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Wednesday, March 26, 2008 |
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Inside the Vault: Adam Adamowicz
Today’s Inside the Vault is with Adam Adamowicz, our resident concept artist here at the studio. If you ever visit our offices, his cube is the one you should insist on visiting. When we start a project internally, Adam is one of the first developers to begin work so he always has amazing pieces of art all around his corner of the offices.
What’s your job at Bethesda?
Concept Artist, odd noises from the corner.
What other games have you worked on?
Actually published? Working backwards: Shivering Isles, Goblin Commander, NightCaster I & II. The first game I worked on was Hired Guns for Psygnosis, when they were still around. I, we, all literally worked 70 to 90 hour weeks trying to get it in a box. Two and a half years later, Psygnosis went belly up, and we all had our nervous breakdowns. In the meantime our efforts got us noticed and bought by other companies, so at least we were essentially staying afloat. Financially there was always bankruptcy hovering around the corner, like a clammy fart.
Ah, the good ol’ days.
Other ones that never made it, Lost Continents, Fugue, Cthulhu Now, Fistful of Zombies…they all had some great ideas I refuse to let die…
What is the best part about working as an artist? The worst part?
Best part, I get to draw all day and wrack my brains trying to come up with more weirdness. Worst? Being stumped for an idea makes me crazy, and crazier when I’ve created something I think is derivative of all the stuff that’s out there. That’s when I start pacing the parking lot muttering to myself, and gesturing like a beach crab. And actually, this happens all of the time. Seriously, it’s part of the fun, and why caffeine was invented.
How did you get into the industry? Do you have any tips for breaking in?
Back in the day, 1997-ish, I was a penniless tattoo apprentice, cake decorating at a Baskin-Robbins, and making very little money at either. I lived in an unheated 2000 square foot warehouse in the train yards of east Denver.
I started renting the space out to the local goth scene my friends and I frequented for a particular promoter’s afterhours fetish parties. You know, to make rent. One day, the human resources person from a small game company up in Boulder called Devil’s Thumb showed up at one of these soirees and saw all the murals and crazy sculptures. She got me in touch with their art director and president, who were formerly of DMA Design out of Scotland. I bugged them for about a year until I got in. Oz and Tony took a chance on me, so I like to give credit where it’s due, and of course Joanna who told me where they lived. I was hired as a level designer to build an FPS on the then “in development” Unreal Engine. That was 11 years ago.
Advice? Being persistent and sending hardcopies of cool artwork that can be physically passed around an office was my strategy for getting a foot in the door. Of course a disc was included, but people don’t always have the time or inclination to boot up a disc. That way if it ends up next to the coffee machine, it still might get noticed.
Don’t forget versatility! Elf babes in chrome bustiers are always cool, but branching out into other genres widens your range. Being a concept artist means being part historian, scientist, fashion designer, industrial designer, writer, casting agent…because you are really responsible for creating and populating worlds that can be quickly understood, built, lit, and animated in 3D. And you to be able to do that on demand. Being an avid devourer of books has always helped me create discernible types of characters with distinct personalities. The warehouse parties didn’t hurt either. Getting out into the world with a sketchbook in hand is great for documenting these things firsthand.
Drawing constantly is a big part of this. I went to a Syd Mead lecture years ago. He’s the visual genius behind Bladerunner and Tron. The main element of design he stressed was the importance of the story being told, and sticking to your own visions of that. He expressed the idea, more or less that, “It’s a given fact that no one sees the world through your eyes. Stick to that and you’ll carve a niche for yourself in the art world”. I hope I’ve done justice to the quote.
What would you say is your personal favorite game of all time?
MDK. I also liked Skullmonkeys, because all of those things happened on planet Igznatch.
What games are you looking forward to?
The next version of Photoshop. To me, it’s the ultimate videogame. So far. Maya drove me nuts as a game. Z Brush is awesome to play, too. Can someone add more hours to the day? When I get some time I’ll be reinstalling The Orange Box so my coworkers can gleefully blow up my head.
What makes you get out of bed in the morning?
“Let’s draw some monsters. Let’s draw some monsters. Let’s draw some monsters.” I chant that softly to myself on the way to work. If other commuters look at me nervously, I point at them with my index finger, wink, and smile.
Worst job you’ve ever had?
