Guide To Video Game Industry Careers
All of us here love video games. Some play them only occasionally, some play for an experience, and some just play for the fun of it. Surely we’ve all thought about cementing our hobby into our future by making it a career. So I’ve made a guide to the most popular video game careers today. Now before we begin, I want to make clear that I’m not necessarily certified in the field of giving people career advice. However, being a high school senior last year, one obsessed with finding the best career for my interests, has certainly helped my knowledge of the video game industry’s pick of careers. Remember while reading this that there will always be circumstances that can make finding a job in the industry either easier or more difficult. This blog only reflects my personal understanding and opinions. Also, I think it’s necessary to lay out a few tidbits that will give you a better understanding of each career path. First of all, these jobs will almost always be available in high cost-of-living environments. Los Angeles, Seattle, and the Bay area, for example. There are a few studios and companies available around the country, though. Game Informer is located in Minneapolis, MN, for example. Second, these careers usually require a steep learning curve, which is usually underestimated by idealistic (and sometimes lazy) gamers. New hardware and software is something that you’ll have to get accustom to. Mastering the software and hardware of any given generation usually doesn’t happen until the end of it’s lifespan, if it happens at all, and by that time it’s usually back to square one. Lastly, and probably the most well known point, is that the hours associated with most of these jobs are grueling. On the job horror stories are becoming weekly headlines in this industry and it’s something that will just have to be dealt with. Weekly hours of 70-80 are commonplace and even 100+ hour weeks have been reported. That might not be something you’d want to deal with, especially considering that many game industry employees are exempt from any type of overtime pay. “Crunch time” is not your friend. Those last few points weren’t written to scare you off, it’s just the reality of the business. It’s hard work, but many interviews I’ve read feature people who discover that the hard work is worth it, describing it as fulfilling, exciting, and a rush to be working on something that you’re passionate about. If I didn’t scare you off, let’s get down to business. Game Testing (Quality Assurance) This is among the most popular ways to break into the industry, but it’s not the job that one might think. When I first heard that game testing was a real, viable way to get into the industry I was pumped. But this entails playing half finished games, if that, and not for the enjoyment. Testers explore every nook and cranny in hopes of finding bugs and other problems that simply must not make it into the final version of the game. As stated before, this is a viable way to get your name out there. If you have a portfolio built, whether it be of concept art or code, it can be shown off to the many contacts that you make along the way, hopefully securing a job that paves the way for your future. This entry-level job has the lowest paying average salary, but $49,009 is nothing to sneeze at. Art & Animation This is a niche of the industry that can be hard to break into. You need style and skill, and above all, persistence. My only advice would be to keep building a portfolio to show off to someone already in the industry. As I mentioned, game testing is a wonderful way to make contacts, as well as attending industry events like E3. A friend of mine is soon off to college for 3D Animation and Media Arts, he described the programs used as something “like computer aided drafting.” They use a lot of adobe software, obviously including photoshop to produce textures, concept art, etc. I’m not an artist by any means, but I’m sure that your art is what matters, a degree is just icing on the cake. Artists and animators average a whopping $71,354 per year! Programming Programmers are tasked with various things regarding the function of the game. Depending on your position, you could be building a game engine, working on how the game controls, how it feels or acts, etc. Learning how to manipulate games and software in general isn’t an easy task. You must become fluent in a number of “programming languages.” C, C++, Flash, and Java are popular and good to know if you’re interested in making games, but it all depends on what platform you’re developing for. In college a programming hopeful will likely pursue a computer science degree. Good computer science programs can be found around the country, but noteworthy colleges include USC, Digipen, and California - Berkeley. And as stated before, build an impressive portfolio before and during college to maximize efficiency. You naturally want to score a job as soon as possible when your degree is in hand. Programmers are also among the highest paid in the industry, averaging $85,733, a number that is increasing by about $5,000 a year (except for entry-level positions.) Journalism Ahhh, journalism. Probably the one I’ve researched the most, and still the one I’m most unsure about. (Job security-wise anyways.) This is actually what I’ll be going to school for soon. Aspiring video game journalists have multiple routes available for them, but that doesn’t make the trip from “Blogger” to “Editor” any easier. The traditional path to a journalism job is to: blog/write ferociously, (developing a unique voice in the process), secure a job/internship at a local or school newspaper to gain some professional experience, go to college and get a journalism, english, or creative writing degree, and hope that an opening somewhere is available upon graduation. This is probably the safest way to get a job writing for somewhere like Game Informer or IGN, but if Dan Ryckert’s experience getting a job at GI is any evidence, it’s not the only way. Aside from the traditional “write, write, write, college, internship, write, land a job” approach, there are some editors who have landed their jobs by writing freelance and doing things like attending trade shows. Above all, you must keep writing. It is imperative that freelance hopefuls write a ridiculous amount. It’s usually the only way to get your name out there, make contacts, improve, and eventually make a job out of it. For those of you who don’t think college is for you, well, then writing for freelance websites and publications is the way to go. Also, Dan Ryckert suggests buying a shark suit. The best journalism programs are at Stanford, Princeton, and The University of Minnesota-Twin Cities. If you don’t have the marks in high school to make it into an ivy league school, the U of M - Twin Cities is an awesome choice. Considering it’s only four hours away from my hometown and also in the same city as the Game Informer offices, the U of M was the obvious choice for me. My research didn’t find me an exact average salary for video game journalism, but most reliable sites said $50,000+. Whether or not this is accurate, I’m sure the exact salary is enough to keep you comfortable, (obviously more with promotions and as the job becomes more demanding.) However, playing games, writing about them, and being in a gaming environment should be pay in itself. It’s not always about the money, it’s also about doing what you love, which can be said about any of these careers. Design Perhaps the most sought-after of all is the task of design. Video game designers literally make all of the pieces of a game into an experience; something playable, entertaining, and fun. To fully understand what designers do, you must break them up into their respective categories: lead designer, game mechanics/systems designer, level designer, and writer. The game mechanics/systems designer works on the playability aspect, including underlying rules and patters, and how the game functions. The level designer works on the game world’s content and interface, while the writer works closely with the lead designer to produce a narrative for the game. The lead designer, as I mentioned, works with the writer on the narrative, as well as creating a backstory, setting and prevailent/underlying themes. Game design is taught by a variety of schools, but I think Digipen is worthy of mention. The average salary of game designers is $70,233, and steadily rising. So, I think it’d be a silly question to ask if you’ve been interested in a video game industry career, so I’m just going to ask what your future career goals are. Do they involve video games? And are there any companies/studios that you would love to work for? *All salary statistics are as of 2010, via Gamasutra. *All college suggestions were picked with the help of The Princeton Review.
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