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.

1 comment:

Andrei Victor said...

Very true. About an estimate of 90% in the industry knows this basic requirement.

While both "interest" and "passion" may sound the same, there's definitely a line that separates interest and passion.

Interest is more like a short-term perception of attraction. You can easily gain interest but it will also easily dissipate. It will dissipate either through a short time, or get to the point of "being there". When that happens, the magic is gone -- you'll end up trying to get away from it.

Passion is much stronger. It's an intense drive and emotion that compels you to DO something about it. In the Games Industry, what proves you have passion is that you DID something about it. More or less, that work you did speaks for itself about your skills and potential as a game developer.