Thursday, December 17, 2009

Industry Insider - Version 2.5

What Does It Really Take…?

by Eric Marlow

I have always been interested in responding to questions from those of you who read my column. I received an email recently from a reader wanting to know more about getting into game development, and what he needed to do to demonstrate his capabilities. I was encouraged by this email in that one of the first things you can do to start your game career is to take it upon yourself to ask the question “what does it really take to get me in the door of a game development company”.

By asking this question, you set yourself down the road of discovery. But obviously asking the question is just the first step. Any further steps along this road will require an extreme amount of passion and perseverance. While it’s true for any career, it’s exceedingly true for game development - you must demonstrate your value by doing more than just attending courses and expecting a job to be handed to you. It just doesn’t work that way in the real world.

The real world is full of hustle, research, passion, knowledge, and maturity. Without these qualities you won’t get very far.

So in practical terms, what does this mean if you are considering a career in game development? Partly it depends on where you are in your career right now. If you are in high school or just starting college, the biggest thing you can do is to seek out courses that will provide you with the raw knowledge of the tools and techniques of game development. Artists can take multimedia, animation and/or CG courses. Programmers can take programming languages such as C++, C#, and possibly Java. As you move forward in your college curriculum, look for courses that allow you to put all the pieces together, such as game development or game design. Finishing off your college years can be topped off by offering a thesis on a game development-related subject.

If you are a career shifter and want to consider game development now, the process is not so straight-forward. While much credit can be given to those who have already started to establish a solid career in a similar but related field (business programming, architecture, or possibly television/films) you will have to do some work on your own – either look for university courses in game development or do a lot of self-study by joining internet game development groups, or even possibly the local chapter of the International Game Developers Association (IDGA) at www.idga.org.

But the biggest thing that anyone can do is to develop a portfolio. There is no greater demonstration of capabilities and your willingness to overcome what you may not have had the opportunity to learn in school or on another job. This is your one big chance to show off your stuff. If you are an artist, try to come up with a reel that shows off your best talent. Be it animation, 3D models, or even 2D texturing, all are appropriate for a demo reel. Concentrate on your strengths – not everyone can be an animator. Show what went into the creation process as part of your reel – any concept drawings, and pay particular attention to how many polygons are included in the model. Show any unwrapped textures as well, as well as the UV maps too.

If you are a programmer, then build your demo game. I would suggest using a free game engine and start from there, but if you are feeling particularly sporty you can build your renderer from the ground up. Don’t worry too much about “programmer art”. If you have a helpful artist friend, then bonus! But most savvy companies can look past the lack of artistic content to the gist of gameplay and code.

And if you fancy yourself to be a game designer, then go out and BUILD SOME LEVELS! There are a number of ways to show off your design talent, but there is no better way than to have something interactive to show off during your job interviews. Last month’s insider talked a lot about game design, so pick up a copy of the previous issue and get to it!

I can’t stress strongly enough that it will be unlikely that you would be considered for a position in a game company without some level of investment on your part. Investing in yourself is certainly the best investment you can make, so go forth and demonstrate!

Eric Marlow is President and Studio Head for Kuju Manila, Inc. Please feel free to drop an email with any questions you may have. Space permitting we’ll answer your questions in upcoming editions. You can reach him at theinsider@octobereighty.com. Game On!

Industry Insider - Edition 2.4

How to Be a Game Designer

by Eric Marlow

Becoming a game designer in a proper game company is one of the most elusive positions ever created. Very few universities offer game design curricula, and most are located overseas. Few game designers are hired strait out of college. And determining what makes a good game designer is quite subjective. While a number of rules can be laid out (see The Inspiracy) , much of what is considered game design is artistic in nature, and after all - beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

First things first: game development is not game design. Game development, or as it’s sometimes called “game production”, seem to be the all-inclusive words these days for anything to do with the creation of games. Certainly game design is a part of game development. But making games also includes art, coding, management, QA, localization, and a host of other areas suited to specific platform requirements. And game design is not just simply creating in-game characters. Game characters may be the sexy part of game design, but when you think about how much goes into a game these days, you realize that the characters make up only a small part of any game world.

