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[trybaj]

Greetings 

As you may or may not have read in my introduction at the bottom of the Obligatory introduction thread, I'm about to move back to the US from China. I don't yet have a job lined up, and I anticipate the process taking some time.

My dream, of course, is to get an independent game business started up. I have a game that I've been developing for the last year and a half, but it's probably at least another year away from completion. I don't think I have enough financing to keep going, so I need to get a job.

So, I have 2 goals right now. I want to set up a web presence that I can use to court potential employers (in the game industry if possible), but I also want it to also serve as my main marketing organ.

So my questions are: what are the most critical components in order to start generating interest? What should be in a trailer? What is critical mass for a demo? What impresses employers, and is that different from what impresses customers?

I have ideas about all of these, but since I have no experience in marketing (either myself or a product) I don't really trust my opinions.

Thanks for any help!

[Farbs]

Hi,

What impresses employers, and is that different from what impresses customers?

What impresses employers is the ability to produce something, and the ability to work in a team. A mature build of your game should sort out the first issue. The second one is harder to demonstrate unless you've collaborated on a large-ish project. Some code teams consider technical skill your most important attribute, but I wouldn't want to work with them.

Hope that helps.

[trybaj]

Hi Farbs, thanks for the reply!

I worked at a large company that makes electronic test and measurement equipment for a few years before moving out here to China, so hopefully that experience will help me prove that I work well with others.

What I'm more concerned about right now is breaking into a new industry. Most game jobs require a few years of game development. Since I only have my personal game development to show, I'm wondering if there are any specific things I should be focused on showing off.

I imagine that the answer is that I just need to be able to show them a professional looking game that's fun to play. But how do I catch their eye so they even look at it in the first place?

Thanks!

[MrChocolateBear]

What kind of job are you looking for? I'm assuming you want to do programming, but what kind? AI, gameplay, rendering, tools, audio, engine, something else? What you want to become is going to have a large impact on the kinds of projects you should be be working on.

As far as what you should be putting on your website, for general users, all you really need to do is put up quality content. For possible employers, you will need to put up information that demonstrates your knowledge about programming and game development. One of the ways to do this is to pick a feature in your game and talk about how it works in the game, problems you ran across, and how you overcame them. To get potential employers to visit your website, you will need a technical resume and possibly a cover letter.

[trybaj]

Since this would be my first job in the industry, I would take anything I can get as long as the company seemed solid. While I'm an experienced programmer with good credentials and the ability to learn, I feel like I would still need plenty of on the job training.

I am most interested in AI, gameplay, and engine jobs, but I really only have a couple college courses in graphics and AI and my own projects to give me any credibility. I've done a 2D physics and openGL rendering engine for my current game, along with some pathfinding and FSM AI. I've made a level editor, and a skeleton animator for making new characters. Do you have any suggestions for other features? Or maybe I should focus on taking the features I already have and do all of the other leg work that it will take to turn it into a real game (level editing, drawing sprites, writing dialog, etc etc etc).

Technical articles are a great idea. They would hopefully give an employer something positive to chew on, but I also think that kind of content is a useful marketing tool. It seems to me that part of what makes indy game development so attractive to customers (or at least to myself) is the voyeurism of it all. Developer blogs give a glimpse into the minds of people who are taking risks and solving problems day by day. It's even better than reality TV, since you can post some comments and maybe influence the final game. 

And the resume and cover letters are already making their rounds. Now I have to build something that gives them some more weight.

Cheers. 

[Dunam]

Hey trybaj,

I am not working in the game industry regularly so I don't know what catches the eyes of developers too well, but I am a student of human nature and I think I may be of some assistance to you.

While you are not part of a big company your greatest strength is that you can be quirky. You can be different. One example I can think of is Nabacular drop http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Narbacular_Drop.
Big companies can't take the risk, but being small you'll have the opportunity to try and do things that a big company wouldn't soon dare to do.

The most important advice is to listen to your heart and yourself. If you're working on something that your heart desires to make it will be much easier to spend time and work on it. Your own love for the game will shine through and I believe this is part of the success of Blizzard (man those blizzard employees love playing their own games. With good cause. They're great).

I think a trailers are actually a little outdated and possibly a waste of time for a small developer. Better to make it easy to try and play your game. Free realms do this fantastically. http://www.freerealms.com/
It was completely the wrong game for me, but because I was so fascinated with how easy to play it was, before I knew it, I had spent 2 hours playing.

