LAZY DESIGNER
by
Brent Knowles
Smashwords Edition
#
PUBLISHED BY:
Brent Knowles on Smashwords
LAZY DESIGNER Copyright 2011 by Brent Knowles
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License Notes
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Preface
Introduction
If you love building videogames and aspire towards a career in videogame development I can relate. I spent my childhood writing stories, creating imaginary worlds and building games but never thought a career in the industry would be possible. It just seemed too impossible.
I was wrong.
What to Expect
I had the pleasure of spending a decade working on top rated role-playing games with the games developer BioWare. I would like to share that experience with you.
Who is this book for?
This book is geared primarily towards those looking to start a career in the games industry. Specifically the book is about obtaining a design position (writer, level designer, game system designer) but the text should be of use to anyone entering the industry.
Practical advice on how to enter the industry leads into an exploration of what a bright and shiny new employee might expect in their early years in the games industry.
Later books will focus on design specializations, improving quality assurance, becoming a manager and other facets that I believe will be of more value to industry veterans.
This is not a book with any tricks or magical techniques that will make you a better videogame developer. I am a practical designer and in my time with BioWare I built high quality video games in reasonable time frames and with reasonable resources. This is not a design book. It is a book about becoming a capable designer and an asset to your team and to the company.
I will not go into great detail on how to design a game, the components used to build games, how game engines work, or even how to develop an emotionally engaging storyline from start to finish.
To be blunt I learned all those skills after I already had started employment with BioWare. Certainly my fiction writing and gaming experiences had prepared me with the basic skills I needed but I was a raw recruit.
I have since attended lectures and read several manuals on various design philosophies (some of which are referenced at the end of this book) and expanded my skills. But my practical work methodology and never-ending eagerness to learn is why I was constantly given new responsibilities early in my career and why I became a lead designer not long after starting work with BioWare.
There are no shortcuts when creating great games but you can improve your own skills by understanding how others, like myself, solved common problems in game development.
This book begins with a chapter on to how best prepare yourself for a videogame development career and how to find that first job. The next two chapters explore improving your skills and tackling the roadblocks you will encounter. After a discussion on how to design fun frustrations for players I end with a list of links to online references I have found useful in my own career.After reading this book you will know how to increase your chances of getting an interview, obtaining the job you want and excelling at the tasks given you.
I encourage you to read other design books, to master the nuts and bolts of gameplay and story and world-building. Those are important. But without a strong work ethic and the desire and ability to improve yourself and your project, you will not have the opportunity to put those other skills to the test.
What is a Game
At this point in most books of this nature the author usually writes a lengthly discussion of what a game is and offers some descriptions. Because there are many great books already covering that topic, I will not do so in any great detail.
Personally I think a videogame should have choices --interesting and entertaining choices and consequences for those choices. Most choices should influence the game's narrative. But not all. Some choices should simply be amusing or should help the player gain ownership of the game world they are experiencing.
About the Lazy Designer series
Throughout this work I'll make reference to other books in the Lazy Designer series. This is only the first book of what will eventually be five titles, each exploring a subset of the game development experience, mirroring my own career from new employee to specialist to manager. Later books will give advice on how to improve design skills, improve communication and balance work in life... all things I had to do as I moved onto my second project, the Neverwinter Nights franchise. Eventually, the final books will delve into my experiences as a design manager -- my successes and my mistakes.Before we start delving into content I would like to make a couple points clear.
Feedback. I thrive on feedback. Please let me know when you find mistakes. My Contact Page has a variety of methods to reach me. I'm eager to know if there are topics you would like to see covered in later books, discussed on my blog, or even added to a later edition of this book. I want this to be a cooperative process where I'm learning as much as you.
You, the Reader. I will often delve into topics of a higher level than a new employee needs to know. I do this because this is what I am familiar with. For most of my career I was a manager. I also do it because I think it helps prepare you for when you yourself might be leading teams. Even if that is not something you aspire towards it might help you understand the influence behind the decisions that your manager makes.
