Professionalism

[Stormy]

I'm going to necro bump the shit out of this because I think it's got potential to be explored more. In the last two years a lot of universities have started offering more poignant courses related to game design, and some actual 'game design' courses. I think these are still a throw away but that's just personal preference. If I was going to go to school for the games industry I would choose either programming or modelling and go for a computer science degree or a specialized 3d modelling course from Full Sail university or Quantm college.

If you want a 'job' doing general game design you're going to need a damn good portfolio and a lot of proof that you design good games. People aren't going to employ you to daydream about the games you want other people to make, they are going to employ you to design aspects of their game - based around user experience, company vision, game requirements and other stuff. You won't be employed to be an ideas man, you'll be employed because you have a good understanding of UI design and prototyping. To this end I don't think a 'game design' course would be beneficial. I would rather employ someone who has 6 mods under their belt and has demonstrated an aptitude for accessibility/UI design to be a problem solver than someone who has a game design degree and is straight out of school.

Also not using the industry standard programs is a ridiculous thing to do. I use blender and unless there is a way to export my models from blender to the game engine (as there is with UDK or source), then I'm not employable. I can program in Java (barely) or javascript but have never touched C so I'm not employable, no matter how great I become at doing those things. So if you're going for an industry job as a modeller, get max or xsi. If you're programming, learn c++. Then build a bangin portfolio and get your name out into the community by working your way up from shit tier mods when you have shit tier skills and onto the awesome mods or indies when you have mad skillz.

That said, valve has hired people who worked as butchers or bakers or some shit and had no game related education, just a good portfolio and an appropriate mind. But banking on getting a job at valve is idiocy.

Bottom line is: work your ass off at what you enjoy the most.

[Jangalomph]

Here is something SUPER IMPORTANT. This right here will teach you alot. And its very important advice on being a "professional" type person.

[Epifire]

Man Stormy that really sums up a lot of how a feel about the whole thing. A lot of what you said I have read about from one of my favored authors, "Hourences" who wrote these two books...

They have been a wealth of knowledge for a guy like me. The smaller book there about the industry covers a lotta points you mention Stormy. Staying well informed for new tools and having the right connections helps, I had tried becoming a member at places like the IGDA but their site was worse then awful and I had the hardest time trying to talk to any developers there.

One of the things I hear that can get peeps into a company is also a good recommendation from a respected guy who works at the company, so knowing people in the right places really helps. Know people well enough like that and they can even get you in on some of those smaller projects that get you a better name, so it can help a lot.