Breaking Into The Industry Advice.
polycounter lvl 13
This was the answer from a guy over at Collision Studios when I asked him if he had any advice for breaking into the game industry.Just thought I would share it with you guys.
Hi Kaiga --
It's challenging to get into the game business right now, since with the economic crisis, so many studios have gone out of business and so many 3D artists with many years of experience are out of work. Budgets are slimmer than ever and few surviving studios, if any, have the luxury of being able to take on junior people any more. They need team members who can hit the ground running as soon as they're brought on board, and have been-there, done-that in every situation when it comes to making games.
My advice for you as a 3D artist is, if you have no "relationship-IN" somewhere in the game industry would be to look towards the film and visual effects industry for opporunities, and less toward the game industry -- at least for the time being. Work on high-poly, high-end models and environments to add to your portfolio. Make your portfolio as visually rich and pleasing as possible for that crowd. Never show them works in progress, only finished, polished pieces.
Hi Kaiga --
It's challenging to get into the game business right now, since with the economic crisis, so many studios have gone out of business and so many 3D artists with many years of experience are out of work. Budgets are slimmer than ever and few surviving studios, if any, have the luxury of being able to take on junior people any more. They need team members who can hit the ground running as soon as they're brought on board, and have been-there, done-that in every situation when it comes to making games.
My advice for you as a 3D artist is, if you have no "relationship-IN" somewhere in the game industry would be to look towards the film and visual effects industry for opporunities, and less toward the game industry -- at least for the time being. Work on high-poly, high-end models and environments to add to your portfolio. Make your portfolio as visually rich and pleasing as possible for that crowd. Never show them works in progress, only finished, polished pieces.
Replies
There hasn't been, from what I can tell, any incredibly substantial closure of studios. This stuff happens all the time. Studios close, studios open.
Studios absolutely will hire people with little to no experience if they are talented, passionate, and appear to be semi-decent human beings. I can't speak on the film industry as I've never worked in it, but what I can tell you is that I know plenty of people who have, and left to work in games.
It's a good thing you posted this, because hopefully other experienced people on polycount can give you more advice, as I feel like you've been given a mouthful of rather wrong advice here.
Here's the convo prior to the message I posted first:
ME - Are there any 3d artist positions available at your studio?
HIM - Currently there are several artist positions that are open.
We are looking for senior 2D Flash Artists/Animators/Actionscripters as well as senior 3D Artists and Animators skilled in 3D Studio Max.
By senior we mean 5+ more years of work in a production environment, preferably with several shipped game titles to their credit.
ME - Crap.I don't qualify.Any advice for getting jobs in my field as a 3d artist?
HIM - It's challenging to get into the game business right now, since with the economic crisis, so many studios have gone out of business and so many 3D artists with many years of experience are out of work. Budgets are slimmer than ever and few surviving studios, if any, have the luxury of being able to take on junior people any more. They need team members who can hit the ground running as soon as they're brought on board, and have been-there, done-that in every situation when it comes to making games.
My advice for you as a 3D artist is, if you have no "relationship-IN" somewhere in the game industry would be to look towards the film and visual effects industry for opporunities, and less toward the game industry -- at least for the time being. Work on high-poly, high-end models and environments to add to your portfolio. Make your portfolio as visually rich and pleasing as possible for that crowd. Never show them works in progress, only finished, polished pieces.
That last response to me I felt,was not thought threw.It was just him spewing things out but the fact that hes working at a studio and i'm pretty inexperienced confused me on if it was truth or not(Talking about how scarce he said jobs were and the advice he gave me).Thats why I posted it up to get you guys insight on it.Since you all know the industry and can give me a legit answer and some facts I can trust.
5 years.
with 7 S H I P P E D titles.
I feel like thats overkill but Idk how it works so.My words are worthless at the moment Lol.
Stuff like... unique pipelines, crunching, methodologies, people, and all that other stuff you can't exactly teach yourself because it's constantly changing.
Err... His e-mail said SEVERAL, not SEVEN.
and varies between studios, depending on the size of the studio, the engine of choice, target specs, budget, deadlines, etc etc.
Not much else to say.
The toughest part is that it's all about being in the right place at the right time. Junior positions typically don't have relocation in the budget so you have to hope that a company in your city has an opening. This is obviously not as big of a deal for people in cities like Los Angeles or San Francisco, but it makes it very difficult for people trying to break in from other cities.
I think so too. The idea behind the statement is "if he shipped that many stuff and has that many years he's good and he knows what he's doing". Of course there's people with much less xp who may be at the same level.
So yeah, the statement is supposed to scare people with little experience away so the HR dept doesn't get clogged up with too many applications.
Then again if you have at least some xp and good skills, I'd apply anyway. Because what if they just don't find this 7 titles 5 years guy? They may settle for less, given that the portfolio rocks. And that guy may just be you!
~ Those two quotes are pretty much everything I would echo.
I applied for a character artist postion straight from school to every studio I could. Most of them weren't hiring and none had junior positions advertised. Some got back to me and eventually I got interviews and finally a job.
You need to think of these studios as businesses. If you look worth the money, they will find room for you. That's all it comes down to. The whole thing where they say "Experienced Necessary" literally translates as "You better know what they fuck your doing or don't even try it".
Nobody can stop you if your willing to make yourself desirable.
We recently hired a few contractors and even passed on a few pros, too jaded and it was going to be an uphill battle getting them to work the way it needed to be done instead of the way they prefer to work. All but one where brand new hires. They all preformed really really well and several kept up their job hunt while contracting and landed jobs.
Sadly the way the conversation went it looks like he doesn't think you're ready for the positions they have open and was trying not to be a dick while still telling you to go work on stuff. I suspect they could be full up on newbie's and want someone with a few more tricks up their sleeve.
I don't know where you or he pulled the requirements from but according to their website it doesn't sound that scary. The 2 years or 1 shipped title thing is in almost every listing and as others pointed out is their way of saying "we need proof you can do the job and working in a production environment won't be a total shock to you"
When you see an experience requirement the normally mean the following: It's always easier to ask someone "how have you handled these in the past" vs hoping that a newbies overly optimistic projections will be right on the money.
Personally, I gave up on the traditional entry path for this industry years ago. It just seemed a little much for me when all you're really aspiring to is another corporate job. Granted, its a corporate job making 3D game art, but still. I've done my time inside the belly of the beast. (technically, I still am) Now I'm doing this the HARD way. I'm working on making my own game. Not from scratch, but damn close to it. Its taking for ever and its really freaking hard, but its also fairly satisfying, and is definitely expanding my skill set.
I still plan to make a break into the industry when I get older.
How old are you?
and some burglar's tools. also a flashlight.
When I applied for the internship I was 17-18(the conversations went past my birthday) and at the moment I'm 19. I'm done with my internship in April 2012.
My thoughts exactly.
DAMN, that's a long internship.
It's not a convensional internship as you have in the US
x2.
Only if it's something embarassing to the person who wrote it. Or if it was said in confidence. Not every conversation is secret just because it didn't happen in public.
He asked for advice and then he asked other people how accurate the advice is, I don't see that as rude or disrespectful. He just wanted to know how accurate it is.
X 6
Desvaerre Zpanzer your in a bad place right now to do internships if its game related. The Danish game dev industry is not doing too well at the moment and there doesnt seem to be much in that market,what a shame Denmark isnt like Sweden in this regard.