Memo junge (set of tips for those who are going to go into the gaming industry)

What prompted me to write this article?

The first. Why should the artist talk about life and the hard way, if he seems to be doing well? Firstly, it’s not so good (because it can always be better), and secondly, in order for those who follow it to not repeat mistakes, it means they don’t waste their precious time. No matter how much we were released, it would not be enough for everything. It is worth trying to highlight important things, and omit minor ones.

The second. Several letters came to my box asking for help with a device in the game industry.
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Third , but not the last. This article served as another “chirkash” for my match today. I have my own special view on the gaming industry, gaming offices, which has nothing to do with the stated point of view. I want to offer those who decided to go into the gaming industry something more tangible. Concrete. What can be used to achieve the goal. There will be no magic pills, gentle Pink shades of not yet broken glasses, polish and truism. Where the Truths are still noted, they will come in on business, drink a glass of rum and go further.

Since I know something about art, graphic content and other pots of tar and honey, I’ll first look at the gaming industry and look for work in it from my bell tower. Artovoy. I also note that I can be very subjective. How much my subjectivism prevented me is up to you.

We also agree that there will be no specific names and names of companies in the article. We do not need holy war, mixed up in personal dislike for each other and love for tomatoes. Those who have ears will hear, their eyes will see, and their legs will leave. The required game has been played, the intro game is over. Time to raise the sails, although the start seems to be from the fifth point and the couch.

Sofa reflections

Let's say you want to work in the gaming industry. The desire is commendable, but I will immediately say - selling vacuum cleaners, you will gain a lot more money than we have (at first, for sure). Unless you are an intelligent programmer. This brother is always in demand. And if you are, there is nothing new in this article for you, only a highly artistic moan (which you, of course, have heard more than once).

Where to begin? Understand what you can do best. Even if you are scratching your tongue perfectly, this is not a bad thing. You can engage as an apprentice to the screenwriter or game designer. Although the game designer for the most part he scratched himself even then. If you draw - it is worth figuring out what exactly you draw the best. If you have a craving for modeling, it is also worth understanding what you have, whether you have raisins. And so on. This refers to any direction that you can or want to take on.

Where should one move further? Aside from the thought that you are the second Marcus Person. The sooner you forget it, the better. There are not so many phenomenal games and phenomenal people in relation to the people who plow the igrostroi fields daily. There is no reason to believe that your planets are lined up in the right order, and that you will be able to repeat the success already shot by someone. Because if you can - you will never read this article, and if you run through it, then catch a glimpse. Thus, I would focus on the idea that your fifth point should finally leave the couch and concoct something resembling a portfolio.

"Portfolio"

A very good name is actually in this portfolio. It looks great like a briefcase. This is the portfolio with which you come to your first and not the last employer. The times when the burning eyes were enough to get into the industry were almost over. The network has a fabulous number of tutorials that (be quiet) are not only studied by you. The staff rotation in the offices is high, but when this happens, a portion of “new meat” always comes. Recruits. Those who at least know how and who can be put for the dirtiest work.
Leave the illusions aside - the game is work. Same as any other. With all that it implies.

The better your portfolio - the better for you. Your chances of getting a job are increasing. Let not sharply, but clearly above the baseboard.

Portfolio creation tips:

