| Game Prototyping | |
| Instructor: Lindsay Grace |
I collected a few tips that might help each of you find the strength, motivation, etcetera to pull our project together and make it happen. These are less motivation, and more, honest information about what each of you is trying to do - get in the game industry.
From Cliff Bleszinski, Epic Games:
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The first way is through QA. (Quality Assurance, where the games are tested before shipping.) Get a job as a tester and kick ass and you may get promoted to the test lead. From there you may become a producer and continue climbing the ladder. Bear in mind that you probably have to live in a town where there are development studios nearby. FYI, this technique seems to work best at large companies. Small companies tend to outsource their QA.
The second way is to make cool shit and self-promote. Make a website, and email the various companies that are out there with links to your work. Developers get a lot of email, and nearly every one I know reads it. If someone sends me a link with their portfolio I always take a peek.
The third way in is via a friend. If you know someone who already works at a company or has a friend at a company then you might have an “in” for QA or having your portfolio looked at.
"
From Ernest Adams' article on "How to get Started in the Game Industry" [Gamasutra]
"What a game company wants to know is: can you build it and make it great, on time and under budget? What actually counts is not the idea, but the execution. As Thomas Edison said, "Genius is 1% innovation and 99% perspiration." "
As an aside, you might want to check out this article - "Your Portfolio Repels Jobs" It contains many of the things I would warn you against in web design.
Last Updated: 2/14/09
Provided by Lindsay Grace for students of the Illinois Institute of Art, Chicago. These documents may be used by others when properly credited. Please email lgrace at aii edu for more information.