Breaking into the Game Industry: Advice for a Successful Career from Those Who Have Done It

Breaking into the

Game Industry:

Advice for a

Successful Career

from Those Who

Have Done It

Brenda Brathwaite

Ian Schreiber

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Breaking into the Game Industry: Advice for a

Successful Career from Those Who Have Done It

Brenda Brathwaite and Ian Schreiber

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This book is the result of the experience of a great many friends in the game

industry who have shared their generous advice and a space with us in this

wonderful community. Thanks is also due to the many people hoping to enter

the game industry who have asked us the questions which, once answered

again and again, became the inspiration for this book. Thanks, too, to the

Game Developers Conference, which provided the venue for Brenda’s lecture,

“100 Questions, 97 Answers, and 56 Minutes.” It served as the verbal outline

for this book. Thank you, everyone, for your help in pulling this massive work

together.

Brenda: In addition to everyone included above, five people fill my life with

games and love. My kids—Maezza, Avalon, and Donovan—all want to be game

designers and coders in the game industry. Their newfound passion for this

amazing medium constantly reignites my own. I am also deeply inspired by my

longtime friend and love, John Romero, for being a living, walking, breathing

bible of gameplay, game design, and coding knowledge, and love and inspiration.

To have that kind of genius in my world all the time is nothing short of a miracle.

Like my own children, John’s son Michael, now in his second year in the industry,

shares our deep love of games and provides a great role model for everyone, but

especially my kids, who want to pursue the dream. My thanks also go out to Nasir

Gebelli and Bill Budge who serve as the founding fathers of the computer game

industry. Everywhere I go, every legendary designer and coder I talk to, they

mention Gebelli or Budge (and sometimes both) as their foundation. Without

them, without players, without my family, without you, my world would not be

the beautiful place it is today. Thank you.

Acknowledgments

Ian: For me, I have had so many influences that it is impossible to list everyone

here, but above all I must thank my soul mate and life partner Sharon for her love,

support, and patience during the course of writing this book. Also to my daughter

Janis for enabling me to view the world in completely different ways that will

ultimately make me a better designer. I’m also grateful for my parents, who always

encouraged me to go after my dreams, whether or not my dreams were lucrative.

Finally, I wish to thank anyone, anywhere, who has designed and shipped a game;

the best games inspire me to improve my skills so I can make something as good,

while the worst games inspire me to get out there and prove that I can make

something better.

Have fun.

iv Acknowledgments

Brenda Brathwaite (1981, COO and Game

Designer, Loot Drop) is an award-winning game

designer, artist, writer, and creative director who

entered the video game industry in 1981 at the age

of 15. Brenda has worked with a variety of companies,

including Atari, Sir-tech Software, Electronic Arts,

Firaxis, and numerous companies in the social

media space. Before founding Loot Drop, Brathwaite

served as Creative Director for two social media

companies—Slide (acquired by Google) and Lolapps.

She has worked on many Facebook games with

DAUs in the millions, including Ravenwood Fair, Critter Island, SuperPoke Pets!,

SPP Ranch, Garden Life, Rock Riot, and Top Fish.

Brenda served on the board of the International Game Developers Association

(IGDA) and presently chairs the IGDA’s Women in Games Special Interest

group. She also served on the advisory board for the Smithsonian’s video game

history exhibition and the International Center for the History of Electronic

Games at the Strong Museum of Play.

She was named Woman of the Year by Charisma+2 Magazine in 2010 and also

was a nominee in Microsoft’s 2010 Women in Games game design awards. In

2009, her game Train won the coveted Vanguard Award at IndieCade for

“pushing the boundaries of game design and showing us what games can do.” She

was named one of the top 20 most influential women in the game industry by

About the Authors

Gamasutra.com in 2008 and one of the 100 most influential women in the game

industry by Next Generation magazine in 2007. Nerve magazine also called her

one of the 50 artists, actors, authors, activists, and icons who are making the world

a more stimulating place.

Ian Schreiber (2000, Programmer/Game Designer/

Teacher, Freelance) has worked on seven shipped

games, including online trading card games, console

games, and even some “serious games” for corporate

training. He has consulted on a variety of additional

titles, which he can’t tell you about since he’s under

NDA (see Question 69).

Ian has also taught college students how to make

games since 2006. He has worked with two-year and

four-year colleges and universities, both in person

and online, teaching classes, created course content, and consulting for curricu￾lum development.

Ian is a co-founder of the Global Game Jam, the world’s largest game creation

event. Other than that, he does not have nearly the impressive credentials that

Brenda has, but that has not stopped him from managing to work with Brenda on

this book and many other projects.

vi About the Authors

Question 1 Why Are You Doing This? What’s this Book

About, and Why Are You Writing It? ............... 1

Question 2 How Should I Choose a School? . . ................. 3

Question 3 What Percentage of My School Work Will Help

Me Get a Job? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

Question 4 Lots of Stuff I Learn in School Seems Like It Has

Nothing to Do with Actually Making Games for a Living.