• Study the network for good tutorials and study them yourself.
• Create your own scenes, objects or compositions based on them.
• If necessary, create another 10 or 20 variations until other observers say that "there is something in it."
• Visit resources where you can often see a cluster of intelligent people (artists).
• Choose the best resources - so you will immediately see who you really are and what you should qualify for when applying for a job. Think so that all these hellish devils will sit around you on burning stools.
• Don't be discouraged after visiting these resources. Effort and work - all a little effort. Even a monkey can be taught to draw. We are advanced monkeys and we will succeed. If not, repeat all over again. Not one step back - behind Moscow.
• Forget about such a word as shame. Give up the embarrassment and shut up the window of modesty tightly. In the work you do not need them.
• Spread your work on the network, wherever possible, on the largest possible number of specialized resources - listen to comments.
• Filter the bazaar - do not enter on the troll and the "guru". If a person ascended to heaven - he is not a teacher for you and not an example to follow, even if his work is good.
• I have been working in the industry for about 12 years (time is ticking, you know), until now and for the same amount (three times for the same amount) I will listen to harsh and, most importantly, truthful criticism. Until now, white spots are becoming more and more than those studied, despite the increasing pace. I will say more - the growth of white spots will progress, the more you comprehend. Ancient human wisdom. It's not good to ignore her. And worthless to lose heart.
• For every fireman, ask yourself what else you can and prepare micro-shells, in case the main caliber misfires.

Note: In most educated countries, the word artist combines several parameters at once. When you talk about yourself "artist" in the context of your portfolio, no one would think that you are a clown from a circus passing by. Wear this title with pride and strongly confirm it. If you add 2D or 3D particles to this word, or the notable word Environment, it will turn out quite well.

You ask me - “Why am I going to bathe like that? I will come and they will teach me! ” I will answer, “maybe, and maybe not.”

It may happen that those six months (or one day, depending on your luck and starting skills) that you will be looking for work, receiving from each counter "from the turn of the gate" will end in nothing. And then these six will go to nothing. You will merge into the abyss of lost time a jewel, a priceless gift, 180 days of your life. Well, yes, of course, you will drink and take a beer during this time, but you will not become smarter and more experienced (beer, by the way, you can drink already being “in action” on the earned salary of Jungle).

It may happen (if you are not lazy in the hope of learning) that your employer will appreciate your potential. Not the works that you bring to him, but the fact that you consciously nalopatili for only six months, an incredible break through the works. Let even three months. Each has its own speed and each prepares his knapsack in his own way.

Letter of recommendation

What can I say about the resume? Muck, utter muck, but it is necessary. I had to write it whole once. After this the portfolio became a summary. My insolence and unwillingness to play by the rules.
Summary - at least an illustration of the fact that you know how to express thoughts. Your resume gives you a tiny percentage of success, but if you pour powder grains one by one into the cartridge case - the cartridge can shoot. Do not shoot - add more. Remember - once a year and a stick shoots.

There are lots of ways to file yourself. And here, as in the case with the portfolio, do not be shy, or suffer complexes. You can take the risk. You can treat him with humor.

I know of a case where Vadim Bakhlychev, much better known by the nickname Molotov while still at the dawn of his career, wrote a letter to Akella from distant Pyatigorsk, whose overall message came down to “I don’t know how, but I want to work with you”. He did not engage in nonsense-like resume, attached a few works and was like that.

Note: (we generally make each other known by nicknames, I, for example, Rick, my partner Madzhik, the programmer Bogimp, and by real names mostly relatives and friends know us)

About "I can not do anything", of course, the pipes. He was able and not enough. Already. This wonderful screenshot made noise in that distant time - his work. What can we say about his other works? Everyone probably knows the “characteristic Nivalovsky style”, it remains only to rhetorically ask who worked as the “Acceptance Manager” and who now works at Blizzard? American dream in action.

With his future wife, by the way, I happened to work. In another gaming office. And then everything happened as in the real novels. Acquaintance through a network, conversations, meetings ... and, of course, a wedding (wiped away a tear). Forgive the old man, I thought that it would be nice to dilute the dry list “it happens and that”. In general, the ship sailed away and took the happy couple to the remote West.
By the way, many envied Tamarka (Molotov's wife) with black envy. Still, the husband and the guru in one person, experience can be bored out for years. At one time this story was very well known among the parties, and then somehow forgotten. How, in general, happens to all things in this life. We will also forget, briefly, to return to what we need to write a resume.


Memorable screenshot of many gossip in the network, and then the battle, when the epic with Bethesda, Interplay and the new Fallout began. Many isometric followers shook them like a flag. As we see, fate decreed otherwise.


