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MAKE GAMES, GET PAID!
Career Opportunities in Electronic Game & Simulation Design
Development Career Categories Producers Designers Artists Programmers Game Testers and Quality Assurance
Technicians
Developer Careers Producers are responsible for
Proposal and Prototype management Budgeting (time and money) Payments Contractual Obligations Coordinating with partners (hardware
manufacturer, publisher, external developers)
Reporting to upper management These are VERY hard jobs to get at an
entry level
Developer Careers Designers (not to be confused with
artists) Lead Designer
Supervises the design team Gameplay development Documentation assembly Level design
Interface Designer Determines layout, content, navigation and
usability features of the game interface
Interface – What Goes Where?
Developer Careers
Designers (continued) Level Designer
Builds the game environment (or world) Physical Environment Gameplay for the world
Might also write stories and dialogue Designs missions (or campaigns) within
levels All designers work with all other team
members to coordinate production of the game.
Developer Careers
Designers (continued) Designers may often do work related to
other jobs Importing art into game engines Creating simple art (especially for
prototypes) Minor programming tweaks Generate documentation
Developer Careers
Artists Lead Artist
Supervises the art team on a particular game project
Concept (Storyboard) Artist Creates drawings and sketches of the game
environment, props and characters
Developer Careers
Artists (continued) Technical Artist
Straddle the art and programming careers Make sure art assets are created and stored
in the appropriate format for the particular game engine used
Texture Artist Creates texture maps for 3D models
Characters – Hair, skin, clothing Structures – Building interiors/exteriors Objects – Paint, surface texture
Developer Careers
Artists Modeler
Creates 3D assets from 2D drawings (characters, scenery, props)
Create 3D wire mesh frames to represent objects
Applies textures (skinning) to wire mesh objects
Developer Careers
Artists (continued) Animator
Applies movement to objects and characters
May use motion capture devices
Prince of Persia: Warrior Within
Motion Capture
Combination of hardware and software used to capture a live person’s motion
Measurand ShapeWrap System www.measurand.com
Developer Careers
Programmer Engine Programmer
Creates/modifies the core game engine which controls: Graphics Rendering Animation Collision Detection between game objects User input
Artificial Intelligence Programmer Creates “intelligence” for the game Create algorithms to emulate human
intelligence
Full Spectrum Warrior
Full Spectrum Warrior
More Programming Careers
Networking Programmer Programs multiplayer components of the
game
Interface Programmer Programs the user interface for the game
Physics Programmer Ensures objects interact realistically with
each other
Tools Programmer Creates tools to allow artists to incorporate
assets into the game code
Developer Careers
Testing and Quality Assurance (QA) Game Testers
Search for errors related to 3D geometry Texturing Aesthetics (look and feel) Game logic
Coordinates bug fixes with the rest of the development team (programmers, artists, designers)
Geometry Error From Halo
Geometry Error From Halo
Developer Careers
Testing and Quality Assurance (QA) Compatibility Tester
Tests cross-platform compatibility Determines if the game runs equally well on
all platforms Investigates whether controls are adequate
on all platforms to play the game Tests compatibility of joysticks, control pads,
video cards, sound cards, etc.
Developer Careers
Testing and Quality Assurance (QA) Playability Tester
Temporary employee who works in-house Finds bugs Suggests improvements to game play
Adding features Deleting features Altering difficulty of tasks or scenarios
Ensures the game is fun and challenging
Developer Careers
Testing and Quality Assurance (QA) Beta Tester
Volunteers (unpaid) who test games at their homes There may be a cost to you to participate in a
beta test Test the latest version of the game before final
shipping Provides detailed analysis of playability and
bugs to the game development team Good feedback can earn you free beta tests or
an invitation to be a playability tester!
How Do I Prepare for a Career? Play Games!!! But while you’re playing think
about… Why the game is fun? How could you make it more fun? If you were the designer, what features
would you add? Take away? Modify?
