Breaking into the Game Industry: Advice for a Successful Career from Those Who Have Done It > What Do Sound Designers Need to Show in Their Portfolios? - Pg. : Safari Books Online

Table of Contents

Download Safari Books Online apps: Apple iOS | Android

Entire Site

Safari Books Online is a digital library providing on-demand subscription access to thousands of learning resources.

This Book

Breaking into the Game Industry: Advice for a Successful Career from Those Who Have Done It

Breaking into the Game Industry: Advice for a Successful Career from Those Who Have Done It

Search

Contents

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments

About the Authors

Question 1. Why Are You Doing this? What’s this Book About, and Why Are You Writing It?

Question 2. How Should I Choose a School?

Question 3. What Percentage of My School Work Will Help Me Get a Job?

Question 4. Lots of Stuff I Learn in School Seems Like It Has Nothing to Do with Actually Making Games for a Living. What Classes Did You Take that Were the Most Useful on the Job?

Question 5. How Much Weight Do Studios Put on GPAs?

Question 6. How Much Weight Do Studios Put on the Major or College Attended?

Question 7. Why Should I Care About Video Game History?

Question 8. Is a Graduate Degree (Such as an MFA or Ph.D.) Useful for Getting a Job in the Game Industry?

Question 9. I Want to be a Programmer in the Game Industry. People Are Suggesting I Shouldn’t Bother with More Complex Languages like C or C++ and Focus Instead on Languages Like ActionScript (Flash). Is that a Valid Path?

Question 10. Is Getting an Undergraduate Degree a Waste of Time if I Want a Job in the Game Industry?

Question 11. Is It Important to Play Games as a Student?

Question 12. If You Could Add Something to a Student with Great Vision, What Would It Be?

Question 13. I Want to be a Game Designer. Do I Need to Learn Programming or Computer Science?

Question 14. Is It Better to be a Specialist or Generalist, in the Short Term or Long Term?

Question 15. Is There Another Way to Get Up to Speed on Game Development, Other than Making Games?

Question 16. What’s the Best Subject to Make a Game About?

Question 17. Where Do You Get Your Ideas?

Question 18. How Do I Get My Games to Be More Fun and Not Just Tasks?

Question 19. How Do I Make Contacts in the Game Industry?

Question 20. It Costs How Much to Go to GDC? How Will I Ever Afford That?

Question 21. Should I Get My Own Business Cards? What Should Be on Them? What Do I Do with Them?

Question 22. When Should I Start Networking?

Question 23. How Do I Get Game Developers’ Business Cards?

Question 24. When Should I Follow Up After Getting Someone’s Business Card?

Question 25. Is There Anything I Shouldn’t Do When Following Up?

Question 26. Should I Ask Developers to Review My Portfolio?

Question 27. I Heard that a Lot of People in the Game Industry Use Social Media (Twitter, Facebook, and So on). Why?

Question 28. What Else Shouldn’t I Do When Communicating with Developers?

Question 29. If I Change My Last Name (such as for Marriage) in Mid-Career, Does that Affect My Career by Messing with the Credits of Previously Shipped Games?

Question 30. What Should the Front Page of My Portfolio Look Like?

Question 31. As an Artist, What Are Some General Portfolio Guidelines I Need to Follow?

Question 32. What Do Character Artists Need to Show in Their Portfolios?

Question 33. What Do Environment Artists Need to Show in Their Portfolios?

Question 34. What Do Modelers Need to Show in Their Portfolios?

Question 35. What Do Texture Artists Need to Show in Their Portfolios?

Question 36. What Do Concept Artists Need to Show in Their Portfolios?

Question 37. What Do Game Designers Need to Show in Their Portfolios?

Question 38. What Do Game Writers Need to Show in Their Portfolios?

Question 39. What Do Level Designers Need to Show in Their Portfolios?

Question 40. What Do Programmers Need to Show in Their Portfolios?

Question 41. What Should a Producer/Project Manager (or Someone Aspiring to Be One) Have in Their Portfolio?

Question 42. What Do Sound Designers Need to Show in Their Portfolios?

Question 43. Are There People Who Don’t Need Portfolios?

Question 44. How Many Images/Games Should I Have in My Portfolio?

Question 45. When Should I Start Working on My Portfolio?

Question 46. Have You Seen Any Stupid Portfolio Tricks?

Question 47. How Do I Get My Work Out There So Someone Can See It?

Question 48. Wait, Doesn’t Everyone Say that It’s Impossible to Be Hired as a Game Designer or Game Writer Straight Out of College, or as Your First Job in the Industry?

