Over the past semester, we had the opportunity to ask questions and get a better understanding of the industry we are attempting to get a foot in the door with, most of which helped A considerable amount and allowed insight, clearing up a lot of misconceptions of the speaker’s were incredibly interesting. Helping to understand and identify what could happen after the year ends and will be in need of finding a job.
Over the course of this essay I will be talking about some of the speakers that have helped me understand and develop a better and more diverse contextual understanding of the gaming industry, how things work and most importantly, how to make it big and really get the ball rolling.
week 3-Melissa chaplin (advertising and marketing)
melissa had taught us the very fundamentals of how to get a ball rolling in the terms of the marketing department, how to get people and your dedicated fanbase ready and willing to acknowledge your product when it is still in development, she explains the use of a tactic called the marketing filter, which is comprised of five main parts, acknowledgement, consideration, conversion, loyalty and advocacy, the last two being the most important within the marketing strategy as advocates can nad will advertise your game for you in any way shape or form, which spreads awareness and repeats the cycle, its beautifully simplistic, but has breathed new life i how marketing and distribution play a major role within and how games sky rocket into popularity
this information alone has made waves for me in terms of the understanding, obviously being a consumer, learning and knowing about these tactics and recognizing all of these in terms of games and the way that recognize a key aspect of a game, a certain type of voice actor, a certain type of music, a certain font, art style, etc. there are many ways to get someone’s attention, usually with bold colours and bright lights, it wouldn’t make sense to make things dark and flat, although it works for each an their own, depending on the IP and the mood you want to sell for it, all in all, melissa and her talk was one of the many that had helped me to understand marketing an audience better.
being one of the many that had helped me to understand the inner workings and what goes on outside of the making of the game, this has helped tremendously in understanding a lot of the early stage worries for myself and a lot of other blooming designers and developers
and has bought light on how many ways there are in the industry, as there are no real set way to get into it, as melissa had stated, there is no real one way into the industry, as many roads and backgrounds can land you in the midst of the industry, and has given me hope as to finding a spot in the industry, in the near future.
week 6- Lilli ibrahim
this talk was about Lili’s time in the industry, how she as an art director discusses and goes over how she works with her team, creates schedules, etc. she allowed us to get an new light on how to effectively communicate and create new ideas and give and recieve constructive criticisms, which allowed us to gain a greater understanding of what the roles are, and how to do them as effectively as possible and make the most of the team and the people she was with.
Aside from professional skills, she talked to us about another form of skills called soft skills, which are a group of passive skills that we learn and train throughout the course of our entire lives, such as speech and communication, adaptability, problem solving and conflict resolution to name a few, these are mainline skills to have within the gaming industry. As it helps to create an easier and more streamlined flow for all of those involved in the working process, these very minute abilities transcend hard skills, despite needing a mixture of both for obvious reasons, needing to be empathetic and/or tough in certain situations can make a world of difference, from what i have been told, and in truth it has allowed me to breathe a little easier when first stepping foot in the industry. as it seems like a rather large step forward into nothingness. but with all the help and guidance from the speakers so far i eel am a little more prepared to work, understand and fully immerse myself in a industry where i still have some creative freedom over the work that i make, within the limitations of what is asked of me, if i do become part of a company.
with more of a better understanding as of late with the appliance and overall power of soft skills and how they can make a better working environment, learning how much time effort and dedication that’s needed to be an effective higher up in the chain take a lot of time and dedication to really fully grasp just what is required of a leader and how it can make or break a team if the leader is to be, in the most unfortunate of cases, useless or unprepared for the responsibilities that have been bestowed upon them
week 5:joel beardshaw, ustwo games
joel beardshaw was one of the many of the speakers that discussed what he does, as a lead game designer, bringing all the fun of games to those who have grown up playing games their entire life, his journey into the industry and what recruiting is like for the industry, what they see in graduates and so on.
joel as of his talk has helped me to gain a better understanding of what portfolio should look like, it should be ideas and rough translations of skills and assets that sell yourself as well as possible, from what he talked about and the discussions that he came to us with were once again a really valid and exceptional insight with lots of helpful tidbits and bytes of information that created a much better understanding of the work environments, the same thing with lilli Ibrahim’s talk as well opened up a plethora of possibilities and clarify a lot of very interesting and burning questions that had come up after the talk.
as for the sake of what i personally took out of his talk was that it it always good to try and get a fresh perspective and try to work with as many people from all types of background, as this helps to gain more information and creates a much better product at the end of the day if there are more people with vastly different pools of knowledge to gather from instead of collecting from a like-minded pool where everyone has and shares the same beliefs, which in terms is goo to make deep conversation and truly explore all avenues when in the prototyping and reiterating phase of creation
week 9: lucy kyriakidou
although i do not remember this talk specifically, the slides are present throughout what had occurred, apparently talking about freelance artwork and finding her feet soon after in the industry from what i can assume, creating their own worth and from that their own network that allowed them to get their foot in the door and give them the footpath needed to get them where they are now.
as well as this, sharing her capabilities and her experiences throughout the past 13 years, showing off some of her work and how she manages to keep sane, since the working world is one that is a very careful balancing act that can teeter and sway if you aren’t careful.
