Career Opportunities in Electronic Game & Simulation Design
Development Career Categories
Producers
Designers
Artists
Programmers
Game Testers and Quality Assurance
Technicians
Developer Careers
Producers are responsible for
Proposal and Prototype management
Budgeting (time and money)
Payments
Contractual Obligations
Coordinating with partners (hardware
manufacturer, publisher, external developers)
Reporting to upper management
These are VERY hard jobs to get at an entry level
Developer Careers
Designers (not to be confused with artists)
Lead Designer
Supervises the design team
Gameplay development
Documentation assembly
Level design
Interface Designer
Determines layout, content, navigation and usability features of the game interface
Interface – What Goes Where?
Developer Careers
Designers (continued)
Level Designer
Builds the game environment (or world)
Physical Environment
Gameplay for the world
Might also write stories and dialogue
Designs missions (or campaigns) within levels
All designers work with all other team members to
coordinate production of the game.
Developer Careers
Designers (continued)
Designers may often do work related to other jobs
Importing art into game engines
Creating simple art (especially for prototypes)
Minor programming tweaks
Generate documentation
Developer Careers
Artists
Lead Artist
Supervises the art team on a particular game project
Concept (Storyboard) Artist
Creates drawings and sketches of the game environment, props and characters
Developer Careers
Artists (continued)
Technical Artist
Straddle the art and programming careers
Make sure art assets are created and stored in the appropriate format for the particular game engine used
Texture Artist
Creates texture maps for 3D models
Characters – Hair, skin, clothing
Structures – Building interiors/exteriors
Objects – Paint, surface texture
Developer Careers
Artists
Modeler
Creates 3D assets from 2D drawings (characters, scenery, props)
Create 3D wire mesh frames to represent objects
Applies textures (skinning) to wire mesh objects
Developer Careers
Artists (continued)
Animator
Applies movement to objects and characters
May use motion capture devices
Prince of Persia: Warrior Within
Motion Capture
Combination of hardware and software used to
capture a live person’s motion
Measurand ShapeWrap System
www.measurand.com
Developer Careers
Programmer
Engine Programmer
Creates/modifies the core game engine which controls:
Graphics Rendering
Animation
Collision Detection between game objects
User input
Artificial Intelligence Programmer
Creates “intelligence” for the game
Create algorithms to emulate human intelligence
Full Spectrum Warrior
Full Spectrum Warrior
More Programming Careers
Networking Programmer
Programs multiplayer components of the game
Interface Programmer
Programs the user interface for the game
Physics Programmer
Ensures objects interact realistically with each other
Tools Programmer
Creates tools to allow artists to incorporate assets into the game code
Developer Careers
Testing and Quality Assurance (QA)
Game Testers
Search for errors related to
3D geometry
Texturing
Aesthetics (look and feel)
Game logic
Coordinates bug fixes with the rest of the development team (programmers, artists, designers)
Geometry Error From Halo
Geometry Error From Halo
Developer Careers
Testing and Quality Assurance (QA)
Compatibility Tester
Tests cross‐platform compatibility
Determines if the game runs equally well on all platforms
Investigates whether controls are adequate on all platforms to play the game
Tests compatibility of joysticks, control pads, video cards, sound cards, etc.
Developer Careers
Testing and Quality Assurance (QA)
Playability Tester
Temporary employee who works in‐house
Finds bugs
Suggests improvements to game play
Adding features
Deleting features
Altering difficulty of tasks or scenarios
Ensures the game is fun and challenging
Developer Careers
Testing and Quality Assurance (QA)
Beta Tester
Volunteers (unpaid) who test games at their homes
There may be a cost to you to participate in a beta test
Test the latest version of the game before final shipping
Provides detailed analysis of playability and bugs to the game development team
Good feedback can earn you free beta tests or an invitation to be a playability tester!
How Do I Prepare for a Career?
Play Games!!!
But while you’re playing think about…
Why the game is fun?
How could you make it more fun?
If you were the designer, what features would you
add? Take away? Modify?
How Do I Prepare for a Career?
Network!