Buyer Beware. Most of the content in this book is available free at my website www.brentknowles.com, in the form of blog posts I made over the past few years though it has been rewritten and reorganized here.
Additionally, as mentioned previously, this is the first of a series of books. When later books are released this book's price will be reduced and perhaps eventually be set to free.I'm telling this to you now to avoid later disappointments. If you would rather not pay anything for this book its price will probably be reduced in the future. That said, I earn my living from freelance writing and if I do not have enough sales to justify distributing the later sections I will focus my attention on writing fiction instead. (If you are so inclined I have several short stories, including a Writers of the Future winning story, available online... check my bibliography for details.)
Why Lazy?
I believe in enhancing the work experience, no matter the task I am engaged in.
There is a time for designers to roll up their sleeves and just get the work done but when possible I think it is important that designers understand how valuable their time is. Should you waste days doing a task that could be automated and completed in a couple minutes? Doesn't it make more sense to devote your time to more creative tasks?
I believe in getting tools and procedures in place so that design effort is spent in the right way -- making the game entertaining. In that regard I am lazy. I don't want to do the hard, boring work. I want to work hard at the fun stuff.
Conventions Used in this Book
Anecdotes
Occasional anecdotes, generally from my time at BioWare, will appear formatted like this.
Notes
Important points clarifying the preceding text will be shown like this.
Reference
References to other chapters will be with capitalized. For example, if you would like to read more about designing cyborg assistants, please consult CHAPTER 7.
CHAPTER 1 - Starting Your Career
A career in game development is an appealing prospect to anybody who grew up playing videogames. What else could be more satisfying? I still fondly remember my youth and staying up late playing games with friends -- discovering new worlds and characters and being astonished as the technology improved and the game experience with it. I wanted to be part of that.
In this chapter I will explore how you can prepare yourself for such a career and then discuss what you should consider as you start applying for work in the videogames industry.
How to Prepare for a Career in the Games Industry
Caution! Danger Ahead!
Before proceeding you need to decide if game development is the right choice for you. Games are fun to play but challenging and demanding to build. Sixty hour work weeks are not uncommon; some studios ask for much more than this. Many studios pay well but are located in cities that are very expensive to live in.
Do your homework on companies you think you would like to work for, especially if you have a family and/or will have to relocate. Some companies have online groups where past employees tend to congregate, you might want to check those out and ask questions.
Watch out for bitter apples... after leaving a company former employees can tend to focus on the unpleasant experiences. They still may have valuable advice to offer you but may package it in negativity.
Additionally even at the best studios all designers need to be prepared to see their hard work cut. Repeatedly. Changing technology and publisher demands combined with inexperienced managers makes project management more of an art than a science. Often development teams bite off more than they can chew... and some of that content will be spit back out. It is incredibly disheartening to see the dialog you wrote or the level you scripted cut after you've put in hundreds of hours of work on it.
Understand What You Enjoy
If you have weighed the personal costs of a career in game development and are still committed to pursuing it the next step is developing an understanding of why you want to build games. This might seem trivial or even silly but it is useful for a variety of reasons:
Job Interviews You will be asked "why do you want to work in the games industry?" or, more specifically, "why do you want to work for us?".
Your Specialization Understanding what you enjoy best about games helps you focus on developing skills in that area. Whether it be puzzle design, game audio, cinematics, graphics programming... whatever... play around with a variety of game development tools. What tasks do you enjoy doing? Which would you prefer to avoid? This will help you figure out what your role in a company might be (in CHAPTER 2, I list some typical design positions).
What Do You Like?
To understand your likes and dislikes, it is worthwhile to think about some of the recent games you played, and maybe some more distant titles from your past.
If I were to do this exercise, I might write the following:
The games I enjoy are 'balanced' -- that is, they have story, exploration, rule system progression, and engaging combat. When a game focuses too much attention on one or two elements, at the expense of the others, I lose interest.