While there may be several definitions, game design (as described by a recent article by Michael Dawson) can be thought of simply as:

• Mechanics - rules and procedures; when followed, they produce what most people call "gameplay"
• Story - dramatic elements that usually provide a rationale for the mechanics, but are not part of the mechanics themselves
• Aesthetics - visual, aural, and tactile manifestations of a game; what you see, hear, and touch

So in learning the craft of game design, how does one go about educating one’s self if there are no established courses in school? Well, let’s get one thing strait – even if you were to take game design from a well-regarded university like Full Sail or Digipen, you will still need to do a tremendous amount of self-study. You must be MOTIVATED to dive into the creation of your own games, and this will require you to just start learning the craft by experimentation.

Have you ever played a board game? I am sure at some point you’ve played Monopoly, Trivial Pursuit, or maybe even Dungeons and Dragons. Each of these games has rules, some of which you might like to modify. Simply put – take a game that you already know something about and modify it. Monopoly has been redone so many times – a quick check of Hasbro’s website show at least 42 version of Monopoly – and those are the ones still in production! Maybe you can make a Philippines or Manila-specific version of Monopoly? If you did, how would you customize the game for the local market? I call the Jeepney!

Once you’ve got the hang of a paper-based or board game, then I would suggest you move to the digital world. Try to create a level in your favorite computer game. Most popular first person shooters and even some real time strategy games have either in-game world building tools, or 3rd party level builders. Some games like Roller Coaster Tycoon or Little Big Planet on the PS/3 have in-game level building tools and you can even upload your creations to share with your friends.

When you jump into game design in this way you start to see how tough, but how rewarding game design is. As soon as you and your friends start to play your creations you will find out very quickly what works and what doesn’t.

Eric Marlow is President and Studio Head for Kuju Manila, Inc. Please feel free to drop an email with any questions you may have. Space permitting we’ll answer your questions in upcoming editions. You can reach him at theinsider@octobereighty.com. Game On!

Wednesday, August 12, 2009

How to be a Game Designer Right Now

I thought I would pass on a good article from Michael Dawson. Entitled How to be a Game Designer Right Now, it's full of a number of insightful statements:

"If you ask two game developers what a game designer does, you'll likely get three different answers. So while the issue can be of great debate, I'll define what a game designer does simply as the act of communicating how a game should work. There are a number of different game components that a designer must consider when describing how a game works. These include:
  • Mechanics - rules and procedures; when followed, they produce what most people call "gameplay"
  • Story - dramatic elements that usually provide a rationale for the mechanics, but are not part of the mechanics themselves
  • Aesthetics - visual, aural, and tactile manifestations of a game; what you see, hear, and touch"

Thursday, July 09, 2009

Industry Hopefuls: Prepare Intelligently!

I found a great article by Lewis Pulsipher entitled "Industry Hopefuls: Prepare Intelligently!". I thought it might be of use to those of you who are contemplating game development as a career.

You can find it here: Industry Hopefuls: Prepare Intelligently!

Some of the more interesting points he makes:

"When you learn game design, learn game design, not game production"

"I recall one student, 27 years old, who said after a three-day break from classes that he'd played games for forty hours during that break. That may be fun, but it won't help you get where you want to go -- in a practical sense, it's a waste of time! I encounter far too many people who think that playing games is a path into the game industry."

"Make something, don't just talk about making something. If you do that, and you have some talent, everything else will fall into place, sooner or later." Basicually what this means is that you should not just wish you were making games for living, but you should do something about it. Show your initiative and drive by studying on your own and creating something you can demo to prospective employers.

Wednesday, June 03, 2009

Industry Insider - January 2009

Come on in, the Water’s Warm!

by Eric Marlow

Graduation season is upon us, and some of you might be contemplating what you may do next. If you are a graduating high school student, then you may want to consider what lies ahead for you as you continue your education. If you a university senior, then it’s high-time to get out there and get a job! In either realm, did you know that you can make games for a living, and get paid well for doing it? If making games for a living interests you, then read on!

Prior to 2000, there wasn’t much opportunity in the Philippines for people interested in doing game development. Slowly over the years the number of companies has increased, and now there are at least 15 viable companies that are located here in the Philippines that are doing some kind of game development. Each one of these companies tends to focus on a different kind of development, and knowing what is out there may help you choose a path toward gaming goodness!

Are you artistic? Colorful? Creative? Do you like to draw or use a computer to Photoshop pictures? Do you like to draw comics or make your own animated films? Then you might be interested to know that there are many opportunities for you to join the ranks of game artists. Whether you focus on 2D style drawings or you have jumped into the world of 3D animation, computer games require highly sophisticated art to populate their worlds. And they require a lot of it! This is why in a typical game development studio there are at least four artists for every one programmer on a project.