What Classes Did You Take that Were the Most Useful

on the Job? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

Question 5 How Much Weight Do Studios Put on GPAs? . . . . . . . . . 15

Question 6 How Much Weight Do Studios Put on the Major or

College Attended? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

Question 7 Why Should I Care About Video Game History? . . . . . . 19

Question 8 Is a Graduate Degree (Such as an MFA or Ph.D.)

Useful for Getting a Job in the Game Industry? . . . . . . . 23

Question 9 I Want to be a Programmer in the Game Industry.

People Are Suggesting I Shouldn’t Bother with More

Complex Languages like C or C++ and Focus Instead

on Languages Like ActionScript (Flash). Is that a

Valid Path? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27

Contents

vii

Question 10 Is Getting an Undergraduate Degree a Waste of

Time if I Want a Job in the Game Industry? . . . . . . . . . 31

Question 11 Is It Important to Play Games as a Student? . . . . . . . . . 35

Question 12 If You Could Add Something to a Student with

Great Vision, What Would It Be? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37

Question 13 I Want to be a Game Designer. Do I Need

to Learn Programming or Computer Science? . . . . . . . . 39

Question 14 Is It Better to be a Specialist or Generalist, in the

Short Term or Long Term? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41

Question 15 Is There Another Way to Get Up to Speed on

Game Development, Other than Making Games? . . . . . 43

Question 16 What’s the Best Subject to Make a Game About? . . . . . 45

Question 17 Where Do You Get Your Ideas? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47

Question 18 How Do I Get My Games to Be More Fun and

Not Just Tasks? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49

Question 19 How Do I Make Contacts in the Game Industry? . . . . . . 51

Question 20 It Costs How Much to Go to GDC? How Will I Ever

Afford That? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53

Question 21 Should I Get My Own Business Cards? What Should

Be on Them? What Do I Do with Them? . . . . . . . . . . . . 57

Question 22 When Should I Start Networking? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61

Question 23 How Do I Get Game Developers’ Business Cards? . . . . . 63

Question 24 When Should I Follow Up After Getting Someone’s

Business Card? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65

Question 25 Is There Anything I Shouldn’t Do When Following

Up? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67

Question 26 Should I Ask Developers to Review My Portfolio? . . . . . 69

Question 27 I Heard that a Lot of People in the Game Industry Use

Social Media (Twitter, Facebook, and So on). Why? . . . . 71

Question 28 What Else Shouldn’t I Do When Communicating

with Developers? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75

viii Contents

Question 29 If I Change My Last Name (such as for Marriage)

in Mid-Career, Does that Affect My Career by Messing

with the Credits of Previously Shipped Games? . . . . . . . 77

Question 30 What Should the Front Page of My Portfolio

Look Like? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79

Question 31 As an Artist, What Are Some General Portfolio

Guidelines I Need to Follow? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81

Question 32 What Do Character Artists Need to Show

in Their Portfolios? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95

Question 33 What Do Environment Artists Need to Show

in Their Portfolios? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101

Question 34 What Do Modelers Need to Show in Their

Portfolios? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105

Question 35 What Do Texture Artists Need to Show in Their

Portfolios? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107

Question 36 What Do Concept Artists Need to Show in Their

Portfolios? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109

Question 37 What Do Game Designers Need to Show in

Their Portfolios? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111

Question 38 What Do Game Writers Need to Show in Their

Portfolios? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119

Question 39 What Do Level Designers Need to Show in Their

Portfolios? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123

Question 40 What Do Programmers Need to Show in Their

Portfolios? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127

Question 41 What Should a Producer/Project Manager

(or Someone Aspiring to Be One) Have in

Their Portfolio? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131

Question 42 What Do Sound Designers Need to Show

in Their Portfolios? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135

Question 43 Are There People Who Don’t Need Portfolios? . . . . . . 141

Question 44 How Many Images/Games Should I Have in My

Portfolio? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143

Contents ix

x Contents

Question 45 When Should I Start Working on My Portfolio? . . . . . . 145

Question 46 Have You Seen Any Stupid Portfolio Tricks? . . . . . . . . 147

Question 47 How Do I Get My Work Out There So Someone

Can See It? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149

Question 48 Wait, Doesn’t Everyone Say that It’s Impossible

to Be Hired as a Game Designer or Game Writer

Straight Out of College, or as Your First Job

in the Industry? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151

Question 49 How Much Help Will Reading About Game

Development Be in Obtaining a Job in the

Game Industry? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155

Question 50 How Much Experience Should I Have Before I Start

Looking for a Job as a Game Designer? . . . . . . . . . . . 157

Question 51 I Talked to a Woman and She Was Really Excited

Because She Heard I Was a [Insert Desired Position

Here]. She Wanted to Talk with Me and See

My Portfolio. That’s Great, Right? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161

Question 52 What’s the Best Approach for Getting an Internship? . . . 163

Question 53 Where Should I Look for Jobs? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165

Question 54 Should I Just Show Up Unannounced at a Game

Company? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167

Question 55 Does the Current State of the Economy Have an

Effect on Game Development or Hiring? . . . . . . . . . . . 169

Question 56 How Do I Write a Good Cover Letter that Connects

with HR and Developers? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171

Question 57 How Do I Write a Good Résumé that Connects with

HR and Developers? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173

Question 58 They’re Giving Me an Art/Design/Programming Test.

