Working in the video game industry
Hello there polycounters!:)
I'm completly new to the forum so let me introduce myself first. I'm a 15 years old guy from Poland, passionate about video games. My dream is to work as an environment artist in the video game industry. I will do everything necessary to achieve it, no matter how hard life kicks my ass. If there is anything that I've learned through those 15 years, it's to never give up. But recently surfing the net I've come across various articles and comments, saying how bad the video game industry sucks. They say that working in it is amazingly stressful, you often work like 12 hours a day, sleep on couch in the studio, don't have personal live at all and get fired again and again, until you burn out completely. As for a person dreaming of that job, it's very demotivating for me. And now let's get to the point. I would greatly appreciate if any of the industry proffesionals here on Polycount, could tell me, whether those arguments are truth or a total bullshit. Of course I don't mind working hard, but if I have to sacrifice my health to work in a shitty atmosphere with sad people, then maybe I will reconsider my decison to work as an environment artist. Although I can't think of anything I would like to do more than this. Please help me, you won't regret it!:)
I'm completly new to the forum so let me introduce myself first. I'm a 15 years old guy from Poland, passionate about video games. My dream is to work as an environment artist in the video game industry. I will do everything necessary to achieve it, no matter how hard life kicks my ass. If there is anything that I've learned through those 15 years, it's to never give up. But recently surfing the net I've come across various articles and comments, saying how bad the video game industry sucks. They say that working in it is amazingly stressful, you often work like 12 hours a day, sleep on couch in the studio, don't have personal live at all and get fired again and again, until you burn out completely. As for a person dreaming of that job, it's very demotivating for me. And now let's get to the point. I would greatly appreciate if any of the industry proffesionals here on Polycount, could tell me, whether those arguments are truth or a total bullshit. Of course I don't mind working hard, but if I have to sacrifice my health to work in a shitty atmosphere with sad people, then maybe I will reconsider my decison to work as an environment artist. Although I can't think of anything I would like to do more than this. Please help me, you won't regret it!:)
Replies
When I was in school, we had a former game designer and digipen instructor show up and lay out to a large group of students the life of a developer and what to expect. The students literally looked like they just had their pet dog run over by a pick up truck. She made it quite clear what to expect, and all those illusions of fun and games went right out the window. A few students dropped out afterwards or changed career paths.
So a few things to consider... 1) the industry can get better or worse as time goes on, being a player in it gives you some ounce of influence, 2) you are not limited to working in a big studio. Indy development is on the rise after all, you could learn to make your own game on your own time. 3) In any job, if you dont like what you are making, you probably wont enjoy the job. This means, those developers who want to work on the next nextgen Star Wars game probably wont be too stoked if their job is making SpongeBob Square Pants 3 for the nintendo DS. I wasnt a big fan of sea food, so when working at a waiter at a sea food restaurant, I didnt enjoy it. Find what you enjoy, if you can get paid for it, all the better.
Just some advice, though take it with a grain of salt... I am not a seasoned game developer after all.
While this can certainly be true, it's mostly a product of poor project management and usually doesn't apply to places that actually manage their time and resources well.
Dataday is correct in saying that this is not an easy industry to work in, though you should note that it's simply because making games is difficult work. The 12 hour days and constant crunch time are not representative of the industry as a whole. The place I'm currently working actually strongly discourages people from doing overtime, and they very much encourage people to have a life outside the office.
If you want to avoid working in a place with bad management, you should research places you might want to apply to in the future and see if there are any articles online regarding their work habits and release schedules. Chances are good that if it's a company that releases a new game every year, there's going to be a lot of crunch time unless they have spectacular management and they make very simple games.
But it's the only job(s) where I have ever:
been paid a pretty hefty sum to sit at a computer and model monsters all day
had tequila shots in a cubicle with my boss
rewarded with beer, and cookouts for a job well done
rewarded with beer, and cookouts because it's Friday
given movie tickets to go see a movie on a workday, during work
Casino night
Free breakfast, free lunch, free dinner
I'd say the best thing is you get to meet a whole lot of like minded people. I think that's why I dig working in a studio over freelance- If you're lucky you'll get with a team of bad asses that can show you a thing or to about teh dark art o'depolycount.
