Friday, 16 December 2011
A bit about motion controls
The current games industry is at a rather interesting point since there is a wider array of demographics that are buying and playing videogames that are various different platforms.
Since the Nintendo wii was released there has been an onslaught on thousands of casual games that have become highly popularized because of the simplicity of motion controls. Since then companies such as Microsoft and Sony have focused upon releasing new controllers and peripherals which enable motion controls within games.
Both the playstation move and the Kinect have been heavily marketed towards the casual audience which is a somewhat reasonably new market. Personally I am not a casual game player so most of the news surrounding the games that are being developed towards the PSmove and the Kinect peripherals provide me with no interest.
However the capabilities of the peripherals are rather impressive and it is a shame that more games for the main audience of the PS3 and Xbox have not been made.
And it is unlikely that “Hardcore” games will ever be made with motion controls in mind, The PS3 has made an effort with using motion controls within killzone 3 and Time Crisis but the same problems occur with controlling a First person shooter with motion controls since it is playing an fps by using a cursor and nudging the side of the screen to make the character turn.
I believe that motion controlled games are a good idea but it isn’t suited towards Hardcore gamers who want an in depth storyline and with some of the limitations motion controls provide more work will be needed to provide some sort of synergy between controlling a game with voice , Movement and button presses.
Thursday, 15 December 2011
Pete Collier – Hogrocket – Founding member
Pete Collier – Hogrocket – Founding member
After being made redundant from his job as a Level Designer at Bizarre creations, Pete with 2 Peers went and created their own games company.
There is a shift taking place in the games industry where the mobile and casual games marker have grown exponentially in which games have become more popular than ever.
Hogrocket is a company that specializes in creating mobile games. Currently have 1 game that is on the iOS app store called Tiny Invaders. Tiny Invaders had an 8 month development time in which the team actually stopped working of the game for a 1 month period to see if having the game in 3D would make a difference. Turns out it was a massive time sponge and they missed out on 1 month of development after dropping the idea of having a 3D game.
Pete talked about the benefits of starting a games company tailored towards mobile gaming.
It is cheap to get a licence to develop for the iPhone with the price for a developer licence being only $99 a year
The demographics for the Apple market are odd since they range from children all the way to adults into their 50’s
So trying to make a game that will appeal to everyone is the challenge for developing games for the mobile market.
Tiny Invaders has had a Bumpy development process, It started as a train management game moving around a circuit and changing signals in order to get onto different tracks.
This idea is the main gameplay mechanic which made its way as the final product albeit the trains have been replaced with “Germs” . Quick and simple gameplay is what the game is tailored towards since the general consensus is that not many people will want to play a time consuming on a 3- 5 inch screen. On average the first 3 minutes of gameplay are the most important since if the player does not have a good experience with the game it is highly unlikely that the person who played the game will come back to buy additional content or a sequel.
One of the main dangers in working in a small group on a small iOS game is that there is a larger margin for procrastination to happen were you might not be working on what you should be doing because an element within the game is broken or a feature isn’t as good as it was intended.
Working on other things is not the way to go about making a product in development. Getting feedback is by far more useful since the opinion from an outside source can make a large difference and may be the motivation that is needed to get the game back on track.
Technically the game is successful with the help of the game being featured on one of the apple keynote presentation which may have provided a lot of publicity for the game as well as a boost for sales. Apart from one small error which was that they gave the game away for free for a week meaning that they gained 0 revenue for all the downloads generated. But having a contact within a company is once again a useful asset in order to make sure that a game will become well known and popular. It would appear that knowing people within the games industry is an incredible asset to use regardless of publicizing a game or getting a job within a specific studio, If you know someone who works somewhere that is a bonus.
Finally the future for Hogrocket will be to finish the iPad version of the game in order to try and get more revenue for their game by having 2 versions of the same game being sold separately.
It is obvious that Developing a game for the iOS market is massively different than developing a AAA game since the volumes of content that is required is a lot smaller but will need to be just as polished. Since the bar of entry into developing a platform is so low many developers are jumping onto the iOS system and making applications and games since the profit between Apple and the developer is a 30-70 split so making the money isn’t as hard as it is to distribute to retail stores and have to pay extra additional charges for the creation of disks and boxes to be distributed to stores and then for the stores to sell the game and take their cut of the profit.
Pete demonstrated that the same amount of dedication is required to work on an iOS game as well as it is working on a AAA game. The main difference is that the market is much widespread and that the duration of the game per play has to be much shorter with a quicker burst of fun to keep players occupied and wanting to play the game.