Tips for writing a resume:

• Do not write in the summary of what you do not know.
• Do not enter into the summary knowledge of the packages that you have not run once.
• Do not make grammatical errors. Punctuation - figs with it, but grammar, please check.
• Do not write lengthy letters, stories about how you dream to work in this office, and that this office is the limit of your dreams.
• Never under any circumstances - do not show weakness, do not ask and do not detract from anyone or about anything. About you then will wipe your feet. Even if you have a fire in one place - let no one know about the fire.
• Feel free to type in your resume a package in which you have worked for at least a few days.
• If you have heard about something somewhere, and heard it from a person from the industry, you can use it, casually expressing "talked the other day (next is a fashionable name)." True, it is no longer in the summary, but in personal communication.
• Feel free to say - I can. Even if you can not. When you get a job, comrades will pull you up unless you get to the inveterate wolves. And don't worry about the employer you allegedly misled. He is not a fool, he sees your level. Playing the same game - by the same rules.
• A resume, like a toast, and a toast, like a shot - should be short and succinct.
• Place on the web page, where there will be a summary and portfolio in one place, beautifully laid out and prepared. This is another particle of gunpowder in your cartridge.

On Isengard! Blow the horns! On the castle of the meanest enemy!

So ... you have them. Your jewels. Portfolio and summary. It's time for the first assault. Climb to all sorts of forums where you can find a job (in our profile), google with the line "N required" (where N is your potential specialty). We here, of course, talked mostly about the "artovik", BUT ... everything is also relevant for any other specialization. Or do you think that a portfolio cannot consist of a program, cool scripts, or a couple of stories on the subject?

I immediately took fashion to write short lists of what is needed. I'm not afraid to seem trivial. And I will try in my banality not to disappoint you in the future. In the context of this article, enumeration of common truths is not a vice, but a boon.

• Google everything and everywhere, check even the most seedy ad. The market is oversaturated, but for a start you would at least get somewhere.
• Before you write a letter google again, but for a different purpose - you need to know the reputation of the office. “Even somewhere to settle” - does not mean work for the idea. There are many scoundrels (may the land open up for their feet), who do not pay their employees and exploit the labor of newcomers, especially highlighting students (nonresidents receive a negative bonus of -5 to Surival). The most vulnerable representatives of humanity after single mothers, old people and children.
• Choose a smaller office, people are warmer there. Avoid giant offices. As they say, my partners from Ukraine are guaranteed “nagialovo”. What does it mean? Lost time in “corporate spirit mechanisms”. In a large office, you always screw. Consumer. You podotrutsya and thrown out, taking a dozen of the same. Get over it. In a sense, accept the fact of the existence of such employers. By the way, wages in such “whaling fleets” are very low. You may even be told at the interview, “God, you don’t want to, we’ll take someone else.” You can survive there. And even a ride with someone venerable on the ferry on the milk rivers, but the percentage of such lucky people is small.
• Choose independent developers if you can find them. Most often there are either enthusiasts or renegades from big industry working there. As a rule, tired of her, well-equipped (in terms of knowledge) and, unfortunately, not often indulge in good salaries. BUT ... if you compare with the previous choice is obvious. Salaries will be very similar, but “nagibalova” will not, or will, but on a much smaller scale.
• With great attention, treat everything that wears “we are a friendly family”, “a team of friendly professionals”, “corporate spirit”, “corporate ethics”. In most cases, this is a hatchway behind which you will find a well with sheer walls and a flock of bloodthirsty sharks below. I'm serious. If all of the above exists, I haven’t seen it for sure, I have not heard from other sailors.
• Do not meditate on the ad "requires an art director for 120 pieces." Do not.
• Fuck everywhere. Break open the doors, tear off the phones, climb into the windows without losing their own dignity. If you are not happy, let us know that you have visited a familiar friend, and surprisingly turn round your eyes “upon learning” that this is a gaming office.