I want fun, I want to be surprised; I love stumbling across something in a game I was not expecting. I remember an old adventure game from the 90s before games regularly had spoken (voice recorded) dialog and when my avatar walked into a bar there was a song playing with actual lyrics. That blew my mind. I enjoy games that have me exploring an expansive world that feels like it could be real. This does not mean that it has to be real (NPCs do not actually need jobs or day-night routines or things like that) but it does mean the designers should be careful not to purposefully destroy the illusion of reality. Having a day-night cycle (wherein the sun actually rises and sets) and having non-player characters (NPCS) standing around doing nothing destroys the illusion. In a game with no day night cycle I can handle them standing around, I just imagine that I'm always arriving to the area during the day when they would be standing there. It is about perspective.
So I enjoy story and exploration and rules systems. Role-playing games (RPGs) tend to have a good mix of those three elements, which, not surprisingly is why they are one of my favorite styles of game to play. I also enjoy real time strategy games (RTSs) because they usually have reasonable exploration and strong rules system -- though rarely an engaging story.
Why Do You Want to Build?
I have always created content for others. It is what I do. I like building things with my imagination. I also like having an audience.
Developing videogames with BioWare was a dream come true. A lot of that was because I was creating product... a physical entity that could be seen on a store shelf by a customer and then picked up, carried to a counter and purchased. I loved walking through the aisles with friends and pointing out the titles I had worked on. I did not do this to be arrogant... I did it because I was proud of the effort that had been poured into building the product and the sacrifices every member of the team had to make to build the best possible experience.
Think about that. Will building videogames make you proud? Will you be satisfied making games? When I joined BioWare I had a more significant salary offer on the table... a straight up programming job building virtual cogs in a massive software enterprise. There would have been customers but never a product. It was an easy decision for me. I wanted to build things that people wanted. I wanted to build a product.
Do you?
Once you understand what you like to play and why you want to build games of your own, start enhancing your game design skills.
Education
Before I continue I should make a note about education requirements. This will vary but I seldom see job postings asking for less than a Bachelors degree (back in the late 90s, when I was hired at BioWare the design posting I applied to required a Bachelors of Computing Science).
In a small startup hiring requirements are more flexible but once a company becomes relatively well known the bachelors degree becomes a mandatory requirement, even in fields such as design where there is not an official or stated education path. Think of the bachelors degree as a filter -- the exact degree did not generally matter, simply knowing that the potential employee was able to complete four years of college or university helps lighten a stack of applications. I am certain we missed quality designers but the truth is that BioWare seldom lacked for applicants. It is up to the aspiring designer to ensure that they give themselves the best chance at being looked at. I think you need a bachelors degree to have that chance now, in the industry.
Many specializations in game development require even higher levels of education, though this is more common in other departments such as programming where it was not uncommon to hire masters level or doctorate level employees for specialized tasks such as graphics programming or artificial intelligence.
Take a look at job postings and see what they are asking for, in regards to the positions you covet. This will help guide your career preparation. Beyond just educational requirements see what additional materials applicants are being asked to submit. Supplying demos or mods (levels you have built for existing games) is a common requirement.
When I originally applied to BioWare they wanted technical skills and writing ability. So, along with my resume I sent several stories. One of these stories was later merged into an existing plot for Baldur's Gate 2!
I should make a quick comment about game design schools (these are dedicated facilities providing degrees focusing on game development). At one time I was actively against them. I thought they were too expensive and too specialized. I think the courses themselves have improved over time and my stance on them is more neutral. I still think, for the money being asked, that it makes more sense for a prospective designer to earn a degree in Computing Science... you will gain most of the skills you need to enter the industry and you have a more general purpose degree (which means you can support yourself while hunting down your desired game development career).
Teaching Yourself
No matter the educational path you have taken all designers need to enhance their skills. The best way to do this is to build games. And no, that does not mean you have to start your own game studio. The two best ways to hone your skills are to modify existing games and to build small games.
