Just thought I'd pop on here and give you all some advice based on my own experience(s). First of all, if you're looking to break into the games industry may I recommend the following FAQ: IGDA FAQ There are a bunch of useful resources within that FAQ, which anyone looking to break into the industry should at least read. You don't have to take the advice given - but it's a good place to start when looking for guidance. So from my own experience... The degree I was doing (Game Design) ended up being a wasted year of my life, so I left and went into QA at a developer in the UK (was Lionhead actually). Since then I’ve had no problems moving both upwards in QA and horizontally into other positions with no degree (I’m currently at Codemasters, not Lionhead – before you ask). That was the decision I decided to make, obviously a lot of this could be down to luck - but I thought I’d point out having a degree is not essential if you want to work in the games industry. The one thing a degree does give you, is something to fall back on if you decide you don't like working in games (I’ve heard some scary statistics on the amount of people who leave the games industry after 5 years). Luckily for me, this is what I’ve always wanted to do and I can't see myself doing anything else. Depending on what you want to do; a lot of developers still prefer to hire designers and producers with QA experience, over people with a degree. This is generally down to a lot of developers coming from QA themselves. Obviously if you have a degree AND QA experience it's going to increase your chances - but from the designers and producers I’ve spoken to, it's all about the talent. Programming, animating, modeling etc. may be slightly different and going to get a degree is useful not just for the right to say you have a degree - but the dedicated learning time you get to create that kickass portfolio to land you your first job. None of these areas are areas I’ve really taken any interest in, so it may be worth speaking to other people regarding them . For some extra inspiration, take a look at how this guy managed to break into games (Epic Games specifically): http://www.tk409.com/gettingajob.html It's all about dedication, sacrafice and hard work luck!

I saw the TK409 thing a couple of days ago, fantastic way of doing it

haha! the tk409 bit was awesome - although i'm afraid i would have had to go with frodo as my messenger, hmmm, a solid gold ring with a URL inscription that only shows when the ring is heated... could be cool - however, although i could, i won't waste all of your valuable time. i do have a question. i was reviewing the faq from the begining of the thread (speaking of faqs, thankyou to Laeth for the link and generosity of insight) anyways i was going over the faq again and i found a word.. "unsolicited" .. now i know what the meaning of the word is and i can see the authors reasoning when he says

As a general rule, don't send in your ideas unsolicited.

but i am still at a loss as to how one would go about un-unsolicitating material. exactly what is considered to be a valid, verifiable, stamp of ownership, "me very own pot'a gold" mark?

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"The love of truth lies at the root of much humor." - Robertson Davies

 Quoting: AJBMonkey

but i am still at a loss as to how one would go about un-unsolicitating material.

By making the recipient expect whatever it is you're sending him. Usually this can be done by having talked to the person about your idea and what not, and usually only if you already work there or are a friend of that person. Oh, and he must've replied something along the lines of "Sounds like an awesome idea! We ought to work together on this, please send me your design doc!". As you can imagine, that's not going to happen. Here, read this part.

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Programmer at Triumph Studios

i am also 15, wanting to get into programming, but im not completely oblivious to what is to come. i can program using visual c# ( not really a 'gaming' language but its helped me learn the concepts of variables, strings, conditional statements etc) to be honest i tried to use C++ but with so many books out there, i made bad decisions and chose 'beginner' books when they didnt even start from the beginning ( so i gave up on C++, got a book on visual c# and here i am) i am doing my GCSE's, ive got a GNVQ in IT and i intend to do computing as one of my A-levels ( along with business and economics) , i understand computing teaches the more technical side of computers (programming and hardware and software as opposed to using office software etc in IT) anyway, im not really sure where i would go form there, where would a progress to after that note : im from the uk and i wasnt sure if the information on the first post was relevant to me as alll of the reccomended colleges were mostly american any input is appreciated

 Quoting: SHADOWCODE

By making the recipient expect whatever it is you're sending him. Usually this can be done by having talked to the person about your idea and what not, and usually only if you already work there or are a friend of that person. Oh, and he must've replied something along the lines of "Sounds like an awesome idea! We ought to work together on this, please send me your design doc!". As you can imagine, that's not going to happen. Here, read this part.

many thanks to you SHADOWCODE, you've answered part of my question -don't feel bad about answering the other part, i forgot to ask it - blunder "unsolicitat -ion" question take 2 if i was to make a demo real with ideas and samples of code along with projects and other misc. things and send that in to companies with an attached resume -- would the fact that theres a sticker saying "lonely skilled proffesional monkey with magic toes" and maybe my actual name... would that be enough to clearly stake my claim on whatever has come from the shrouded abyss some would call my mind?

