If you have not been taking notice, the world around us has changed in a big way. No longer do children go to coin arcades, spend all day playing Street Fighter II and Mortal Kombat in the arcade and wait in lines for the release of the newest Genesis titles. Remember back when you had to hunt around town to find the best arcade spots? Now gaming has evolved to a level that none of us would have thought.
Gaming is now an event that is primarily done from within one’s own home. People might even say it is an anti social activity.
With the evolution from Genesis, to Playstation, to Xbox 360 and whatever else is coming out soon gaming has placed gamers more and more in their homes. What does that mean for the industry? There is a new challenge. No longer can games get by on game play alone. Games like Virtua Cop that only required point and shoot technology. Games like Street Fighter that only require button mashing. Now gaming requires games to be super robust as the gamers have time to be fully immersed in their environments. Games need to have the best graphics. Games have to have up-to-the-minute online game play with zero lag, games have to use the newest ragdoll physics. There are just too many nuisances to go into great detail but I think you are beginning to get the picture we are trying to paint here.
So what does this mean for the industry and the current state of video game jobs?
For one, games now require staff and payrolls that rival Hollywood blockbusters. Not only do you have to have the technical team to put the actual game together, but many companies send designers and location scouts out to photograph buildings and structures to recreate in the gaming world. You didn’t think that the guys that created Grand Theft Auto and the Call of Duty series just thought of those grand locations from the top of their heads did you? Nope! Grand Theft Auto 4 is modeled after New York City, and designers recreated the game world from real life visuals of the City. The designers behind the Call of Duty series rely on robust amounts of research to recreate the World Wars.
So what jobs in video games can you expect to find out there in your job search?
There are the traditional:
- Project Manager
- Graphic Designer
- Lead Animator/Supporting Animators
- Game Designers
- Audio Engineer
- C+++ Programmer (aka Computer Programmer)
- Storyboard Creator
- Script Writer
- Voice Actor
And the list goes on and on and on. But there are also a plethora of NEW jobs available. First are public relations managers. Every company has one. These are the people who get out there and make sure blogs like IGN and Gamespot cover their development. They also prowl forums and Youtube to see what the buzz is around the project.
Another job is game tester. You may have heard of this. These guys play games for hours on end to see if there are any bugs in the code. It sounds lucrative, but it is a very tough entry level position. If you get frustrated easily it is probably not for you.
A final job that is probably new to you is creative engineer. I know that you are probably asking “what is that?!” Well this is basically a position that companies create to spur creative development at their firms. These people are paid to literally think of crazy ideas, make small demos of them, then get feedback from users via in-store demos, online betas, or via game testers. These guys are constantly pushing the envelope on the traditional game genres by adding or subtracting traditional elements or making the game more extreme in one or more ways.
As you see, there are many different video game jobs you can get involved with, traditional and nontraditional. I hope this post inspires you to get out there and see what is available. Don’t be afraid to submit resumes and cold call to see what is available to you. You never know until you try!
