During this semester I was lucky to have guest speakers from the Games Industry to share their tips, advice, and experiences through their journey with the Games Industry. These talks have given me a better understanding of myself in the greater context of the games industry and what steps I have to take in order to secure a job in the industry, whilst influencing what methodologies to incorporate into my own workflow.
Making a plan
After going to Eagle Labs and having a talk with a representative, Mark Rands, one of the things he stated was that the most important thing a student can do is to make a 5-year plan. The plan can involve my route to start an indie studio or a job not even related to the games industry, regardless he emphasizes greatly that this is the best method to achieve your goals.
Having heard this I plan to make a rough map for the next few years on what I want to achieve for goals for my pathway into the games industry and the necessary steps to take to achieve them. This essay in particular will be breaking down the key advice I have taken away from these talks and how I will be applying their methodology and knowledge to the overall plan I am making.
Portfolio
During the talk with Dan Bernardo, he mentioned that what he wants to see from artists is “not quantity, but 5 pieces that are good quality” This is a very important tip as I feel that it can be quite easy to overload the interviewer with images that I want them to see, so streamlining it down to my top 5 pieces would show that I have thought about what to show him and to not show them everything. Dan Bernardo also mentions that the best way to structure my 5 pieces is to “start with the 2nd best piece and end on the best”. Starting with the 2nd best piece would be able to show close to what the best I am capable of and ending it with the best piece would give me the best opportunity as the last piece on their mind would be my best work. I will be applying this approach to my portfolio since it keeps my overall work concise and easily digestible.
A key statement that Dan Bernardo has mentioned is that it's good to “study how a real company operates and their pipeline” is important when it comes to the games industry. Having an understanding of the pipeline and how the company operates shown in my portfolio would show that I have knowledge of my role would affect the pipeline and with knowledge of the process I would know what to expect for the next task, meaning that they would have less to teach me increasing my odds in being hired. One way I can show this in my Portfolio is by showing the process of creating the artwork that I would be presenting, as that would show the interviewer that I understand the importance of the process and not just the end result. This would also show that I would be able to recreate the end result since I know the process that led to it.
Another piece of advice that Dan Bernardo has mentioned was that for my portfolio I should show an extensive range of different art styles rather than the style I have developed as a traditionally trained artist. Hearing this made me realize that a games company would prefer to see a flexible artist that can work in different styles than an artist that can only work in one style and the best way to showcase this to an interviewer would be to have those different styles present in my portfolio. Having taken this advice I will devote my spare time at university and the first year afterward to creating pieces in different styles and developing them to a similar standard to my own styles to add to my portfolio.
Alex Johanssen mentions that when it comes to finding a job a “degree is minimum” and suggests that we use all of the universities resources and opportunities to help give you more than the degree as he found that the students he taught did not utilize every opportunity that was present to them during their time at university. Having heard this advice I will be trying to utilize more of the opportunities that university more than before and to try and attend events as much as I am available, an example of this is that I plan on attending the Global Game Jam again with the university as this is an opportunity to try and work and a quick game that I would be able to add to my portfolio whilst participating in a big global event and contributing to exposure for the university.
Networking
An important piece of advice that Mark Rand mentioned was networking with different people as much as possible within the industry. One part of networking that I can utilize is the network I have made in university within my own class and other subject students that might be of use. However, I can’t solely rely on my own network since none of us as students have made any progress in the industry yet so I have to be proactive in making a specific network for the Games Industry.
One of the ways to network was using Linkedin, which Mark emphasized as being one of the best ways to network since it was like a professional social media. Creating a Linkedin would be a good way of being able to network online and show what I am capable of. This would also allow me to establish connections which won’t be possible unless I travel between multiple countries. When using Linkedin Mark mentions that if you are going to use Linkedin you must always be consistent with posting as this is one of the ways you can stay memorable and stand out compared to others who don’t post frequently. This would also start to create your personal “brand” image with constant uploads and of your work would allow people to see what kind of work you do specifically as well as being committed on top of that. This is not the only method of networking that I will be relying on as having multiple networks would increase my chances of success in the games industry. Another method that might be more successful would be attending games industry conventions as when discussing to people in person, which feels like a more genuine connection that you can create between people. Some of the conventions that I am planning on attending is the WASD convention in London on March the 30th. For the convention, I plan on bringing business cards with links to my social media, Linkedin and potentially a qr code linked to a linktree as making it easier for people to look though the different platforms I have thus increasing my likelihood for people to view my online profiles.
Social Media
On the business cards I mentioned that I would include links to my social media. With the talk with Matteo Menapace, a board game designer, he mentions that social media had given him the opportunity to work with Matt Leacock. He mentions that with his networking online he was able to get in contact with Matt Leacock who created the hit board game Pandemic, and was able to develop his new game Daybreak which started from a tweet. Matteo went in depth of how the idea expanded from a tweet and how it expanded into development for the game showing how powerful and has led me to make my social media platforms more presentable and catered more toward being a game designer.
