Gamers with Jobs in Gaming
Wednesday, May 28th, 2008 - 10:50am
NSMike's GWJ Demographics thread got me thinking about something. I'm just curious how many of you have jobs in the gaming industry,... in any capacity. Be it EB Games stock boy, writer, beta tester, coder, marketer, graphics designer, or someone like me who owns a gaming center. How do you make your living in the games industry?
play_TOGETHER
absolutePOWER
Being a games journalist is not as glamorous as it seems when you're 7. Especially when they keep closing magazines on me.
"Today's Tom Sawyer, he gets high on you, Kat. You." - Haakon7
My Website v. 3.0
I am a composer/sound designer for console games.
*zok*
*biff*
*zap*
*caaa--rruuunch*
*de-do-de-do-dee*
You get the idea...
I do that too, but only part time. And I don't have a sweet in-house gig like Symbiotic does.
Xbox Live: CrankyBaby
baggachipz: Who cares about Japan, let them have their silly pointless dog games and countless re-hashes of anime-based dragon princess super lucky crapitty crap.
I am not currently in the games industry, but I do in the future plan to do voice acting for video games (and cartoons, commercials, etc., providing I can break into the field).
"I'm absolutely retarded. Not 100% sure why." - atom
"Dhelor + intarwebs = Great ideas." - wordsmythe
"Do I what I do: hate everyone." - Quintin_Stone
I was planning on starting my own casual gaming studio on the side but the company I work for decided to adapt our VoIP network from enterprise applications to games. It's been a pretty interesting experience so far and I am actually getting a chance at building games to demonstrate our voice technology and I get to be a subject matter expert during meetings.
Gamertag: RiverRatMatt
Witchlight Cycle: Sithis of the Thelis'Thale Clan, Dragonborn Paladin of Moradin
Currently working on training software for the Canadian military. Did a bit on Canadian Forces: Direct Action, but actually right now I'm just doing some graphics for some horrible Navy side-project about boats and hate.
XBL Gamertag: Effin Bear | PSN Name: Effin Bear | Steam ID: MechaSlinky | Wii Console Code: 5185 2886 9649 1657 | Spore: MechaSlinky
The thing about boats and hate is even funnier when I imagine it said by Ben from Lost.
Xbox Live: CrankyBaby
baggachipz: Who cares about Japan, let them have their silly pointless dog games and countless re-hashes of anime-based dragon princess super lucky crapitty crap.
I'm a gameplay programmer over at Kaos Studios. Been in the industry for just over a year.
Chumpy wrote:
Malor wrote:
I am making a game but I'm not "in the industry".
Agent: "Why do you think she's known as the Black Widow ?"
Chuck: "Because... she's African American and her husband died ?"
Did I mention that I'll be looking for a job soon? Unfortunately, I do not quite have my new portfolio up and ready for human consumption, but I've still got a few more months before my contract with the military is up and I'm kicked out the doors. If anyone is hiring or knows of anywhere that is hiring or knows of anywhere that may potentially be hiring in the future anywhere within North America, as I have citizenship in both Canada and United States, I'd love to know and would greatly appreciate and probably bake you a cake and then I'd probably end up eating the cake because it's a lot easier than mailing it. But if I met you in real life, I'd totally save you some. Especially the pieces with the most frosting.
XBL Gamertag: Effin Bear | PSN Name: Effin Bear | Steam ID: MechaSlinky | Wii Console Code: 5185 2886 9649 1657 | Spore: MechaSlinky
I write about games, but I don't see myself as "in" the industry. Mostly I'm just a verbose, picky consumer.
Duoae wrote:
I've been writing freelance part-time for about four years now, mainly about Linux, though I do get to write about games (ie: gaming on Linux) on occasion. I've thought about trying to get in to gaming journalism from time-to-time, but I think I'll stick with the tech writing -- it's nice, steady work, when quality games writing seems like anything but these days.
I did think about going in to game development in my earlier days as well (I've done a bit of homebrew GBA stuff in the past), but I don't think I'd cope well with the hours, or the workload
Xbox Live: pneuman | my tech/games/rant blag
I think this came up on the podcast once before; is being a game journalist really being in the game industry?
I slung CDs for EBGames for a few years and I've done some beta tests.
NOTE: This is not a doodle bug.
Spore
Back when we were living out in San Francisco, I worked for IDG Games' online division. I was part of the GamePro.com team which did a top-to-bottom redesign and tech migration - the bulk of which is still in use behind the scenes, from what I see on their site.
In addition to a good chunk of the front-end markup (deeply nested tables to a degree I find rather embarassing now), I was point on creating the CMS which powered the site.
We had to move away in 2001 when my wife decided to go to graduate school, but it was a fun job. Very game-friendly, and I got to dabble in writing every so often.
I'm an artist in the industry, currently at IUGO, a mobile game developer.
We made Boom Blox for cell phones!
I was a level designer for console games, and now I am an Academic Director at a large Art School in San Francisco. (In charge of "Game Art and Design" and "Video Game Programming" departments)
Sephirotic | I am your future...swallowed up in fire | PSN: Sephirotic
I make games. Let's just say you've seen our ads.
I know others disagree, but to me the answer is NO without equivocation. I am a writer. I consider myself lucky that I get to occasionally write about something I'm passionate about.
Maybe someday, I might write something for an actual game company, having to do with the production or marketing of an actual game, and THEN I would be in the game industry. Write now I am in the journalism and corporate communications industry.
Gamertag: GWJ Rabbit | Last.fm | Twitter
"In other news, Miyamoto pissed on my head, and gave me a forecast of rain." - *Le
Come on Rabbit. I expect better of you.
Fletcher wrote:
Damn your puzzle pirate ads!
XBox Live|Tshirts|My Music|GameFly|xfire
You, sirs, have my dream job. Seriously.
Well, not so much the composing part. I ain't no tune smith, as much as I wished I could be. I'll leave that up to the people with talent.
But sound design? Man, I'd love to learn everything I could about filtering, mic placement, foley work, sound compression... the whole gamut!
Unfortunately, I haven't a clue where to start.
Xbox Live: Trachalio
Pipe Threader Manual wrote:
Maybe it was intentional.
Your friendly neighbourhood hair splitting singularity.
Aperture scientist is my alter ego.
And lo, the forces of grammar will advance on the internet, and the will of the syntax torturers shall be made to kneel before Strunk & White!
Elysium: The democratization of the web ... has installed an illusion of a digital first amendment that protects speech no matter how poorly spelled or stupid.
XBL: E Munnie
elementsofmeaning.blogspot.com
Xbox Live: Trachalio
Pipe Threader Manual wrote:
You can't see me right now (I think) but I'm give you the evil eye. God damned puzzle pirates.
McChuck wrote:
I work in the games industry as a designer (currently lead designer). Been in the industry for 8 years.
weee!
Xbox Live : cuebertt
Certis wrote:
I work in the industry. And "by the industry", I mean the business. (Sorry, inside Hollywood joke.)
Gamer Tag -- Edgar Newt
Every once-in-a-while you and MrGreen (not the lack of a period) show up and flaunt your special tags. Jerks.
McChuck wrote:
Couldn't agree more.
"I think Elysium has the right of it" - Certis
Also of note: while this is fun, this will not be a remotely comprehensive list. I know several people on our boards are very careful with their anonymity.
"I think Elysium has the right of it" - Certis