Game Companies

[TheThoughtfulOne]

Just out of curiosity, how many of you out there work for or have some sort of a connection to a game company? If you do work for them, what do you do? Or what sort of connections? Just kinda curious about this, since I myself work for Multi Axis Games as their Customer Relations Director... So how bout it, anyone?

[The wingless]

Midway Games 2005-2007

Pandemic Studios 2007-present

[chumble spuzz]

I'm a character animator at Sucker Punch Productions. That's right, ladies.

I used to work at Surreal Software (on This is Vegas), but that game pretty much goes against everything I stand for. Also, mocap is not much fun to work with or very creative. You can crank out the content, but it's not very fulfilling. Best part about working there: resident Tetris Attack masters. Oh, the mighty battles we fought.

[The wingless]

Hey, I worked on Vegas too.

Oh, what a misogynistic world we live in

[chumble spuzz]

Indeed. After a look at your website, it seems you had a hand in just about all of Midway's big titles as of late. I got to work briefly on Blacksite, but only very briefly. Did some cool animation, though.

[Sinewav]

Hey, I worked on Vegas too.

Oh, what a misogynistic world we live in

Never heard of it. Is it basically another GTA knock-off?

I get this image in my head of Leonidas shouting "This... is...VEEEEGAAASSS!!!"

[sephfire]

Still trying to break in as a character animator. I've got a year and a half of Animation Mentor ahead of me, then the job hunt starts in earnest. I'm hopeful.

Maybe someday ...

[Kanthos]

I don't work for one now, but I did a 4-month co-op (paid internship) with Electronic Arts in their Burnaby, BC studio. I was a user interface programmer for MVP Baseball 2004.

[Hawkwing]

I don't work for one now, but I did a 4-month co-op (paid internship) with Electronic Arts in their Burnaby, BC studio. I was a user interface programmer for MVP Baseball 2004.

which school do you go to, cause my school does co-ops too, and not many schools i know of do that

[Kanthos]

University of Waterloo in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada. Graduated with a BMath in 2005, MMath in 2006.

[The wingless]

Indeed. After a look at your website, it seems you had a hand in just about all of Midway's big titles as of late. I got to work briefly on Blacksite, but only very briefly. Did some cool animation, though.

I need to update my bio :/

Games I've worked on!

Ballers Phenom

Stranglehold

Unreal Tournament III

Blacksite: Area 51

TNA Wrestling

Ballers: Chosen One

This is Vegas

Saboteur

[chumble spuzz]

Yeah, Vegas isn't really a "secret project" anymore.

I guess I'll sum up the games I've worked on as well:

This is Vegas

Area 51: Blacksite (kind of, but not really--it's a bit complicated)

Infamous

[The Damned]

Ties? My cousin is married and has a kid with one of the writers at Bioware. I've been to their office a few times and got some free stuff the first time!

Aside from that... nothing.

[The Coop]

No video game work, no video game ties, and have not met even a semi-famous game maker.

'Tis sad, I know

[Nohbody]

No video game work, no video game ties, and have not met even a semi-famous game maker.

'Tis sad, I know

Same here, bub.

I'm taking four years of software engineering at FIT and then Ill be a communications officer or some bull in the Army for four years after that because of my ROTC scholarship... so do any of you guys think Ill have a good shot at becoming a game designer or something like that 8 years from now? Im looking for actual professional opinions.

[Elex Synn]

The only tie in I have will be taking classes in C++ this fall. I want to eventually learn to do computer game programming of some kind. Just need to figure out what I need to learn.

[danimal cannon]

I invented Castlevania.

[!Nekko!]

I inspired Captain Falcon

[The wingless]

Same here, bub.

I'm taking four years of software engineering at FIT and then Ill be a communications officer or some bull in the Army for four years after that because of my ROTC scholarship... so do any of you guys think Ill have a good shot at becoming a game designer or something like that 8 years from now? Im looking for actual professional opinions.

I'm reminded of the scene from Aliens where Ripley tells the CO she feels like a third wheel and asks if there's anything she can do to help. The CO replies, "I don't know, what can you do?"

So... what can you do?

[Dafydd]

I met the developers at Starbreeze, Avalanche and jDome this weekend at the Swedish game awards finals... but I doubt I'll ever work at either company.

EDIT: Curse the automatic youtube miniframes!!

[lazygecko]

AFAIK game designers usually end up where they are from handling other parts of development like programming or level design. It's important to have good insight in those fields so you can properly communicate your ideas with the rest of the team.

[The Pezman]

I signed up for an internship with Insomniac Games, but since I don't know C++ yet (next year...) I couldn't complete their project.

However, I WILL be implementing an educational computer game this summer (!) as part of USC's REU, so I'll see how that goes.

[Nohbody]

I'm reminded of the scene from Aliens where Ripley tells the CO she feels like a third wheel and asks if there's anything she can do to help. The CO replies, "I don't know, what can you do?"

So... what can you do?

In terms of schooling, approximately jack shiot. But that will change when I go to school. Right now I know a lot about music, HTML code, and just enough visual basic to screw up your computer.

I should probably learn myself some animation and C++ stuff, correct?

[Kanthos]

Same here, bub.

I'm taking four years of software engineering at FIT and then Ill be a communications officer or some bull in the Army for four years after that because of my ROTC scholarship... so do any of you guys think Ill have a good shot at becoming a game designer or something like that 8 years from now? Im looking for actual professional opinions.

Game designer? Good luck. To find a job as a designer (i.e. the people who come up with the concepts for the game, describe what the gameplay should be like, and so on), you'll either need a very solid connection to the industry and have proven skills to that person (to go the "I have this friend who would be perfect for this job" route), or you'll have to get in at the bottom as a tester or junior programmer, and work your way up.

As a programmer, which is what your degree will lead you towards, you'll have a better shot, although most people straight out of school have to pay their dues at a smaller game company or at a place like Electronic Arts that works you really hard before you can move on to a title that's actually fun. Places like Blizzard and Bethesda aren't hiring developers who are straight out of college; at very least, you'd have had to do several co-op terms or an internship with a game development company during college. The extra time spent with the army might work in your favour, but that would depend on the individual game company.

In terms of skills, it's unlikely any game company will want someone who's both an animator and a programmer. A programmer who has a basic knowledge of animation is valuable, as is an animator who has a basic knowledge of programming, but trying to balance your skills in both fields will cause you to be not strong enough in either. There's so much artwork and animation work that has to go into modern games that there's a need for full-time artists to produce it, and so much development that you need full-time programmers to get it done. By all means, try out animation and learn the basics, but don't throw too much time into it. Time spent trying to code your own game on the side or over the summer will be much more beneficial to you, given your degree.

[sephfire]

I frequently hear that getting involved with mod projects is also a great way to get some valuable experience and improve your employability. Even Portal started out as a small mod project. And those guys all work at Valve now.