I’ve done a lot of low paying jobs, so I always at least tried to do something hilarious and interesting. I’ve built props for haunted houses, rave parties, store window displays, worked on an oyster boat, drove an ice cream truck, worked at a school, and even cake decorated at an erotic cake bakery in SF.
But the worst? Temping as a data entry clerk at the United Way in SF. My boss would get out of boardroom meetings and throw sharpie markers at my head while saying to the other boss “So, do you think the temp is capable of alphabetical filing?” Let’s just say the manner in which I quit was rather spectacular. Oh, and the temp agency didn’t go unscathed either.
Any other hobbies and interests? What do you enjoy doing in your spare time?
I do a lot of sculpting and painting at home. I read voraciously. I just finished Melville’s Moby Dick. It really isn’t boring required reading, that book is as sci fi as you can get. Cycling is quite good around DC — I do several trails that strategically link up to outdoor patios. I’m also going to look into some sailing classes when the weather is warmer and more conducive to falling into the Potomac.
I’ve got a portable watercolor kit I’d like to bring along. So the plan is, bike down to Alexandria, learn how to sail boat, learn how to paint riverscapes, and then bike to an outdoor patio of choice. Having just moved to DC three years ago, I’ve also been rooting out cool jazz bars in the various neighborhoods. There’s also a fantastic array of free museums with amazing stuff in them. Along the way I have a digital camera, so I’ve got an everexpanding photo log of reference material for architecture, light conditions, you name it. Overall it’s all about Bright Colors, Loud Noises.
EDIT: Adam wanted this pic on the blog, so here it is!
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Wednesday, March 12, 2008 |
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R.I.P. Gary Gygax
Gary Gygax passed away last week at the age of 69. He was, and still is, a legend. As co-creator of D&D and co-founder of TSR, there probably aren’t many RPGs that haven’t been influenced in some way by Gary and what he started, not to mention his being responsible for Gen Con and the consumption of countless bags of Cheetos and gallons of Mountain Dew. Personally, I have never been able to look at a Crown Royal bag without thinking “dice bag.” I spent my first all-nighter playing a game because of AD&D.
We asked around the team for thoughts on the influence Gary and D&D/AD&D had on them. Here’s what folks had to say:
Erik J. Caponi, Dwarven Game Designer: Gary Gygax was a pioneer and one of the fathers of the art of interactive storytelling. Let us all observe 1d6 moments of silence in his honor.
Jeff Gardiner, Producer: I got into D&D about the time video games were invented. I was 6 years old, and my best friend and I (David Beal,) ‘borrowed’ his big brother’s red Basic D&D book. That moment started a 10 year odyssey that allowed me to develop most of my skills as a video game Designer/Producer; on top of gracing me with several life long friends. Gary Gygax created something unique in the world to which every game today should tip their hat. My office and work is crammed full of Dungeon Modules, worn hardback 2nd Edition D&D books, and Dragon magazines I just can’t seem to part with. For me, and icon died today. My thoughts and prayers go out to his family and friends.
Matt Grandstaff, Community Manager: Before really getting into videogames, I had an unhealthy addiction to Dungeons and Dragons starting around the time I was seven-years-old. Introduced to me by my stepmother, she served as the dungeon master for my brother and I for a couple of years. I have fond memories of the quests my character, Demolisher, went on. More than anything though, I’ll never forget the day I stopped playing D&D. After my stepmom retired from her duties, my brother took over and spent months creating his own quest for our characters. It was a great quest, but after one memorable battle, my character was given the opportunity to open one of three treasure chests. The one I opened had poisonous bees and killed Demolisher. I got in a fight with my brother and we never played again. Though my D&D years were cut short prematurely, I had a blast.
RIP Gary…thanks for everything you did for the RPG genre.
Chris Krietz: D&D always has and always will be a large part of my life. Thanks Gary, and good luck in the Outer Planes.
Dane Olds, Artist: I started reading the Dragonlance novels when I was in middle school. They introduced me to Dungeons and Dragons and from there I learned more about role playing and how I had actually been playing RPGs since I was a kid. My interest in RPGs grew and I began to play D&D in high school. The creative atmosphere and the expression these games allowed helped propel me toward my career as a game developer. The influence of Dungeons and Dragons on modern gaming is practically incalculable. RIP Gary, thank you for all the adventures.
