Apprenticeships/job in London
I was wondering if anyone knew if their were any apprenticeships/jobs at game studios in London at this current time? I seriously need to find a job even if it is temp but I am struggling to find places in London that are hiring.
Replies
I'd recommend you make a list of all the studios in London you'd like and would consider, and then email all of them with your portfolio, r
I don't think you'll be able to get any apprenticeship without a portfolio or art foundation to display sadly.
Edit: Gaming career sounds very idealistic!
http://www.careerpowerups.com/
http://www.gamedevmap.com/
http://www.gamesindustry.biz/jobs
http://www.develop-online.net/jobs
http://jobs.edge-online.com/
I know a bunch of people working in London but the gaming scene isn't as big as you'd think it is. There seems to be more companies directly outside of London itself. And being London, most of them are either really well paid (and looking for super experienced people) or poorly paid (and hugely competitive as they can take their pick of thousands of candidates). You might want to look outside of London.
Games companies are very spread out and many cities only have one or two if at all. Even senior artists will have to move cities or even continents to change jobs. Available jobs will be highly competitive and you'll be competing with applicants worldwide.
There are a LOT of studios in and around London. Probably in the region of 40-50, and at least 10 AAAs.
Edit: http://gamedevmap.com/index.php?tool=location&query=South%20East
heh.
Looking through the list most of those are publishing regional offices or small mobile games studios. Some of them are 3rd party tech vendors. Not the sort of places that would hire a graduate artist.
Although I see lionhead actually has an intern program.
http://lionhead.com/internships/
Climax, Criterion, Media Molecule, Ninja Theory, Rockstar, Rocksteady, Splash Damage, Creative Assembly, Supermassive all feature in that list and they're all pretty big studios.
Yeah, Lionhead does have an internship program, however you will need to apply a fair bit in advance at the moment. Interns are usually programmers.
It would appear that Guildford (most of the ones you listed, and many more which weren't on the list) is still the place to be for gaming in that area, followed by Cambridge (Jagex, Frontier, Ninja Theory). But barely any of those companies take on interns. Saying that, any company will make room for someone who shows ability/potential, so a portfolio and a CV will always help. I often see Mind Candy and Mediatonic looking for interns, might be worth a try as well.
Splash Damage are also in London, as are the three MS studios I mentioned along with Konami
Don't go this route, you'll get yourself burnt out fast man. For one thing it's really rare for people to move from QA to an Art dept. I've not seen that happen, ever, in 12 years.
Work some other job, ideally part time if you can financially, whilst you work hard on your art and portfolio.
Good luck.
imyj: I am quite shocked by the fact that their is not many gaming studios in London too, granted there are some but bulk are places like surrey and Guildford.
Sprunghunt: At this present point in time moving is not really an option which is a shame considering the locations of most studios.
Sorry, I completely disagree. I was working QA for ages and worked on my folio in my free time - now I'm freelancing, (its tough because the last thing you want to do when you get home is look at another screen after spending 8 hours or more in front of one) but if you want work in the industry badly enough, you'll do it.
Also, you get to meet a lot of like minded people who may have the same interests and goals as you have, and if its Dev QA that's even better. Of course there's also a lot of dreamers who like the idea of working in the industry but do nothing about it, e.g. "I like games, maybe one day I'll work for Bioware, see how it goes." (¬_¬ Yea...right.... :thumbup: )
Anyway I'm rambling, keep at it and don't get disheartened, its a long road but worth it!
EDIT: By the way I saw your first model in Max (the house) you posted and was really impressed, better than a lot of people starting off (certainly better than some of the gash models I did when starting XD )
Thanks, for the advice. When I have the time I try my best to open up max and practice for at least an hour, I still suck though :P. I have a few things I am working on at the moment; force of nature (tf2), wrench and finally trying to do some character modeling, don't get excited though they all look really bad. I am not that great at adding details to models though, if anyone could help with that I would appreciate it ^^.
Once again thanks for all the helpful replies
agreed. while i do know a handful who made the jump (after years of testing!), many just get stuck in QA for an eternity. IME, QA has always been separated locally and administratively from the game team.
you do not learn anything there that relates to the job you're truly aiming for either, the only thing it could be useful for is to gauge if a job in a game team is actually something you'd really want - and to have an inside connection to request that transfer.
in most cases a convincing portfolio should beat the latter easily though. plus you do not expect an employer to raise your pay to what they would pay an artist when you've come through their own internal QA, do you? you'll be on QA pay with a bit of a raise tacked on, man.
