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Be a game designer

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What is that avatar from Date of Lies? That unibrow cracks me up everytime I see it.
 
Wollan said:
Seriously, is this an ongoing commercial in the US?

They show it during every commercial break on G4 pretty much. It was funny the first time but now it's so played...
 
poppin fresh said:
Hahahaha, at first I thought it must be some 80s ad.

So like this realy is on tv in america, the mind is baffled.

Same here until I saw the web address at the end. :lol
 
Westwood actually has a new commercial...saw it earlier on G4 today. 2 dudes on a couch playing a game. They actually show the "game" on a TV which is basically some woman acting as some sort of vampire hunter going around killing enemies. Oh and it's not even a game, it's just live action footage with a HUD display set over...

The woman actually talks saying crap like how you can be a modeler, game designer, etc at Westwood. Then she takes out this sword and slays this bad guy and the two dudes are like "WHOAAAOAHHAH"

Not as funny as the first commercial though
 
These schools are inherently dangerous if only because once you get your degree in Game-model-animation-ology, you have exactly one marketable skill that's useful in exactly one industry. You'll get hired by an artist-hungry EA or Ubisoft, and be forced to make a game in continual light crunch conditions before the HUGE crunch in the last three months of the game. Then, after moving across the country, losing your girlfriend, and social life, you'll get burned out after about three or four of these cycles and quit to go back to college and find a proper job.

I pity the poor kid who thinks this will actually allow him a decent chance to become anything of relevance in the game world. If you want to become a game designer, listen to Chris Crawford's thoughts on the subject.
 
I don't know Chris Crawford but I do respect alot of his ideas on design.

However, I don't agree that getting into games and making a good place for yourself is impossible with millions of other who want in as well and you being stuck writing the ARE YOU SURE prompt aspect of the code for the next 4 years.

That's being way overdramatic.

We have interns out of college that worked on God of War one as junior designers and made HUGE contributions to the game (mostly in key implementation areas, some in actual gameplay design)....hell, the woman who did all of the camera work on the game was a PA on the DAWSON'S CREEK tv show before she came to Sony....

...all it takes is amazing work ethic, passion, and talent....the skills you can learn on the job if you are willing to work for semi-peanuts at the start....and YES this is a global statement based on my experience at Sony....it is NOT me asking for people to send me resumes....you can do that at the Sony website....

David
 
tighten up the graphics....

:lol

That commercial is so fucking bullshit.

I laugh everytime I see it though.

As if getting into the gaming industry is all about playing games. What a farce. There is no truth in advertising.

Oh, and doesn't it seem like they are bullshitting their boss in the ad?
 
Wario64 said:
Westwood actually has a new commercial...
It's actually not new (actually it may be "newer" than the one originating this thread but not by much). It's been on for quite a while now.

Anyways, those commercials are insulting to all of the people that work their ass off in the video game industry.
 
davidjaffe said:
We have interns out of college that worked on God of War one as junior designers and made HUGE contributions to the game (mostly in key implementation areas, some in actual gameplay design)....
I hope you would occasionally march over to their cubes and say, "Have you guys finished testing that game yet? I've got another one I need designed."
 
davidjaffe said:
I don't know Chris Crawford but I do respect alot of his ideas on design.

However, I don't agree that getting into games and making a good place for yourself is impossible with millions of other who want in as well and you being stuck writing the ARE YOU SURE prompt aspect of the code for the next 4 years.

That's being way overdramatic.

We have interns out of college that worked on God of War one as junior designers and made HUGE contributions to the game (mostly in key implementation areas, some in actual gameplay design)....hell, the woman who did all of the camera work on the game was a PA on the DAWSON'S CREEK tv show before she came to Sony....

...all it takes is amazing work ethic, passion, and talent....the skills you can learn on the job if you are willing to work for semi-peanuts at the start....and YES this is a global statement based on my experience at Sony....it is NOT me asking for people to send me resumes....you can do that at the Sony website....

David

I sent you a PM with my resume.
 
From what I've heard, on our new project some of the folks DO send back notes in the official bug database that request a level have its graphics tightened up a bit....and requests to tighten up the graphics on level 3...

...so there ya go... :)


David
 
Campster said:
These schools are inherently dangerous if only because once you get your degree in Game-model-animation-ology, you have exactly one marketable skill that's useful in exactly one industry. You'll get hired by an artist-hungry EA or Ubisoft, and be forced to make a game in continual light crunch conditions before the HUGE crunch in the last three months of the game. Then, after moving across the country, losing your girlfriend, and social life, you'll get burned out after about three or four of these cycles and quit to go back to college and find a proper job.

I pity the poor kid who thinks this will actually allow him a decent chance to become anything of relevance in the game world. If you want to become a game designer, listen to Chris Crawford's thoughts on the subject.

What the fuck are you talking about? It's not 1998. It's frigging 2006. You can have a steady job in multimedia/3D animations. Of course, if you want to go faster in the hierarchy of game making, you should probably go freelance at first. But what you just said is absolutely false and totally pre-2000. Now 3D animations is used in many domains, including publicity and marketing.

Edit : And EA or Ubisoft aren't the only opportunities. A degree or whatever won't help you. Skills will. A publisher doesn't hire you because you're pretty or that you're a scholar, but because your portefolio kicks ass.
 
davidjaffe said:
I don't know Chris Crawford but I do respect alot of his ideas on design.

However, I don't agree that getting into games and making a good place for yourself is impossible with millions of other who want in as well and you being stuck writing the ARE YOU SURE prompt aspect of the code for the next 4 years.

That's being way overdramatic.

We have interns out of college that worked on God of War one as junior designers and made HUGE contributions to the game (mostly in key implementation areas, some in actual gameplay design)....hell, the woman who did all of the camera work on the game was a PA on the DAWSON'S CREEK tv show before she came to Sony....

...all it takes is amazing work ethic, passion, and talent....the skills you can learn on the job if you are willing to work for semi-peanuts at the start....and YES this is a global statement based on my experience at Sony....it is NOT me asking for people to send me resumes....you can do that at the Sony website....

David

Oh, I've no doubt that every single person on God of War was dedicated and contributed many important things - a game of that size and scope pretty much demands it. But there's a difference between being a supporting junior designer on a AAA title who suggests a few neat mechanics, and being a game design auteur. The odds of rising through the ranks from intern to lead designer at any major company are pretty slim, and even if you manage to stick it out it could take decades before you're alotted your own project. Of your junior designers at Sony, how many have been given even a minor project - a flash prototype of something that could be turned into a game later, or fixing a dominant strategy in a broken game? The problem is that once (if) these junior designers are promoted they will have learned nothing but how to make minor (albeit good) alterations to a design that isn't theirs.

But if you work a day-job somewhere, and dedicate your nights and weekends to experimenting with games, you'll be a design whiz compared to most. Intricate knowledge of how to design systems from the ground up, how metaphor reinforces mechanics, the impact of a winstate on a system... all of these things can only be learned through a lot of meditation on a variety of designs and experiments. These are things you can't pick up in the industry for a million and one reasons - your job will inevitably consume much of your time, thinking outside the box is discouraged, you usually sign contracts that grant anything you make to the company you work for, and if you spend all day working on a game I doubt you'll want to go home and... work on a game.

In a sense, you're right - it's entirely possible with enough work and sheer force of will to get a design position through conventional means. And time-wise, it's comparable to anything else. But if we're ever going to have game designers be akin to film directors we're going to have to treat them more like artists than car mechanics who get promoted once they've fixed enough stuff.
 
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