Modding and building games will require a personal computer. It is assumed you have one, even if you intend to develop games for consoles or mobile devices, the development platforms require a personal computer, and obviously, any career in game development requires knowledge of how to use a computer and the standard tools on them.
If you intend to work with a company that specializes in building apps for iPhones and iPads, you will have to buy a MacOS computer as the development environment for those devices requires it.
Modding
Find games that ship with toolsets and try building maps and short scenarios. In most cases the toolset is a version of the same tool that the designers who built the game used, although usually with fewer features. Learning how to use the toolset will help prepare you to use the kinds of tools you might use in your career.
I'm biased but I think the Neverwinter Nights toolset is the ideal game development learning platform. It allows you to build terrain, write dialog, and learn basic scripting (via a simplified programming language). There are many tutorials online for Neverwinter Nights and because you are exposed to all the major game development disciplines you receive a mini course in building a full game whenever you use it.
Building It Small
When you are ready to try to build a stand-alone game of your own, start small. I suggest trying to make a simple Flash or HTML5 game or an iPhone/iPad game.
It might seem daunting but there are numerous tutorials available online. I would suggest looking at those tutorials and learning how to modify the example code to achieve the results you want.
A year ago I messed around with Flash, not knowing anything about it and found a tutorial that walked me through the basics. (The 3rd part of the series is here: Flash tutorial). In Flash (using this and the other tutorials on that site) I did my own art and programming and created a multi-level word-hunting game for my kids. Not something I would show off but I learned the basic skills required to construct moderately complicated Flash games.
You might also look at books that delve into the experience in more detail, such as titles focused on iPhone game development. Check out Amazon and see what is available but for a beginner the tutorials are more than sufficient.
The key is to start small, adding bits of gameplay at a time. Get basic features working before introducing complications. I would generally start by adding movement, then boundaries (walls), then other features.
If you enjoy building your own game and think you have created a fun and engaging experience you might consider selling it on your own. While I encourage this you should be aware that there are many additional details to worry about (testing, translation, deployment, and such). Here books or discussions by experts who have done this on their own became even more useful. The links section at the end of this book has a few sites that may be of interest to you.
Some of these advanced topics will also be discussed in later books in the Lazy Designer series.
Learning Technical Skills
It does not matter what role you want to play for a game developer -- storyboard artist, animator, writer, or producer -- honing your technical skills makes you more valuable.
You, like most applicants I encountered, probably have the vision of a dream position. For most designers it was to be either the lead designer -- setting out the vision and assembling the major building blocks for the game being built -- or the lead writer who sculpts the game world and narrative. These are great goals to aspire towards and it is important to build skills leading towards them yet too many applicants are so focused on landing the dream position that they miss numerous other opportunities that would help get their foot in the door.
Want to be a storyboard artist? This is a prestigious position and it is tough to land that position, especially with an established developer but if the aspiring storyboard artist learned how to make icons and even better learned <em>tricks</em> to create them faster than anyone else that artist's value is going to increase.
They might not be able to start as a concept artist but getting hired is the first, not the final step, in their game industry career.
Likewise it is important for a designer, despite an intended specialization, to be well rounded. Having strong technical skills will allow a designer to be able to tackle new and unfamiliar tasks, thoroughly and efficiently.
Write Code A design scripter has to take dialog, locations, creatures and make them all function together, generally through the use of a pseudo programming language known as a scripting language. So, knowing how to program is essential to scripters. In the art department there are technical artists who are experts at exporting and converting art data between various formats. In the quality testing department there are testers who write testing tools, build automated tests and so on. Every department benefits from having individuals who are capable at writing software.
Learn Excel Being able to create a simple spreadsheet on demand is often useful, whether it is to organize the files you have to deliver by month's end, to build a mini-schedule for your sub department, or to track resource usage.
Database Designer If you can, learn how to use simple databases. More powerful than spreadsheets, databases can be of significant benefit when storing gameplay data, user feedback, locations and status of art files. Databases allow the proficient user to export that data into any format that teammates or management might need. They can be used to automate documentation or reporting gameplay concerns.
