quick plug for my friend Mark Davies...he was the Lead Designer on Enslaved before he, and his family, decided to have an adventure over in the States...he's having a blast but hopefully he'll come back one day...


anyway, he read my blog entry earlier and revisited his own 'how to get into design' series...check it out here: http://lifeofadesignmonkey.blogspot.com/2011/10/how-to-get-job-in-game-design-revisited.html

Getting Into Games: where to start...

So where to begin? This is a tricky question so I guess I'll start with the basics, namely core education...essentially this is one of the first things I look for when I'm checking out a CV of someone trying to break into the industry.

It's boring I know, but in my experience there is an inescapable fact that 99% of people who work in the games industry are pretty clever and have a solid education behind them...I think there's a solid link between creativity/imagination and raw IQ power...you need the horsepower to drive the ideas and problem solving...

Not only that, but a solid education demonstrates an ability to understand and learn...this is an essential selling point for you in an interview when you're trying to land a job for which you have no experience...you need to be focusing on your potential and demonstrating how you will be successful in the role to the person interviewing you...

So between the ages of 11-16 (GCSE's in the UK) and 17-18 (A-levels in the UK) you need to be giving yourself a solid foundation in terms of core subjects such as Maths, English, Sciences (biology, physics and chemistry), and History...these are the solid foundations upon which you will build your specialist skills and knowledge...so boring as it may sound, get your head down at school, work hard and get some solid qualifications in proper subjects...

And by proper subjects, you know what I mean! Easy subjects that the dossers go for are fucking obvious to people checking out your CV...don't fall into the trap!

Additional subjects such as art / religious education / foreign languages / music can all have a part to play, mainly dependent on the field of development you want to get into...but make sure these are the sprinklings on top of your solid education pie and not the pastry and filling!

Beyond this point there are a multitude of options to look at...definitely topics for future blog posts to look at them in detail but the more obvious options include:

Higher core education

Vocational education

Internship/trainee schemes

But to sign this off on a positive note, if you are between 11-18 and now you're thinking that all you have ahead of you is hitting the school books then don't despair as there's additional stuff you need to be doing which is much more fun! This is the next week’s topic - 'playing games for gain'

So what are my plans for the future? well, i think i'm going to write a series of articles on what the key skills, experience and characteristics you should have to give you the best chance of breaking into the industry...

stuff like:
...what courses to study
...what games to play
...what life skills you need
...how to get noticed and your foot in the door

basically i've been kicking around the industry and have interviewed enough peopl now to be able to give you a good insight into what's good and what's not good for your chances...feel free to comment and ask questions :)

Wow, it's been over a year since I started my Twitter experiment with really little success until lately...thanks to the iOS5 release, tweeting is much simpler and more streamlined and so easier for me to get back into...

since then, its been manic! i've found tonnes of new people to talk to and its been brilliant fun, long may it continue...

if you've come here from Twitter, then welcome, glad to have you aboard...please read through the meagre backlog and then look forward to some good stuff...i'm pumped and motivated to get some thoughts down that i think will be interesting to a lot of people...please comment on anything that you feel is good or bad :)

twitter...

i thought i'd give it a go...interestingly, the second i had an acocunt and a blank 'tweet here" box my mind went blank...in times like this i think its always a good idea to say something stupid and facile...so i did...

feel free to point and laugh at my idiocy here: http://twitter.com/C4RP3R

busy busy busy...

have had a fair bit to do recently so not much time for blogging...basically one of our key titles is going out the door and we've been slamming it pretty hard to get the bugs resolved...one way or another... :)

trying to manage the 'end-game' of delivering a video game is interesting...its a bit like being the teacher in a classroom of 5 year olds and the school is on fire! you're desperately trying to get everyone out the door so no-one burns to death but being 5 year olds they're not helping...some are hanging onto you slowing you down, others are putting their hands over your eyes so you can't see the exit, some are busy trying to get their coat or their favourite pencils...

...and then there's the ones who are busy pouring petrol onto the flames saying that the fire is not quite the right colour or shape and it doesn't quite burn fast enough...all the time complaining about being burnt to death...

emperor's new clothes...

i fucking hate pretention...its a malaise that affects the stupid and unimaginative...sheep basically...so the phrase emperor's new clothes gets a regualr workout from me...but to take it further i analgised it when discussing Bayonetta in the context of emperor's new clothes:

"its like a 15 year old lad drinking lager for the first time...it really tastes all bitter and horrible and he really wishes he had a nice Barcardi Breezer instead...but all his mates are drinking lager so he perserveres...the truth is, all his mates are wishing they were drinking a Barcardi Breezer too!"


wouldn't it be nice if everyone 'fessed up and drank what they really liked instead of what they think they should like?