Applying to AAA a plus if already created games?

Iqualizierer

Hello,

I wanted to know if you apply for an AAA Studio for example Ubisoft if its a plus if you already created Games on your own (Indie Game) i would be happy if someone would answer that

Eric Chadwick

Hi there, welcome to Polycount!

Please use meaningful, specific subject headers. Your title "Is it a Plus?" is not helpful, it does not indicate the subject or problem. A better title could be "Applying to AAA a plus if already created games?"

Thanks, and good luck!

garcellano

I wish I knew. I honestly don't know. I'd say it depends. For a recent grad, I want to say so, as a way to show that you can complete a project from start to finish. 

For those later down the road, maybe? I've had that issue in the past. I still have debates about this myself. Now that I'm at a AAA studio (again), I just throw all or most of the indie games I worked on out in the open. 

But, the flip side of this would be that, if you do showcase your indie games, it can just be seen as ideas that's out of your system, and you're willing to focus on the bigger picture, working at a big name studio. Now that I'm under Activision, I just stopped working on indie games. At least for me, it's all out of my system. I can't think of anything that makes me really want to work on some indie game on the side. Just a few years ago, and when I was working in other fields, and at another game studio, yeah, just to get it out there, but nowadays, not so much.

It might be the same case for you. If you were to showcase it, depending on your field, it shows some sort of commitment, especially if it's visible of playable, on a certain platform (Console or PC). If it's some passion project that you've spent years or months on it, doesn't hurt to show it off. If it looks ugly lol I don't know, maybe spice it up or only show the things about the project. The most well known the project is, the better, at least just from how I see it. 

Iqualizierer

Eric Chadwick said:

Hi there, welcome to Polycount!

Please use meaningful, specific subject headers. Your title "Is it a Plus?" is not helpful, it does not indicate the subject or problem. A better title could be "Applying to AAA a plus if already created games?"

Thanks, and good luck!

Thank you for the tip! I changed it

Meloncov

Games you made as an educational project (game jams, school assignments, and so on) are a small plus, but not a very big deal. But if you've worked on games that went to market and sold some non-trivial number of copies, that's a pretty significant plus.

rollin

Meloncov said:

(...)  and sold some non-trivial number of copies, (...)

Really? How do you know the amount of sold copies matters?

Alex_J

If I had made a game and sold lots of copies, why would I want to push verts in a studio?

if you have published a game and it isn't market success, still indicates certain soft skills that put you above and beyond many. but likely those are skills not needed if you applying to be a technical specialist with limited scope in the overall project.

Eric Chadwick

I think most replies here are in regards to game artist roles. In which case, having a completed indie game on your resume is slightly helpful.

Uncompleted games aren't very helpful, they're more likely to be seen as inability to finish projects (regardless if it was caused by others).

However if you're going for game design roles, then example games are essential. We need to be able to play games you have designed.

For artists (and most other roles too) having a completed studio-produced game on your resume shows us you have likely experienced the full development cycle, and all the issues that entails. 

Pre-production, prototyping, main dev process, production reviews, stand-ups and team meetings, testing, refinement, post-launch dlc, etc.

Having someone who knows how to work professionally, pace themselves, and deliver consistently, those are the skills we're looking for from experience shipping a game.

As always, my 2 cents!

Meloncov

rollin said:

Meloncov said:

(...)  and sold some non-trivial number of copies, (...)

Really? How do you know the amount of sold copies matters?

What matters is that it was high enough quality to gain some measure of attention. It doesn't need to be a hit, or even have paid off development costs, but selling at least a few thousand copies gives a degree of legitimacy that'd be lacking otherwise. Since there's virtually no quality control on Steam games, simply having released a game doesn't actually prove you've worked on a truly complete game.

Neox

Meloncov said:

rollin said:

Meloncov said:

(...)  and sold some non-trivial number of copies, (...)

Really? How do you know the amount of sold copies matters?

What matters is that it was high enough quality to gain some measure of attention. It doesn't need to be a hit, or even have paid off development costs, but selling at least a few thousand copies gives a degree of legitimacy that'd be lacking otherwise. Since there's virtually no quality control on Steam games, simply having released a game doesn't actually prove you've worked on a truly complete game.

sold units do not equal relevant quality. say flappy bird or many of those idle games, have significant sales and make shittons of money. is the relevant to game art in a studio environment? No not at all.

On the contrary a game could look very relevant to the studio you apply to but perform poorly in sales, that wouldn't influence how an art lead sees your work.

Iqualizierer

I always thought that all AAA Studios search for specialized people for example people that do only 3D Animation or only Asset modelling and are very good at this type of thing if you are a Indie Game Dev you do everything you do Animations, Assets, Programming and so on what do you think about that ?

Neox

yeah that is pretty much the case, unless you are really good in a lot of things, then you can also jump around in some places.

i know a few guys who are really good in environmentart, characters and tech stuff, those ressources are more flexibly used

i know some great 2d guys who are also great in 3d, or 3d people who also are fantastic animators they also have more flexible workroutines. but usually if you do something for years you will get good at that thing, someone else will be better at other things so it is more efficient to let those people do what they do best.