Are you logical? Do you like math, physics, or programming computers? Then you might be happy to know that game companies require programmers too. Every action and reaction in a game you experience must first be programmed. Such disciplines as graphics, sound, physics, and artificial intelligence are highly sought-after skills for game programmers.

Be warned though – in both instances of game art and game programming, these are unique skills and typically cannot be obtain through traditional art or computer courses. Both disciplines use unique tools and techniques, and require an understanding of how games are constructed. You cannot easily become a game developer by taking your school’s general art or computer science classes. Your training has to include specialized courses that are tailored to the skills needed for making computer games.

But all is not lost – there are some schools located here in the Philippines that are offering game development courses as electives, and some schools are starting to contemplate full blown tracks or majors in game development. Every school is unique, and I would encourage you if you are interested in a career as a game developer to inquire about game development, and even challenge your school’s administration to offer game development courses if they aren’t doing so now. Only with the specific game-related instruction and the opportunity to work on real game-related projects will you graduate with the necessary skills to jump into game development as a career.

Game development here in the Philippines is a viable career path. But learning the craft requires passion and self-motivation to seek out opportunities to learn about the process. You must seek out ways to obtain the knowledge that you will need, and sometimes this means pushing yourself and others to dive in test the waters. Don’t be shy – come on in, the water’s warm!


Eric Marlow is General Manager and Head of Studio for Kuju Manila, Inc. Please feel free to drop an email with any questions you may have. Space permitting we’ll answer your questions in upcoming editions. You can reach him at theinsider@octobereighty.com. Game On!

Industry Insider - December 2008

Don’t Get Consolized (tm)

by Eric Marlow

“I get to play games for a living”. I have chuckled many times in using this line, but in all seriousness it’s true. Of course it doesn’t mean I play games for fun all day, but it does mean I get to play games for research purposes that I wouldn’t normally otherwise play.

I am a gamer at heart. I got into this industry because I loved games and liked to share my experiences with others. I loved it so much that I start to write articles about it, and that eventually led me to friends who I started a business with together in the games industry. But even though it is a business for me, I still play games for fun.

Given how many games I need to get through for business purposes, I am somewhat picky as to where I spend my personal time. Over the years there are many games that have caught my attention. Here’s a very small starter list of what I have played, and kept playing:

All games I play for fun stem from my love of the Falcon series of flight sims. Basically starting with the seminal Falcon 3.0, and going through to Falcon 4.0, I wasted thousands of hours in these games. Toward the end of the Falcon 4.0 development process I became involved with Microprose (the game’s developer) in the fixing the many bugs that existed in this complex piece of software, so F4 holds a special place in my heart.

Because I enjoy sims so much, my list would not be complete without paying homage to the Jane’s Combat Simulation games. Of this list there were many, but Longbow I and II, F-15, and 688i all stayed on my drives the longest. I even created word for this – the Jane’s sims had a very long “HardDisk Lifetm” with me.

The Age of Empires series of games developed by Bruce Shelley and the guys at Ensemble Studios, and those based on the AOE engine (such as Star Wars Galactic Battlegrounds) got me into the real time strategy genre. From there I expanded into more recent hits such as Chris Taylor and Gas Powered Games’ Supreme Commander, or even the less complicated Command and Conquer series.

I have always been a fan of the first-person shooter genre, but like my interest in realistic flight sims, I also enjoyed the more realistic shooters such as Red Storm’s Rainbow Six and Ghost Recon. For action I loved games such as Star Wars: Jedi Knight and Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast.

And it’s true – I never really owned a game console until I started to work in the industry. I considered myself an elitist PC gamer. Never would I stoop down to playing consoles. I detested the fact that many of my favorite games were becoming more “arcady” and less hard core. I even invented another word for this – when a good PC game was ported to an Xbox or Playstation (or worse was cancelled in favor of a console version), this is what I called “being Consolized tm”. Damn you Ubisoft for screwing up Ghost Recon! The PC platform rulez!

Eric Marlow is General Manager and Head of Studio for Kuju Manila, Inc. Please feel free to drop an email with any questions you may have. Space permitting we’ll answer your questions in upcoming editions. You can reach him at theinsider@octobereighty.com. Game On!