Making an independent games company will not be impossible to do once I leave university. Just gabbing a few of the colleagues I’ve worked with during university and making a company might be a good idea since i don’t have much to lose in this early stage of my games carrear
Peter Akril – A.I Programmer at Supermassive games
Peter Akril – A.I Programmer at Supermassive games
He has 6 years worth of games industry experience and also another graduate from Bolton University and isn’t afraid to speak his mind.
His prior experience has been working at Travellers Tales and Codemasters (Guildford) before it was shut down after the release of Bodycount. He is now working at Supermassive games.
At first glance it would appear that he had learnt most of his programming while at Travellers tales since he apparently learnt about debugging C(Programming language)
He did express his opinion about Travellers Tales but were surprisingly negative since most of the work he did there was mostly under pressure due to a constant flow of work that had to be done in a short deadline time.
After working at Travellers Tales he had very positive opinions about Codemasters exclaiming that it was an amazing place to work at.
This makes me think that different studios will unintentionally neglect some of their employees when it boils down to deadlines coming up, making employees stay to work overtime until late night may be the only option for a games company due to the resources that they can afford.
Other than expressing his opinions on what companies that he has worked at he also talked about his role as an A.I programmer and how it fits together with an animator’s role.
An animator will make an animation and its Peter’s job to implement some A.I in order to make the character move to the actions of the animation to give the illusion of intelligence.
Other than the animator and A.I role he also talked about the roles of all the other jobs within the game development team.
Game designers have the idea and vision for the project and is the person who will be consulted for various game features to be put into the project. (They apparently cause a lot of confusion since they apparently don’t know what they want at times)
Development managers make sure that the game eventually gets sold. If the game doesn’t get should then no money will be going into the company and if the company has no money then unfortunately No-one gets paid and the company won’t be able to make games anymore.
Audio within games is neglected and is usually the last thing that is implemented within the game followed by music.
Other roles in the game development team are as follows:
Quality Assurance, Office managers and finally Marketing.
He then gave us some ideas as to what to expect when working within the games industry.
Making games is NOT easy.
The Combination of a large amount of working hours ,mismanagement as well as the frustration of the work that you are doing is a harsh combination and can cause health issues.
Since pete had to work long hours he spent a lot of time only eating Take-aways and sitting down and working he gained a lot of weight in a short period of time leading him to give the advice of staying healthy and working out before going to work since doing exercise after work is not a good feeling.
Learning what I’m capable of is the main body of his presentation. Not everyone can work 15 hours every day and finding out what I can cope with is essential to make sure that i can maintain a high morale when working on a game. If i am not fit enough to work on a game then the company will be losing out so having such high hours is not recommended but standing my ground is a good thing if it means that I am not overworked and eventually becoming sick due to the amount of time spent working rather than staying healthy and having a social life to maintain a good morale and motivation to work to the best I can.
Overall Peter gave my an insight to working under crunch time and how it can affect my health in a negative way. But the main issue being that to expect a lot of stress and pressure when working on a game since a whole team is relying on each other to ensure that the game that is put together at the end of the day is the best quality possible.
A fairly large warning from Pete and thanks. I’m a little more prepared to watch out for the pressures of working in the games industry.
Althea Deane (Freelance Animator)
Althea Deane (Freelance Animator)
Althea has a lot of experience within the games industry but her passion is animation.
With her roots as an animator that had been trained to be an illustrator this had been her key into getting into the industry, But that is not all. Since she also had contacts elsewhere it must have been much easier to be able to have gotten a job within the games industry.
From her talk i gathered that many U.K games companies reach a critical mass and eventually go out of business, but this just may Very well be the case from Altheas point of view.
As said by Pete Akril “Programmers make A.I so that characters and objects move while animators make the objects and characters appear intelligent” This is very relevant since everything that Althea has done revolves around the animation of specific characters in order to make them look inelegant. Or that the movement the character is doing has a real purpose and that it looks relevant as to what is happening.
For example. If a Character that is stood still does nothing then the character looks “Soulless” or empty, By adding a little bit of character swaying or facial expression will make a huge difference to whether or not a character has no purpose other than being in a certain place doing nothing for no purpose or a car driver stood next to a car waiting for his next race.