In Shelob's Lair

One hundred first letter you answered. First interview. Yes, do not shake you so. Remember one simple truth - everything that was first, sooner or later will become permanent. Want to challenge? Fine. You have the first baby tooth. Terribly scary (if you remembered) then they pour like rain from a bucket at a rate of twenty drops. Another 32, depending on the situation, will also start leaving you ... sooner or later. Dentistry is a bad example? Fine. Let's talk about it.
The first time someone scared. And it may not even work out. But then ... a wonderful world of ... art will open before you. Actually, I was talking about sketches (winked). It is said that at first the artist stalled due to inexperience, very shyly builds forms, and then with practice increases the volume, and then the sketches pour in as if from a horn of plenty. In essence, examples of mass.

This does not mean that you will constantly go to interviews. But on the search for work, the company itself didn’t converge with the light. Even if there are only two in the city. There is a distant work, there are other cities ... or you don’t want to make games so much?

In general, it would be nice at the first interview:

• Do not be nervous, most likely, do not work out, but at least you do not have to talk about nonsense. Answer clearly and in the case. It is not known what account you have of the one who accepts you.
• If you have the strength to joke - joke. Humor helps. But for God's sake, do not joke badly. It will ruin you.
• In the short time that you are allotted in case of any technical questions, “sparkle the erudition”. Those. if you have seen similar things in other games, nod your head as an old acquaintance, and say, "of course you saw, there it was there and there, but it seems to me that this is better implemented here, and here's why." I hate television, but ... this is your "moment of glory." In this short period of time it is better to submit yourself as spectacularly as possible.
• Analyze the game, analyze at all, do not be a idol. Do not be afraid to argue. You are not yet an employee in the service of this person - you are a free person and you don’t owe anything to anyone.
• Knowing that you are to no one, you don’t need anything — don’t forget about tact, however. In some places it is better to nod and remain silent, in some places it is better to smile (there are many smiles, among which there are “you are a peasant, of course, joked, I smiled, but you understand that I am more of politeness”). Understand, this is only once, and then you show yourself, or ... do not show. It is possible to play a revolutionary, a staunch man, a giant of spirit. But not worth it.
• Stay on your own. If you know that you are doing a good job with something, and people on the network have appreciated your potential - do not let yourself be smudged. Especially when it comes to salary. Perhaps you do not have the skills of bargaining, but for pennies do not need to work (except for a short experience before jumping to a new place). Perhaps you do not know about it, but the audacity of the form when bidding matters. Also, no one has canceled a bluff.
• Bluff. When you lie you need to add a bit of truth to the words. And yes, we call it bluff. Exaggeration. Fantasy. A poker player does not lie - he is bluffing. Is not it so? Make it clear that there are other places (without going into specifics), let me know that Pup-Soft is not the last office on the planet. Make it clear that you know enough to fulfill your obligations. Remember - you do not lose anything. “I didn’t cope with work” is not a criminal offense, and employers are not such beasts. They need a plan to do. And the turnover ... so sticky. In general, frames always flow. Always need a replacement and fresh meat.

Waivers and Consolation Prize

You should not be afraid of rejections and failed interviews. Every time Vanka-vstaka you need to rise and try again. You may need to update your portfolio. I will say even more with the updated portfolio, you can even get into a tighter office.
It happens that the personnel manager changes. It so happens that the CEO does not remember who he accepted and who he did not. In his memory, as in the memory of any other person, sparkling fiasco is deposited. What is worth remembering and then tell "with herring, under vodka."

Those who have already worked with me after seeing some work on the network regularly contact me. And we painfully remember each other. Slap each other on virtual shoulders, after a couple of days of communication, saying “damn disguised!”, Or vice versa, I say “I remember you well, you tried to pitch me somehow,” or “you are the one who is dynamite of artists, but would you go ... ", but ... also in two or three days. The point is the very turnover of personnel, the rotation of people and tasks. There is no reverse situation, I see that my reputation is spotless. In terms of experience and quality of work, of course. The rest ... spotty, like everyone else.

