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How to get the right kind of experience?
Author
Hello!
I''ve been reading a lot about how it''s hard for a game programmer to get into the industry. I have at least 3 years left before I''m out of college, so right now I''m planning to just spend all my free time making games and demos.. I''m sure I could make something which would impress employers but I''m not sure if that''s enough, because often they say you need 2 years of experience *in the industry*.
So, although everyone says the best way to get around the 2-year limit is to make games on your own, is that really effective? I''m curious to know, what did you guys do to get experience when you were starting out? Do you know if companies would hire students for the summer, or hire them over the net to do work in their free time, for a cheap price? Does anyone have any tips on how to get some good experience?
Thanks so much!
Sincerely,
Raj
make your own games, not demos, but complete full games that peopel can play. I made 4 or 5 finished games, then looked for a job and had 5 interviews straight away and ended up working for one of the best companies in the country, where I stayued for almost 2 years.
Not many people can actually make full games, if you have a CD with a finished game on it, that counts for a great deal.
http://www.positech.co.uk
Not many people can actually make full games, if you have a CD with a finished game on it, that counts for a great deal.
http://www.positech.co.uk
Yes, definitely go for full games. Demos are easy. Some people code up the graphics for a landscape engine in like 2 days. They hack some crappy collision detection and a few other things and end up with something that looks like a pretty good demo. One problem is that its easy to design and develop something that does 50% of the job, but making 100% of everything work perfectly is more difficult. When people get to that point, they panic and dont know what to do. They don''t know how to fix their design, so they just say "well, this is crappy anyway, so Im gonna start over better". But thats where game companies really need the talented developers, so that when they get to the point where things go wrong, they know how to handle the situation without panicking, having a nervous breakdown, and jump ship to find a "better" job.
And in the end, you might just find one of these games is worth something and you might be on your way to going indy.
Ron Frazier
Kronos Software
www.kronos-software.com
Miko & Molly - Taking Puzzle Games to A Whole New Dimension
And in the end, you might just find one of these games is worth something and you might be on your way to going indy.
Ron Frazier
Kronos Software
www.kronos-software.com
Miko & Molly - Taking Puzzle Games to A Whole New Dimension
Author
Thanks for the tips! Yeah, I agree about making full games... Oh by the way, what do you guys think about original games vs. clones? So far I''ve been thinking, "I''m going to clone other games because that way I can concentrate on the programming and not worry about design." How important would you say is the technical stuff versus the game design?
So, do you guys think that maybe in addition to the full games, maybe one or two really high-tech demos would be useful though? By the way, by "demos" I don''t mean "incomplete games", I mean just some small program which shows off your technical skills such as an articulated figure dancing and flying through some crazy atmosphere with all sorts of photorealistic effects and eye-candy stuff. Games require you to spend a lot of time on relatively simple yet labor-intensive tasks such as creating level editors. With demos, you can focus all your energy into creating something which really shows off your capabilities.
Thanks a lot, any ideas would be *really* appreciated! =)
Raj
So, do you guys think that maybe in addition to the full games, maybe one or two really high-tech demos would be useful though? By the way, by "demos" I don''t mean "incomplete games", I mean just some small program which shows off your technical skills such as an articulated figure dancing and flying through some crazy atmosphere with all sorts of photorealistic effects and eye-candy stuff. Games require you to spend a lot of time on relatively simple yet labor-intensive tasks such as creating level editors. With demos, you can focus all your energy into creating something which really shows off your capabilities.
Thanks a lot, any ideas would be *really* appreciated! =)
Raj
Yes the demos would be good to go along with the full games.
The games can be small and they can be clones. What is important is that you have done a whole game and got it into a robust, easy to use, bug free state. It is the finishing that is important (and the quality of the finish) because you have proved that you can get through the entire development cycle. The reason why demos on their own are no good is that it is possible to do a great demo that could never be turned into a game (uses too much CPU time etc etc). So a full game shows you can balance the available resources of the machine to get all the necessary parts in (art, sound, music, AI, collisions etc).
Once you have the full game then by all means add demos of specific technology. Thay will add to your breadth of experience.
Dan Marchant
Obscure Productions
The games can be small and they can be clones. What is important is that you have done a whole game and got it into a robust, easy to use, bug free state. It is the finishing that is important (and the quality of the finish) because you have proved that you can get through the entire development cycle. The reason why demos on their own are no good is that it is possible to do a great demo that could never be turned into a game (uses too much CPU time etc etc). So a full game shows you can balance the available resources of the machine to get all the necessary parts in (art, sound, music, AI, collisions etc).
Once you have the full game then by all means add demos of specific technology. Thay will add to your breadth of experience.
Dan Marchant
Obscure Productions
The games don''t have to be original since you''re getting hired as a programmer, not a designer. All they care about is how well you can program.
Author
Hey guys, thanks again for all the awesome info! You gave me some really good ideas on what to aim for!
Raj
Raj
Developing full games sure takes time and efforts and if you want to make career in Game Development then I''ll suggest you to make FULL GAMES, else if you just want to get picked up by any software company to do Database Programming then you can continue with demos or any other small software.
Also you can try freelancing sites on the net. There are some good projets on those sites.
Anyway....whatever you do, do it best.
Best of Luck.
Harish Save.
http://www.harishsave.com
Also you can try freelancing sites on the net. There are some good projets on those sites.
Anyway....whatever you do, do it best.
Best of Luck.
Harish Save.
http://www.harishsave.com
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