With the potential next Jane McGonigal in my class I knew that I would face some tough competition in securing a job in the games industry after I finished my degree and left college. Now close to 6 months on and I'm still unemployed, well I have a casual job delivering pizzas, but I don't really count that, and after close to 40+ games industry application and 80+ retail applications I'm beginning to worry that my start in the Australian games industry is a lot further away than even I imagined.
I wasn't a bad student, I wasn't the best, I graduated with a distinction average. It's not like I don't have real world work experience, I have close to two years retail management experience, I've got hospitality management experience, I have no games industry experience, and that is the major setback, the catch 22 of getting a job in the industry.
There is junior positions out there, but with recent closures around the country there are many people out there willing to take a step back to get back into the industry, and they have the experience, I don't. I'm not just saying this, I've heard it straight from the proverbial horse's mouth, in email conversations with one of THQ Asia Pacific regions head recruiters. I didn't think I would walk out of college and into a job, but I didn't think that it would take this long, or be this hard. Admittedly I have looked a gift horse in the mouth, and I will be kicking myself for a long time to come about that one. Sorry for all the equine clichés but they seem to fit.
The purpose of this small piece of commentary is to pass on some knowledge to those students currently undertaking studies in games development, I don't profess to know it all, nobody does no matter how renowned they are, I wouldn't even claim to know 5%. But in the past couple of months I have gained a little wisdom that I think should be passed on.
Start Now! That's it.
I will elaborate on this for those whom find this concise piece of advice a little vague. I don't mean for you to on start day one of your degree, give yourself a trimester/semester (depending on where you study) to settle into tertiary study and get to know your peer group. Students who are currently studying are in the best position for networking, best position for collaboration, best position for making a game. By this I mean that most colleges that have a focus on game development have all three major disciplines, Games Design, Programming and Art, this is a great pool to draw from, everyone is in a creative mindset and the ideas a flowing.
If there is one thing that I wish my studies included, it's an extra credit subject or extracurricular group, which with guidance from faculty staff went through the entire development process of creating a game. Now I did have a subject that focused on this, but to be honest the time frame for the project didn't allow for our team to overcome the major problems that we ran into, and while I was and am happy with what we had at the end of the whole process, I wasn't ecstatic.
Looking at that idea realistically though the teaching staff already have enough on their plate, even though I'm sure that they would all be willing to help guide and provide input, I don't think they would have the time to run a program like this.
That leaves it to you students to take the initiative, get together with people from your class, college or university, if you don't have lots or any contact with the other disciplines then post notices on campus notice boards, Facebook etc, once you get a group of people together who want to make something happen, you need to form a team.
I don't just mean a group of people who want to make something, I mean a team with defined roles and a leadership structure, with one or two whom will have the final say on what happens with the project. This is something that you're going to need to get used to, because let's face it you're not going to get into a lead role straight out of college, you are going to have to follow the creative lead of someone else for a long time before you get those reins yourself, you can change up this structure for your second project if you want.
With your team set up come up with your idea, Start small, don't over stretch yourself or your ability, bounce your idea off your teachers, off other students. My suggestion is to pick your target platform as a group, then allow individual team members to come up with a game idea. Just because an artist is an artist doesn't me that they aren't going to have a good idea for a game.
Every idea is pitched to the group as a whole, and then with every idea on the table as a team you can pick one, or combine two or more to get the basis for your game. Define your core mechanics, and set to work. Fill the role that you would fill in a real world job, it will help you hone your skill set, sure you can provide feedback and input on the art, or design, or the code, but remember that it's just that, feedback and input, it may be taken up or it may be discarded.
Use and established game engine that is widely used in the industry, this will make the development process easier, and also make overcoming problems you may run into that little bit easier, published materials, and online communities will help you overcome these problems, and the more users there are for an engine the bigger the community.
Set up a development time line, set milestones for yourselves, allow for the fact that this will not and should not be a priority for every team member, but try to make a commitment to work together as a team or in discipline teams at least once every two weeks. Also allow for setbacks and the like. While you're studying I think that two projects per year is a reasonable output, but aim for one polished project the first year.
Don't set out to make money, this is experience for experience sake. If you start the project with the frame of mind that this is going to make you money, then you may lose focus on what is important at this stage and that is your studies. It will also mean that you can avoid paying for the use of game engines etc.
Make sure you cover all your legal bases, do everything by the book, I assume that you can all take my meaning from this. There are lots of free software packages out there make use of them, they are not as bad as your preconceptions may lead you to believe.
Get your game out there. Once you have something worth showing, show it, create a development blog, put videos on YouTube, generate exposure for your game, not only will it help you get players interested, it will also help to keep you on track with development.
There are lots more things to consider, you won't know the half of it until you start your own journey and walk the road yourself. I wish this advice had been given to me in a more direct manner when I was starting out in my studies, and I wish that the subtle hints had not been so subtle. It's a tough environment out there in job hunters land having even one published title under your belt will help you land the role you want.
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