I'm an employed game designer; AMA

Hey, I'm a composer and I would like to do music for your game if you lookign for a good score :)

Hey, i have a simple question...

Is hard to be a game designer?

Oh wow I thought that thread was dead! I'll take time to answer later today. Thanks!

You should totally make some tutorials on that.

Ya I'll probably set up a blog with that kind of stuff. Right now I'm fully into my project and loving it. I'm taking a break to come chat here :P

In the meantime I'm always willing to discuss the joys and dramas of game design with the dear community of my favorite game creation tool.

its either sell my own games or try the hard route

Cool! Trust your instinct, like Peppy once said. It's a hard route either ways but hard work always pays. :D

Distributing the game as freeware and using microtransactions is also a neat idea.

I haven't seen much model that was not for an online PC multiplayer game. I'd like to see a model that is not based on a game with an awful lot of items and balancing, something closer to my end of the business at least. XD

The "pay what you want" model is also giving suprising results, certainly if you want quick visibility on your game.

Hey, I'm a composer and I would like to do music for your game if you lookign for a good score :)

Hey thanks! Do you have a myspace? If you like dark world synth electro and swamp root blues you could have fun. :D

Is hard to be a game designer?

To quote my hero: "Anything is possible when you smell like Old Spice and not a lady." ?:)

Another question: when you are not so keen to go back to school (for either financial or commitment reasons), what are the other alternatives?

And...is the market tight? Lots of unemployed postgraduates in the field?

(I'm on a horse.)

When Gameloft is hiring to artists, i tried to contact this company with my CV and they were interesed, then i got a mail i should to make a job test for 3 days, make 2 menu using flash:

vagnok.deviantart.com/art/Project-CYBERFORCE-Main-Menu-208608789

vagnok.deviantart.com/art/Freeracer-Main-Menu-208609992

and re-make a 256 x 256 to 512 x 512 texture...

I finished my job and i'm waiting to their replies... actually, i had no replies during some months... i felt abandoned :/

I don't know why.

I am a bit reserved towards Gameloft, I feel that people with no much respect towards other's creations may not be the kind of people I want to mix with in the future...

brainygamer.com/the_brainy_gamer/2011/05/clone-war.html

Oh, i didn't know about this... what an unoriginal.

It's curious about N.O.V.A. i re-made a texture...

N.O.V.A. Picture

<img src="http://i.imgur.com/sTI3V.jpg" border="0">

Well, they don't even reply me after of my job test. I think this company does for dirty business.

Another question: when you are not so keen to go back to school (for either financial or commitment reasons), what are the other alternatives?

And...is the market tight? Lots of unemployed postgraduates in the field?

Well as I said your best quality would be to be relentless and determined beyond measure. You need energy, conviction and an indestructible moral driven by passion because it's not easy, it really isn't. Not at all. No. But it shouldn't discourage you one second.

So in that regard people who really want to get what they want usually do. If money is an issue, they'll look for other ways. Read aaaaall the time, have an unquenchable thirst to learn, get in touch with professionnals, go to conventions, design board games, produce, produce, produce, offer to do stages, create connections and opportunities.

If they could go to school but it's a commitment issue, well then in all honnestly they should question their commitment to get in this industry as well. If you're one of the lucky few on this planet who can get to school there should be no hesitation really.

But I don't know the details. So I guess my advice in short would be stay hyperactive. :)

I finished my job and i'm waiting to their replies... actually, i had no replies during some months... i felt abandoned :/

No you didn't! You're not a victim, you're a warrior! A goddamn tiger is what I see! Some people could see this as failure, but you remain unsatisfied and see this as an irresistible challenge to prove yourself even more! To raise beyond the masses!

A lot of the ground work is about building and maintaining contacts. You're not simply contacting the company for a job, you first want to make an impression. They've GOT to rememder you. So just keep contacting them once in a while, like they are your friend, keeping them up to date with what you're up to, telling them to watch your latest product, showing them your favorite toy, saying "hey that test you gave me the other day, look, I improved it even more" Of course you got to walk the walk. Also tell them what you love at this company and why you'd fit in.

So yeah it happens all the time, you got no response. Unless they really don't need anyone, it's kind of a test. Really just a few people are really relentless and proactive, always giving more than what the client asks and show a winning attitude, and that's who they are looking for. A Charlie Sheen.

I'm sorry if my answers seems a bit harsh sometime, I really am, but it seems to me like the best way to help. :)

So how about some game design questions? :D

This is going to be a strange question, but have you worked with a guy called Florent Guillame at Ubi? We worked on a mod a few years ago and I heard he got a job there!

Apologies this is not a game design question...

>

> I finished my job and i'm waiting to their replies... actually, i had no replies during some months... i felt abandoned :/

No you didn't! You're not a victim, you're a warrior! A goddamn tiger is what I see! Some people could see this as failure, but you remain unsatisfied and see this as an irresistible challenge to prove yourself even more! To raise beyond the masses!

A lot of the ground work is about building and maintaining contacts. You're not simply contacting the company for a job, you first want to make an impression. They've GOT to rememder you. So just keep contacting them once in a while, like they are your friend, keeping them up to date with what you're up to, telling them to watch your latest product, showing them your favorite toy, saying "hey that test you gave me the other day, look, I improved it even more" Of course you got to walk the walk. Also tell them what you love at this company and why you'd fit in.

So yeah it happens all the time, you got no response. Unless they really don't need anyone, it's kind of a test. Really just a few people are really relentless and proactive, always giving more than what the client asks and show a winning attitude, and that's who they are looking for. A Charlie Sheen.

I'm sorry if my answers seems a bit harsh sometime, I really am, but it seems to me like the best way to help. :)

So how about some game design questions? :D

Thanks for your reply!, i agree they were relentless as rudes; i keep improving to my skills and i won't give up forever.

Next time, i will make better than i did it before.

There some game design questions... i would like to know about your IMPORTANT ADVICES in game design. Also your experience, could you? There no need to do some huge wall of texts; simply a small text.

Thanks for your reply!, i agree they were relentless as rudes; i keep improving to my skills and i won't give up forever.

Next time, i will make better than i did it before.

There some game design questions... i would like to know about your IMPORTANT ADVICES in game design. Also your experience, could you? There no need to do some huge wall of texts; simply a small text.

<img src="http://troll.me/images/x-all-the-things/learn-all-the-things.jpg" border="0" />

:P

Heh, learn all the things, surely!

keep focus; identify 1 or 2 main features that define your game and that you want to get across, write it down and do that, get your loops of gameplay running as soon as possible with game wins and game overs, prototype a lot to find out best practices and risks before it's too late, and because it quickly creates encouraging progress.

But most importantly, make your own playtests to find out bugs and difficulty tweaks, and how your user experience is really working out. Playtests are truly the most important exercise for any designer, this is where the wheels hit the road.

This is going to be a strange question, but have you worked with a guy called Florent Guillame at Ubi? We worked on a mod a few years ago and I heard he got a job there!

Apologies this is not a game design question...

I'm afraid I don't, but I'm working in Qu?bec, Canada. I'm curious to hear what kind of mod was that?

And no worries for the question, this is an AMA after all. :D