Althea has jumped from a fair few companies in her role as a character animator. She started game animation in Warthog, and this is where se started learning about game animation in 3D until the company went out of business in 2004
From Warthog she moved to Eurocom and worked on the Batman begins game still doing character animation.
After Eurocom she joined Psygnosis (Which is now Sony entertainment Liverpool) crating some animations for a F1 game... Small animations which make a character look real rather than having a character not moving and lifeless is what she did for Psygnosis.
She then moved onto working on Little Big Planet (PSP) As lead animator since she was the only animator in the studio. She showed us some of the animations for the project and told us that the project was given away to another studio so she didn’t actually know if any of her animations were actually used in the final game.
After this she moves onto working for Evolution studios on Motorstorm : Apocalypse She did character animations for the stunts performed on bikes. A few issues were mentioned here with designers talking to her about shortening the animations to be quicker and shorter than 3 secconds.
From then on she went freelance.
Freelance work is good since it is not uncommon to have a higher daily rate than having an actual job within a company however you don’t get the benefits for working in-house since you don’t get payed for overtime and you don’t get a pension and work may not always be available.
And then got a job as a freelance animator at Bizarre creations working on James bond: Bloodstone mainly cleaning up motion capture animation since bizarre needed more people in-house to make sure that their deadline was met.
Althea overall appears to have worked at more places than than any other professional who has done a talk. And has provided a valuable insight into how hectic working in the games industry can be, and due to the changing nature of the games business and the decline in game studios within the U.K i may have to concider the idea of settling down at one place may not be an option in the future.
Arthur Parssons – Game director at Travellers tales
Arthur Parssons – Game director at Travellers tales
Travellers tales are a games company that focus upon games design for a casual audience usually for families and children, their most recent series of games have been the Lego series of games including Lego Harry potter and Lego batman.
Arthur focused upon the game development cycle but has added a few more points to what other game developers have said, the game development cycle is a standard that most game development studios use.
From Arthur’s experience the average time it takes to develop a game is 18 months, which I can only think is a tough duration to work for, but I’m sure it is worth it, if it sells well.
Planning the game is of vital importance. If the game design is not clear enough or isn’t explained well in plain text then the final result may not be what was desired
Timeframes are also incredibly important once a publisher has set a date in which they need a game to be finished if the game is not finished by the set deadline then the publisher may not want to provide the company with the necessary resources in order to continue running the company and making games.
When working on games for a publisher it is required that you know the audience that the game is meant for and allowing for the licensors and key stakeholders have their voice heard is also a valuable way of gaining extra features which may not have gotten into the game otherwise.
While this has been short but many of the other professionals who have been in have voiced somewhat reasonably similar opinions about the games industry and the way games are made.
Every company makes games their own way but will all follow the game development cycle in which different people from all creative disciplines come together to produce an interactive game.
The legal aspects of a game appear to be a pain since corporate type people may not have the same creative vision i have as a designer. Getting my ideas across in a clear way is one of the main challenges of a game designers role and letting the higher corporate members of the company have their say can be a very good thing to do.
Publishers usually have the final say on whether or not a game will be shipped and sell so making sure that they are happy is the key thing to do... Other than actually having a game that is well made and is fun to play.
Travellers tales are a games company that focus upon games design for a casual audience usually for families and children, their most recent series of games have been the Lego series of games including Lego Harry potter and Lego batman.
Arthur focused upon the game development cycle but has added a few more points to what other game developers have said, the game development cycle is a standard that most game development studios use.
From Arthur’s experience the average time it takes to develop a game is 18 months, which I can only think is a tough duration to work for, but I’m sure it is worth it, if it sells well.
Planning the game is of vital importance. If the game design is not clear enough or isn’t explained well in plain text then the final result may not be what was desired
Timeframes are also incredibly important once a publisher has set a date in which they need a game to be finished if the game is not finished by the set deadline then the publisher may not want to provide the company with the necessary resources in order to continue running the company and making games.
When working on games for a publisher it is required that you know the audience that the game is meant for and allowing for the licensors and key stakeholders have their voice heard is also a valuable way of gaining extra features which may not have gotten into the game otherwise.
While this has been short but many of the other professionals who have been in have voiced somewhat reasonably similar opinions about the games industry and the way games are made.
Every company makes games their own way but will all follow the game development cycle in which different people from all creative disciplines come together to produce an interactive game.
The legal aspects of a game appear to be a pain since corporate type people may not have the same creative vision i have as a designer. Getting my ideas across in a clear way is one of the main challenges of a game designers role and letting the higher corporate members of the company have their say can be a very good thing to do.