Do you want a quick talk about yourself? Sure, not a problem. And at the same time another tip - do not be ashamed of what you are doing now. Do not be ashamed of what was done then. Do not be ashamed to screw up in the future. Everything flows, everything changes. Today's you will always be better than yesterday. Unless of course you practice and gnaw the granite of science. This paragraph applies only to work. For other blunders - we will always eat ourselves.

“13 years in the industry,” he rasped, glittering menacingly with one eye, “do you have a hint of a louse?” Yes, I such yellowopuz as you still in the nineties stuck on the brush.
(it would be quite possible to say so, if it were not a literary lie for a wit)



Let's compare me to the then (near my first office just started the dirty first cheap tablet) and me today. Some progress is visible, and it will be (this is a consolation for you), but there are still many miles ahead (this is a pill for me). Why pill? Because I do not know how I lived without it all. Seriously. I found myself and have no regrets about anything. Is that about a very large amount of time spent on drinking with colleagues on the pen.

What do I have now? I hate coffee (which I drink in gallons). I hate and at the same time love my job. I can not relax. I have forgotten how to play as a player, I play as a developer. And I still dream of making games. Without all this, I would be an ordinary fish, thrown out on a hot beach filled with the noonday sun, meaningless and very quickly falling asleep.

“First, I perch! Reporting from the bottom of the Neva. Our treasure! ”

So ... you are there. You succeded. You snuck on board the departing ship and you will certainly spend a certain number of months in the voyage. What should be done first thing on board? Brief Memo for Youngsters:

• Your eyes and your ears are your locator. Absorb everything you see and hear. Already then you will understand and separate the wheat from the chaff.
• Work like a damn. Do not spare yourself. Especially in the first two or three months. Enter it into the rule for each ship on which you find yourself. This is not for the captain, but for the team. In addition to the fact that you are doing your job, partners must see that you are a good, stubborn pepper. That you are ready to work and not afraid of the black work. That you can rely on, even if you are still zero without a wand.
• Work like a damn. Do not spare yourself. Especially in the first two or three months. This is for the captain. For the first time in a week, Cap is keeping a good eye on recruits. Do not call his eyes as a loafer. Then it will be easier. Then the transformation of quantity into quality will proceed. In other words, the experience will begin to transform into skills. You will do faster what is going on now.
• Be yourself. No need to be sneaky, do not look for ways to the top, if you are not a careerist. Be close to the brothers in arms. Find friends, and like a sponge soak up everything new. Everything. Everything you can reach.
• Study (superficially at first) all the disciplines available to you, it may be that you have not initially chosen the best choice. Perhaps you will find yourself in a friend.
• Cook in our kitchen, get there all the time, pestering chefs with questions. Anything you pull out of them will help you in the future. It would be nice, of course, to be able to "split" the main coca, but this is as lucky.
• If the cook is evil, and if the cooks do not like you - peek. Listen in. Do everything that does not contradict ethical standards to get the information you need. And yes, I did it. Spied. Because they did not want to share with me.

What's next? Then everything depends on you. From your perseverance. Wishes Love to the subject.

Links to help

The forge of the Russian game maiden (GameDev.RU) is not a joke. There are all castes there, except for the “elite”. The elite inhabit the DTF . Troubles are there and here. But on both sites you can quickly find not only remote but also a permanent job. It all depends on the skills of the seeker.
http://www.deviantart.com/ - really friendly party of a variety of creative people
CGHub is another place, extremely rich in talented people and beautiful work.
CGSociety is a very old and respected resource.
Render.RU - if you are not in trouble with English pictures, you will get ours, originally Russians (smiled).

This set is enough to understand what you should navigate, and the first two behind the eyes and behind the ears to find a place for yourself.
Thanks for attention. I hope this material was useful and interesting. Pictures today is mute. Not delivered.
Good Friday Habr.