Dan Ross, QA: I distinctly remember getting into AD&D in the 5th grade because my teacher caught me with one of the rule books in class and was so concerned that she called my parents over it. Their response was “Yeah, we bought it for him. He’s reading now right? Don’t worry about it.” Years and several editions later I think I can honestly say it greatly influenced the person I am today. Thanks for the memories Gary.
Fred Zeleny, Designer: I never met the man, but like many of my fellow game players, my first role-playing game experience was playing D&D 20 years ago with the old, blue box set. Unlike many, I was fortunate enough to have a family that appreciated and even encouraged games – they were my first adventuring party, all gathered around the family dinner table. Over the years, I’ve played RPGs of all types with all kinds of people, from the harshest tactical dungeon delves to parlor LARPs full of intrigue and manipulation to play-by-email RPGs of world-spanning politics, and I eagerly anticipate future RPGs, including a new edition of D&D. But I can trace it all back to one family game night when we decided to try out a new game in a blue box with Gary Gygax’s name on it.
Dan Geske, QA: I didn’t get started with D&D until college. It was a little confusing at first, because I had never played any game like it before. Even the computerized RPGs didn’t prepare me for it, because even though they work hard to give the player as many options as possible, it can’t reach the infinite possibilities the table-top freedom gives you. As soon as I caught on to the playstyle, I was a fan. When I transferred away from that college, I experimented a few times with new DMs, but most of them were (I’ll be nice here) unfortunately unskilled at the position. As I’m sure most of you who’ve played are aware, the DM is key to having a fun, successful campaign. When I finally found a friend who was great at the position, we had a blast. We even had a few “marathon D&D days” when we met at about 10 in the morning (usually on a weekend), and played until the wee hours of the morning of the next day. I’ve had characters adventure in a world with no sun, in barren wastes being torn apart by different dimensions, snuck around at night stealing from fellow members of a caravan, led armies into battle, recovered and reclaimed lost civilizations, and much more. As fun as that all is, the best aspect of the game for me is the way it brings a bunch of friends together, and gives them a great, fun way to hang out for a “marathon” day, or even just five minutes. All of this was made possible by a little imagination teamed up with the game Gary helped create.
Thanks for giving me and countless others the opportunity to have such fun and fellowship with friends. May you always roll 20s, and may your DM always be fun.
Nate Ellis, Design Intern: My first introduction to D&D was through the red box basic rules set but it wasn’t until second edition came out that I started really getting into it. In the years following I graduated from playing to DM’ing to creating and running my own systems. What’s more the group of people I met through roleplaying and the people they introduced me to were to become the core of a large group of close, close friends I still keep in touch with today. It’s not something I normally think about and I don’t really tabletop roleplay anymore but there’s no doubt in my mind that D&D has had a profound influence on my life.
Orin Tresnjak, Graphics Programmer: I discovered a copy of the original white box D&D set by Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson buried in my dad’s closet when I was 10 or so, living in Brazil. Later, a math teacher let us have a complete set of first-edition AD&D books she had kept in her desk for ages, and later still, I finally managed to find a set of the then brand-new 2nd edition when we discovered found a game shop in Sao Paulo. I got to experience the entire evolution of Dungeons and Dragons in two years of my childhood. I was already programming at that age; the experience got me interested in making games and in writing, and before long, I was combining these elements to create simple text-based cRPGs on my dad’s Tandy.
When I was 12, my family moved back to the United States and I started junior high. Already a shy kid, and very intimidated by the sights and sounds of an American public school, I ate lunch alone at a table with my books for the first few weeks. One day, I got up to get a soda from the machine, leaving my 2nd-edition Monstrous Manual at the table, and when I got back, an unfamiliar kid was sitting there looking at it; he asked me if I played. 14 years of friendship later, he and I both work here at Bethesda, making RPGs for a living. Although my life is now incredibly busy and I really don’t have much time for pen-and-paper gaming anymore, I still occasionally run an ongoing D&D game for a few coworkers here.
I guess what I’m saying is that in a roundabout way, Gary’s invention has shaped deeply the way my life has turned out so far; I can’t imagine where I’d be now or what I’d be doing with my days without Dungeons and Dragons and those three little books of typewritten text and crude line-art that I brushed the dust off of so long ago. I wish I’d gotten a chance to meet the guy and thank him.