Publishers usually have the final say on whether or not a game will be shipped and sell so making sure that they are happy is the key thing to do... Other than actually having a game that is well made and is fun to play.
Thomas Hulvershorn– Oberon media / I-Play
Thomas Hulvershorn– Oberon media / I-Play
Director of QA & Certification/ Deployment Operations at Oberon Media
Thomas is QA lead at Oberon media and I have worked with him before in LiveQA testing.
Oberon media focuses upon game for the casual audience and provides simple to play games, However Thomas also manages a set of facebook games with focus on Bubbletown.
Thomas focused upon the way that their data infrastructure is built and how it runs. First of all how all the data for the game is outsourced to an external set of servers and that it would not be uncommon to see most social media games do this as well as MMO’s.
The current game market is based around “Freemium” games and content in which Thomas definitely deals with facebooks gaming which by their nature are freemium in which players can pay for additional content towards their game.
However what I hadn’t expected was for Thomas to talk about free games as a service which is true. Since the player is not paying for anything all the player is doing is accessing a free entertainment service A.K.A a free game.
One main benefit of having an online based game is that they can be made to be capable of monitoring everything that a player does, and then tailor the game experience to the actions of players.
Finally Thomas went on to talk about how QA is not just “Game testing” it’s a profession.
Bcs – ISTQB Test manager
Can see the whole project
Test managers focus upon the following issues:
How many testers are needed?
Quality assurance
What resources are needed?
The effect of this project on another project based on a shared time resource
Test product reporting
Team test leaders usually Create the testing plan for a game
Runs the resting plan
Keeps track of current open issues (Bugs)
Creates reports
Manages a test team.
Test analysts
A.K.A a game testing role
Carries out constant testing on a product.
Logs their test results and Logs Bugs.
Other than talking about some of the roles within QA he then went on to talk about what should and shouldn’t be on a AV when applying for a QA role at a company.
Don’t just use agencies to get a job in the games industry. (It has also been said that going straight to a games company is also a good way to get a job)
Don’t exaggerate details
Be honest
Make sure that there aren’t any mistakes. Especially of applying for a role as QA
Interview tips
A few of the tip for writing a CV were also iterated when talking about the interview for the job.
Know the role that I’m applying for.
Prepare for the interview for knowing what you want to say.
Know what my strengths are and ask about if there are any weaknesses after the interview.
Use examples in real-life situations to provide evidence that I can work well.
Otherwise don’t put silly things in the CV.
1 CV was show that had a reasonably sensible start in which the applicant said that he likes music. However his fatal flaw was that the then went on to list each genres of music that he enjoyed.
It is fine to outline what my likes/ dislikes are but do not go into detail since a CV is a short document that outlines me.
Most of the “Technical framework” portion on Thomas’s presentation was completely irrelevant but did make sense since I had done testing on this framework for the facebook game Bubbletown, Other than that what Thomas said about building a CV is very relevant and does assure me that I’ve not done anything particularly wrong. Not panicking at the interview is also a good thing to do. But only time will tell if that will happenm
Director of QA & Certification/ Deployment Operations at Oberon Media
Thomas is QA lead at Oberon media and I have worked with him before in LiveQA testing.
Oberon media focuses upon game for the casual audience and provides simple to play games, However Thomas also manages a set of facebook games with focus on Bubbletown.
Thomas focused upon the way that their data infrastructure is built and how it runs. First of all how all the data for the game is outsourced to an external set of servers and that it would not be uncommon to see most social media games do this as well as MMO’s.
The current game market is based around “Freemium” games and content in which Thomas definitely deals with facebooks gaming which by their nature are freemium in which players can pay for additional content towards their game.
However what I hadn’t expected was for Thomas to talk about free games as a service which is true. Since the player is not paying for anything all the player is doing is accessing a free entertainment service A.K.A a free game.
One main benefit of having an online based game is that they can be made to be capable of monitoring everything that a player does, and then tailor the game experience to the actions of players.
Finally Thomas went on to talk about how QA is not just “Game testing” it’s a profession.
Bcs – ISTQB Test manager
Can see the whole project
Test managers focus upon the following issues:
How many testers are needed?
Quality assurance
What resources are needed?
The effect of this project on another project based on a shared time resource
Test product reporting
Team test leaders usually Create the testing plan for a game
Runs the resting plan
Keeps track of current open issues (Bugs)
Creates reports
Manages a test team.
