Professional Skills for the Digital Age The Ultimate Guide to Success in the Game Industry & Life
What convinced you that the game industry was the right place for you?
For as long as I can remember I have always wanted to make games. I was particularly influenced by the DOS adventure games of the 90's. They were always interesting to me because the stories were often times much more cohesive than stories in other genres of games. Growing up I knew that I wanted to make games, but college really focused me towards wanting to craft narrative experiences. Ever since I have always tried to move into positions that would let me be involved in shaping narrative in games.
You didn't start off in games, did you? How did you begin your career after college?
Well, I did work various jobs while going to school, but after college I focused solely on games. I did make some mistakes starting out though. For instance, after I finished my Undergraduate degree I made the rookie mistake of only applying to top tier Triple A studios, which of course wanted nothing to do with an inexperienced designer. I'm glad I made this decision in retrospect, though, as it lead me to the Game Design Masters program at Full Sail. I went to Full Sail to try and learn more about actual applied game development, since my undergraduate was more Computer Science and theoretical Game Design focused. I approached applying to companies very differently while acquiring my Masters degree. I went to as many career and networking fairs on campus and as many conventions as possible. I also started chatting with Rob Coble very early so that I would be on his radar as opportunities came in. In addition, I was actively applying on my own starting about 6 months from graduation. In the end, it all paid off and I started as an Associate Producer at a small game company doing family oriented games in Massachusetts. A big hurdle there mentally was just approaching the industry as something that I needed to get into before trying to get to my dream job. It's nigh impossible to obtain your dream job starting out. The biggest hurdle is just getting someone to give you a chance out there. Then it's up to you to excel and move to where you want to be.
How important was it to network as a student?
Networking was vital in taking me from a student to a game industry professional. Networking at career events with industry professionals and the career development team at Full Sail was vital to obtaining my first job in the industry. In addition, networking with the team I worked with at Full Sail, lead to me eventually getting a referral to my first Game Design position at 38 Studios. Some of the networking I did as an undergraduate even helped me get more than just a glance when applying at Naughty Dog. So yes, networking is VITAL. I can't stress enough how much knowing people is the best way to get a foot in the door when applying somewhere.
What other things did you do, as a student, to help prepare yourself for your career?
I was constantly looking to improve my skills. I've always had side projects going on which range from writing critical analyses of games to creating systems or trying to mimic game systems using development tools. I think keeping yourself fresh on what techniques are being used in your field is another very important part of being a game developer. This is especially true if you're studying something that's not quite the role you ultimately seeing yourself doing. Because in this case you really need to learn what skills are needed in that ultimate goal role and you'll have to learn that on your own. And it's always a plus if you can relate the skills you did study to those skills you learned on your own.
You're a graduate of two respected schools in the game industry. Why is it important for a new student to understand the game industry as early in their career as possible?
I think it's important on multiple levels. Socially understanding how game companies work and how each one approaches developing games will give you talking points to gain respect and get someone to pay attention to your work. On the development side, understanding commonly used pipelines, methods, and techniques will ensure you are a prime candidate for hire when you finish school. In addition, understanding the industry from a macro view, why developers make some of the decisions they make to sell games, can help with keeping you making games on your own if you don't end up with a position right out of school. Understanding the industry when in this situation will help your games be viable to the market. This is becoming more and more important as the barrier to entry gets easier and easier with the various digital distribution systems these days and tools/engines like Unity and Unreal.
Do you have any advice for those still trying to break into the industry? Any specific tips about conferences, social media, etc?
Always approach networking at conferences and social media from the angle that you really want to stand out. Do not just find an alumni on LinkedIn and send them a generic let's connect message. I ignore 90% of requests like that. Go out there and make a personalized request to connect. Always have something that you are interested in knowing about that applies directly to where you want to be in games. Don't just chit chat, but try to start an interesting conversation about something you legitimately want to know about. This counts when going to conferences too. Industry professionals are fairly constantly approached by students that just want a job. If you approach someone with that goal and you lay that straight out on the table, you are likely to be turned down or ignored. Find a conversation point first. A good thing to do is research the people that are potentially going to be at a conference. Look at who has tables on the exposition floor for instance, then do some research into the companies that you'd like to make connections at and even research specific employees that work there. Then go to that table on the floor and start conversations that are full of interesting questions about what those people do day to day. Most people are extremely willing to talk shop about game development and the ultimate goal is that you want them to view you as a game developer first and a student second. This approach will completely change the discussions and conversations you get into I guarantee it. The other thing to remember is don't get bummed if you meet and connect with a ton of developers and a job doesn't immediately come out of it. A lot of this stuff takes time. You've got to develop a repertoire with the developers you want to work for and be at the forefront of their minds when a position that you would fit opens up. A great way to keep fresh is to do a post conference follow up message that reminds them of who you are, what the circumstances surrounding your meeting was, and then asks them something interesting about what they do that directly applies to what you want to do. This last part can simply be, if you have some time I would love your opinion/critique on this thing I've been working on. If they engage with you, you can start a nice professional networking relationship that you can refresh every few months with progress you're making and eventually the persistence will generally pay off.
How important is networking now that you work at Naughty Dog?
I think that it's always important. I'm always meeting developers and other studios and it's always fun to talk shop and see how they do things. It's pretty vital to staying relevant in your field because every studio approaches certain things differently and the more you learn the bigger a picture of what works and what doesn't you can build to store in your mind's library of how to develop games.
What is it that you love most about your career currently?
Working with extremely passionate people on projects that I truly care about and that I feel are helping to progress narrative in the medium of video games. You can't beat the feeling that comes at the end of a project. It's like electricity fills the air and you can see the game developing rapidly as every discipline is turning it up to 11 and all heading in the same direction. Having that crazy energy build up to launch and then seeing how people react when the game comes out and they can finally get their hands on it and play the moments that you personally had a hand in creating, that is the best feeling in the world.