Thanks for this.

I always thought being a concept artist would be the coolest thing, for video games or movies. Its not something i'll ever do, but it would still be cool

Oh and voice acting would be cool too

Although I can't say I'm exactly surprised it's awesome knowing so many people want to (or are already) pursuing a career in the gaming industry

BTW thank you biomedmechstudent for that link, I didn't know about that competition.

Also, does anybody what's the average salary for a programmer or concept artist, for example, on a big company like Bethesda/Bioware/Rockstar etc...?

Unless you get into a really top company with heaps of employees it's a hard path, my uncle is a game programmer

Btw, you never mentioned what sort of game development you wanted to go into (FPS, RPG, RTS, MMO, etc).

I think it is critical for concept designers to know the limitation of the language/engine they are using, which is why I've recently picked up C++. Also, you can learn as many computer languages as you want (Java, etc). I'd also recommend that you take inspiration from a lot of different sources (indie games/Xbox Live arcade games/flash games for example).

I want to make an FPS and so far the notable influences on my game include:

Battlefield 2142 Gears of War (1 + 2) CoD4 “Nazi Zombies” Team Fortress 2 Super Smash Brothers Bioshock Fear (1 + 2) Starcraft Brink DotA/HoN FFVII: Dirge of Cerberus Shadowrun Crysis 2 Time Splitters



The more games I've put into the mix, the more ideas I've come up with (Super Smash Brothers, Starcraft and DotA aren't even FPSs). Try to keep any genre interesting by adopting ideas from other genres. For instance, the game Monday Night Combat takes the concept behind DotA (Defence of the Ancients) and puts it into an FPS. A lot of the groundbreaking ideas are already out there, you just have to piece them together.

I feel like I should speak up here.

About 10 years ago, I finished high school. I went all through that time convinced that I was going to go to school and become a game designer. Now, this was a time when the concept of a "game design degree" was brand new, and to me it seemed like the fast track into the industry. I enrolled in a school in San Francisco. http://www.artinstitutes.edu/san-francisco/. My major? A bachelors of Science in Game Art and Design.

Now, my parents were not rich, and I had never had a job. I pretty much depended on student loans for everything. This included not only tuition, but housing and supplies too. I figured it was alright, because once I got my degree, companies all over the California Bay Area would be clamoring to hire me, right?

Well... not so much.

Turns out, such a degree is useless. And ordinary high school graduate has about the same chance of getting their foot in the door as I do. Only an ordinary high school graduate isn't tens of thousands of dollars in debt.

Game development companies do not care what kinds of degrees you hold. It might help to get their attention, but there are other ways to do that too. In the field of design, two things hold more importance than anything else;

1- Your portfolio.

2- Your ability to network.

Your portfolio is very important. It shows what you are capable of, and the more diverse it is the better your chances. With your portfolio, you are selling your services, and if a company doesn't think your stuff is good enough, or really suits them, they won't care. You are also in competition with every other artist out there with a portfolio in their hands, so if you have good stuff, and someone else has somewhat better stuff, guess who gets hired. Game design is a competitive, cutthroat industry.

You have to be able to network. You have to put your self out there. You could have the best portfolio in the world, and without the right people looking at it, you won't get hired. Your mom doesn't count. Attend the conventions. Join http://www.igda.org/, the International Game Developers Association and attend the meetings. Hand out business cards. Shake hands with industry big-wigs. Keep your portfolio on you, or some small sample of your work. A lot of guys will make a digital portfolio, which is a disk or website showcasing what they do. If a big-wig gets bored, and decides to check out the site of that crazy artist at the last IGDA meeting, they might check your work, and if it's awesome, they might call you. You have to be visible, and these guys have to want to hire you over the other aspiring game designers and artists clamoring for a job.

So here's my advice. School is great. If you can afford it, attend it, but skip the "game design" career paths, or other trendy programs. If you want to be an artist, take clases that correspond to game design or art. Take life drawing, etc. Work on your stuff. Build up your portfolio. Then put yourself out there. That last part is most important. Without that, all your work is for naught, and you'll end up like me, selling cellular phones at Wal Mart, only drawing in the sketch book to keep from losing your ability all together, and losing all hope of breaking into the industry now that you are married and have a two year old.

So true.


Schooling is good. You learn basics and get a lot of teamwork experience. But you need portfolio and contacts more than anything else.

Game design... Unleash your ideas, forget about the programming. I used to say by provocation that coding is the job to be outsourced in Mumbai. It is the least interesting part of the game.
It is a bit like designing a car, you are not asked to know all the details of metalurgy, mechanics etc... to design a car. Same applies to houses with architects.

By the time you will be on the market, visual programming will become the norm, see Virtools power and it gives a good idea. If you want to work in the gaming industry as designer, start to build yourself a portofolio of projects you participated in. Good luck.

Yeah, the thought of programming crossed my mind in high school when I was thinking about what I like to do, and what I want to do in college. Luckily, I still remain active in the video game industry by insuring that the developers and producers behind my favorite video games get at least part of their paycheck paid for by a donation from me... in exchange for a game disc.

Indeed. However, I really wouldn't rule out getting a degree in game design (though really, any degree out there can be applied to games.)

Your portfolio and networking are the most important things - and going to school can help you with that a lot. I wish I had had the motivation and know-how to figure out what things I needed to study on my own without going to school, would have been cheaper that way. But, although my school projects aren't really what anyone's interested in seeing as portfolio pieces - it is a jumping off point and a push in the right direction. Not to mention, it's easier to network with other people interested in game design when that's the degree you're going for. Some of those students will get jobs.

I'd like to jump into the more business side of it...advertising is something I could specialize in, as well as packaging. A lot of companies hand off their games to different ad agencies though.

Internally, I'd say working on a AAA title's UI or even game manual...Theres so many typographical atrocities and bad design calls that I see in menus and manuals because companies have simply given their artists the task of doing so.

The people making these should be trained to communicate well. I'm not saying artists aren't (as i'd consider myself to be a rather avid artist) but i'm saying that someone who has had experience with communication and design will do a much more efficient job.

Personally I'd love to work in RPGs...Bethesda and Bioware :sweat:



Good advices...although I still think getting a degree is important since you learn the things you actually put in your portfolio But I get your point, there are thousands of graduates out there who if hired would do a great job but may never get a chance because they weren't noticed by a big company...

Well I'm in high school now (first year) and I'm going to use the holidays to learn more (C++ and Java for example though it seems pretty hard...) so that if I go to a good uni (hopefully) I would already know some things

Well. GGJ is now over. And I had great time there. I would show the game what I was working for. But since it is for Windows Phone 7. I can't really show much.
But I have to show what other team made, it is so awesome. (almost as awesome as ours). http://veepeli.fi/snobli/ is guaranteed. That just shows
how great Unity is as development tool. Team who made that had 2 guys and they didn't even work that hard to make it.