Test analysts
A.K.A a game testing role
Carries out constant testing on a product.
Logs their test results and Logs Bugs.
Other than talking about some of the roles within QA he then went on to talk about what should and shouldn’t be on a AV when applying for a QA role at a company.
Don’t just use agencies to get a job in the games industry. (It has also been said that going straight to a games company is also a good way to get a job)
Don’t exaggerate details
Be honest
Make sure that there aren’t any mistakes. Especially of applying for a role as QA
Interview tips
A few of the tip for writing a CV were also iterated when talking about the interview for the job.
Know the role that I’m applying for.
Prepare for the interview for knowing what you want to say.
Know what my strengths are and ask about if there are any weaknesses after the interview.
Use examples in real-life situations to provide evidence that I can work well.
Otherwise don’t put silly things in the CV.
1 CV was show that had a reasonably sensible start in which the applicant said that he likes music. However his fatal flaw was that the then went on to list each genres of music that he enjoyed.
It is fine to outline what my likes/ dislikes are but do not go into detail since a CV is a short document that outlines me.
Most of the “Technical framework” portion on Thomas’s presentation was completely irrelevant but did make sense since I had done testing on this framework for the facebook game Bubbletown, Other than that what Thomas said about building a CV is very relevant and does assure me that I’ve not done anything particularly wrong. Not panicking at the interview is also a good thing to do. But only time will tell if that will happenm
Wednesday, 14 December 2011
David Bramhall and Ben Curtis – Evolution Studios
David Bramhall and Ben Curtis – Evolution studio
Producer and Game artist
Both David and Bed graduated from the CGSD course at Bolton university who both went onto getting jobs in QA testing, Then progressing through the company to the roles which they wanted to work towards.
During their presentation they outlined each of the main roles within a game company and went into detail about what skills would be needed for each of the job roles.
My focus from this was on QA testing and the game designer roles.
Skills that would help a QA tester would be:
Concentration
Good communication skills
Good writing skills
Logical with problem solving
And is a good place to start within the games industry following with a statement that did surprise me a little. “You will learn more in a year in a games studio than you will in 3 years in university”
It’s expected that I will learn a lot when in a game development job but I have my doubts that surely its more objectified learning since its finding about the job role that I’m looking for. (Game design)
Yes i will probably learn a lot more about game design but from the point of view of a generalist the amount I’ve learned about 3ds max ,Audio production and different game editors would probably balance this out.
Skills that would help a Game Designer:
Good communication
Good writing skills
Broad technical knowledge
Excellent knowledge of games
Good presentation skill
And to be able to cope with criticism.
From this list I know I’m not strong with a few of the points.
My writing skills aren’t the best but it is something I MUST work on to make sure that I can get my ideas down on paper in a clear format so should anyone else read it, They will know what I’m talking about and understand my ideas and proposals.
From here on David and Ben went onto talking about the game development cycle which Jo had already covered.
This confirms that the game development cycle is indefinitely a standard that is followed by a few games companies.
Following this they proceeded to talk about the benefits they get for working for a Sony company.
They seem to get many benefits which makes me think that working for a bigger company is a better approach to having a stable job within games rather than panicking whether or not a pay check will arrive on time from a smaller company what could be struggling.
The list of bonuses are as follows:
Free sony games
Staff sales
Profit share – bonuses
Flexi-time
Company trips: Press events – going abroad – Track days (This makes sense since the company they work for primarily makes racing games)
Having a relaxed working area and having a casual dress code.
Finally they talked about a few do’s and don’ts
The main don’t being “Never burn bridges”
Since many game developers know each other already word can spread that you are a bad person to work with could spread fast and before you know it, No one wants to work with you.
When applying for a job, Know what you want to do. Indeed another important point, if i were to apply for an art role within a games company I would be stuffed (Since I can’t draw) Doing research about the company and what they do is key to knowing how to tailor my CV towards the role within the company I am applying to. For example, if I was applying for a QA job at evolution I would express that racing games are a preferred genre of mine and that I have played their games in the past, So I know that they typically make racing games, But just knowing a game library is not enough. I will also have to express that I am highly motivated by games in general and that I have done QA tasks in the past for companies who have a reputable name.