Alan Nanes: As I was walking through the pavilion at my summer camp (I was only nine at the time), I noticed a group of four kids sitting at a picnic table inside. What had caught my eye were the odd sparkling dice they were picking up and rolling. I approached and heard one of them speaking to the others. He was describing a dark dungeon passage with a door at the end being guarded by some sort of menacing “elven” being with a glowing pair of boots. As I stood transfixed at this odd sight, the others spoke up and described what they were going to “do” in this place he was presenting to them and they were reacting as if they were actors in an invisible play. They noticed my curious stares and invited me to sit down. After nearly an hour of a tale spun with dazzling spells, whistling blades and encounters with fantastic creatures, I realized I had stumbled onto something special. Two months later, I used all my birthday money to buy my first Basic Dungeons & Dragons set (much to my mother’s chagrin at the time) and some polyhedron dice. Since then, the interest turned into a hobby, then the hobby became an addiction and finally the addiction gave way to obsession. The skills I gained from being able to channel my imagination helped place me where I am today. It’s ironic to think that I wouldn’t be here at Bethesda if it weren’t for those crystal dice glittering in the sun on some lazy summer day.
I’d like to take this opportunity to say thank you Mr. Gygax, you will be sorely missed and may you rest in peace.
Bruce Nesmith: I worked at TSR during the early 1980’s when Gary was still owner and president. I was a lowly peon at the time and I’m sure he barely knew my name. I always admired Gary for doing the one thing I will probably never do in my career. He invented something totally new and different. The entire concept of role-playing games was born on the tables of Gary’s fantasy miniatures games. Nobody had ever seen anything like it before and it swept through the gaming community like wildfire.
My first job out of college was at TSR. To a large degree, I owe my whole career to him. I would probably be sweating away in some corporate programming position instead of being a video game designer. There is no way to repay that kind of debt. All you can do is honor it. In my case, I will honor by making the best damn role-playing games I can.
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Wednesday, March 05, 2008 |
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Inside the Vault: Dane Olds
Don’t be afraid, kids. It is just Dane Olds, artist, for this week’s Inside the Vault.
What’s your job at Bethesda?
I’m a character artist here at Bethesda. I mainly do modeling and texturing for the weapons in Fallout 3. I also do outfits for characters on occasion.
What other games have you worked on?
I started out in the game industry here at Bethesda. I got my break working as an environment art intern on Shivering Isles. Before I graduated college I worked as a project lead/character artist on a total conversion mod for Half-Life 2 called Forever Bound.
What is the best part about working as an artist? The worst part?
The best part about being an artist for me is seeing my artwork in a game. I love figuring out how objects work, I love the creative process, and I love seeing an idea turn into a piece of art, but at the end of the day seeing my hard work on screen makes everything worth the effort. The worst part about being an artist for me is seeing your work cut from a game. As an artist your work will get cut at some point. Even though it’s for the greater good, to see something you’ve toiled over for hours go into the trash can is always difficult.
How did you get into the industry? Do you have any tips for breaking in?
Trying to break into the video game industry is no small feat. To say that it is difficult is quite the understatement. In high school, I started to gear myself toward getting a job in the industry. I read a lot of gaming publications and learned as much as I could about the different jobs in the business and what I wanted to do. I took all the art classes I could and played a lot of games. I did my first year of college at a community college, that had a small graphics program. There I familiarized myself with 3d Studio Max and Photoshop.
I transferred to the Savannah College of Art and design and enrolled in their Game Development and Interactivity program. From there I spent as much time as I could honing my art skills and working on different game related projects. Myself and a group of other enterprising students started a mod project for Half-Life 2 called Forever Bound. This was an awesome experience and really got us familiar with how a development pipeline works. From there I applied at a ton of different companies and got an opportunity here with Bethesda.
As far as tips for breaking in there are a few things that are very important to keep in mind. The first one is to put your best work forward. If you have an awesome demo reel you are going to have a much easier time talking with prospective employers. The second is make sure that your social skills are up to snuff. This can be difficult for a lot of people but it is key. You have to be able to communicate with a lot of people in this line of work and your social skills are a huge asset in the interviewing and work environments.
Another tip is to not get discouraged. Rejection is an ugly beast and when you are trying to get a job in this industry it WILL rear its ugly head. You have to keep focused and keep trying. Find your weak areas and work on them. Do not let rejection ruin your drive. Keep with it, it might take you a week or a year or longer. In the end, perseverance and a good attitude will take you farther than you can imagine.
