.jpg)
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
How
to get into the games industry
This is quite an old article
written by an ex student of mine, but is still relalvent.
By: Faraz Hameed (www.bigbluebox.co.uk) and
Tony Hinds (www.kingofthejungle.co.uk)
Ever thought what it would
be like - making computer games that millions of people around the whole world
that immerse themselves and play until the late hours of the night? Big companies
like Namco, Capcom and Squaresoft are making movie style (if not better) action
and adventure games featuring a host of entertaining characters in vivid and
detailed worlds. Do you want to be part of this billion dollar industry that
is bigger than Hollywood?
What is the games industry?
The game industry started
out with just a few people working from their garage. Usually there was just
one poor guy doing both the artwork and programming for a game, taking about
4-8 months to complete. People who played these games were mostly spotty teenagers
and solitary bachelors within the confines of their bedrooms. Those were the
geeky days!
Today, games is a multi-billion
pound industry with an audience of all walks of life. Everyone from the teletubby
generation all the way up to the geriatrics playing them anytime, anywhere!
'Game-making teams' comprise
of anything up to 30 to 40 people. They can be divided into a design team,
art team, programming team and testing team (if not others). In addition to
this already large group, games are given large marketing budgets with a sales
force and a technical support team to support the game after it is sold. Just
like films and music. The game development process can take a labourious 2-4
years now, including the frequent and predictable delays.
Despite this organisation,
games companies differ incredibly in how they make games and what part they
play in the game making process. It often depends on the company, the team,
and the management structure, where many things today are sadly done on improvisation.
To picture all this clearly, the games industry can be thought of being broken
into 3 categories. The first is the Publisher. The Publisher will do the marketing,
distribution, testing, and licensing sort of thing. But, they don’t necessary
develop (as in make) the game. The second category of companies is the developer.
The developers are actually the ones who make the game by using producers,
designers, artists and programmers. A developer can be an in-house developer
team inside a Publisher or a completely separate company. The later is most
usually dependant on a Publisher to sell the game. Third and finally, there
are the outsourcing companies. These companies specialise in various specific
areas of the game industry – for example code, film sequences, consultancy,
etc.
|
Publisher
|
Developer |
Outsource companies |
|
Distribution Marketing Quality testing |
Makes the game -Producer -Designers Concept artists Modellers Texture artists Animators -Programmers -Testing |
Specialises in different areas LOCALISATION SOUND EFFECTS VOICE OVERS SCRIPTS FMV SEQUENCES |
Where does an animator
fit into all this?
Obviously, an animator
would want to be animation, and that would be with the developer. But to understand
where an animator could be part of game making process, you really need to
understand how a game is made.
A game usually starts off
development as an initial design or basic mock-up demonstration. This is basically
a very rough early playable version of the game. Some companies
have a small team known as R& D (Research and
Development) that is comprised of 1
or 2 programmers and a couple of artists. There purpose is to take the game
from storyboard to a very rough first playable to give the publisher an idea
of the type of game the developers are trying to create.
From this starting point the team expands into a full development team, lead
by a manager who over looks the entire process. S/he
is called a Producer. Work is divided into design, programming and art. The
art team would normally be lead by an art lead / art director who governs
the look and feel of the game. This person would usually work aside a lead
designer and lead programmer. Design plans and rough ideas are presented to
the team where the art team translates them into 2d and 3d art which the programmers
put together as an interactive game. Throughout the process there is often
the constant
discussion and testing of ideas. As a result don't be surprised if your work
bounces back and forth with you having to redo stuff!
On the art side, if there
are characters or any other animatable objects you'll have model makers -
constructing objects (i.e. a character) in 3d form. The 3d models will then
have to have skeletons built into them. These skeletons are the underlying
system that allows a person to deform a model over time and hence animate
it. This is where you would come in! For a character in a game the animator
would have to create a very large amount of animations. These would mostly
be a set of
repetitive actions like a running cycle, walking cycle, jumping cycle, etc.
A game can involve hundreds! Unlike film animation it is essential for each
animation to look impressive from every angle because in most games any animation
would be viewable in many ways. This can be a meticulous job and can also
involve testing the animation in the game itself before being completely satisfied
with the job. After the development of the overall bulk of the game, there
are also special animation to be done for cut scenes (cinematic parts of the
game) and also press material. That's pretty much it for the animator.
What will I need to know
to get into a games company
In games everyone uses
3d software, bar one or two exceptions. Ideally as an animator all that is
needed is the obvious strong 2d/3d animations skills and a portfolio to demonstrate
this. You can be a 2d or 3d animator - it usually doesn't matter because it
is common to train 2d people up. But do note - having 3D experience does give
you an advantage.
If you are considering
training yourself
as an animator it is more important to be a competent animator than be knowledgeable
about software (there is plenty of that). To learn animation it is best to
refer to other parts of this web site, but I highly recommend the London Animation
Studio's animation course.
Basic rules for an animation
portfolio expected by a games company are the same for a film or animation
company. They are timing, weight, rhythm and fluidity, secondary motion, interaction,
etc.
If you are already a highly
competent animation and wish to learn 3d then there are 3 major animation
packages to learn from:
Maya
Softimage
3DS Max
and also to a lesser degree
- Lightwave
There are plenty more animation/3d
software packages out there, so don't be afraid to experiment, but the industry
seems to go by the above list.
What games employers expect
to see is ideally examples of character-game-animation in a portfolio. These
would be along the lines of walk cycles,
jumps, throws, lip sync, etc. Large complicated animations or movies are unnecessary
and
perhaps off-putting, so keep it short and simple.
Where and how to apply
A good question. Often
getting into a games company depends on luck and effort. But I best advised
is:
1) Compose a professional
looking portfolio and cv.
2) Buy the 'Edge' magazine
(available at most news stands). This is a magazine that is used by the whole
games industry in Britain as a source of information and jobs. In the back
of this magazine is usually 3+ pages worth of jobs and job agencies. Start
from here.
3) Apply directly to companies
or send your work to agencies
Applying to companies
directly means you can personalise your work
for that company and all dialogue is between you and your potential employer. This can
be good or bad depending on which company you apply to, as some are friendly
some are blatantly not. However, agencies will give you application a greater
spread of the jobs, as they will send your application everywhere! They 'can'
also negotiate higher rates of pay in advance and provide professional advice
and information about the companies you visit. The only downside is that a
lot of game companies get hassled frequently by them and are considered a
bane despite the fact that Agencies provide much-needed staff.
Agencies:
www.aardvarkswift.co.uk
www.datascope.co.uk
www.mcv.co.uk
Recommendations for applying
to jobs:
- Keep your portfolio short
and sweet. Quality always presides over quantity.
- Draw, draw, draw! The
more you draw the better you get, even as an animator.
- Maintain a polite, patient
and confident approach when speaking to people. You can easily put people
off if you hassle someone.
- Try and get as much feedback
for your work. If your work is crap - try and find out and research why it
isn't good. It's too easy having friends complementing you when your work
is still shit. Learn from magazine articles, films, interviews, etc. I learnt
my formal training from the LAS. However, I got my inherent animation skills
by watching nature documentaries with audio off (and I still do)!
- Do not steal other people's
work. This often quite frequently and I have even seen some of my stuff used
in someone else’s portfolio. DO note that everyone knows everyone in the games
industry so if someone causes a stir they usually end up working in Tescos
for the rest of their life.
- Most of all, never get
disheartened, never give up, never take criticism badly and always try and
improve.
- Oh, and good luck!
 |
 |