The different types of social media I will put on the business cards would be Instagram, Twitter and art station. I will update my social media to include a profile picture of me along with a banner of my artwork so that it features what type of work I do just from the icon. I will also include a brief description in my bio that says “2D Artist and Games Designer”. To make the account seem more professional I decided to leave out the fact that I am a student as I feel that if I had included that information then the viewer would look at my work differently as someone who is under-experienced. Another thing I plan on doing with social media is to try and be devoted to posting at least once a week, that way it I can attract people who would be interested in the work I do and potentially be able to grow my network as someone might like the work I am posting and would like me to do something for them which could be in the form of a commission or a request.
Personal Workflow
During one of the talks Noemi Pischedda, a concept artist at Playtra Games, had mentioned that art block was a part of the process. She mentions that art blocks are very natural in the creative industry and that people have different methods in dealing with them. It was good to hear that it is a natural occurrence that happens in the games industry as I experience art blocks fairly regularly and that I’m not the only one going through them. How I plan on dealing with them is by having a healthy approach to them and taking the time I need to reset so I can focus on the task instead of continuing to work constantly and “make peace with that they will happen and that everyone gets them”. However, I also need to take into account that I can’t take a break for too long on one piece as Dan Bernardo has mentioned “if you stop for 2 week’s you stop forever”. This means I will put a time management system in place for my personal projects so that if I do experience art block I would have and adequate time to reset and to be able to continue the work. If I have not taken long enough to reset then it should be apparent during the first time working on the piece again so I would take more time off, but only for a day or 2 as if I need to “keep going even if you don’t have to” for the best chance of success.
This level of devotion is definitely needed in the games industry as “Starting games is easy, finishing games are a nightmare” according to Dan Bernardo. So developing a methodology to finish a game from start to end would help as it adds to showing interviewers that I can complete projects with at the same time being able to show multiple completed projects under my belt. Also knowing what the appropriate amount of time to spend on a piece and when to hand it off when working on a game, with Noemi saying that as an artist you will want to keep improving pieces and it will never feel natural to leave it be is also a useful skill to implement into my workflow as that way I can have a keep fresh having different things to work on. That way I can keep away from art block and being able to constantly keep working.
Indie Studio vs AAA company
In the talk with Noemi, she mentions the benefits of working with an indie studio vs a bigger company and the differences in work culture between the two. Within an indie company, you work with a smaller team which means you will have more creative freedom and a greater influence on the game that is being developed whereas if you worked in a AAA company then you will be given tasks and tasks to complete with no creative freedom. This can affect my workflow as the added creative freedom it can allow me to become more inspired to become more devoted to the task making the work I do, in my opinion, better but if I get a task I don’t like then I wouldn’t be able to perform at my best for the task. However, despite the added benefit of having more creative freedom with an indie company, the job stability is more unstable as its more common for indie studios to fall under due to bankruptcy compared to a AAA company it is very unlikely for the company to go bankrupt as to having funding from many investors and other companies.
The other thing to consider when choosing between joining either indie or AAA is knowing how to build my portfolio for the specific type of company. I would have to consider this is because, for an indie company, it is very likely that I would have to be able to do multiple tasks, such as being able to do art and coding, so I would have to build a portfolio to show that I have an understanding in multiple areas so that I would become a more valuable addition to the indie studio. This is starkly different to a AAA company as today, these big companies are looking for specialists in one specific area and it isn’t relevant to know to code if I apply to become an artist as they are able to find someone who specializes in coding. So if I decide to apply to a AAA company then it would be more preferable to build my portfolio to showcase a specialized area since that would be what they value more, but if I decide to apply to an indie studio it would be wise to showcase that I have multiple skills that they might need so that I can be of more help to the whole team.
Workplace Culture
Another thing to consider when looking to apply for a job within the games industry is the workplace culture. Like every industry, there is a workplace culture that is almost the personality of the whole studio or company, so it is important to try and look for a company that I feel comfortable with and that I would be compatible with their personality. One thing that Dan Bernardo mentioned on this was diversity in the workplace. He mentions that its important to have diversity in the workplace since its good to have many different perspectives on a subject matter from people of different backgrounds and ethnicities. This would also benefit the company as it would then give the company a stronger reputation and public image making it a more desirable place to work as it would show its a diverse company that is modern in its thinking. All of this is important things to consider when looking and applying for a job so it will be important to know what questions to ask the interviewer. Being able to ask good questions in an interview is also important for the interviewer and me as though this interaction they would be able to understand me more as a person and if I would fit into their workplace culture but also for me as an individual to see if I would feel accepted by them even if they think that I would fit in from their perspective.
Conclusion
Overall I am comfortable in my current position and I’m aware of the actions I need to take to secure employment after my graduation. I intend to demonstrate and showcase my capabilities within a portfolio in an orderly and sophisticated manner while tailoring it to the specific company and job that I would be applying for while on top of that updating my CV and cover letter to highlight my strengths. It has also made me realise how to become a more prominent individual that can stand out when compared to other game designers. I will also continue to keep on growing my network as much as possible as it is the greatest asset when it comes to being aware of the industry space.
This reflective process has made a huge impact on my perspective of the industry as well as my direction in my current modules, by applying all the different things that I have learned from the industry professionals and applying it to my development process for the upcoming major project while also growing my social media when I have free time to increase my exposure in networking. I have also become more confident in what to look out for in the industry and have a better awareness overall.
Special thanks to all the speakers for giving us more insight into the industry during semester one as this is one of the most valuable opportunities given to us.