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« on: October 11, 2005, 04:01:53 pm »
I think that was a very good rundown of some awesome points... and forgive me for not being able to join in on this conversation/thread sooner. It turns out that ive been through a good bit of turmoil in just a short amount of time so ive gotten a good chance to see some of the dirtier sides of the industry. So in addition to all of FS's great points, i would like to take this opportunity to add some of my own awares.
Know what you're getting yourself into(First Job in the industry): Silly little suggestion, but it is of awful importance. Let us say that you are a pixel artist and you've found a very promising job posting either through a friend/colleague, or a post via gaming site (gamasutra.com, et all). Youve read their 'sell' on the job description, and you couldnt be more thrilled with how good things sound! This job description is the furthest thing away from a summary of 'just how well off' a company is doing.... also you could be given the complete wrong idea by what kindof work is involved. For instance, you read a job description summary and it sounds something like:
" Come work at our luxurious offices in sunny [enter state here] and get a chance to put all your creative talents towards some great AAA titles we have in development, we offer great competitive salaries and benefits..." and such and so forth.
My first point is this. Know what you want to be doing(work wise). its very possible that this AAA title is something youre not even initially signed onto if you get the job, and after youre hired you find out its of a genre that you dont enjoy working on or something like that. The interview process for a job is a great opportunity to find out exactly whats going on behind the scenes, behind the facade of the great company thats doing great things. Ask what projects specifically are going on, past present and future. Get a well rounded idea of what kindof business model the company works under (Are they an external solution of some other publisher/developer? or do they make their own licenses/ip?) as well as the type of games and clients they work on/with. Its really easy for the first time working in the industry to come in with the attitude that 'youll work on anything', but after you work on 3 barbie titles in a row (no offense DMax if youre reading, hehe), you might get really bored with it and lose the joy in working. If you like working on RPG's and platformers, make sure the projects they want to put you on arent educational games or puzzle games. Learning a company's past and future game projects/prospects is a great glimpse into what kindof work you're going to be getting yourself into. Some random other considerations you might want to take in... does this luxurious office reside in a luxurious city where cost of living is very high? if so, and this is not reflected in your salary, youre putting yourself at a big disadvantage already. What are the hours? What compensation do you have for any extra time put in? (if youre new to the industry, you may be surprised ... in this industry, youre expected to put in long hours and dont usually get a thing extra for putting in a 60 hour week instead of a 40 hour week.)
Know the company you're working for: Sounds similar to the previous point, and I admit it does tie in, but this is important with any job really... LEARN THE COMPANY HISTORY. How is it doing financially? Who are the board of directors and the CEO? do they have any outstanding reputations? (good or bad)... if you can find out their names which are often published somewhere on the company site, it isnt hard to do a quick background check on them thanks to google. One thing about companies in the game industry is that there are new aspiring teams popping up every day. Many developers are springing up thanks to new diverse hardware, and are therefore relatively new, young companies. The chances that youll be joining a startup company (especially in wireless/handheld sectors) is quite high. KNOW THE RISKS, and this goes hand in hand with FS's point to NEVER WORK WITHOUT A CONTRACT. Ive seen this happen very recently... teams of guys all work on something where they hope that some big investor will pull through to help them out, but it never happens, and because they have no CONTRACT or terms of employment, they're technically unemployed workers volunteering their time towards a common effort (even though its possible these guys might THINk that they are being 'employed'.) Also, make sure the company you wish to join is in good financial standing. Do a background check on their projects... did they have any big flops/failures recently? did they waste a bunch of much needed cash on development for a product that never made it to shelves? These kinds of risks hit hard when they fail, and its not as uncommon for a younger company to undergo such practices. Make sure the company you work for is a financially sound institution that has enough cashflow to pay bankroll each month. Otherwise its quite possible that your jumping aboard a sinking ship, so to speak (and yes, this has also happened to myself within the past year).