Other than that, and I can’t emphasize this enough, go to the Game Developer’s Conference! Sure, it’s expensive, but do what I did and get in early as a CA. You’ll get a free pass to the event and you’ll get to meet more industry types than you can possibly imagine. When I went I worked 8 hours a day as a CA and spent the rest of the time interviewing with companies and drinking all night with developers. Schmooze as much as possible, get to know people, and have fun! I went with a group of friends from college and we had the time of our lives out there. The most important part is that after all the work, and drinking, and schmoozing, we got jobs. Going to GDC was an absolutely integral part of getting into this industry for most of us. The contacts we made there were invaluable. Knowing someone at a company is infinitely better than sending them your stuff cold. If you are trying to break into this industry and there is any possible way you can make it out for the conference, make sure you go.
What would you say is your personal favorite game of all time?
Tough question. I’ve been a gamer my whole life and there have been a number of games that have been extremely influential on me, so it’s hard to pick out one game that is my favorite. When I was a kid I was introduced to games on the NES. Super Mario Bros., Megaman 2, Excitebike, and Double Dragon got me into gaming. Other games that had a big impact on me over the years include Might and Magic 7, Arcanum, Fallout, Daggerfall, Morrowind, Diablo, Castlevania: Symphony of the Night, and more recently Mass Effect, Stalker, and Team Fortress 2. I’m sure I’m forgetting a lot here, but those are the ones that really stand out to me at the moment.
What games are you looking forward to?
I’m still trying to play catch up from last year’s game blitz. This year I’m looking forward to Too Human, Bionic Commando, Castle Crashers, Crisis Core: Final Fantasy 7, Borderlands, Left 4 Dead, Rage, Star Craft 2, and of course Fallout 3. I just bought Patapon (which I was looking forward to) and it’s awesome.
What makes you get out of bed in the morning?
The fact that I’m living my dream. Ever since I was a little kid I wanted to make videogames. Now every morning when I wake up I don’t think “Oh god I have to go to work today.” Instead its “Cool, I get to go to work today.”
Worse job you’ve ever had?
I’ve had some pretty bad jobs. I used to work a night shift driving a fork lift in a warehouse. No heat in the winter, no AC in the summer, and you were always filthy. I had a job for a summer digging trenches to hook up houses to the city sewer. Those kind of jobs are tough, but they build character, so I really can’t complain. Having done that kind of work in the past it makes me really appreciate the awesome job I have now.
It true that you were raised by bears in the Klondike?
No, although some people say I look like a mountain man, or a lumberjack, or a Viking. Which is just fine with me.
Any other hobbies and interests? What do you enjoy doing in your spare time?
I’m really into music, I have been since I was a kid. I love pretty much all aspects of Rock & Roll. I’m listening to a lot of Heavy Metal at the moment, but I jump around a lot between Heavy Metal, Rockabilly, Psychobilly, Punk, and Hardcore. I also listen to a lot of Old Timey Country, primarily Johnny Cash and Hank Williams, Sr. I also really like Hank III. I’ve played in several bands since high school and am working on getting a new Death Metal project put together. Other than that, I like to hang out with my friends, go to concerts and movies, and spend time with my girlfriend Amanda.
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Wednesday, February 27, 2008 |
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Breaking and Entering: Make Oblivion Mods. Now.
Some of our best developers working here came from our modding community. They step into their jobs already understanding our tools, processes and pipelines.
So your first step (or one of many possible first steps!) to breaking into the game industry is to make mods. We’re not the only developers who release tools for their games, but assuming you want to make big crazy RPGs like we do, you’re best bet is making mods for our games.
If you are thinking of trying your hand at making mods for Oblivion (or Morrowind), now is a good a time as any. Why? Since Oblivion shipped over a year ago, an enormous amount of documentation, tools and mods have sprung forth along with an amazing modding community to help you learn.
Easy four step process. Ready? Here we go.
1. Check your PC’s system specs. Here are the most important components: at least, 2.0 Ghz processor or higher, an ATI X800/Nvidia Geforce 6800 or higher video card, and most importantly, 1 GB of RAM — 2 GB if you can pull it. You need LOTS of RAM to make mods. This is because you’ll often find yourself with Oblivion and the Construction Set both running at the same time. This takes up lots of memory. The CPU is actually the least important here which is why you can go as low as 2.0 Ghz (though if you plan on doing any work on landscape, you’ll want a 3 Ghz CPU or higher). Note that newer CPUs have multithreading capabilities. Oblivion doesn’t take advantage of multiple threads so you’ll see minimal improvement from them.