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"The love of truth lies at the root of much humor." - Robertson Davies

Hi, im a A level student desperate to get into the industry. ive applied for Uni (hopinG Abertay in the Game Production management course) but im unsure as to whether i should defer it for a year and do some QA experience for instance. Ive done some work ex with lionhead earlier in the year and have some booked for April of this year, any advice would be great. For the record i'm looking at Producing rather than programming, artist etc

Updated the first page with a bit for programmers from Bungie.

The hardest part about getting a job in the games industry is to get the "required" amount of experience. Sure you can get a job by being kickass and all that but still, I recently saw one company that required 6 years of experience. There is a solution to this problem though. Internships (currently doing mine, 6 months). It´s a great way to find out if you want to be in the industry and an even greater way to get experience. In the next few weeks I´ll be sending out my applications to get a real job. I´ll let you know what happens. Also, a small thought. A good way to get a job is to begin preparing for it early on. You young ones should get started right now . Start programming, drawing or messing around with 3d. You can learn quite a bit in a few years. Ready and ripe for the taking when you are old enough (Degrees don´t matter much, at least not in Sweden where they don´t care at all )

I don't think it's that hard to get into the games industry as a programmer. All you need is a solid portfolio. I've been to a couple of interviews this month, and I've got a few more coming up. I'm fairly confident that at least one of them is going to offer me a position. I'm going to have to turn it down, as I'm moving in the direction of doing a PhD instead - but I think people concieve the whole "breaking into" thing as more of a problem than it really is, when all you need to do is show you have some commitment and skill. It's not like it was a few years ago - games are big industry again and it's becoming quite mature.

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I have no idea what I am talking about

Does a bachelor's degree of psychology provide greater oppourtunity to become a game designer? Thank you. -Miles D., Victoria / Nanaimo, British Columbia, Canada

Hey, I'm 17 and starting to think about collage's and all that kinda stuff...and I'm wondering if anyone has any suggestions (not links...I'm already reading alot lol) on what I should look into, or where. I live in the USA and looking for something in the east (but dont really care if its not). Not trying to sound to dream like...but I would hope to some day get into designing my own games...being a head. I know its practicly impossible to come by...but yeah. I really dont have much art skill, so I know 2D is out of the question...3d I've started messing with but so far I got frustrated trying to make a box (without ever touching a 3d programm before [I did finish and it only took a couple min...but several trys]) so hopefuly something along the lines of writing, testing, producing, or, if it really comes down to it, programming. I'm good at math, really good, but I would rather not be stuck behind a desk programming all day...so something with a little more creativity...or at least les math would be nice. so...anyone have any suggestions...or any input...or comment...or anything? thanks, peace Edit: I guess I didnt think about this...but I'm a muscian to (drums, guitar, keyboard, and anything I else I can get my hands on...) but I'm not really sure about what the sound department of games is like...so anything on that would be cool to... and where some good companys are located Edit Edit: oh...yeah...lol...ok well the whole point behind this is that, yes like many other people, I have some really good, unique, inovative, and original ideas that no one has done or quiet possibly thought of...for games and other things related to games that I want to share with the world. so that, in short, is my goal...but I know I dont have the money to start an indi...and I know theres not really another way without getting my foot in the door...so thats why I'm asking

Music is an interesting one actually, not many games companies have in-house musicians of their own. Lionhead has one, Russel Shaw, and we've been up as high as two in the past. Most game musicians work freelance on a per game contract. I don't have any specific advice, but in many respects scoring for games isn't that far removed from scoring for TV or Film. Here's a few websites of some of the more famous freelancers in the industry, they might have advice if you dig around on them. Tom Salta (Red Steel, GRAW, Rainbow Six) Jeremy Soule (Oblivion, Dawn of War, Guildwars, Supreme Commander) Tommy Talarico (Advent Rising, Metroid Prime) Yasunori Mitsuda (Chrono Trigger, Xenogears) Ayako Saso (Ridge Racer) And many more.

don't forget my personal favourite Nabuo Uematsu (the Final Fantasy games)

...one of those links was in japanes but thanks. I've been thinking about the music industry but not as much as the art and modeling. thanks for the links though I'll look into it.

