Ultimate Game Design : Building game worlds

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C H A P T E R 1 1 You’ll probably meet all kinds of interesting folks in the test department with you. I’ve met people with business degrees, people with law degrees, child actors, wrestling fanatics, chefs, a neuroscientist, a professional gambler, and a guy on trial for manslaughter. Everyone shares a certain love for games (you’d be insane to do this without loving them!), and most are looking for a way into a game development studio in a full-time capacity. You will probably even meet some “professional” or prize competition-oriented players. Some of these players have won game publisherhosted competitions and are among the best players in their category. Don’t worry if you’re nowhere near as good. Test departments need a wide range of player abilities from total pro to near novice. It can be a badge of honor in the test department if you manage to beat a game champion at something (or at anything for that matter). You will get to play a wide range of games. You may love some of them immediately and you’ll probably hate others. It’s easy to get tired of anything when you are playing it all day long. You will start to learn what is really a bug, and what isn’t. Hopefully, you’ll get good at writing up solid and descriptive bug reports. Even at this point, you want to be growing your communication skills. From there you have to keep your eyes and ears open day and night. Soak up everything you can like a big sponge wearing contact lenses. Ask plenty of questions, but not too many. You want to gather information and express your interest without driving people insane. You’ll undoubtedly make some great friends. If you enjoy the QA process, you might have already found your niche. If you want to move into development, start watching for opportunities. It can be difficult and it probably won’t happen overnight. Like any other career, building games for a living asks for many kinds of sacrifice. Learn what you can and enjoy yourself. Remember that developers are not looking for people on the quick take; they are looking for people who genuinely enjoy building games. INTERVIEW WITH YOU! We’ve heard from many talented game developers in previous chapters (a big “Thank you!” to them again) about the process of building games, but this is a career chapter. It is your chapter. It’s probably time to ask yourself some questions about gaming, and where you might like to go in the game industry. With that in mind, I’ve assembled a few questions to ask yourself as you pursue your own goals in gaming: � What kind of foundation do I need to achieve my goals in gaming? � Which aspect of game development grabs my attention the most? � Can I see myself doing something other than working on games? 283 Game Development Career Choices
Building Game Worlds 284 U L T I M A T E G A M E D E S I G N � Can I be flexible about the opportunities that may come my way? � Do I have a diversified approach in mind? � What can I do now to start earning some relevant experience? � How can I follow up with many of the topics encouraged here as essential to game design? � Am I willing to go where the work is? � Will my passion for games carry me through tough times? � What can I do to become the best I can be in my area or discipline? I hope that you can use all of the information presented here to help you on your way toward building exciting new gaming content. Thank you for taking this journey with me. May all of your dreams in gaming be realized! MEGA TIPS 1. QA is often the doorway. 2. Start now to build a foundation for your game development interests. Don’t forget that your interests in gaming may change over time. You can always make adjustments to the work you’ve set on your foundation. 3. Ask yourself the hard questions about the intensity of your commitment level to games. 4. Take advantage of the material presented here as a springboard, and plot your course. 5. Understand the various development roles and let your intuition and interest guide you to available opportunities.
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A BOUT THE AUTHOR Tom Meigs is a ga
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Brandon A. Nordin Scott Rogers Wend
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2 THE game design process begins by
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24 AFTER you’ve completed your pr
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54 FOR a game to be competitive the
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86 YOU now understand the developme
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Building Game Worlds 100 U L T I M
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108 UP to this point, we’ve cover
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130 Building Game Worlds 130 U L T
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136 SCRIPTING in games gives develo
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166 ONCE your game environment has
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Building Game Worlds 174 174 U L T
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188 A whole new avenue for games ha
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216 ANOTHER new content horizon for
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Page 259 and 260: 238 THERE is a wide and growing ran
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Ultimate Game Design : Building game worlds

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