A few weeks ago, I went to a little convention called Dragon*Con in Atlanta. I won’t go into details about the convention, as that information is covered everywhere, but I would like to talk to you about a panel I attended entitled “Getting Into the Gaming Business.” It was held by — most notably — Mike Capps, President of Epic Games (Gears of War anyone?), Eloy LaSanta (CEO of Third Eye Games), and Jason Bulmahn (lead designer at Paizo).
I am going to break it down into five parts: this introductory post, a post for programmers, a post for artists, a post for writers, and a post for table-top games.
Although they went into a lot of detail about every part, they gave four rules that apply to everybody, so read on to find them out!
The four rules:
1. Be passionate. This is pretty much a given. If you are not passionate about video games, and you have never used a mouse or a game controller, you will not be hired.
2. Follow the rules. Whether it be word limits, checking for grammar on your resume, or simply doing whatever it is required to get the job, you had better do it. No “ifs,” “ands,” or “buts” about it. Basically, if you cannot follow the rules when trying to get the job (even if you do think it will make it that much better), would you be able to follow the rules once you are in the job?
3. Networking. Get to know people who are in the gaming industry. Honestly, I have seen job and interview offers going over Twitter. Yes, Twitter. The social networking site. Get it? Try using sites like Twitter (it is how Pixelated Geek found me!) and LinkedIn, as well as being active in different forums connected to your career. I would not necessarily recommend Facebook myself. Twitter only allows 140 characters of your personal information, while Facebook has, well, everything.
4. Do not give progression portfolios. Programmer, artist, writer. While this may seem like a creative way to show that you have improved over the years, you want to give potential employers the best-of-the-best up front. Who wants to open a portfolio, and the first thing they see is a piece of junk? That has the potential to be thrown away before they even turn the next page.
Stay tuned for the next posts about getting into the gaming business.