Professional Skills for the Digital Age The Ultimate Guide to Success in the Game Industry & Life
How do you look at games differently now that you are a professional and not just a fan?
It is one of those once you see you cannot unsee kind of things. Also note that what I look at games have changed as my career has evolved. When I was more QA focused I would look at the amount of effort a game like Grand Theft Auto would take to do a test pass. How are teams broken down? How is triaging of bugs handled? How do they get to an acceptable amount of bugs. When I moved to more engineering side of things I had to look at how did they manage to cram all these objects into memory? What kind of object management and lifecycle are they doing? How can physics ever work in such a dense environment!? Now that I am a producer, I tend to look at the bigger picture like how did they budget that? What kind of vendors were they using and how well did they integrate into their production pipeline? Although the thoughts are more dominant at a certain part, that does not mean I stopped wondering about the previous thoughts I had.
But I am also a gamer at heart and if the game is good I get just as immersed as everyone else.
Why is it important for a new student interested in gaming to understand the industry at large?
It is important for a student to know what opportunities out there because they may think they know a lot, but there is more to it than what you think you know. Even to this day I learn something new, may it be a new kickstarter, some company initiative, or just what types of jobs are out there. Plus having a broad knowledge helps because it guards you from being caught off guard when somebody mentions something. Imagine a interviewer being super into VR and started talking about the Oculus and you just freeze there looking at him like “what is an oculus?”, that is a missed opportunity to connect right there.
How do you advise people who want to get into the industry because they have an idea for a game?
Tell them to build it. No one will respect that idea until they can play it. Even the most decorated game teams cannot just go to a publisher with just an idea. They go to publishers with something that is decently playable.
What do you like most about being a programmer, what does a typical day look like?
Sadly, I don’t program as much as I used to. I do more producer-type stuff like managing meetings, ideations, research, documentation, etc…
Always always always network with people and keep in touch with other people you meet along the way. You will probably call upon them sometime in the future to help you out with something. Do not let the right opportunity pass you by because of fear or laziness. The really good opportunities are once in a lifetime and can mean a life of success or a life of regret