Of course, if you can afford it, buy the fastest, slickest PC you can. I’m just letting you know how low you can go without too much pain.
2. You need a copy of Oblivion for PC. Playing it on 360/PS3 is great since you’ll be familiar with Oblivion, however, when making mods, you have no choice but to do it the way we do it. Internally, we build our art (3DMax/Photoshop), we code our, um, code (C++), we create our world (Elder Scrolls Construction Set) - all on PC. Oblivion’s pipeline starts on PC and our internal build process deploys all the code, content and data to all the platforms: PC, Xbox 360 and Playstation 3. Fortunately, we make the content once so Oblivion is exactly the same on PC or console - this is all I’m going to say about PC vs console - please keep me out of these holy wars
Anywho, now is a good time to pick up Oblivion for PC since you can find it for as little as $20 if you wait for it to get listed in your local Sunday circular ads. Oblivion GOTY is a particularly good idea since you’ll have Knights of the Nine and Shivering Isles content to use as reference, too.
3. You need The Elder Scrolls Construction Set which is available for free. Download version 1.2.404 - which includes support for Knights and Shivering Isles.
Optional: Quick note, if you want to make art, you’ll need Photoshop and 3D Studio Max version 5.
4. Lastly, you’ll want a tool to unzip all the art files from our the game data files - the [image=http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Tes4Mod:BSA_File_Format]BSA files. There are several tools available that do this including BSA Commander (http://letalka.sourceforge.net/morr/index.htm) and MentalElf’s TES4FILES.
OK. So where do you start?
Here’s one way - pick your favorite quest in Oblivion. Find the Quest ID for your favorite quest - I am assuming that because it is your favorite, it is also the quest you are most familiar with. Now, load up the master file, pull up the quest tab, and find your favorite quest. You’ll start to see journal entries and lines of dialogue that should be familiar to you. This is a good way to figure out how quests are implemented in the game. There’s a good chance what I just described to you makes absolutely no sense. That’s ok. Gotta start somewhere, right?
The best way to learn is the decide what you want to do and find an example of a mod or an instance in the game itself that does something similar, and copy it, build on it, make it better. Ideally, you never start from scratch - the fastest way you’ll learn is seeing how we - or other modders - implemented an idea you have.
This tutorials page is a good start as well as the Oblivion Mods FAQ on our official forums.
There’s a lot of learn here once you start poking around the Construction Set. Here are some links that you should check out, must-have bookmarks for any Oblivion/Morrowind modders:
The Elder Scrolls Construction Set Wiki - launched and hosted by Bethesda, this community-driven resource is where you should start. You’ll find documentation on how the Construction Set works, tutorials, FAQs, link to modding tools - in short, imagine having over 16,000 people advising you on how to best make your mod - well, this wiki is it.
The Unofficial Elder Scrolls - this is my personal favorite Elder Scrolls site. Everything you want to know about any Elder Scrolls title is here. Lore, maps, stories, walkthroughs, patch notes, modding advice. It is all here.
NifTools - this open source project lets you create and import art and animations for Oblivion (and Morrowind).
Planet Elder Scrolls is a great resource for downloading mods and getting a feel for what other modders are doing. There are other sites out there that host mods too that are out there, too. See more on our Fan Site links.
The Oblivion Mods forum on the Bethesda Game Studios forums. This is the heart of the community and a must visit for any modder.
By no means is this the definitive list, but here are some places where you can start. Good luck.
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Wednesday, February 20, 2008 |
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Breaking and Entering -- The Pinata Edition
We had a request that we talk a bit about getting into the industry on the PR/Marketing side, and since it’s a question that I get asked quite a bit, I thought I’d take a shot at it.
First, let me suggest a career as a pinata. The pay is probably a little better, the day-to-day routine is roughly the same (I found the pinata gig slightly less painful, with fewer bruises, but your results may vary), and there’s candy. So, it has a lot going for it and I urge you to look into it. If, however, you find the idea of working with games is even better than being filled with candy, I’ll offer what insights I can.
