Five Things I Understand About the Games Industry

So I’m not “in” the games industry per se. I’m a student, and the only way I earn money is by teaching swimming. I do, however, feel that I have some experience with jobs in gaming with all the research I’ve done, developers I’ve talked to, and conventions I’ve attended. In short, my limited understanding about the games industry is that it’s really hard to get into, and a lot of people are doing it the wrong way. 

Tip 1) Study Broadly

For instance, a lot of people think that to get into the gaming industry, you have to go to university and study game design. I reject that. I think game design is a great major, but so is art, computer science, communications, English, business, music, or history.  Of course, if you want to make games, you should avidly play games, but that isn’t the only trait of someone who works for a developer.

Tip 2) Have Passion

When I’ve talked to people in the industry, we’ve discussed writing and books as much as video games because they were interested to see if I had passions besides sitting in my basement with the newest title, trolling others. I would say if you are thinking about going to college now, or if you already are at a university, do what you want as far as majors and worry about learning game design later. Being an interesting person is way more important than knowing a lot about power creep.

Tip 3) Learn Before Doing

People sometimes think that in order to ger into the industry, you should start by just making games. That might be good advice for other professions, but your indie title will probably overwhelm you if you don’t know what you are doing. There are a few outstanding examples of developers who were instantly successful, but most people I know who make games started out by working somewhere else first.

Tip 4) Settle for Less

Most people went into a quality assurance job, or were doing event planning and administrative tasks for some firm when they started out. Either that, or they were in a different industry altogether, and then moved to gaming when they had a little experience. No shame. Making your own games is really hard; it’s probably harder than you think. 

Tip 5) Don’t be Needy

Finally, Being in the games industry is largely about networking, but you can’t do it all in the 30 seconds you get to interact with your idol at a convention or online. Don’t be annoying. These big-name people will get hundreds of business cards in one night. I’ve experienced it. Don’t fanboy, but do be persistent.

Between the forums, conventions, GameSkinny, Facebook, Twitter, Twitch, Reddit, gaming online, and other interactions, you might start getting somewhere. It doesn’t happen quickly. It’s a hard road to be a game developer, and it’s not always glamorous. You have to work hard, be talented, get your name out there, create things, inspire others, be creative, get lucky, and most importantly never lose your passion. 

I’m not saying any of these axioms are the be-all end-all truth. These are just my own observations. I hope to be “in” someday and I think that drive alone will get me there. If I understand anything about the gaming industry then what I comprehend is that it’s always changing and since its beginning it has only been growing. There might just be room for you and me.