Gaming Video Game Development

[Box Hoy]

I'm not quite sure if this is in the right forum Moderators so if it's wrong sorry. Go ahead and move it.

I was wondering what kinds of jobs there are in game making teams. I'm interested because I'm thinking about going into the game making bussiness and I need to know what jobs make an excellent team.
Not only am I thinking of going into game creation but I am also thinking of creating my own team. Preferably Role Playing themed.

Also what programs are good for making games and how to get them published.

Thanks
-Box-

[Morpheus]

Programmer
designer
Coder
storyline
Graphic artist

Virtually every aspect of the game has it's own special job to work on it. this is just a few.

[paco3]

[QUOTE=Morpheus]Programmer
designer
Coder
storyline
Graphic artist

Virtually every aspect of the game has it's own special job to work on it. this is just a few.[/QUOTE] Also there is special effects, general manager(s), programers, and beta testers!

Glad I could help!

[BlueYoshi]

[color=teal]When I was younger I had always dreamed of becoming a Computer Animator, which is basically a job title for designer. With that job, not only would you be available to designing levels, maps and characters for video games, but you'll also be open for the movie business, since a lot of today's films have a large emphasis on visualisation and special effects.

Video Game testers are probably where it's at though. Last I heard, they get paid ridiculous amounts of money for doing next to nothing. But still, you need to have good communication and writing skills. I read an article about this where the editor interviewed a VG tester... he claimed that it gets boring at times and isn't entirely all it's cracked up to be.

There's more to it, since you need to have a good eye at spotting glitches, bugs, freezes, slow-downs. Making sure the game is "good" plays a small role in the business.

Hmmm, if you live in the UK then check out the recent and upcoming issues of NOM magazine, because they have an article every month that relates to each of the departments in developing. They are very vague, however.[/color]

[James]

[color=#707875]Video game testing can be a really intense job. Intense, in the sense that you have a lot of work to do and the actual job isn't very fun. Of course, that also depends on which company you apply to.

But generally speaking, game testers have a pretty frustrating job; going through things very slowly and carefully, taking note of any bugs. Playing through an entire game for hours and hours (even if it's a great game) can be incredibly frustrating, both because it's an unfinished game and because you can't just sit back and enjoy the experience; you actually have to continually monitor what you're doing.

I remember, when I did work experience a few years ago, they were testing an unfinished N64 game. At the time, only one guy was testing it -- but he'd been playing for 13 hours straight. He had a deadline to reach, which put even more pressure on him. In addition, he was playing the Japanese version (and obviously he couldn't speak Japanese). So that was a further issue.

But having said that, it's a good way to get your foot in the door (that is, if you aren't a programmer or an artist). Otherwise, programming and art design are the two major areas to pursue in the industry, I'd say.[/color]

[MarkAnthony]

You have still missed off important factions such as Soundfx, Music, Public Relations etc...

Gremlin Interactive (Normality) used to be situated in my city, Ive heard of random people being asked off the street to come play their games, these people would be asked to feedback and Ive heard stories of people who did this well being asked to work in their settings and testing departments.

Other ways of getting your foot in the door are by helping/making free games or mods (The counterstrike guys did this) Work with opensource groups (sourceforge has loads of these) and finally the obvious creating of an online portfolio of your work - wether it be 2D drawings 3D models or just a listing of your work, then sending this to games companies. (Be carefull though, most are not below stealing ideas with no real thanks *cough* Torus *cough*)

I don't mean to plug but if you want to work on an mmorpg and have skills to offer check the link in my sig, the dev team are a bit busy atm with the upcoming release so you may wish to wait a while and it is wise to have a portfolio ready. As I said before you can find members for your team on sourceforge.net if you are insistant on making your own.

[Guest tzen]

ooo ... i always wanted to work in the gaming industry.... and i will.... if it goes my way.... soo this thread was really helpfull couse i learnt a little about the different jobs within the team..... thx for it! :tasty:

[Narakou]

Sup, I'm having some trouble. I've got this idea for a game and I have made the characters my self and I am working on the story line right now. I just can't figure out who to ask to help me out. I need to do this so I can have experience for the future. Can anyone give me suggestions for any companies? Pls help, thx

Narakou

[Desbreko]

[color=#4B0082]I merged this with another, older thread with a similar subject and gave it a new title. These sorts of threads have popped up a few times in the past, so I figured we could just have a single thread for all general questions and discussion relating to the development of video games.

And I don't have any info that would help, but good luck with your project, Narakou.[/color]