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Introduction
to the Games Industry
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The
games industry is huge. In many aspects it's bigger
than Hollywood and it's growing at an incredible rate.
If you like games, technology and being creative then
it's a very exciting industry to be in.
Development
teams
Video games are made by devoted teams of game developers
that can range in size from a handful of people to
upwards of 300. Development teams are a close knit
group of individuals that work night and day to create
the games that we all love to play.
It
can take anywhere from six months to five years to
make a game with the average being around 18 months.
Tony
Hawk Underground took a team of 50 people, one year
whereas Splinter Cell 3 took two years and over 300
people!
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Development
teams can be broadly broken down into five disciplines;
Producers, Designers, Programmers, Artists and Testers(Quality
Assurance).
Producer
A producer's job is to make sure that a game is completed
on time. A good producer should be able to manage the
team while bringing the best out of each individual
talent and making sure that everybody works together
seamlessly as a team.
Managing
an entire development team is a huge responsibility
and can be very stressful. To be a good producer you
must show good communication and exception people skills. |
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A producer
needs to understand all aspects of game development and are
therefore normally employed from within the industry.
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Designer
Designers are responsible for developing the concept
for a game. They also set the goals and set the level
of difficulty but most importantly they try to make
the game as fun as possible. It is their job to communicate
to the team the specifics of the game. A designer
should be open to suggestions as designs can often
radically change from concept to conception.
To
be a good designer you must have a great imagination
and a vast knowledge of games and gaming history.
Most of all, you should be an excellent communicator
as you must be able to convey your design to every
member of the team.
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Programmer
Programmers develop the underlying technology on which games
are built. They write computer code to enable the game to
display the graphics that you see on screen.
Programming
jobs are very specific and can be broken down into positions
such as Tools, AI(Artificial Intelligence), Physics, UI(User
Interface) and Low Level programming(microprocessors).
It is
almost impossible to get a job as a programmer without having
studied at University or College and many companies require
a post graduate degree.
Artist
The position of an artist has evolved considerably in
recent years. As development teams grow ever larger,
the artist's position has become more specialised. Modern
game artists can be broadly categorised into environment
artists, character artists and animators.
To
be an artist you must have a good understanding of both
2D and 3D art. Many University's and Colleges offer
formal 3D training but a graduation certificate alone
will not get you a job in the games industry. The most
important weapon in an artist's arsenal is his/her portfolio.
A good portfolio will get you a job almost anywhere. |
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QA
Tester positions are many people's entry into the industry
and many testers move on to positions in art, design, programming
or even producing.
Testers
play the same game all day, every day. Unfortunately the job
of a tester is not as glamourous as it may seem. Testers need
to be ordered and precise in order to track down bugs and
report them to the rest of the team.
A good
tester is obsessed with games and knows exactly what makes
or breaks a game. A tester needs exceptional patience as they
may be required to play the same part of the same game 50
to a 100 times a day in order to iron out bugs!
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