27 réponses à ce sujet

[Mars Nova]

I've realized that I need to start thinking about what I want to do with my life.  Due to my love of games, a career in game development sounds promising.  But I have this fear that a game-related career would somehow ruin my love of gaming.  It seems irrational to me, but I can't shake it.

I'm hoping that one of the devs or someone else with a gaming-related job can give me some advice here.  Are my fears irrational?  Or are they justified?  Any help you can give me would be much appreciated.

[lambert_01]

Hey,



I don't have a job in game developing or anything but I do study computer animation at school. I also know a few people from the game art major. If it helps I'll tell you what I've noticed so far. I haven't had games or movies ruined for me, but I do tend to notice things more. (Such as how things are made/ techniques used, etc.) If anything it has made me enjoy/appreciate good games and movies even more. Not sure if this will help, hope you get the advice you need.

[Stanley Woo]

Depends on the personality, I suppose. We have lots of developers whose main hobby is videogaming. We have others who have a wide variety of interests which aren't gaming related at all.



Working in the industry can expose you to the worst parts of game development, which may make you want to never touch another game again. On the other hand, it might just increase your game-playing because now you want to see how other studios do things. Personally, all that working at BioWare has done for my game-playing is it's made me way more picky about the kinds of games I play, way more critical about the games I do play, and made me enjoy console gaming quite a bit.



Now, if only I wasn't involved in so many non-gaming activities, I might be able to catch up on my backlog of games I need to finish...

[Statulos]

Would a writter like David Gaider be interested on giving a talk about videogames in general and RPG´s in particular as a form of storytelling with a more modern and technological frame?



Because some people over here could find that interesting...

[Shifty Vickars]

From what I expect, form my point of view, it's the story that pulls you in. Just like reading a good book like Dan Simmions, Hyperion isn't ruined when you see some fan art and the characters don't look like anything you expected. Just like if you were to play the third installment of Mass Effect you'll be playing to see what happened. Not how pretty it is.



As for personal experience I cook and see how alot of things are made but it doesn't ruin food for me. But I know some people who won't eat a hot dog, even thought they made it to the required standards.

[John Epler]

I don't think that working in video games will necessarily make you less interested in gaming as a leisure activity. However, I will be honest - I find myself spending my free time on a wider variety of activities than I did prior to working at BioWare. I don't think that's a bad thing, of course - I still try and keep up on the latest releases.



Having said that, I know a lot of people who work here who play a ton of games. I know some people who play very few. It comes down to you yourself, and that's something that no one can really predict but you.

[Goth Skunk]

When I was back in grade school, I dreamed of developing video games when i grew up. It wasn't until I was in junior high when one of my friends -- who is an incredible comic book artist -- suggested I reconsider. The amount of work, hours, and stress that go into developing a video game, polishing it off, and making it perfect are so numerous that by the time the game is ready for shipping, you're sick of it. It really hammered home for me, so I went into telecom instead.



But I would LOVE to voice-over in a computer game. Esp. a BioWare one.

[Chromie]

Can I do a voice over in Mass Effect 3 or Dragon Age Awakening?!?! Please Bioware I work for free.

[Ferelden Templar]

I was in the publishing/customer care/marketing side of the industry myself. You may love games, but don't necessarily want to have a career in it.



My personal experience made me have a distaste for gaming in general. Took me about a year after my job to get back into enjoying games for what they are.



As for gaming development, my career advice to you is to find out which field you want to get into and focus on that. 1) Programmer 2) Game Designer/writer 3) Artist... The 4th is Producer but that requires you have exp. in the other aspects.



Btw, Game Designer requires some knowledge of scripting. I suggest you try out scripting for Neverwinter Nights to have some idea of what that entails. I have yet to try out the DOA toolset (I need to get the PC version first...)



Good luck Mars.

[BrotherJason]

Btw, Game Designer requires some knowledge of scripting. I suggest you try out scripting for Neverwinter Nights to have some idea of what that entails. I have yet to try out the DOA toolset (I need to get the PC version first...)

Being a game designer myself I can say, that it largely depends on the company and the exact position / specialization of the game designer. Some game designers work closer to the arts department, while others are more in touch with the producers, qa or even programmers. Some create content, while others only outline it for more specialized people to create. Basically you can say: The bigger the company the less flexible you have to be. In smaller firms you'll most likely end up having to do a bit of everything, while in larger teams it's most important you know your place and don't mess with the stuff others do.

The most important qualification a game designer has to have either way are strong communication skills, a good understanding of the game design industry and a very good understanding of game design theory. Anything else is basucally just a plus, though it might still be a must-have requirement for the exact job you're about to apply for.

Modifié par BrotherJason, 12 février 2010 - 08:00 .

[KneeTheCap]

I have always wondered how voice actors work. I mean, do they gather around in a big recording studio and read their lines there from a paper? Do the read their lines simultaneously while watching the scene from screen? How about dialogue with other character, do the read their stuff face to face, like a conversation?

[Beerfish]

KneeTheCap wrote...

I have always wondered how voice actors work. I mean, do they gather around in a big recording studio and read their lines there from a paper? Do the read their lines simultaneously while watching the scene from screen? How about dialogue with other character, do the read their stuff face to face, like a conversation?