Trailers are a rather expensive way to draw people. And you possibly don't have much to draw them to yet. Make sure your game rocks. Then make it easy to play.

I think those are important in almost any situation.

I am a pragmatist though, they may not apply to you.

Good luck, live the dream!

-Dunam

[MrChocolateBear]

trybaj, after reading your post, it seems gameplay programming (an entry programming position at most companies) is your best bet. How do you show gameplay programming chops? It's actually easier than you may think! Instead of focusing on engine design and development, as a gameplay programmer you write...er...gameplay. What that means is that you need to focus more on making games and less on the engine tech behind them. What a lot of people do is use the Unreal and Source engines to show that they know how to work with commercial game engines. I can't really recommend one engine over the other, but if you have the opportunity, do some work with both.

[trybaj]

Thanks MrChoco.

I think you're right in saying that gameplay positions would be the best way to get a foot in the door. I certainly never thought that playing with the HalfLife SDK would have been my best bet for building up a career. I left that behind years ago to pursue more "constructive" projects, and here I find myself trying to get back in. On the upside, its a lot of fun.

@Dunam

Narbacular Drop is the dream. Valve is one of my favorite companies, and I thought Portal was an incredible incarnation of the idea those students invented.

Also, no worries on the "doing something different" front. In my game, you play Abraham Lincoln, and you have to use your extraordinary beard to interact with the environment and fix the universe after a time traveler saves you from assassination and throws off the intended course of history. 

[ஒழுக்கின்மை (Paul Eres)]

if i'm reading this right, you want to start an independent game business with the sole purpose of being hired by an employer in the game industry? i don't think that's a good idea, so i can't really give advice on this.

[MrChocolateBear]

if i'm reading this right, you want to start an independent game business with the sole purpose of being hired by an employer in the game industry? i don't think that's a good idea, so i can't really give advice on this.

I think he was asking if that was a viable path into the industry. Either way, Paul Eres is right - there are better ways of breaking in to the game industry.

[trybaj]

No, my goal is to start an independent game company.

Right now, I don't think my financial situation will allow me to finish my current game without having some other means of financial support. I would like that financial support to be a programming job, preferably one in the gaming industry, so I can learn as much as I can about the business as fast as possible. I won't have any job in a few weeks when I return to the USA from a stint teaching middle school in China.

What I am trying to do now is balance my immediate and short term goals.

Immediately, I would like to attract the attention of employers. The job market is pretty bad, and I need to stand out to even get my foot in the door. This will probably have to happen before I run anything resembling a "business." I foresee releasing some demos and building a website during this period.

Long term, I want to run my own business and design my own games. I just don't think I'll be able to sell my current game for at least another year or so.

Ideally, the games and website I make now will help me achieve both of these goals. Even more ideally, I'll be able to figure out a way to support myself without ever even needing another full time job first.

[obscure]

So, I have 2 goals right now. I want to set up a web presence that I can use to court potential employers (in the game industry if possible), but I also want it to also serve as my main marketing organ [for a future indie business].

Really don't think this is a good idea as these are two completely different audiences.

If you send a potential employer a link to a web site which is advertising your future indie business/game they are just going to drop you like a hot potato. Why hire someone who obviously plans to leave at the earliest opportunity?

A web site aimed at getting a job need resume info and a portfolio of your best finished projects. A web site aimed at potential customers for your game needs developer blogs, screen shots, info on when the game will be available, what price. These web sites serve a totally different purpose. One is to promote you to an employer, the other is to sell your game to the customers.

Your game isn't ready to sell yet and won't be unless you get a job that will pay enough to allow you to finish the game. Therefore you don't need to sell the game yet you need to get a job. Do one web site that focuses on just one thing.... getting you a job. Then, when you have secured that you can then put up a site about your game.

[Sam]

If you send a potential employer a link to a web site which is advertising your future indie business/game they are just going to drop you like a hot potato. Why hire someone who obviously plans to leave at the earliest opportunity?

Seconding this.

"And where do you see yourself in 5 years time?"

"Not working here if I can possibly help it."

However, if you enjoy the work so much that you do it as a hobby, they could be impressed.  ..or worried that you'll burn out on it, and focus your energy on your projects rather than theirs.

It seems safer to present your projects in the light of "I made these, but now I want to move on to real stuff with you and your lovely company!  Did I mention that suit really brings out your eyes?"

[Radix]

So apart from sitting on the future business part you might also want to make sure googling you isn't going to lead a potential employer to this thread.