Draw! While not really a technical skill, being able to make simple sketches and drawings can help you communicate. Additionally, design documents benefit when the text is broken up with images so communicating visually is a worthwhile skill to enhance. If you, like me, have absolutely no drawing skill consider using sketching or flowcharting software, which will assist you in creating quality images.
Over the years I worked at BioWare as a designer I learned how to build art models, automate Word documentation, create databases, PHP & MySQL coding, and advanced Excel trickery. I worked with numerous asset and bug tracking packages, and built prototype tools in a variety of programming languages. Being flexible and willing to learn new skills -- and demonstrating that you have done this previously, before the job interview -- helps nudge your potential employer into employing you.
Becoming a Writer
Because the game writer's career is the one aspect of game development that I'm asked to describe most often I will focus more attention on it here than I will other positions. For the non-writers among you some of the advice that follows, such as the suggestions for making contacts with existing game writers, apply to any other position you might be considering.
First, let me be clear: there is no secret trick to break into a game company as a writer. As I mentioned earlier being skilled at other things is vital. If you are hired you can prove your competence as a writer later. Few game companies hire writers. Many use freelance writers, under temporary contracts. The stable game writing career with benefits, free breakfasts, and a sports cars is a rare beast.
I do not know much about freelance game writing, as I have never done that nor have I worked with a freelance writer. I will focus my discussion on the staff writer, a position I am familiar with.
The On-The-Staff Writer
This is a writer who is a standard employee of a videogame company with all the perks (and disadvantages) that entails. As I mentioned above there are few companies that offer this position... most writing in most companies is done by the system/level designers, or freelance writers.
BioWare is an exception. I do not know how many writers BioWare employs now but counting all of its studios I would guess that they employ about twenty full-time writers. I'm biased but I still think this is the best studio for a video game writer to try to write for. Haunting their job openings page is your best bet to keep an eye out for writing positions.
At BioWare several of the early writers, the ones I worked with on Baldur's Gate 2, Neverwinter Nights, Jade Empire, and Dragon Age, came with backgrounds in writing for role-playing games. Others had published short stories or novels. There is no single key to why some writers stayed with the company and others left. Writing non-linear narrative is demanding and even experienced novelists struggled with changing their writing style to handle all the various ways that a player, who has control over the story, can thwart their story-telling attempts.
Basically storytellers who could adapt their writing to meet the demands of non-linear narrative thrived at BioWare.
I should also mention that the writers at BioWare, while considered full-time writers, also performed other design tasks but I think most of them, now, primarily design levels and write.
Other Writing Opportunities
Scan the Credits
One way to find game writing jobs is to scan the credits of games that have decent stories and see who is credited as writer. If there's more than one writer it is likely that the company has at least some writers on staff. After getting a couple names google them and see if you can find out more about them! Yes that's stalking, but it is all in a good cause -- getting you a job. If the writer appears to be actually working at a particular company (instead of freelancing) learn more about the company, the games they make, and whether they are hiring or not.
Keep in mind that a first-person shooter studio has little need for writers compared with an ambitious 200 hour role-playing game with eight hundred thousand words of dialog.
For example, these are the writing credits for Dragon Age: Origins (taken from MobyGames)
Lead Writer
David Gaider
Writers
Ferret Baudoin, Sheryl Chee, Daniel Erickson, Jennifer Brandes Hepler, Mary Kirby, Lukas Kristjanson, Jay Turner
Credit surfing might not be an overly productive method of determining writers in a company because many companies do not seem to label writers as such. I assumed Bethesda (Fallout 3, Oblivion) and Obsidian had on-staff writers but I did not see writers mentioned in the credits! This is likely because the game designers do the writing in addition to the game design at those companies.
Research Conventions
There are several video game conventions. Do not bother attending them unless you can afford to but do scan their events. Look for panels concerning Storytelling or Writing and find out the names of the presenters. Figure out the games they worked on and check their websites. Maybe even toss an e-mail or two their way and ask about their careers; you'll probably find a willing correspondent. I officially give you permission to contact any writer in the industry.
