On Game Design: further exploration of the video game designer's portfolio
In last year's Game Developer Game Career Guide, I made brief mention of a video game designer's portfolio:
"Artists have portfolios that showcase their fine art skills and work from the projects they've been involved with. Examples of game design work are often something that job-hunting game designers just don't think about or don't think they need. However, examples of game design work can be as critical to your chances of employment as an art portfolio can be to an artist. Examples of work can include system documentation (specs), scripting examples, level layouts (paper / Max / Maya), magazine reviews, articles, or interviews. Get yourself a good presentation binder to put everything in and make it look professional and presentable. If you are going to put any examples of your work up on a website, keep it professional. Don't link to personal BLOGS or other websites that may influence the reader."
Over the past month, i've interviewed two prospective video game designers and one guy who wants to get into video game design. Out of the three, one guy had nearly 20 years of experience in the industry, another about 10, and the last guy had practically no applicable skills. However, they all had something in common: no examples of their work. SO, this post is going to expand on the concept of the video game designer's portfolio and what a candidate can use for material.
Games: not everyone you interview with will have played the games you've worked on, so bring copies of your credited games with you and a memory card with a save file that will allow you to quickly access the areas of the game with your work. Better yet, if you have a pre-beta build with production-based options (free camera, simulation pause, wireframe view, etc.), bring that. Most, if not all, companies you'll interview at have a wide variety of development kits. Heck, I think I even saw a Dreamcast devkit at work the other day!
Press Coverage: bring previews, reviews, and other articles related to the games you've worked on. Cut them out of magazines or print them up off websites. Bonus points if the article mentions you by name or has screen shots / coverage of anything that was specifically your work.
Articles: have you worked on any published articles or academic papers? Bring those with you! Be prepared to talk about your opinions.
Paper Design Work: regardless of how technologically far we advance as an industry, basic video game design still has its roots in the classic staples of game design: paper maps, skill tables, documentation, sketches, etc. Bring it with you because it helps flesh out potential employers' impressions of your skills. One of the designers on my team got his job almost entirely based on a sketchbook he brought with him which contained everything from room designs to player mechanics and game play setups.
Level Layouts: you can bring actual Maya or Max files or just printed renderings. Be prepared to talk about layout methodology: block mesh (the process of laying out rough level shapes which are then handed off to art), components (the ability to think about level element reuse), game flow (how the player moves through the layout), and workflow (what stages of production the level goes through from start to finished game). Another great thing to do is to have some representations of your work on the layout and then pictures of the final product.
Misc. Things: spec work (systems design), scripting examples (Python, Lua, state machines, C++, proprietary languages, etc.), Excel schedules, etc.
When you have the bulk of this material assembled, put it in some sort of order either chronological (similar to a resume) or by skill set progression. Be prepared to talk about any and all of it. In addition to the physical version, keep a version on CD (or DVD) and also a version on an FTP somewhere. This will decrease the burden of how much you carry into an interview and also provide a handy two pronged backup in case you lose your portfolio or the dog eats it or you need to leave it with somebody.
Now, let's say you don't have any industry experience. Does that mean that all this information is useless because you don't have anything to make a portfolio out of? Not at all. 3D packages like Maya and Max are available in free student versions. Use them to come up with some level layouts. Scripting languages like Lua and Python are readily available and can provide valuable insight into how just about any other scripting language you may run into will work (structure and terminology). If you have some game ideas, try documenting them in high concepts (the idea for the game summed up in a short paragraph along with bullet pointed features) and game specs (game play systems defined). Work on presentation and the proper use of game development terminology. Take a game that you like and write up a document on how you think it works. If you have any friends that are already in the video game industry, have them look through your materials and offer you tips.
Lastly, with some small warnings, don't be afraid to take some representative design materials with you when you leave a project or company. I don't mean to dump the project onto a hard drive and take it home or anything like that. Be selective of the materials you take in relation to anything proprietary (particular to a toolset, work flow, technology, intellectual property). Keep copies of the design documents you work on. The other day we interviewed a candidate who said that he "didn't know they could take anything like examples of work from a company they'd worked at". These materials are still covered by any NDA you may have previously signed, but they also represent your work. The thing to keep in mind is that it's generally not a good idea to show any materials from a work in progress (like if you left a project early) or, again, anything that gives away any proprietary information. When you interview at another company, you're under their NDA as well, so unless you're interviewing with somebody really shady, the work you're presenting will be secure. ALSO, don't post any of these sorts of things to any websites or blogs or anything like that until a sufficient amount of time has passed to merit the release of these materials without harming a property. I recently heard about an artist who posted classified art from a high profile next-gen title on his/her website as part of an online resume. Not a very good move.