How Do I Prepare for a Career? Network! International Game Developers
Association www.igda.org/philly
Game Developers Conference (GDC) www.gdconf.com
There are TONS of conferences! I personally like the Montreal Game Summit. Nine hour drive from Philly and cheap to
attend. www.sijm.ca
How Do I Prepare for a Career? Get a Job – NOW!
Beta Testing Isn’t a paying job, but you get to try cool
games Leads to Playability Testing (first entry level
paid job in gaming) Some companies impose minimum age
requirements Go To College!!!
It is extremely difficult to get a job in gaming without a college degree!
Take college courses while in high school You need a wide range of skills such as...
Programming Languages
C / C++ XNA (C#)
http://creators.xna.com Open GL DirectX Assembly (HLSL)
Good for fast response Programs are small Used in almost all console game programming
Scripting Languages associated with 3D art programs
Software Skills to Acquire
3D Animation and Modeling Software 3D Studio Max (www.autodesk.com) Maya (www.autodesk.com) LightWave (www.newtek.com) SoftImage (www.softimage.com) Mudbox Z-Brush Others?
Software Skills to Acquire Other Art Software
Image Manipulation Adobe Photoshop
Video Editing / Effects Vector Art Creation
Adobe Illustrator Flash
Other Key Skills to Acquire
Physics Kinetics (movement) Behavior of Light
Mathematics Algebra Trigonometry Analytic Geometry Discrete Math Statistics Linear Matrix Algebra For engine programmers – Calculus!
Soft Skills
Verbal Skills Writing Skills Work Ethic (i.e. – working hard!) Team Work Ability to take (and perhaps give)
directions
Create Your Own Games!
XNA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Play games on your Xbox 360
Microsoft Popfly Link?
Alice Environment designed to teach
programming You can build games in it! www.alice.org
Create Your Own Games!
Full Scale Game Development Environments Blender (www.blender.org) Panda3D (http://panda3d.org/) They are both FREE!!!!
www.GarageGames.com Half Life!!!!!!!!!!!
What if a Career in Gaming Doesn’t Work Out
Alternative Careers With Skills Learned in Gaming Courses Multimedia Development Simulation Development Illustration Computer Programmer Movie Animation (Pixar, Disney)
Where Should I Go To School? Most 4 year colleges and universities do
not offer gaming degrees (although many offer art degrees with concentrations in animation or 3D design)
Digipen (www.digipen.edu) Full Sail (www.fullsail.com) Montgomery County Community
College! Drexel
Media Arts & Design School
New Degree in Computer Gaming A.A.S. Degree in Electronic Gaming and
Simulation Prepares you for an entry level career in
game development. You can take classes while you are in high
school! Multi-disciplinary degree
Multimedia Courses Computer Science Courses Art Courses Math/Physics Courses
MCCC Gaming Courses…
Play games Learn to think creatively Deconstruct games Design games Learn to use professional game
development tools Torque (game engine) Maya (3D animation)
Develop a portfolio of game assets to show prospective employers
If You Want To Be An Artist…
New Degree in Animation - Coming soon!
Will be a transfer degree (perhaps to the University of the Arts)
Designed from an art perspective Features many traditional art courses
such as drawing
If You Want to be a Programmer… Take MCCC’s Computer Science A.S.
degree Use game courses to fill elective slots
Transfer to a four year school and complete a B.S. in Computer Science Arcadia Villanova Temple
Possibly earn a Master’s Degree, especially if you want to be an Artificial Intelligence programmer Carnegie Mellon Stanford Penn
For More Information
Get In The Game: Careers in the Game Industry By Marc Mencher ISBN# 0-7357-1307-3
For More Information
Game Development Essentials By Jeannie Novak ISBN: 1-4018-6271-3
For Even More Information…
Game Developer Magazine www.gamasutra.com www.gdmag.com
International Game Developers Association www.igda.org www.igda.org/philly
My web page http://faculty.mc3.edu/jwertz/