As I tell everyone who has emailed me on this, there isn’t any one way to get into this business, regardless of what it is you want to do…programmer, designer, pr manager, whatever. Seneca, a Roman Philosopher, once said that luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity. So getting into games is a lot about luck, but you can learn to make your own luck. Put yourself in a position to be at the right place at the right time and have the kind of skills someone is looking to hire (like me, since I’m still hiring).
I had a couple of full-time jobs working for the American College of Cardiology and the American Association of Blood Banks…not exactly a straight line from those gigs to Bethesda. But, I did also have a part-time job as a writer for The Adrenaline Vault for three or four years when I managed to sign on with them fairly early on, and it was a great chance to get even more involved with gaming, play a lot of stuff, work with people in the industry at various companies, and so on.
Quite a few folks from that site alone are now working for game companies, including Emil. I think it’s a great experience, and I work with and know an awful lot of people that got their start on the journo side of things. It gives you the chance to show that you know about games, can breakdown why a game is good, or isn’t, and make good arguments and give compelling reasons. Or that you can ask smart questions, or that you can write worth a damn and get your message across to the reader, or can act like a professional, or be insane/creative in a way that sets you apart like Ben Croshaw or Tycho and Gabe.
Now, it’s easy to say you want to run a game site, or work for one, or even write a blog. Anyone can do that, really. Blogs are easy to start. Keep in mind that I had spent most of my college career and 5 or 6 years in a full-time job doing a lot of writing of all kinds and getting better at it before I ever wrote a game preview/review. Working at AVault only helped that process, but it didn’t start it (which isn’t to say it can’t start there for you). Anything you can do to improve your communication skills is a big help in this line of work. In college I was a DJ for a time at the college radio station, I did color commentary for a year for the women’s basketball team radio broadcasts, was the PA announcer for men’s soccer, helped write press materials and team programs…I even did research work on the side for a finance professor.
Even though I did most of those things because I loved sports, what I ended up getting was a ton of practice at writing, public speaking, press relations, talking to people one-on-one or in groups, and things it turned out I really enjoyed doing. What you may be doing in any given job in this industry can vary, but suffice it to say you’re always going to be doing a lot of communicating: talking to people, presenting to people (internal, external, or both), coming up with creative ideas, writing, editing and much more. Lots of writing. Always lots of writing.
Writing a manual, a press release, a fact sheet, an email, a blog…all of those are all very different, and all take time practice, or experience, or both. Any chance you get to try any of those things in some capacity is worth pursing if this is something you really want to do. Those opportunities are always out there, you’ve got to go find them and be persistent if that’s what you want to get into…write for the school paper (Matt used to do game reviews at Michigan for their school paper), work on the yearbook, volunteer to help in a press office for your university, or in someone’s office.
If you can find something like that you’re interested in, even if you do it for free, the experience can be invaluable and it gives you something to build on. And, while we’re sort of on the subject, yes, going to college/university and getting a degree helps. Not because I really need you to learn what they teach you in English 302 or Marketing 101, but because going to a decent school and sticking it out to get your degree is a bit of a rite of passage. Shows that you can accomplish something, even if you party a lot while you’re doing it. And like design or programming or art, you can be really good at PR and/or marketing without studying it in school, but school is almost always a really good idea.
The last thing I’ll say is that you can get into doing PR and Marketing using the same sort of approach that Ash has talked about in his articles on getting into the industry, like his post on being a designer. Modders get hired all the time to do any number of things. Forum moderators have gone on to work for companies, as have folks that run fan sites. I know marketing and public relations execs at big companies that started off in QA.
It’s really the same thing as I mentioned before: can you take advantage of the time in front of a company to show you’re someone they should bring on board? It’s not about toeing a company line or being a kiss-ass. For example, we didn’t hire Gavin, who ran one of our biggest Morrowind fan sites for a while, because he liked us and liked our games. We hired him because in dealing with him we got the impression that he was a pretty smart guy (maybe “pretty” is too strong a word here…fairly? somewhat? sorta?), hard working, professional, good guy, had potential to do good Forza paint jobs for us…stuff like that. Whether that impression actually pans out is still under review at this point (only kidding Gav).
So there’s my thoughts on how you might go about getting in the game to do PR/Marketing stuff. No magic bullet, no big secrets, but I hope it helps. If not, there’s always the pinata thing.
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