she talked rather in detail about what it means to start out in the industry in the slides, as i have said before there is no one set way into it as it’s a long and windy road with many branching paths that can lead you to the same place, some take longer and others end sooner, but she talked more specifically about being a freelancer, honing her craft and creating her own self worth from what she has made and accomplished through it all, for something as intimidating as freelance work seems and how genuinely taxing it can be when you do not limit yourself and take on as much a lot more than you can handle, from what i can assume is that when and if you do take commissions or work for a client, takee on maybe one to two jobs at a time to give yourself an easier and more stress free during your own work,because personally working under stress isn’t healthy and makes you hate your work faster, burning you out in the process
though despite not recognizing this talk specifically, i feel as if i would have really enjoyed listening to her experiences more in depth then from the slides that were given to us, they only serve as a half context and don’t fill in a lot of the blanks that would have served as questions that could have been asked and talked about with the other students
this in terms of what has been given so far has cleared up a lot of my fears and worries for jobs in games, but with their insight and help it has given me more of a boost to work hard and keep working as hard as i can to show off all of my abilities and accomplishments for later down the line and make myself a more standout character for job applications
as a form of closure and from what i have learnt from all of the talks so far is that it is perfectly fine to show off an unfinished product, as long as it sells you as a worker and diversifies yourself from the others in the best ways possible, as long as it demonstrates what you are capable of and what you are willing to accomplish as an individual, which makes a lot of sense and helps to make the right choices and help create with a wider and more diverse range of individuals with a specific set of skills that can work together in a controlled and calm environment, as it should be
Lilli and Joel have both helped to further my understanding of the inner workings of the industry, especially of higher roles and have shown me that the work that is needed to fulfill the boots of the status is quite a big task in of itself, a balancing act of workers and schedules to keep the machine well oiled and working at peak condition. their talks had helped to reinforce some of the knowledge i already knew outside of the talks but have passively helped me to fit a lot more figurative puzzle pieces together in a way, creating a much bigger picture of what it is like inside a company, whether it be big or small, indie or triple A, the games industry is one where all of the skills you learn, create and experiment with, will be getting better with time and dedication
understanding where they had started and how they got into the industry through their very long and windy timeline of events that eventually landed them where they are now has given me hope and inspiration for the future, getting a foot in the door and getting to a place where i can feel satiated with the time, effort and determination spent on trying to get into a well paying job and hopeully work alongside more like-minded individuals who will share the same interests and want to make the best consumer products for the market amidst all of the recent trash in the industry that has been popping up as of recently.
melissa as well helped me to understand how it can be possible and the many different ways there are to get a foot in the door too, each and every one of the people have shed a considerable amount of light on the subjects and issues that we as students are to be faced with when we enter the working world, as a lot of the issues we face is how to approach the industry and make a lasting impact on those that meet us. creating a better visual representation of what it will be like to work or what it would be like to be amidst an interview to even try and get the job in the first place , how to really stand out amidst the crowd and sell yourself to the best of you own abilities, once again, creating the initial foot in the door to get a place in a dream job
and lucy has taught me that creating a fine balance between social and working is the best thing you can do to keep a healthy mind, create your own worth and start talking with people within the industry or wherever in the field of interest to get the right peoples attention to move forward onto bigger and better things and find the dream job that makes working feel fun and not a chore or some remedial task that pays the bills.
but i digress, from all that i have heard, understood and mulled over, the speakers here have helped me to achieve a better and fuller second hand experience of what will be soon to come and how to make the most out of every situation, although there were plenty others who had insight, they did not quite captivate the same amount of inspiration as some others,though still helpful, though my thoughts on topic are mine alone, i and the speakers that have shared their insights have greatly helped me in creating a much more calm and collected version of myself for the future when applying for a job later down the line.
they have shown me what i as an individual can be capable of and how i can make difference and begin to get the connections and making a well-rounded portfolio of sorts to grab the attention of those that would want my creative input and ideas
although whatever does happen and whatever role i am placed with i would be happy to leave my comfort zone in order to get better and fully grasp what i am capable of with the help and support of others as with my own determination and dedication to the craft i have placed myself in.
aside from this, the overall feelings i have had towards the speakers has been relatively positive and has made me more aware of what and how the industry functions as well as some of the cogs and gears that are on the inside, it has truly been a fascinating experience, and made me feel more at ease with what is required of me for the future in terms of what i do and how i can personally refine my skills and craft to make me a more appealing candidate for work, as well as many other things that i am sure i will learn in the future, but as for now and the insights that i have been given so far have made exponential waves and have made me feel a lot calmer about the working world and what it has to offer for me personally and what i can do for me as an aspiring game developer
As with all of the obstacles and challenges that I will be faced within the future and will need to try and work in a critical fashion to attempt to solve as professionally as possible to better myself, I await what is to come for the future and what it holds for me with cautious optimism. as with anything in life it is best to be cautious and to keep an open mind about what may come up out of the blue in the future, if 2020 was anything to go by.
oh no its a creative ideas blog (Archies yr 3 blog) 