from this course is very ignorant.
[QUOTE=- Livewire -;29126494]A guy I know might be flying from Ireland to study Games Design in Newport, Wales. So if you really want to do this, your choices are not limited at all.
And all the people who are saying the Game Design course is useless, are wrong, different people get different things from it, I already have the skills to design environments and model objects, I've chosen to go on this course to broaden my understanding of working in a team, get an idea of how a pipeline for a team project will go and to be involved in something which has been a team effort to get it from the ground up.
You can't really get these experiances from sitting in your room, you can work in mod teams, yes, but theres only so much experience you can get from this, the Game Design course I'm taking try and replicate a proffessional job the best they can, so this is as close as I can get to being proffessional until I go and actually get a job in the industry.
To say I'll get nothing from this course is very ignorant.[/QUOTE]
You're a bit different considering that you took a different course in college, art wasn't it? But in your spare time you concentrated on a passion of yours which got you the place in that university - which is exactly what the 1st two pages were saying - Games design isn't entirely useless but it's certainly more helpful than nothing.
Also actually working together in a team is a lot more rewarding - say, a few of your friends get together and make a HL2/UE3 mod in your spare time - COMMUNICATION will definitely strengthen a lot of areas in your work, if you're just a few people working over the internet then it's a little bit difficult but is still possible and what you're hoping to do definitely helps.
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