It has some rough spots, but over all it is pretty awesome.
Good luck
check out crunchstudios.com, it's a podcast made by people from polycount (mostly), and lots of them are game industry veterans.
some episodes have tons of info and stories about working in game dev, both depressing and happy ones.
But truth is, the industry is often not what people expect it to be when they want to enter it without too much knowledge about it. Its hard, hard work, but can be very rewarding. For some of us its literally the only thing they can think of doing.
As in any industry I guess, there's good and bad places. But I do think more and more companies are becoming very aware that those endless crunch stories are just bad. Bad for productivety, and in the end, just bad for profit.
If you land in a good place, with good people and prehaps even a kick ass project, well then its pretty much a dream job where basically someone said:
'Dude, I hear you like to make arts, here is money to do the thing you love to do.'
One thing people have to get used too is that it is a business. You have to produce, in that respect its really just a job. Crunchtime, well count on it that most likely you will have to work it a couple of times when deadlines loom. But a good company, with good planning and such will most likely have hardly any crunch at all.
So, practise, post work, make friends, learn about the industry and go for it!
http://www.polycount.com/forum/showthread.php?t=97919
Well, what you have described can often be the case. But you are very young, so why not develop a more indie-based skillset? Make your own small games to start with, then maybe by the time you are of working age, you will either be indespensible as a designer, or a succesful indie developer.
To me, I just want to be bombarded with work. My first job had me barely doing anything and I hated it.
Being able to work extra hours doing something I love just sounds amazing provided I still get paid, eat, breathe.
Your either insane or have not actually done crunch time...
...most places will not pay you to do crunch,you'll gain weight from the food they provide,most often pizza and eventually it will impact your health and personal relationships due to your absence in the real world.
Missing the real world doesn't affect me.
The only real negative out of this is the [potential] lack of pay but since working in the industry is an ambition thing, I can ignore it.
Then you are completely naive about the harm crunch causes..
How old are you?
Maybe if you are 20 it's OK to just work all the time for a couple years. But some day you will want a relationship or family and then you can't hide in front of your computer screen all day and night. You will get burned out and it will effect your work (for the worse) and your moods. That is an unsustainable life.
This ^^
And 18 by the way.
If only for the fact that you need to get your inspiration from somewhere. Miyamoto's games aren't good because he continuously thinks about only games, they're good because he sources many life experiences.
2. You'll change your mind about most things as you age. You're 18. You're barely sentient.
3. There will always be more work to do regardless of how many hours you put in. So don't stress out about it too badly. Work hard while you're at work but make sure you go home and get a decent nights sleep before the next day so you can do it all again. Nobody likes cleaning up work that a sleep deprived zombie checked in.
Talk about unhealthy, that was 4 years ago for a start up, I hope to never have to do that again for a job but at the time I enjoyed working with them and I was dedicated to what they were doing, but yea It was bad management on the other end with unrealistic time-frames.
I admire your gusto. It's something that will keep you going in this industry.
But for a lot of the guys that have worked for quite a few years in the industry, we understand that for the sake of development, our roles need to become quite a bit more 'marginalized', and we get more of a thrill out of personal artistic exploration.
For many of us, working extra hours doing something we love involves coming home, and working on our own personal projects.
I really don't mind controlled crunches for short periods for good reasons with visible improvements. It just gets a bit tiring if you extensively crunch to compensate for planning mishaps, reactive style management, or overall inexperience.
But it's hard to say how you'll react to it until after you actually go through it. For a lot of people who've never done it, QA is the best job in the planet because they think it's nothing more than getting paid to play games.
But in reality, QA might be one of the most arduous and demanding jobs I can think of.
