How to Get a Job in the Game Industry

I talk about how to get a job in the game industry, as well as how I got my job.

[samuelevander]

I'm more of a late bloomer and nearing my 30s. I'm very jealous of those who got into coding when they were 10 and became wizkids in their 20s. Only 4 years ago did I find answers & power to believe in myself. My version of making "toys" have been making levels for Doom & Quake & making small prototypes with Unity, Unreal & Godot. And getting into various tabletop rulesets and writing my own documents for purposes of game design. Gaming has been part of me my whole life & hopefully I still have time to grind my way into making some awesome games. Thanks for videos like these, Tim. And wouldn't mind having more topics that get technical as it relates to game making and business and design.

[drithius]

Your mother sounds like a wonderful person, Tim. Very supportive of your passions.

[thescatologistcopromancer]

I made a "game" with RPG Maker 15 years ago, for a German final in high school. We struggled and presented an unfinished product, but we learned a LOT and were given an A+

[RagTagPwner]

It's quite satisfying hearing some "tough love" advice and knowing that I finally did exactly that. Got a demo live on Steam. It's modest, but it's mine and it's real. 😊

[PostapocMedia]

That's very true, thanks for this video! I see people struggling to find jobs these days but they literally have nothing to back them up other than finished IT courses, etc. I didn't have to make a game to get into the industry though. Only a Fallout fan website that was there for odd 15 years or so (started it when I was 15 myself). I translated articles and news from English, posted news. Also a forum boards were a part of it. So I got good with moderating, etc. This led to a community manager / PR / marketing positions which I did for 5 years. Then I switched to game design, and here I am. I guess, being passionate about what you do is the main thing. Do it long enough and you'll succeed.

[OriginalItsFly]

Making a game is 100% the way to get noticed! It shows that you have the basics to make something and can actually finish a project which is a massively underrated skill. I will say the common trap people fall into is making something too big. Just a short 5 minute demo is better than a 50 hour trudge.

[Beardtung]

As someone who is very interested in design but not very confident about working in the industry, this was an extremely cool video. Bleak as the world seems these days, little success stories like these and relevant calls to action leave a seed of hope. The framed coupon and (very) early drafts were also just awesome to see.

[methanolfortheblind]

This is priceless advice. Thank you so much. I've been struggling with inattentive ADHD, which can make working on personal projects really difficult without an intense, consistent motivator. It's really frustrating, as somebody who has plenty of passion and ideas to spare. But working in the games industry is my dream career– making a game so that I can get a job making games is a fantastic goal that's easy to keep in mind and work towards.

[zerkish]

Friend sent this to me, even though I work in the industry since some years back I thought it would be interesting to see how it compares with my experience. I think it's varying by regions as well, and in my department (programming) it's becoming more and more common to ask for a degree. Having a Uni background is a good idea as well in case you're unable to get in the industry or get tired of it.

I think at the end of the day it basically comes down to: a lot of people want to work with games, even more people think they do. You need an "exceptional" amount of passion and motivation to break past the droves of applicants for a lot of these jobs unless you get lucky and run into the right people at the right time. When I went to uni I was spending literally all of my spare time programming games and game engines, I still ride on the knowledge I gained from that in interviews.

If I were to give advice to a ~20-25 year old on how to get into the industry, it would be to either look for a clear/direct path that is established through something like a school that does internship with a supreme record of people being hired at the end of their internships, or if that is not an option, grind hardcore programming and work on your soft skills and charisma to make sure you always land the job if you get to an actual interview.

Other options can be to look for contracting firms that focus on the games industry, which would let you build some contacts and references.
Once you have your first job in the industry you'll be spammed on LinkedIn with interview offers left and right, it's just very hard to get the first one.

[EXbobomb]

I think this advice applies to pretty much most creative jobs, like film and TV too. No better application than pointing at something you've already made.

Sucks for when you're first starting but it's a reality.

[michaelblosenhauer]

This is really good advice that's super hard to follow. Especially for somebody with a family. I have been working on a game for years but take long breaks because of life.

[Kyudong]

Sometimes I became so overwhelmed by amount of people who want to work in game industry with their immense competence that can easily can make fun of mine.

[samuelevander]

"Now, I don't think my advice to you is, the best way to get in the games industry is to have knowledge of a computers extended graphics modes that no-one else in a 50 mile radius has."

You underestimate the power of my autism! All jokes aside, you'll get no arguments from me on your advice. In fact, you're speaking my language! And your advice is identical to Todd Howard's. He has been in many interviews and got asked the same question, with the same answer. When Todd said it, it really motivated me to learn game engines & programming that day. Which has been a couple years from now, I think. Glad to hear that same advice reinforced here. Great video, Tim! I like the stuff you guys have made in the industry!

Also, regarding the matter of "no shakespeares of game dev." yes, it might not happen. but it could be stimulated by the industry itself. I read an article that said that games industry is too young to realize the value of authorship. Where game devs should sell their names along side their projects and ensure quality that comes with the name. If people get that idea in their heads, the indstustry might get more shakespeares and kojimas.

But the million dollar question is; does anyone care enough to do it? At corporate/think tank -level or at grass roots level?

[twinguide]

People often discredit it pretty quickly, but if you take the time to learn it, RPG Maker is a fantastic and surprisingly robust engine. I have a (barely even a ) demo I've been chipping away at on-and-off for the past year where I'm experimenting with status effect combos in RPGs (an example being Envenomed + Poisoned = Immunocomprimised) and tying consumable items into character abilities (+ the challenges presented for balancing such a system) and I probably only spent... £30 - £80 (not including the price of RPG Maker, mind you.) on the project for assets and plugins.

[Fdstamp]

I appreciate this video. I started work on my possibly 100th unity project. The last few I worked on I felt burnt out at a point. I need to scale things down for myself and I'm not much of an artist the more of a technical guy so maybe I should just swallow my pride and use a game asset or two. Art tends to burn me out.

Im gunna finish this game.

[dicosta]

hi tim, thanks for the advice, it is very helpful especially if it comes from you. I have always liked video games and today at the age of 23 I decided to start programming, I am still learning the basics and this gives me the necessary motivation to continue, I know I can do great things, and your videos inspire me a lot.
PD: You have made several of my favorite games so you have no idea how excited I am to hear you in these videos.

[nebroc]

Hey Tim,
Would you say creating mods for existing games helps with employability in the industry? I imagine it would help circumvent the issue of being unable to create art and the like, whilst still demonstrating capability in other areas such as programming, script-writing, etc.

[rafikus]

A good way to get into game industry is to start as a Quality Assurance tester. Quite a few companies (this will differ based on the country you live in) hire pretty much anyone who finished highschool and is somewhat decent/fluent at English, observant and eager to learn. If you are good enough, you will make it higher in the QA and then you have a chance to get into Game Dev, as long as you have a skill as a designer or an artist, but you can skip that entirely and do as Tim said, make your own game, keep your code clean and present it to someone. Many companies are recruiting and quite often they won't care about advanced knowledge (they will teach you anyway while you work) and they want to know the way you think about solving problems.

[Dovakinplaygames]

Salutaions Tim Cain, This video was a wake up call for me. I have been struggleing fot the past two years or so with my journey in my degree in Game Development from Full Sail University. I always stopped myself that I am not good enough to make anything and stubborn to use premade assets etc. alot of exuses and self shame. honestly my dream would be working at the succeser to interplay, Obsidian but that will be in a while. hopefully everything goes well and I graduate next year. I will try my hardest to make something outside of my education program and hope to shake hands with someone like you one day.

[wolfwirestudios]

I'm trying to break into the industry by making my own game. Thank you for this video. This was helpful.