I can tell you what you should do if you want to make it, and that is to at least spend 6 hours a day doing 3d art and try to learn as much as you can. and whats up with this btw? "(preferable not small mobile game companies)" like you have a choice when you start out.
I don't mean to be a dick but you really should get started and post!
edit: I already see you are working on some stuff, awesome! keep it up and post as often as possible!
Click on the wiki link on the top of the page and suck up as much knowledge a day and put it into practice. It might be a really good idea to start a thread somewhere where you can post your art and ask for feedback. this is the best community to learn 3d modeling and make a name for yourself. So get a shitty 8 hour job and prepare to throw your social life away because if you want to make it big, you have to make some sacrifices.
London itself, as in right in the centre, there aren't that many 'big' studios. In times gone by there was, but not much now. There are still studios around but most tend to be just outside the main centre, or even on the outskirts of London and more home counties.
Microsoft, as MGS studios, which is the game dev bit, has a 3 UK studios focused purely on games. Soho, Lionhead and Rare. To the best of my Soho is the only MGS location in London. Lionhead are in Guildford and Rare are in Twycross, Warwickshire, which is Midlands UK.
There is another Microsoft office in London, but that's more of a general office and not purely focused on games. They do serve MSN and Xbox teams, though. There's also the big Microsoft campus in Reading, which is outside London, which again is a general MS office.
Sony have a studio based in London, Soho focusing on SingStar, EyeToy, PlayStation Home.
Splash Damage aren't really in London, not the centre anyway. They are based in Bromley which although is a London borough it's actually outer London. Also to give some sense of distance, Bromley is a 20min train ride from London Victoria station.
Mind Candy are in London but more to the east. PKR and RockSteeady are north London. PLayfish (EA) are West London.
Supermassive, Criterion(EA), Media Molecule (Sony) are all in Guildford.
One thing to point out though, is that in all honesty, not many games studios offer apprenticeships/internships. I'm not saying its impossible, but I think you have to be realistic with the chances.
EDIT: When I say non mobile I mean like Zynga like companies that make games like farmville, there are a lot in London that are like that. I don't mind companies that make iphone/touch/pad games ^^
And I know what you mean with drone companies like that. last you want it to feel like an expendable drone worker. didn't want to sound like to much of an ass, just wanted to ground you a bit in reality and let you know shit it tough, especially these days. Don't give up! and kick this 3d learning curve in the ass!
Tried to send a pm but it said you're not accepting them, drop me a message and I'll give you some info :thumbup:
MGS have three studios in London, one of which is Soho Productions (Kinect TV), one of which is Microsoft Studios London and also temporarily operates from the Soho office (Windows Tablets), and a third which as of yet is not currently hiring but will be shortly.
Up until a month ago, I was working for MGS
My original post was actually correct, 'Soho productions' and the 'Soho office' are one in the the same. The office has actually been there for years, they just never really shouted about it until recently.
The third office you mention is the main London hub for Microsoft, based in SW1
Press release is here:
http://www.joystiq.com/2012/09/14/microsoft-opens-new-london-studio-for-windows-8-tablets/
This is the new studio that currently temporarily shares the same office as Soho Productions. The third studio will probably also temporarily share that same space.
http://www.microsoft-careers.com/job/London-Business-Manager-&-Analyst-Microsoft-Studios-New-London-Studio-Job/2214355/
Development roles there won't be advertised yet, because they'll be advertised internally first.
filter it abit better and you get this:
http://www.microsoft-careers.com/go/IEB-United-Kingdom/343318/?filter=true&location=London
FYI, we are looking for customer service agents. If you are looking for a job to do whilst working on your portfolio then this might be a good start. There would be plenty of artists on site who would help you out (and of course Polycount is a fantastic hub for feedback and information).
Job site (if your interested): http://www.jagex.com/careers/jobs/
But to echo others in the thread, work on your portfolio and if you can get an opportunity in QA or customer support then do it. Even if its not the job you want to do, it "can" be a good stepping stone and give you a better insight into the industry as well as open you up to more connections.