Ouch. dude seriously sounds like you need to leave the house and go out and be social. I have worked with people who dedicate themselves to their work and almost every interaction I have had with them has been super awkward and generally makes people feel uncomfortable.
if you are 18 your should have a healthy focus on career and also getting life experience, like traveling, going out with your friends and partying, getting laid, learning new things besides what the computer can tell you.
it will make you a more balanced person and have a lot more natural charisma which will help you get a job a lot easier. having the art skills is only one part of the process of getting a job in this industry. most creatives I know are outgoing, insane party people and have super cool stories from around the world to tell.I recently made those things a bigger priority in my life, because I know I dont want to regret anything when I look back 20 years from now and see my life was all about staring at a screen. just some food for though.
Oh and those months of crunch, no you wont be doing any art.
As an artist, you have to find a balance between input and output. Great art/inspiration does not come from nothing.
I put up with more crunch than I normally would because I don't want to put my girlfriend through the stress of trying to find another job.
To the OP: you're 15. There is a decent chance you'll completely change what you want to do by the time you're 20. But that's what's great about being so young. Go grab Maya from Autodesk, download UDK, and start following a tutorial. Make stuff. If the older you get the less you like it then you know to do something else. Or, conversely you love it even more then you'll be a leg up on everyone else who didn't start until they hit college for one reason or another (I was one of the latter btw. It didn't help but then again I had no idea how to do anything)
Kind of to the OP and definitely to JordanN: Justin is right-being young and single means you have less of a reason to crunch. When you start out and you're an hourly contractor like I am, you do get paid over time (staff rarely does). But when you crunch for a few months say during the summer, you miss out on so much. It really does kind of suck. It's better to bust your ass during the 8 hours you work during the day and then call it a day instead of work 9 or 10. You'll burn out before you even need to. That's my take away. Crunch when you need to. Your health and social life will thank you!
or is about more about becoming more likely to get laid off when layoffs time comes?
i mean, in the other thread most people wrote that they just do their 8 hours and go home. so i guess it's not like they're commiting a great sin in eyes of their superiors?
Soo true - remember you working in teams with people - not machines.
Its nice to improve, but i dont want to talk about games or art the whole day.
As the others said,
- search for tutorials
- download maya/max/udk etc.
- start practicing
- also a good start is, to join a mod group
- dont loose focus
- get drunk and laid
- travel arround
- party hard
- work hard
.. also get drunk
- Your greatest inspirations will come from the most unexpected sources.
- Work so you can live your life, don't live to work.
typically it's just "next week we'll be moving over to extended hours"
Sorry for my lack response, I was pretty busy today. I would like to thank you all for your help. Now I am sure that it's worth trying. Well, with that said, I'm off to watch some normal baking tutorials. Thanks again for all your effort and hopefully see you soon in the "Pimping and Previews" section.
Oh. And of course......
sons who have been caught masturbating by their mothers.
The shame.....I had to crunch for over 5 years after that
Not sure if troll, forgive me if not, some of the stuff just sounds over the top and immature.
Not sure if you're working within the industry (if not focus on getting in before thinking ahead), but you will change your mentality after a few years when you experience mandatory crunch for months on end and start getting to the age where you want to live life and settle down.
anyway, you're 18 - you haven't really experienced hard work yet, you may enjoy crunch at first but after a few years you will change your tune, trust me on this one.
If you're that awesome hard worker you think you are, then you should already have a kick ass portfolio, post it up for some advice on how to improve it.
I think the issue isn't so much that you want to be a hard worker who will gobble up crunch, but what that means for the rest of us.
Every company wants to hire the most dedicated, hard-working people, I mean why not? But if new hires are basically advertising that they'll happily work like slaves then that's what companies will start to expect and will only employ people they can exploit. Indeed that's what some managers will try to do with your passion without you realising it because you're having fun.
So basically, be grateful that you live in a moderated comfortable working environment when you have it and work hard anyway.
Sometimes you simply need to experience it in order to understand it.
This so much. OP, when I was 15, I wanted to be a game developer, it was my "dream". Now I'm 22 and I'm in school to become a teacher, with game art as a hobby, nothing more. Seriously, start doing game art as a hobby, work on building up your skills, and getting a portfolio together. In a few years, you'll know if you want to go in this industry or not. I chose to keep it as a hobby, but who knows, you might love it and have the time of your life doing something you love. You have no idea how much growing you will do as a person in the next few years, and then you'll have your answer.