So You Want to Make Games for a Living?

Want to make you own game? Do a mod or two.

If you want to make games, just do it. Do it now. Don't wait for someone to teach you. Get some books and go wild. If you really love doing it for free, you may like getting paid for it!

"that in my 8+ years as a professional game designer, not once has any boss of mine ever asked me for an idea for a new game."

He almost sounds bitter about this.

I've had the opposite of his experience.

that was an awesome read.

very good article

and... WHAT THE FUCK! GTA:SA took $50 MILLION TO MAKE??!?!?!?

Ideas are a dime a dozen. It's the skills to put those ideas into action and make a complete product that makes a difference. Everyone I meet has an idea for a game and some of them might actually work, but they act like getting the idea is the hardest part of the process. It's not.

i've been doing this for as long as Zatkin, so here's my advice.

1. Ideas don't mean shit. Implement the ideas within the time/financials/tech available and we'll talk. Writing down a design isn't designing shit.

2. Understand your position in the industry. There's a moment for every designer where their spirited high faluting vision for the industry is broken. It's after this that they become the most useful members of the team.

3. It is a team effort. You are a professional game designer. You make games for a living. It is full of blood and guts. It is painful. You should take enjoyment from your day to day work, be it making fuzzy bunnies, designing combat systems, whatever. Don't like the work? It's not going to get better elsewhere (usually).

4. The purpose of your work is to make a company money. Not to make games that you as a gamer want to play. You're making games for the majority out there. I love obscure naval sims, but I understand that nobody's going to give me 15 mil to make one.

5. Make sure to have a life outside of work. The game industry should be a career. In the past it ground people up for a few years then they quit and got real jobs. Nowadays we're in it for the long run. Avoid burnout and understand that at the end of the day it's just a job.

6. DO NOT LET PEOPLE TREAT YOU LIKE SHIT AND MAKE YOU WORK UNREASONABLE HOURS BECAUSE "Hey i get to make games for a living". Quality of life is EXTREMELY important to maintain longevity.

7. Grow as a designer. Just because it's been done in the past doesn't mean it should always be that way.

8. Don't throw out ideas just because they've been done in the past. Use EMPIRICAL evidence to back up your arguments.

9. Make games that are enjoyable. Try to avoid designing systems that kick people in the balls.

10. Stay busy.

Well that was cathartic. Hope i'm not too cynical. :)

you guys just made me decide to quit my job next month. seriously.

I've worked in the industry for over 5 years, which is by no means a long time but this article hit the nail right on the head as far as my experiences go. I've worked on AAA titles and stuff that I knew was doomed to failure right out of the gate. Sometime for money, sometimes for love the job. I've been both very well paid and underpaid. Worked long hours/weekend and had short days and a normal schedual.

But that's really not all that different from other industries, any entertainment related especially. There is a lot of sacrifice involved in working in this industry and if you don't love what you do it will crush you. I've seen it wreck people, marriges and families. I've also seen some the happiest people ever in a work place - people who look forwards to comming to work everyday.

The flips side to this is I have seen/worked with people who got their "in" with a large company that had them working regular hours for decent pay and was in all very similar to the standard 9-5 office job. Some of these people didn't "love" the work - they did it as a job, they had the skills and it paid the bills. But they lacked the enthusiasm that other who have a harder time and they worked for a company that didnt care about their enthusiasm - just as long as they showed up for work and did their job. This doesn't help the industry at all as these people don't create a game - they assemble it as if it was a factory line.

Just my 2 cents.

i'm making a game atm. Just part time, but one day I hope I can make some money from it. It's pretty fun to work on so I don't care if it works out or not.


here's first screenshot. a shack exclusive :D.

http://kjo.myip.org/images/ss.jpg

p.s. don't laugh at my car.

A bit on the negative side... a lot of people are scared of even giving the game industry a try today as it is. All they hear about is slave labor, creative lockdown, publisher control and abuse, blah blah blah... Surely some people in the industry must really enjoy what they do.

I was just wondering something:

What happened to major companies releasing lower profile games that didn't cost too much to make? I'm talking about PC games specifically.

I mean, most of them were crap, but every once in a while, you'd get a surprise hit that would spiral into one of the major genres we know today.

Today, it just feels like they're putting all their eggs in one major AAA title basket and when it turns out to be a turkey, the whole development team is fired and never heard from again.

Sounds like someone needs to find a new company to work for. You know, one that actually takes input from its employees and whatnot, sheesh.

The step-by-step thing was awesome...I'd love to see a more detailed explanation of how all that stuff works, as working with photoshop and a tablet are things I've longed to do, but I just don't know much about photoshop.

Yes, learn all you can about making video games, but don't take what one individual says as being the Bible of how to make video games, or what makes a game good. There are certain formula's to follow, but everyone has different gaming tastes, so there's no one correct way to make one. The only REAL way to learn making video games is hands on modding for an existing game. Also, don't take that to heart either, as the process is different for most games out there. Take the next 3 months or so to make a simple mod for one of the latest games, and if it's something you can deal with (as in spending ungodly amounts of time developing, stress, heavy problem solving, etc.) then you'd like getting paid for doing it.

As for selecting an employer, here's a few tips:

1) Make sure they don't have a huge list of previous employees that have come and gone at a fast rate, and especially in a short amount of time. This means either, the company wasn't good to work for, unstable, just didn't like it there, or they just use you for the task at hand with no intentions of further employing you.

2) Work for an employer that listens to your ideas and needs (within reason) If they could care less about your ideas, and your needs, no point in working there as you won't feel comfortable in their environment with no chance for advancement. Keeping an employee happy is a major development motivation. It is a team environment, and one person is as equally important as the next.

3) Don't expect riches. If it's promised, seek the next employer as the only riches (if the game even sells well) will go straight to the company and it's owners.

4) Not everyone owns a Ferrari........

My recipe for succesfull+fun game development...: get some decent job, doing something you're great at and you like (whatever it is), so you can get teh moneys. Then, in your spare time, create mods for whichever engine you want, with whichever gameplay you feel like doing.

I hope I'll be there in 4 years after I get my degree...

Every game industry veteran I know can tell you stories of "that guy" who slept in his office, never showered and smelled... um... Or about the tester that, after 30 hours of caffeine induced productivity, purposefully downed some testing department concoction for $50 of pooled change.

i want to get into the industry!!! ;D ... really, this field report is definitely worth the read. maybe games would be better, if bosses let the creative minds bring their ideas to life, instead of just giving them the monkey role.
but what he describes there as his daily work doesn't sound exciting, he.. making concepts, designing and implementing it into the game is the interesting side of things, imo. i would love to do this. better, you really like your job and don't get paid well instead of the other way around.

like todd hollenshead said: you can only do this job with enthusiasm.

CAST AWAY THESE CHAINS OF NEXT GENERATION TECHNOLOGY!

Now lets all go play our super nintendo's and sega genesis' (spelling on the plural for that?) and make the game industry like it used to be.

Chrono Trigger for life.

Yes, you're not going to get paid to come up with ideas for games unless you get a job as a lead designer or something, but having an idea and being able to flesh it out into a working program is like a must at any game dev job interview.