This is the link to the schedule for the Game Developer's Conference. Also look for fiction, comic or role-playing game conventions, they will occasionally bring in guest speakers from the video game industry. Follow one around and pester them with questions.
Forums -- Become Part of the Community
Visit video game forums and start interacting with the developers there. Learn to differentiate the various design positions and build relationships. It can help you down the road and following the discussions will give you a better idea of who does what.
Write Your Own!
Anybody considering writing dialog for video games needs to play around with the existing tools (such as the Neverwinter Nights/Dragon Age dialog editors) and examine how dialog is constructed.
Got Something Else To Offer?
Again, I want to reiterate that if you would like to write, or be involved in the story creation on a video game consider getting your foot in the door in another position. A reasonable foot-in-the-door might be as a technical designer/scripter. Take on additional writing tasks when they present themselves and you'll find yourself doing more writing down the road. If not just sneak text into the game... the managers love that.
Expect the road to a career in game development to be a rocky one. Once you have mastered the skills you need and have narrowed down your list of potential companies to work for you will have to go about the actual nuts and bolts of applying for the job.
The Job Search
The Resume
Do not inflate your resume. Do not exaggerate your past duties. I should not have to say that, but here I am, saying it. Be honest but descriptive. What skills would you bring to the company? If you are relatively inexperienced being good at a variety of tasks will increase your chances of being hired.
The Cover Letter
You can find lots of general advice online about how to compose a cover letter. Here is some specific advice in regards to what I liked to see:
You Play Games Should be clear that you are a gamer and better yet, that you've played the games this developer has made. Specific examples work better than "I've played games since I was two. Used to drive my mom nuts."
Focus on skills What do you bring to the company and what do you value about what the company does: "I am an accomplished writer but desire to improve my understanding of non-linear story design and your company seems to be kicking butt at that."
Get your terminology right Look at job postings online to see what they call the various specialties. Calling yourself a writer might be better than saying "word monkey", for example.
This is not a chat line Avoid using writing shortcuts that you might use when posting an update to your Facebook status. Use proper writing. Does not have to be an essay but it should be somewhat formal. No emoticons.
Do not make it obvious you are only using them You might think that working for Developer XYZ is a great stepping stone for your career. Do not say that. No one wants to think of themselves as a stepping stone.
Do not beg Do not beg for the job. Do not talk about your sick kitten.
Do not be arrogant Do not go overboard on the other extreme and make it seem as if that developer is going to go bankrupt if they do not hire you. Telling a potential employer that "only an idiot would pass up the chance to hire me" is probably a bad idea. Just saying.
Some of my examples above might seem silly but when hiring for BioWare I saw all of the above at one time or another.
The Portfolio
Most design positions will ask (or should ask) for a demo of some kind. Basically a game or a mod. Look at their job posting and see what they are asking for and when possible build a game in the tools they want you to.
The lighter your resume the better your portfolio should be -- a writer should have great writing samples, a technical designer should have games or mods of existing games. Even if they do not ask for a game demo consider submitting one to them once you are at the phone interview phase of the process (especially if you feel you have built something compelling). I hired many designers based on seeing what they were able to create, not because of what they wrote in their resume or said in the interview.
At BioWare we used to ask for submission of adventures built using the Neverwinter Nights toolset. Occasionally we received submissions built with other platforms... when possible we viewed these but if we did not have easy access to them it would take us longer to review them.
Applying
Use the appropriate application process as outlined on the company's website. Blind e-mailing a generic cover letter/portfolio to 10000 companies will result in 9999 complete ignores (I would like to think at least one company would give a reply of some sort).
The Interview
Interviews, whether by phone or in person, can be nerve wracking (both for the interviewee and the interviewer!) Again, instead of being general, I'll be specific about what I liked to see when hiring.