This would be a very good thing to have a topic on with input from BioWares writers and their voice director.   It would be good to get tips since their is the ability ti use voice acting a bit easier in DA.

[Goth Skunk]

I have no experience in the industry, but if I were to make an educated guess, the only person with any sort of knowledge as to how a scene plays out before any recording is done would be the voice director.



I imagine that each individual actor is brought into the studio to record their lines. They're given direction by the voice director as to the setting of the scene, the atmosphere, the tension in the air (if applicable, like during Tali's Trial) and it's then up to the actor to bring the voice of their character into line with the scene.



I think the animation of the cutscenes is only done after all the recording has been done. It's easier to animate to a pre-recorded voice than it is to record a voice in sync with a pre-animated scene.



I could be wrong, though. They could have multiple actors in studio recording a scene at once, but as there are very few instances where characters are talking over each other, I doubt this is the case.

[Skilled Seeker]

There is also the matter of fans bashing your work heartlessly no matter what you do to appease them

[lv12medic]

Skilled Seeker wrote...

There is also the matter of fans bashing your work heartlessly no matter what you do to appease them

I think this happens in almost every career field .

[Skilled Seeker]

Yep too true.

[BrotherJason]

lv12medic wrote...
I think this happens in almost every career field .

Especially in the field of chartered accountancy [smilie]../../../images/forum/emoticons/wink.png[/smilie].

Modifié par BrotherJason, 13 février 2010 - 02:26 .

[Mars Nova]

Thanks everyone for all the advice, it is deeply appreciated. For now, I've decided that even though I love games, a career in game development might not be for me. I'm not ruling it out, but I'm going to explore other options. I have always liked hotels and thought that would be a fun environment to work in, so I'm going to explore that possibility.

[StingerSplash01]

Goth Skunk wrote...

I have no experience in the industry, but if I were to make an educated guess, the only person with any sort of knowledge as to how a scene plays out before any recording is done would be the voice director.

I imagine that each individual actor is brought into the studio to record their lines. They're given direction by the voice director as to the setting of the scene, the atmosphere, the tension in the air (if applicable, like during Tali's Trial) and it's then up to the actor to bring the voice of their character into line with the scene.

I think the animation of the cutscenes is only done after all the recording has been done. It's easier to animate to a pre-recorded voice than it is to record a voice in sync with a pre-animated scene.

I could be wrong, though. They could have multiple actors in studio recording a scene at once, but as there are very few instances where characters are talking over each other, I doubt this is the case.

Sometimes they will record mocap of the actors face as reference why trying animate the line as well, this can be a timesaver as well.

[flem1]

Mars Nova wrote...

I have always liked hotels and thought that would be a fun environment to work in, so I'm going to explore that possibility.

Interestingly enough, this is what David Gaider was doing before he joined BioWare.

Anyway, like a lot of other jobs, I suspect this is one of those fields you probably shouldn't enter unless you absolutely have to.

[Chained_Creator]

Mars Nova wrote...

Thanks everyone for all the advice, it is deeply appreciated. For now, I've decided that even though I love games, a career in game development might not be for me. I'm not ruling it out, but I'm going to explore other options. I have always liked hotels and thought that would be a fun environment to work in, so I'm going to explore that possibility.

[loud whisper]
Software engineering! Try software engineering! More people need to suffer horribly with me-I mean absolutely have a blast with me!
[/loud whisper]

Modifié par Chained_Creator, 20 février 2010 - 10:57 .

[DragonDefender]

I just kinda want to add my simple comparison to my career, I trade on the market and in currencies and I STILL love money, if you have a true passion about what you do then all you are going to do is feed a hobby desire if that hobby becomes a career.



Will you go through burn-outs, sure everyone does when that all they do, just take a nice balancing act and it will work out.



Besides you might launch the next big company of developers that keeps Bioware on its toes through competition or you may wind up at Bioware. Point of all this rambling is if you do what you love it will never just be a job.

[xODD7BALLx]

all I can say is good luck, have a sick demo reel and work your ass off.
I went through sooooooo many unpaid internships, notably at the time, RedStorm(Ghost Recon, Rainbow Six), I got burnt out, and went into freelance animation/modeling/texturing/simulation/advertising then by the time I thought about giving it another try Maya 5 was outdated, and normal mapping was hitting the industry in a big way, my college education became obsolete as far as the gaming industry was concerned. I probably shouldve started out looking for QA/tester jobs rather than trying to land an artist job. Just my two cents on it. I'm sure with the economy it's still as cut throat as it was by my observations back in 2002-2003. I cant even begin to tell you how many times I tried to get into Mythic, I figured with them actively working on their MMO Dark Age it wouldnt be to hard to get a foot in the door, boy was I freaking wrong lol.

Modifié par Operative84, 21 février 2010 - 12:00 .

[StingerSplash01]

Me I'm a jack of all trades, but am studying Game and Simulation Programming, as I don't know how to code, but have actively edited audio, can draw anything but people, and know common trends in the industry but I think it will take a while for me to get in with a good company personally.