How to enter the game industry (part 1: your skills)[tutorial]

kiaazad (59)in #gaming • 7 years ago (edited)

My story (skip it)
I've been a gamer ever since Atari era, At first I dreamed of buying a console, I couldn't afford one till PS2 era when I bought a used PS1.
After a long while a PC and another long while till internet came to our part of the city then you can guess it, World Of Warcraft and you know what happens after that.
those days the ones who played "WOW" usually start dreaming of making their own game, it was the same for me but I didn't know where to start, developing a game sounded like something I can't ever come close since there wasn't even one game development studio in the whole country.
My related skills where graphic design and Flash. back then I didn't even know there is something as indie games and developers. When I found out some of my favorite games where developed by one person or a small team I started improving my flash skills but by the time I started making flash games, flash became obsolete. ah I'm ranting again, lets jump in.
image source wikimediaStep one: your skills
That's right the first step isn't the game engine.To enter the game development market you need one or more skill to offer. I'll list a bunch of them :

Character Drawing: 2D games often depend on good looking characters to appear pleasing to the player, you'll have an easy transformation to become a sprite artist.
Background drawing: 2D games also need backgrounds and there is a big number of indie game teams searching for a good background artist, with this skill you'll join a team in no time.
Interface design: Anything that's not a character or part of background needs to be designed by a GUI artist, you're a graphic designer, that's your entrance.
Music and sound: Games need good music and sound effects, even though there's an influx of musicians to indie games, good music does always win the job.
Voice actors: Game characters often need a voice, you have a voice and the means to record it? you're a voice actor. join the market.
Programmer: Different game engines requiter different levels of codding and scripting, though it's the hardest to master, game scripting is the easiest entrance, you know how to write "if"s and loops, you're good to go.
Writing: Games need stories and entry level games often are heavily dependent on story, in fact many indie teams leaders are writers who decided to turn their story into a game however, a game often needs multiple writers to keep the game moving forward at a faster pace.
3D Artist: Can you model, texture, rig or animate? join a team and start making games it's as simple as that, 3D games might be more time consuming but they are more rewarding too.
General computer knowledge: Ah so you're that guy who know which software does what and what those file extensions mean? well those 3D models, sounds and drawings need to be imported to the engine. this is the closest skill set to the skill set needed for a team leader.
Level designer: A gamer and very opinionated about the game-play? you're a level designer. choose a game engine and start messing with their default assets. when you can design a level out of those, you're good to join a team.
Web developer: Games need websites, plus some game are meant to be played in the browser, I never found out how but there are people who make good money making browser games, Ow and there is some money in websites.
Social media: You've got virtual people skills and lots of followers, indie games desperately need the exposure, choose a game and start making a star out of it.
Team Leader: So you like to push people around? Just kidding. Every team needs a strong leader, Somebody who can gather people around and manage the workload, It needs a strong person who can solve problems. and don't think it only need the bossing skill, A leader needs to know at least the basics of every other team members skill to be able to control the quality of their work.