Engaged Do not dominate the conversation, it is for the interviewer to lead it, but do try to ask your own questions. Get clarifications on what the position would entail.
Answer the Question Do not dodge an uncomfortable question. I would rather an honest answer of "no, I have no experience with that" especially if followed up with "but I have learned and excelled at using something similar. I'm sure I could pick it up."
What do you hate? I alway asked interviewees to dissect a level in an existing title and explain how it could be improved. This is a good question to prepare for.
Again, Don't be Arrogant When answering a question about what you might improve in an existing game, do not insult the designers who worked on the title. They might be the ones interviewing you. But you should give an honest criticism.
Another question to prepare for, which I have had asked of me during interviews and which I asked myself on many occasions is "What mistake did you make on the job?" This is a hard question to answer because nobody wants to admit to making mistakes. But admitting to the mistake and maybe illuminating how you had learned from the mistake is important.
Here's the answer I would give.
One of my faults as a designer was that I did not embrace the concept of digital distribution (selling software over the Web, instead of in a retail package) readily enough. Why I was not that interested in selling games, or game add-ons, digitally has much to do with my earlier discussion about wanting to build product... a physical thing that customers could purchase.
This was not because I did not understand the appeal of being able to purchase and download software digitally. It was because digital distribution did not appeal to me as a creator! I wanted to create a product. Even though for some it seems bizarre to think of software as a physical entity, it was, when I started in the industry. It had a box and sometimes even maps and other goodies inside it. So I was reluctant to push for digital distribution.
I was in a position with a fair deal of influence on others and my lack of interest in digital distribution probably had some effect on others. Had I been more positively favored towards it, earlier incorporation of digital distribution features probably would have occurred on some titles.
My reluctance was a mistake. I needed to reevaluate what I considered a product... a game does not need a box and a cloth map to be a product. The product is not diminished by lacking physicality. It is even enhanced, especially if the potential audience grows larger.
As a writer I love physical books. There are magazines I want to see my stories appear in. I want to be able to point those magazines out to friends when I am in a store. When my novels are published I want to do the same thing.
But my experience with digital distribution has taught me to examine where traditional publishing is heading. By the time I have a publishing contract... will there be bookstores? Or only the 'big name authors' carving out space in the Walmarts and such of the world? My friends and family seem more excited now when I tell them a story reprint of mine is able to be downloaded onto the Kindle or Sony Reader or Kobo. They are less excited by the prospect of a print magazine sale that is difficult for them to obtain.
So, as a writer, I had to strongly contemplate publishing electronically, to reach the audience I wanted and to have the control I wanted over my work.
Hence, this eBook.
What Not To Do
I will end this chapter with a caveat. Earlier I suggested contacting an expert in the field you want to become a part of. Keep in mind that just because a designer out there is willing to pass some advice to you does not mean that you should send them your unfinished storyline ideas, game design documents, or other material.
This has happened to me several times and it always creates an uncomfortable situation. I cannot read other people's work or help them publish it. I do not have the time and I do not want to be involved in a legal dispute later (i.e., if someone feels I stole their idea). So, please do not do this to anybody else!
Here's a bit more of an elaboration.
Who Makes a Game?
Games are created by dozens, if not hundreds of people. Freelance writers are hired by some companies to write game scripts but usually only after having proven themselves, either in the game industry or in movies or television or books... even these writers would generally be fleshing out someone else's vision. Not their own. Even after years with BioWare it would have been incredibly unlikely for me to be able to make my game. While I could influence the direction of games being made the higher level design constraints were set in place by employees above me.
If you truly feel you have the next great game idea your best option would be to found your own gaming company (or join a relatively new company).
Here's a list of other suggestions that might help you realize your vision:
Form a squad Join a gaming community, either one near you or one online. Meet with like-minded developers. You might find people who are willing to volunteer their time to help you build your game, especially if you have skills that you can offer in exchange.
Publish it Try publishing your game script idea as a novella (look at www.duotrope.com and other writing market sites for places to sell stories).
