Eurogamer Valve Talk

In this talk, Chet Faliszek talks about getting a job in the game industry. Coming from one who works at Valve, a company of whom I am an enthusiast. His 'short version' is to 'make something'. This has made me aware that the best way to demonstrate your potential make it into the video game industry, isn't to demonstrate how you could make a game, but how you will make games or how you have made games. This ties in well to what I have read on Blizzard's tips on employment.

His advice isn't to 'wait for the right moment to start', and that one ought to simply start regardless of what software or computing power they have access too, because you learn more by starting. All in all his advice is very encouraging that no matter your experience, if you find the dedication and get to creating games, or a game, or something within a game in any way shape or form, it will help you learn and progress and bring you closer to the industry.

• Only include finished work, don't include any 'I made this in ten minutes'. Have pride in your work and do it right.
• Skyrim creation kit, toolsets, use what you can. Some places will make you create a mod before they hire you.
• Create something that excites people, get them to come to you - better than sending a resume out to everyone.
• Passion to carry you through the hard work.
• Iteration - don't throw away everything and start fresh each time, replacing old problems with new. Set a goal, iterate towards that goal. Build on ideas.

As a practicioner I can see myself taking a lot of this advice to heart straight away; but I definitely feel between films, games and animation, out of the three, that I have always had a prominent passion for games, wanting to know about how they work, how they're made, and I think I have explored this in the past with player-created toolsets in Neverwinter Nights. I already have a few ideas in mind for games I would like to try and create, or at least at some point I would like to create a standalone game to accompany my showreel or portfolio.