Useful links:
Scripting:
Lua programming language - http://www.lua.org/
Python programming language - http://www.python.org/
Definition of a state machine - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Finite_state_machine
3D Modeling:
Maya Personal Learning Edition - http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/index?siteID=123112&id=7639525
3D Studio Max Trial Version - http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/index?siteID=123112&id=5972446
Development Environments:
XNA Development Center - http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/xna/default.aspx
"Artists have portfolios that showcase their fine art skills and work from the projects they've been involved with. Examples of game design work are often something that job-hunting game designers just don't think about or don't think they need. However, examples of game design work can be as critical to your chances of employment as an art portfolio can be to an artist. Examples of work can include system documentation (specs), scripting examples, level layouts (paper / Max / Maya), magazine reviews, articles, or interviews. Get yourself a good presentation binder to put everything in and make it look professional and presentable. If you are going to put any examples of your work up on a website, keep it professional. Don't link to personal BLOGS or other websites that may influence the reader."
Over the past month, i've interviewed two prospective video game designers and one guy who wants to get into video game design. Out of the three, one guy had nearly 20 years of experience in the industry, another about 10, and the last guy had practically no applicable skills. However, they all had something in common: no examples of their work. SO, this post is going to expand on the concept of the video game designer's portfolio and what a candidate can use for material.
When you have the bulk of this material assembled, put it in some sort of order either chronological (similar to a resume) or by skill set progression. Be prepared to talk about any and all of it. In addition to the physical version, keep a version on CD (or DVD) and also a version on an FTP somewhere. This will decrease the burden of how much you carry into an interview and also provide a handy two pronged backup in case you lose your portfolio or the dog eats it or you need to leave it with somebody.
Now, let's say you don't have any industry experience. Does that mean that all this information is useless because you don't have anything to make a portfolio out of? Not at all. 3D packages like Maya and Max are available in free student versions. Use them to come up with some level layouts. Scripting languages like Lua and Python are readily available and can provide valuable insight into how just about any other scripting language you may run into will work (structure and terminology). If you have some game ideas, try documenting them in high concepts (the idea for the game summed up in a short paragraph along with bullet pointed features) and game specs (game play systems defined). Work on presentation and the proper use of game development terminology. Take a game that you like and write up a document on how you think it works. If you have any friends that are already in the video game industry, have them look through your materials and offer you tips.
Lastly, with some small warnings, don't be afraid to take some representative design materials with you when you leave a project or company. I don't mean to dump the project onto a hard drive and take it home or anything like that. Be selective of the materials you take in relation to anything proprietary (particular to a toolset, work flow, technology, intellectual property). Keep copies of the design documents you work on. The other day we interviewed a candidate who said that he "didn't know they could take anything like examples of work from a company they'd worked at". These materials are still covered by any NDA you may have previously signed, but they also represent your work. The thing to keep in mind is that it's generally not a good idea to show any materials from a work in progress (like if you left a project early) or, again, anything that gives away any proprietary information. When you interview at another company, you're under their NDA as well, so unless you're interviewing with somebody really shady, the work you're presenting will be secure. ALSO, don't post any of these sorts of things to any websites or blogs or anything like that until a sufficient amount of time has passed to merit the release of these materials without harming a property. I recently heard about an artist who posted classified art from a high profile next-gen title on his/her website as part of an online resume. Not a very good move.
Useful links:
Scripting:
3D Modeling:
Development Environments:
posted by weezie at
11:01 AM
2 Comments:
You should consider adding links to your previous articles on game design and development.
Better yet, use Blogger's features to add Tags to these posts.
Hi Weezie,
My name is Don Shields and I was told about your blog by Rick Schmitz. I teach animation at Mission College in Santa Clara, and I'm starting a new course on game design. Your writing on the game designer's portfolio is wonderful. I'm certainly going to include your suggestions to my students. It would be wonderful to talk to you sometime about your profession. Maybe I could buy you lunch,(possibly Mexican), and pick your brain on game design.
Don
shields-don@sbcglobal.net
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