From here Ben and David proceeded to talk about what should go on my portfolio and how to sell ourselves. Items such as snippets from Design documents, Demos of games, Screenshots and mabe a show reel to “show-off” what I am currently capable of. It doesn’t matter if it looks Spartan since it isn’t perfection that employers are expecting from graduates with little game development experience but potential. To show that i am willing to learn and progress my skills within a desired role in games development.
And finally a few tips on what to do in a job interview.
Don’t be afraid – They don’t bite
Expect technical questions ‘Be honest’ do admit if you don’t know a certain aspect since it is easy to pick up on.
Be positive + Enthusiastic
Do your homework – Know about the company that I’ve applied for.
BE MYSELF
The interview is also about you getting to know them as much as it is them getting to know me.
Get feedback. If I’ve shown any weaknesses i want to know about them so I can work on strengthening them.
And a key question to ask “Is there anything you’re looking for that I don’t have?”
I believe that the advice given is really good and reassuring.
I know I don’t have any “Masterpieces” yet but I am more than happy to ‘knuckle down’ to better myself. Since starting university I’ve had projects that have fallen apart for many different reasons and dealing with these issues is something I’ve become more acclimatized to, the same problems probably won’t turn up within a development studio but the signs of a project falling to pieces are clear to me now. Trying to stand out with the other talents I have will be an interesting prospect since it does show that i am capable of developing a separate skill set on my own.
Producer and Game artist
Both David and Bed graduated from the CGSD course at Bolton university who both went onto getting jobs in QA testing, Then progressing through the company to the roles which they wanted to work towards.
During their presentation they outlined each of the main roles within a game company and went into detail about what skills would be needed for each of the job roles.
My focus from this was on QA testing and the game designer roles.
Skills that would help a QA tester would be:
Concentration
Good communication skills
Good writing skills
Logical with problem solving
And is a good place to start within the games industry following with a statement that did surprise me a little. “You will learn more in a year in a games studio than you will in 3 years in university”
It’s expected that I will learn a lot when in a game development job but I have my doubts that surely its more objectified learning since its finding about the job role that I’m looking for. (Game design)
Yes i will probably learn a lot more about game design but from the point of view of a generalist the amount I’ve learned about 3ds max ,Audio production and different game editors would probably balance this out.
Skills that would help a Game Designer:
Good communication
Good writing skills
Broad technical knowledge
Excellent knowledge of games
Good presentation skill
And to be able to cope with criticism.
From this list I know I’m not strong with a few of the points.
My writing skills aren’t the best but it is something I MUST work on to make sure that I can get my ideas down on paper in a clear format so should anyone else read it, They will know what I’m talking about and understand my ideas and proposals.
From here on David and Ben went onto talking about the game development cycle which Jo had already covered.
This confirms that the game development cycle is indefinitely a standard that is followed by a few games companies.
Following this they proceeded to talk about the benefits they get for working for a Sony company.
They seem to get many benefits which makes me think that working for a bigger company is a better approach to having a stable job within games rather than panicking whether or not a pay check will arrive on time from a smaller company what could be struggling.
The list of bonuses are as follows:
Free sony games
Staff sales
Profit share – bonuses
Flexi-time
Company trips: Press events – going abroad – Track days (This makes sense since the company they work for primarily makes racing games)
Having a relaxed working area and having a casual dress code.
Finally they talked about a few do’s and don’ts
The main don’t being “Never burn bridges”
Since many game developers know each other already word can spread that you are a bad person to work with could spread fast and before you know it, No one wants to work with you.
When applying for a job, Know what you want to do. Indeed another important point, if i were to apply for an art role within a games company I would be stuffed (Since I can’t draw) Doing research about the company and what they do is key to knowing how to tailor my CV towards the role within the company I am applying to. For example, if I was applying for a QA job at evolution I would express that racing games are a preferred genre of mine and that I have played their games in the past, So I know that they typically make racing games, But just knowing a game library is not enough. I will also have to express that I am highly motivated by games in general and that I have done QA tasks in the past for companies who have a reputable name.
From here Ben and David proceeded to talk about what should go on my portfolio and how to sell ourselves. Items such as snippets from Design documents, Demos of games, Screenshots and mabe a show reel to “show-off” what I am currently capable of. It doesn’t matter if it looks Spartan since it isn’t perfection that employers are expecting from graduates with little game development experience but potential. To show that i am willing to learn and progress my skills within a desired role in games development.
And finally a few tips on what to do in a job interview.
Don’t be afraid – They don’t bite
Expect technical questions ‘Be honest’ do admit if you don’t know a certain aspect since it is easy to pick up on.