What Is It and Why Are They Doing This? . . . . . . . . . . 177

Question 59 The Design/Programming/Art Test Asks Me to

Come Up with Some Game/Code/Art Ideas. I Don’t Want

Them to Steal My Ideas! What Should I Do? . . . . . . . . 181

Question 60 Should I Try to Take a Coding Test Before I Am Solid

in the Language? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 183

Question 61 How Early Should I Show Up for an Interview? . . . . . . 185

Question 62 How Should I Dress for an Interview? . . . . . . . . . . . . . 187

Question 63 What Happens in an Interview? How Do I Handle It? . . . 189

Question 64 They Just Offered Me a Salary! How Do I Know

if It’s Good? Should I Negotiate? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 195

Question 65 Do Interviewees Ever Say Dumb Things? . . . . . . . . . . . 201

Question 66 Do People Still Expect Me to Follow Up After

an Interview? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 203

Question 67 What Should I Do Before I Accept a Job Offer? . . . . . . 205

Question 68 They Want Me to Sign a Non-Compete. What’s That? . . 209

Question 69 They Want Me to Sign an NDA. What’s That? . . . . . . . 211

Question 70 How Do I Find a Place to Live if I’m Hired in a

New City? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 213

Question 71 Is There Such a Thing as Taking a New Job Too Early? . . 215

Question 72 How Will I Feel My First Day on the Job? . . . . . . . . . . 217

Question 73 Once I Have a Job, Any Key Pointers? . . . . . . . . . . . . . 219

Question 74 What Do Entry-Level Employees Typically Do in

Their First Few Months? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 221

Question 75 If I Enter in the Middle of a Project, What’s the Best

Way to Get Up to Speed? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 223

Question 76 If I Join a Game Company, Will They Make My

Game Idea? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 225

Question 77 How Is Performance Measured for Raises, Bonuses,

and Promotions? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 227

Question 78 What Is It Like to Work on a Big Licensed Title? . . . . . 229

Question 79 What Is It Like to Work at a Small Studio on a Series

of Small Projects? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 231

Question 80 What Is the Scariest Thing About Being a Game

Designer? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 233

Question 81 What’s the Worst Thing You’ve Seen in

a Game Development Meeting? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 235

Contents xi

Question 82 Will I Really Work 70 Hours a Week? . . . . . . . . . . . . . 237

Question 83 What Should I Do if I Hate My Job? (Or: How

to Exit a Company Gracefully) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 239

Question 84 What Should I Do if I Hate Someone I Work With? . . . 243

Question 85 What Should I Do if I Disagree with

Someone? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 245

Question 86 What Is the “Game Industry”? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 251

Question 87 Is There a Way to Get a Feel for the Industry

Before Even Getting There? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 253

Question 88 Is the Game Industry a Good Place to Meet

Someone to Date? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 255

Question 89 What Does a Game Developer Do? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 257

Question 90 What Does a Lead Do? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 259

Question 91 Who Is the Most Evil Person on a Game

Development Team? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 261

Question 92 Have You Seen Someone Make It in the Industry

with a Physical or Mental Disability? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 263

Question 93 How Much Money Will I Make Working in the

Game Industry? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 265

Question 94 Do Small Studios Typically Have Health, Dental,

and Savings Plans? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 267

Question 95 Which Programming Language Is Used the Most? . . . . 269

Question 96 What Is It Like to Be a Woman in the Game Industry? . . 271

Question 97 What Is It Like to Be a Minority in the Game

Industry? Is Diversity Important? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 273

Question 98 What Is It Like Working as an LGBT in the

Game Industry? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 275

Question 99 I Want to Send My Idea to a Game Company.

How Do I Do This? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 279

Question 100 Is There Such a Thing as a Stupid Question? . . . . . . . . 281

Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 285

xii Contents

Why Are You Doing this? What’s

this Book About, and Why Are

You Writing It?

Brenda: Hi. My name is Brenda Brathwaite, and I’ve been in the game industry

since 1982 when I was just 15 years old. I’ve been making games ever since.

During that time, I’ve just about seen it all. I’ve helped a lot of people break in,

helped a few break out, and have been asked thousands of questions. This book

is about the 100 most common questions I am asked. I’m writing it with the aid

of co-conspirator, game designer, programmer, and educator Ian Schreiber. Like

me, Ian’s spent a good number of years in the industry and has answered many

of these questions dozens of times, too.

Our opinions, however, are just that—opinions. Our experience is singular and

not applicable to everyone. That’s why I’ve invited hundreds of my closest

friends to chime in with their opinions. Sometimes they are in resounding

agreement with one another, but other times, their opinions resemble night and

day. For each opinion, we list the name and current job title of the person, along

with the year they started working in the game industry.

Feel free to hop around the book and find answers to the questions you have.

There’s no specific order to the questions, but some are grouped together for

logic’s sake. Flip through the table of contents and find the sections or questions

that are of the most interest to you.

Thanks for your interest in this book. Have fun.

Question 1

1

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