Start 'er up Look for a new gaming developer that is actively hiring, especially if you have other skills that might get your foot in the door. Once you've worked for them a bit start talking about your script... if they are a really new company and floundering to create that first great project your script might be what they need. (Probably best not to mention your script in the interview unless you have managed to have it published elsewhere first.)
How about a movie? There are creative enthusiasts out there who make short movies using game animation tools. You will not make any money from this but it might be satisfying to collaborate with someone and see your script turned into real animation. Here's an article about it machinima and with some Internet sleuthing you should be able to track down the sites hosting these videos.
Summary
I realize that some of this is discouraging. The path to videogame developer stardom is tangled and at times difficult to traverse. I was discouraged starting out. As a veteran of the industry though I can say it was worth it.
I started work with BioWare in August 1999. My first day was especially memorable since it never happened.
I was all nervous and excited and took my hour long commute across the city (never had a vehicle back then) to get to work and…
...it was closed. See, August in Alberta, Canada gives us a nice little holiday and that happened to coincide with my first day of work. The doors were all locked up, I had no way to get in. I had a couple initial thoughts.
Maybe they had not actually hired me. It was a joke and everyone was behind those locked doors, big smiles on their faces. Or maybe BioWare had shut down. After all they had only put out two games to this point (Baldur’s Gate and Shattered Steel). Maybe they were now out of business and all the smiles and handshaking during the interview had been the employees putting on brave faces aboard a sinking ship.
In either case I was kicking myself for declining a higher paying programming position with another software company. Using a pay phone (yes, those used to exist at one time) I called the office.
Ring. Ring. Ring.
Finally, an answer. It was the art director of an unannounced project -- Neverwinter Nights -- and he told me nobody else was at work, to go home, and to come back the next day.
So I did.
CHAPTER 2 - Being Better
Being a designer is the best job in the world. Designers bring the fun, and what could be better than that?
Congratulations! You got the job.
Now get to work!
Getting hired is merely the first step. How your career develops will largely be dictated by your performance. There will be factors outside your control -- such as projects being canceled -- but for the most part your ability to complete tasks to quality, communicate effectively with your superiors and your peers in other departments, and to be accurate and honest with your progress, will be the measure of your career in making videogames.
I will start with a discussion of what you might expect in your work environment and then explain how you can improve your on the job performance. The final section of this chapter will address how to test your game, deliver feedback and receive feedback.
Obviously, each potential game development position will have varying expectations but these sections should supply you with general guidelines to assist you in constructing the career you want.
What to Expect
Training
In all likelihood you will receive some training before actually assuming any responsibilities. The extent of the training will vary on the maturity of the company, the size of the team, what current deadlines the team is under, and whether there is anybody around to do the actual training.
At its best training will include one-on-one time with an experienced designer, going over the tools and being shown examples of what your day to day duties will be, how task tracking systems work, and the general procedures and operation of the company. You will have time, under guidance, to acquaint yourself with the tools and will likely develop some throwaway content to develop your skills.
That would be an ideal and fertile training ground. More likely, you will be placed in front of a computer in a crowded office (or worse, in a closet by yourself) and given a task list.
No matter the quality of your training you will only get out of it what you put into it.
If training consists of being thrown at the tools and told to play for a couple days with no additional feedback, then do your best. Talk to other developers, (even if only on their lunch break because they are too busy otherwise). Figure out the tips and tricks. Hunt the company's intranet for a tutorial... has another employee recorded video of aspects of the development process relevant to you? Is there an internal wiki? Try to dig up project specific documentation too -- relevant design documents, vision documents, marketing documents? This acquaints you with the project and its direction; useful information for when you start tackling tasks.
As well, write down what you learn and post it to an appropriate place in the company's documentation system. If you have created something useful let the relevant folks know (human resources department and management). They may not have realized that there is a void in their training process and some constructive nudging could lead towards a better training process.
Eventually you will migrate out of training and into actual game development. In the next section I'll take a look at some of the various positions available in the design department and their responsibilities.