Question 49. How Much Help Will Reading About Game Development Be in Obtaining a Job in the Game Industry?

Question 50. How Much Experience Should I Have Before I Start Looking for a Job as a Game Designer?

Question 51. I Talked to a Woman and She Was Really Excited Because She Heard I Was a [Insert Desired Position Here]. She Wanted to Talk with Me and See My Portfolio. That’s Great, Right?

Question 52. What’s the Best Approach for Getting an Internship?

Question 53. Where Should I Look for Jobs?

Question 54. Should I Just Show Up Unannounced at a Game Company?

Question 55. Does the Current State of the Economy Have an Effect on Game Development or Hiring?

Question 56. How Do I Write a Good Cover Letter that Connects with HR and Developers?

Question 57. How Do I Write a Good Résumé that Connects with HR and Developers?

Question 58. They’re Giving Me an Art/Design/Programming Test. What Is It and Why Are They Doing This?

Question 59. The Design/Programming/Art Test Asks Me to Come Up with Some Game/Code/Art Ideas. I Don’t Want Them to Steal My Ideas! What Should I Do?

Question 60. Should I Try to Take a Coding Test Before I Am Solid in the Language?

Question 61. How Early Should I Show Up for an Interview?

Question 62. How Should I Dress for an Interview?

Question 63. What Happens in an Interview? How Do I Handle It?

Question 64. They Just Offered Me a Salary! How Do I Know if It’s Good? Should I Negotiate?

Question 65. Do Interviewees Ever Say Dumb Things?

Question 66. Do People Still Expect Me to Follow Up After an Interview?

Question 67. What Should I Do Before I Accept a Job Offer?

Question 68. They Want Me to Sign a Non-Compete. What’s That?

Question 69. They Want Me to Sign an NDA. What’s That?

Question 70. How Do I Find a Place to Live if I’m Hired in a New City?

Question 71. Is There Such a Thing as Taking a New Job Too Early?

Question 72. How Will I Feel My First Day on the Job?

Question 73. Once I Have a Job, Any Key Pointers?

Question 74. What Do Entry-Level Employees Typically Do in Their First Few Months?

Question 75. If I Enter in the Middle of a Project, What’s the Best Way to Get Up to Speed?

Question 76. If I Join a Game Company, Will They Make My Game Idea?

Question 77. How Is Performance Measured for Raises, Bonuses, and Promotions?

Question 78. What Is It Like to Work on a Big Licensed Title?

Question 79. What Is It Like to Work at a Small Studio on a Series of Small Projects?

Question 80. What Is the Scariest Thing About Being a Game Designer?

Question 81. What’s the Worst Thing You’ve Seen in a Game Development Meeting?

Question 82. Will I Really Work 70 Hours a Week?

Question 83. What Should I Do if I Hate My Job? (Or: How to Exit a Company Gracefully)

Question 84. What Should I Do if I Hate Someone I Work With?

Question 85. What Should I Do if I Disagree with Someone?

Question 86. What Is the “Game Industry”?

Question 87. Is There a Way to Get a Feel for the Industry Before Even Getting There?

Question 88. Is the Game Industry a Good Place to Meet Someone to Date?

Question 89. What Does a Game Developer Do?

Question 90. What Does a Lead Do?

Question 91. Who Is the Most Evil Person on a Game Development Team?

Question 92. Have You Seen Someone Make It in the Industry with a Physical or Mental Disability?

Question 93. How Much Money Will I Make Working in the Game Industry?

Question 94. Do Small Studios Typically Have Health, Dental, and Savings Plans?

Question 95. Which Programming Language Is Used the Most?

Question 96. What Is It Like to Be a Woman in the Game Industry?

Question 97. What Is It Like to Be a Minority in the Game Industry? Is Diversity Important?

Question 98. What Is It Like Working as an LGBT in the Game Industry?

Question 99. I Want to Send My Idea to a Game Company. How Do I Do This?

Question 100. Is There Such a Thing as a Stupid Question?

URL

Help

Question 42. What Do Sound Designers Need to Show in Their Portfolios?

Brenda: Sound represents one quarter of a player’s experience. Tied together by code, sound, design, and art/UI work together to create a mood and a sense of tension or levity. Great sound makes a game. Increasingly, with the rise of both social and handheld games, options for sound designers are greater than they have ever been.

Zack Quarles (2000, Audio Director, id Software): When looking/listening to audio demo reels, my requirements are a bit different depending on the position/skill-level that I’m hiring for. There are some shared elements, though:

You are currently reading a PREVIEW of this book.

Get instant access to over
$1 million worth of books and videos.

Start a Free Trial