Anyone got any idea how a Graphic Designer can get into the industry? I love games and I’ve wanted a career change for so long.

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DO NOT FEAR THAT WHICH YOU DO NOT UNDERSTAND

 Quoting: dragonps

Anyone got any idea how a Graphic Designer can get into the industry? I love games and I’ve wanted a career change for so long.

I found this article which might answer a few of your questions.

Who did the Movies soundtrack? Just curious...

*checks manual* it says russell shaw here, i sort of guessed since his names one that appears in the random actor name selection thing, infact he was cast in a lot of my movies back when i played :-) as for the game industry, i am really interested in getting started, i have a little programming experience now at 15 ( i can compile programs and i know a few commands in various languages) but now i'm really going to focus my efforts of gaining a solid understanding in C++, i intend to learn the basics of not only C++ but programming in general aswell, because i think some people forget there are two parts to programming, the code, and actually being able to write a functional program. at the minute i'm working quite slowly , but i hope to pick up the pace in the next few months to see if i can make something worthwhile.

 Quoting: gamedude15

i intend to learn the basics of not only C++ but programming in general aswell, because i think some people forget there are two parts to programming, the code, and actually being able to write a functional program. at the minute i'm working quite slowly , but i hope to pick up the pace in the next few months to see if i can make something worthwhile.

excellent line of thought ~ you'll find that really the only differences when writing code in one language or another is mostly in the syntax (for instance, '<>' in Q-Basic, and '!=' in C/C++ have the same meaning). But the principles of structured programming remain the same no matter what language you use as programming theorem states that you can write any program using a combination of procedural, selection, and repetition logic. in fact, it is argued that the proper use of these tools is programming - any fool could be handed a program design and type code. while i'm here -- i'm around the same place as our friend gamedude15 in that i would also like to enter the gaming industry as a programmer (in time). However I'm in a slight jam in respect to my education~ my long term goal is to transfer from the community college i'm attending for my AS to digipen for my BS ... the only problem is that the college wants to give me 'a well rounded education' - basically means i'll be taking humanities all of next year for that AS ... my question is this: is it worth it to earn the AS before going on to digipen or should i just say "***** it" and take a ton of math, science and computer courses and transfer to the four year without any kind of degree but loads of advanced math and programming experience(actually, lots of math and more of a general look at various languages techniques ect. for the programming)?

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"The love of truth lies at the root of much humor." - Robertson Davies

I love the way Lionhead made the creator of the music the dj aswell, or was that Randy Shaw ? Anyway If I was in the games industry I'd be the Creative man with all the ideas.

Ok after reading through this thread it looks like its going to be an uphill struggle to get into the games industry without a decent portfolio. Sooo what would a Lionhead recruiter look for in the portfolio in specific? I am current about to complete my masters at Surrey University (Guildford), its in Electronics and computer systems Eng, which in the last two years I have more specialised to networks, coding, and computer architecture. Should I be looking to show a games company a small game that I have developed or computer systems, as I have some experience in Java, C++, openGL. Any advice that you could give me towards making a decent portfolio would be appreciated -NeX

As far as game-design goes, getting a degree in anything isn't really the most crucial thing. You need designs. They show your sense of logic, your reasoning and choise-making. Those things are what people look for. And hey, making them happens to be a lot of fun too. And finishing a design upto the point where you have a working (cardboard if you have to) version with all the numbers and values worked out in detail shows you have the resolve and endurance to see something through beyond the easy part of brainstorming. As a side-effect, if you have a working version you can play-test it with your friends. To start doing this you need no degrees, no programming skills and no money so if you haven't started by the end of the week you can start wondering if you really want to turn this into your job.

What's the studio's take on Game Designers who are more just fictional writiers than "Jack of All Trades"? Are they interested in people who mostly do that but have some traditional/3d experience as well?

 Quoting: The Bag

Kenn Hoekstra, formally of Raven Software, has a very good page about this on his website, you can find it here A website from the people who bring you Gamasutra & Game Developer magazine - http://www.gamecareerguide.com

I wish I had seen this site a few years ago, before I chose my A-levels, because it could of made things so much easier if I had a plan. However, I'm doing Games Technology at Uni this year, so I suppose it has worked out for the best.