Know the Industry: "We're in business to make money...": Yep, just like any other company in any other industry in existence, companies in the entertainment industry exist to MAKE MONEY. what does this mean? It means that larger companies became large or are staying large because they are in business to make money, NOT because they want to make games. Understand that making games is a means to an end to make money, and therefore MANY decisions regarding a game's development , despite its effect on a game, are made with the interest/intentions of MAKING (or in some cases, saving) MONEY. Why is this such a big deal? Because it is in stark contrast to why the developers are working in the industry. These people want to make the games, they want to put their heart and soul and creativity into a product no matter what the cost, and are most likely not in this industry for the money (because anyone will tell you youre in the wrong industry if youre looking to get rich, heheh).
Lets say youre working on a game and its been in development for some time, but as always, production is taking longer than scheduled (and this is a very common case), and certain 'sacrifices' have to be made that might affect what youre working on. Naturally youre pissed because you know that its really going to hurt the game's overall experience and youre emphatically opposed to cutting it out. Heres the bottom line. It doesnt matter. If the game doesnt make it on the shelf because youre trying to add some fancy effects, then all is lost. No company in the industry can afford to miss ship dates, and most (unless the game has a lot of hype behind it) will ship despite the game's flaws. If this were not the case, then every game ever made would probably get a very good rating in magazines... but thats not the case because that is not how BUSINESS works.
If i could give any advice to anyone caught in this situation is the following: dont hold it against the industry. Too many developers out there are completely 'jaded' because theyve seen things fall to shit so many times they wonder how an industry exists at all. There are a lot of problems and misunderstandings that happen throughout development in any team/company. A lot of them are crippling to a game. Just remember youre being paid to do your job as best as you can, and if there is a huge serious problem where a decision is made which is impeding you from doing your job as best as you can, bring it up in a politically appropriate way. If you bring it up the wrong way, and make enemies, it could very well haunt you for a long time.
I could probably think of a few more, this should be fine for now though, ill amend this if i can think of anything to add at a later date. other than that, thanks for reading and i hope these additional points can help point out some potential pitfalls so the impact of them can at least be softened by forewarning.
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. ooooh the weather out side is fright ful, but my giiiift is sooo delightful... <3. cant wait to see all the submissions this year. Merry xmas and stuff. 
. First off, i really dont want to scare anyone off from the industry because in all honesty there arent too many careers out there that could be more rewarding when things are going well, the benefits are awesome, the work in general is much more exciting than most other jobs, granted you like doing your job to begin with. I would just like to point out that what crab2 points out is very true. In defense of my positions previously stated, i was pointing out things to be aware/careful of, and was not so much concerned about pointing out the great cool exciting things of the industry (i mean look at the title of the thread 
) ... But Crab2 has a really good point... you cant make good money putting out constant crap games. Huge License AAA Titles or titles which are meant to showcase new hardware and such (like Gears of War, Halo x, Ninja Gaiden Black, Final Fantasy XIIIIXIXIXI, etc) are all things that you can count on being great games, and the publishers/developers cant afford to push such titles out and have them not live up to their expectations... but a realist has to understand that this is the pinnacle opportunity in the industry. You cant put yourself into such a position as a developer unless you're a proven developer (which means youve been through your fair share of 'get the titles out the door on schedule' projects)... and then when positions come available to work on those titles, they're searching for the absolute top talent they can find that are available at the time. So while its true, there are many companies out there making great games, they also carry bread and butter licenses which cant afford to falter, or else the value of their hard earned IP falls through the floor, plus they can afford the development costs to ensure such quality. It should just be noted that such a thing is not standard in the industry, its a rather priviledged position to be in. Also, it should be said there are companies out there that are more envisionary than just 'make money', and they may have some financial means to back that up... but unless theyve inherited millions, in order to officially call your operations a 'business', you have to turn a profit so many years in your first 5, and if youre not making a dime in 5 years chances are youre not going to last. ( 2 years is a realistic expectation to turn a team around into something that will break even and begin to make profit). Also, there are smaller platforms (wireless) where cost of development is significantly less, but even then your priority is to pump those babies out quick and with quality so that A. your idea isnt beaten to the marketplace, and B. you have more games making revenue (as this means that cash isnt initially available to you from such games). 
but yay!