Be positive + Enthusiastic
Do your homework – Know about the company that I’ve applied for.
BE MYSELF
The interview is also about you getting to know them as much as it is them getting to know me.
Get feedback. If I’ve shown any weaknesses i want to know about them so I can work on strengthening them.
And a key question to ask “Is there anything you’re looking for that I don’t have?”
I believe that the advice given is really good and reassuring.
I know I don’t have any “Masterpieces” yet but I am more than happy to ‘knuckle down’ to better myself. Since starting university I’ve had projects that have fallen apart for many different reasons and dealing with these issues is something I’ve become more acclimatized to, the same problems probably won’t turn up within a development studio but the signs of a project falling to pieces are clear to me now. Trying to stand out with the other talents I have will be an interesting prospect since it does show that i am capable of developing a separate skill set on my own.
Thursday, 13 October 2011
Monday 10th Oct . –Jo daly Presentation/s Game development cycles and Game Producers.
Monday 10th Oct . –Jo daly Presentation/s
Game development cycles and Game Producers.
To keep game development *Nice* and organized they are built within the range of a 6 step cycle ranging from the concepts and ideas all the way to Post-production.
Each of the steps are as follows.. In order
Pre-Production -> Production -> Alpha -> Beta> Master and Post production
After every stage of the production of the game everything must be “Green lighted”
The pre-production stage of game development features brainstorming / Designing and almost all aspects of the game are planned.
A “Playable” build of the game will be made at this phase of production.
Sometimes a “X-movie” will also be made to act as a “Visual benchmark” for the game in order to show what the game will “Be like” by the end of production.
The next phase is Production
During this phase all game features and content that was planned are built and are put together to produce a game that is playable and has all assets for the game in place and running.
After this phase is Alpha testing, this phase is a preliminary act for finding and quashing bugs and general errors in-game.
Tweaks and game balancing efforts are also done to make sure the game seems even.
Focus testing is also done to provide data towards what parts of the game that are a problem and or need tweaking or are not needed. Metrics are taken from the testing to provide data to point out and justify the changes in the game.
Bug hunting and fixing are the priority at this point of development.
Beta phase
The range of testing is increased and more rigorous testing is done.
Once the game seems *Compete* and bugless then the game will move onto the next phase.
Master phase
ALL CHANGES ARE FORBIDDEN – (Unless the publisher has a problem)
Any issues with console compatibility are tested. Such as the memory device taken out mid game to see what happens.
Once this is complete the next phase is Post-Production.
Analysis of the completed project is carried out and a Post mortem will be carried out to review the process of the game creation.
Most staff that work on games are NOT allowed to take holidays during the Alpha – beta and Master phases of production to ensure that the game doesn’t fall behind on deadlines.
DEADLINES ARE NOT ALLOWED TO MISSED!!
And staff usually work on Multiple projects at the same time.
This list of how games are created may seem simple at a glance but that would be wrong. A lot of time and effort is put into games to ensure that there is a high quality and that it can actually be released on time so that money can be made and put towards the next project.
Game Producers
The role of a game producer is to Oversee the production of Projects and to maintain awareness of a projects progression. And to ensure that the Project is finished by a deadline, To a suitable Quality, until the project is complete and finally sold.
Some companies do not have an internal Producer However they will sometimes have an External producer who handles the job
Internal producers will only usually focus on a single game.
Main responsibilities include:
Acting as a liaison between staff and shareholders.
Develops and maintains Schedules and budgets.
Oversees game develop (Not actually create assets for the game)
Oversees Localization
Scheduling QA testing.
Making sure that what is created is what the publisher will accept.
At the end of the day the Producer is in charge of the final quality of a game rather than in charge of the people who are building it.]
Many different titles of a Producer include:
(Just) Producer – Senior Producer – Executive Producer
Apparently there have been many producers that have made their way into the profession through QA testing by working their way up to being a Test Lead or a testing manager.
Some of the traits that are required for a Producer are:
Cool Headed – Does not go off tangent and go *Crazy*
and
Must be good at communication / Timekeeping and management.
Many say that the role of a game producer is Unpopular since they have to make sure deadlines are met which can sometimes mean dropping specific features of a game to make sure that it is on time in terms of development
After this lecture I believe that many games companies are fickle since smaller companies might not be able to pay their employees when their salary is due, however larger companies that do have a large cash flow are capable of keeping many employees with a much less threat of the studio from bankrupting.