International Game Developers Association
www.igda.org/philly
Game Developers Conference (GDC)
www.gdconf.com
There are TONS of conferences!
I personally like the Montreal Game Summit.
Nine hour drive from Philly and cheap to attend.
www.sijm.ca
How Do I Prepare for a Career?
Get a Job – NOW!
Beta Testing
Isn’t a paying job, but you get to try cool games
Leads to Playability Testing (first entry level paid job in gaming)
Some companies impose minimum age requirements
Go To College!!!
It is extremely difficult to get a job in gaming without a college degree!
Take college courses while in high school
You need a wide range of skills such as...
Programming Languages
C / C++
XNA (C#)
http://creators.xna.com
Open GL
DirectX
Assembly (HLSL)
Good for fast response
Programs are small
Used in almost all console game programming
Scripting Languages associated with 3D art
programs
Software Skills to Acquire
3D Animation and Modeling Software
3D Studio Max (www.autodesk.com)
Maya (www.autodesk.com)
LightWave (www.newtek.com)
SoftImage (www.softimage.com)
Mudbox
Z‐Brush
Others?
Software Skills to Acquire
Other Art Software
Image Manipulation
Adobe Photoshop
Video Editing / Effects
Vector Art Creation
Adobe Illustrator
Flash
Other Key Skills to Acquire
Physics
Kinetics (movement)
Behavior of Light
Mathematics
Algebra
Trigonometry
Analytic Geometry
Discrete Math
Statistics
Linear Matrix Algebra
For engine programmers – Calculus!
Soft Skills
Verbal Skills
Writing Skills
Work Ethic (i.e. – working hard!)
Team Work
Ability to take (and perhaps give) directions
Create Your Own Games!
XNA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Play games on your Xbox 360
Microsoft Popfly
Link?
Alice
Environment designed to teach programming
You can build games in it!
www.alice.org
Create Your Own Games!
Full Scale Game Development Environments
Blender (www.blender.org)
Panda3D (http://panda3d.org/)
They are both FREE!!!!
www.GarageGames.com
Half Life!!!!!!!!!!!
What if a Career in Gaming Doesn’t Work Out
Alternative Careers With Skills Learned in Gaming Courses
Multimedia Development
Simulation Development
Illustration
Computer Programmer
Movie Animation (Pixar, Disney)
Where Should I Go To School?
Most 4 year colleges and universities do not offer gaming degrees (although many offer art
degrees with concentrations in animation or 3D design)
Digipen (www.digipen.edu)
Full Sail (www.fullsail.com)
Montgomery County Community College!
Drexel
Media Arts & Design School
New Degree in Computer Gaming
A.A.S. Degree in Electronic Gaming and Simulation
Prepares you for an entry level career in game development.
You can take classes while you are in high school!
Multi‐disciplinary degree
Multimedia Courses
Computer Science Courses
Art Courses
Math/Physics Courses
MCCC Gaming Courses…
Play games
Learn to think creatively
Deconstruct games
Design games
Learn to use professional game development tools
Torque (game engine)
Maya (3D animation)
Develop a portfolio of game assets to show
prospective employers
If You Want To Be An Artist…
New Degree in Animation ‐ Coming soon!
Will be a transfer degree (perhaps to the University of the Arts)
Designed from an art perspective
Features many traditional art courses such as
drawing
If You Want to be a Programmer…
Take MCCC’s Computer Science A.S. degree
Use game courses to fill elective slots
Transfer to a four year school and complete a B.S. in Computer Science
Arcadia
Villanova
Temple
Possibly earn a Master’s Degree, especially if you want to be an Artificial Intelligence
programmer
Carnegie Mellon
Stanford
Penn
For More Information
Get In The Game: Careers in the Game Industry
By Marc Mencher
ISBN# 0‐7357‐1307‐3
For More Information
Game Development Essentials
By Jeannie Novak
ISBN: 1‐4018‐6271‐3
For Even More Information…
Game Developer Magazine
www.gamasutra.com
www.gdmag.com
International Game Developers Association
www.igda.org
