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LCVP project
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15-01-2012 9:38pm#1Hey guys,
I'm currently in 5th year and I'm doing LCVP. As part of our course, we have to investigate a career path that we might be interested in, and we also need to interview someone in our chosen career.The course i am investigating are Multimedia & Computer Games Development and Mobile Communications & Security.
I cudn't find anyone locally so i decided to ask here. I am hoping to do it in ul and if a student, present or past could hep it would be great i need questions like these answered?
Quote:
Why did you decide to pursue a career in game design?
What do you need to become a game designer?
What are the benefits of this career?
Are there any downfalls to this career?
What are the most and least enjoyable aspects of this career?
Do you have any advice for a prospective game design student?
Only a few lines of an answer is needed. Oh, and if you know anyone who does these course please tell them i need this done tonight
thanksTagged:0
Comments
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Hey guys,
I'm currently in 5th year and I'm doing LCVP. As part of our course, we have to investigate a career path that we might be interested in, and we also need to interview someone in our chosen career.The course i am investigating are Multimedia & Computer Games Development and Mobile Communications & Security.
I cudn't find anyone locally so i decided to ask here. I am hoping to do it in ul and if a student, present or past could hep it would be great i need questions like these answered?
Hi Shane,
I'm in 2nd year of Multimedia and Comp. Games Development, so I'll try to answer these as best I can.
Why did you decide to pursue a career in game design?
Well, I've always had a huge interest in games, been playing video games as long as I can remember, and ever since about the age of 15 I've been interested in how they're made. As I did more and more research, I became intrigued as to how computer code in text form can eventually be built up and combined with other components to make something like Mass Effect or Fifa.
Another factor was what I was reading in the games media (IGN, 1up, etc) and hearing on games podcasts. Everyone in the industry that I ever read an interview by, or heard interviewed was so passionate about what they did, and i slowly began to realise that I held a similar passion for games, and wanted to help shape the industry, rather than just stand by and watch from the sidelines.
(sorry, that's a bit longer than a few lines :pac:
What do you need to become a game designer?
Many things. You need imagination. If you want to work on the design side of the industry, then you need to be able to come up with ideas. Not necessarily entire games, or scripts, or artwork, these are an option no doubt, but it's more important to be able to take an idea given to you and expand on it. For example, you receive the blueprint for a game, and you come up with the idea of how to incorporate Kinect or Playstation Move into that.
You need to be interested in games. This may sound simple, but it's really true. You have to sit back and ask yourself: "Will I be happy working on games when I'm fifty?" Sure, it's easy to say it when you're 17 and filling out the CAO, but you really have to think about whether you will still have the drive and passion to make games when you've been working on them five days a week, 48 weeks a year, for the past 20-30 years.
Patience. You need it. Lot's of it. You need to be able to keep cool even when that piece of code you've been working on for two weeks won't compile and the deadline is in 12 hours. You need to be able to remain calm, and not lose perspective. You also need to be able to tell when it's better off to start all over again, or when it's best to simply take a break, and come back and look at it afresh in the morning.
What are the benefits of this career?
For me, the biggest perk is being able to say "I worked on that game. I helped make it what it is." Seeing my name scroll up on my TV during the credits of a Triple A title is something I long for.
Of course, there's the money. The games industry is fast becoming bigger than even cinema. If you're talented, determined and hard-working, there's money to be made.
Opportunities to travel. Gaming spans the entire globe. There're huge developer communities in places all over the world, such as Japan, Finland, Canada, America, Australia, Singapore, etc, etc.
Are there any downfalls to this career?
(Remember, I'm speaking as a student here, so I'm not really sure of the realities of day to day work, but these are what I would expect)
There're no doubt many. Pressure would be one of the more prevalent ones. You work your ass off day in day out to create something, and it still might be overdue. You then have to put up with games journalists slating your company for delaying the game AGAIN, have to deal with publishers screaming down the phone wanting updates, and this is all before the game is even released. Then come the reviews. Something you've spent months working on could very well be ridiculed as a terrible game based on issues that you as a designer/developer have no control over (price, graphics, voice acting, etc).
Another bad point is the workload. It takes millions and millions of lines of code to write a game, not to mention animation, sound, marketing. Granted, no one person will be responsible for all of this, but if you're only getting to grips with the tools you're using, it can be daunting even on the smallest projects.
What are the most and least enjoyable aspects of this career?
Most Enjoyable:
Getting to work on a game that people all around the world can play.
Feeling as if you are part of the games industry.
Coding. This is a slightly controversial choice. Others who come on here will no doubt say coding is terrible, but I love it. I love the intricacies of it, and working with it.
Least Enjoyable:
Coding: (Yeah, it's here too :pac:) Christ it can be frustrating. You can be staring at a piece of code for hours and be no closer to figuring out what the hell is going wrong with it.
Mathematical Concepts: Trying to grasp abstract mathematical formulae with little or no relevant examples is a pain, and can lead to serious frustration.
Do you have any advice for a prospective game design student?
Think about it. Think hard. If you are thinking "Well, I like playing games, so I'll like designing them", then this may not be the right path for you. You need to want to do the course. You need to understand that it will not be all fun and games (pardon the pun :pac:), but that it will be hard work. I think we all remarked last semester, that for a course about games, we probably played less games than any other group of students on campus. And we're only second years!
I'd also advise to work hard at maths. You might not think that maths are that important, but they are. If you're struggling to scrape a D in Ordinary level maths, you will find this course really difficult. In fact I think the requirement is a B3 in Ordinary, but really, you'd need about a B1 or A2 to have any chance.
Also, work hard in first year. Don't take the attitude that "Ah sure, it's only first year, it doesn't count towards the degree...". It may not count towards the degree, but the concepts you learn in first year are the ones you'll use forevermore in your career.
Only a few lines of an answer is needed. Oh, and if you know anyone who does these course please tell them i need this done tonight
thanks
Phew.... I wrote waaay more than I'd planned. I hope this helps. I'll throw a link up on the LM110(Multimedia and Games Dev) Facebook page and try and send some more people your way.
Any more questions, just ask here or PM.0 -
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