I already knew games development is not an easy thing to do but this put it into perspective that making a AAA game is a hard task that takes time, which will unfortunately wear away at people including myself should i get into a game design role in the future.
This is not a deterrent for me; I understand that there is a lot to be required from each discipline of game development but games are a labour of love, If we don’t put care and attention into a game we won’t have a final product that is enjoyable.
Hard fact is this. Good games are good to play (Yeah. A no brainer). But if they don’t make money then it’s unlikely that the people making the game will get paid or work on another project.
Game development cycles and Game Producers.
To keep game development *Nice* and organized they are built within the range of a 6 step cycle ranging from the concepts and ideas all the way to Post-production.
Each of the steps are as follows.. In order
Pre-Production -> Production -> Alpha -> Beta> Master and Post production
After every stage of the production of the game everything must be “Green lighted”
The pre-production stage of game development features brainstorming / Designing and almost all aspects of the game are planned.
A “Playable” build of the game will be made at this phase of production.
Sometimes a “X-movie” will also be made to act as a “Visual benchmark” for the game in order to show what the game will “Be like” by the end of production.
The next phase is Production
During this phase all game features and content that was planned are built and are put together to produce a game that is playable and has all assets for the game in place and running.
After this phase is Alpha testing, this phase is a preliminary act for finding and quashing bugs and general errors in-game.
Tweaks and game balancing efforts are also done to make sure the game seems even.
Focus testing is also done to provide data towards what parts of the game that are a problem and or need tweaking or are not needed. Metrics are taken from the testing to provide data to point out and justify the changes in the game.
Bug hunting and fixing are the priority at this point of development.
Beta phase
The range of testing is increased and more rigorous testing is done.
Once the game seems *Compete* and bugless then the game will move onto the next phase.
Master phase
ALL CHANGES ARE FORBIDDEN – (Unless the publisher has a problem)
Any issues with console compatibility are tested. Such as the memory device taken out mid game to see what happens.
Once this is complete the next phase is Post-Production.
Analysis of the completed project is carried out and a Post mortem will be carried out to review the process of the game creation.
Most staff that work on games are NOT allowed to take holidays during the Alpha – beta and Master phases of production to ensure that the game doesn’t fall behind on deadlines.
DEADLINES ARE NOT ALLOWED TO MISSED!!
And staff usually work on Multiple projects at the same time.
This list of how games are created may seem simple at a glance but that would be wrong. A lot of time and effort is put into games to ensure that there is a high quality and that it can actually be released on time so that money can be made and put towards the next project.
Game Producers
The role of a game producer is to Oversee the production of Projects and to maintain awareness of a projects progression. And to ensure that the Project is finished by a deadline, To a suitable Quality, until the project is complete and finally sold.
Some companies do not have an internal Producer However they will sometimes have an External producer who handles the job
Internal producers will only usually focus on a single game.
Main responsibilities include:
Acting as a liaison between staff and shareholders.
Develops and maintains Schedules and budgets.
Oversees game develop (Not actually create assets for the game)
Oversees Localization
Scheduling QA testing.
Making sure that what is created is what the publisher will accept.
At the end of the day the Producer is in charge of the final quality of a game rather than in charge of the people who are building it.]
Many different titles of a Producer include:
(Just) Producer – Senior Producer – Executive Producer
Apparently there have been many producers that have made their way into the profession through QA testing by working their way up to being a Test Lead or a testing manager.
Some of the traits that are required for a Producer are:
Cool Headed – Does not go off tangent and go *Crazy*
and
Must be good at communication / Timekeeping and management.
Many say that the role of a game producer is Unpopular since they have to make sure deadlines are met which can sometimes mean dropping specific features of a game to make sure that it is on time in terms of development
After this lecture I believe that many games companies are fickle since smaller companies might not be able to pay their employees when their salary is due, however larger companies that do have a large cash flow are capable of keeping many employees with a much less threat of the studio from bankrupting.
I already knew games development is not an easy thing to do but this put it into perspective that making a AAA game is a hard task that takes time, which will unfortunately wear away at people including myself should i get into a game design role in the future.
This is not a deterrent for me; I understand that there is a lot to be required from each discipline of game development but games are a labour of love, If we don’t put care and attention into a game we won’t have a final product that is enjoyable.
Hard fact is this. Good games are good to play (Yeah. A no brainer). But if they don’t make money then it’s unlikely that the people making the game will get paid or work on another project.
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