An introduction to the Games Industry

The games industry has literally appeared out of nowhere in the past 50 years and skyrocketed to the top of the media industry, now being the leading form of entertainment, with no signs of letting any other form surpass it. Back when it was a small, very niche industry, a development team literally consisted of 4 or 5 people working together, with perhaps 1 or 2 of them managing it. Now, a company consists of hundreds of employees, even more if you include the outsourcing the company does to freelancers or partner companies.The roles each employee does has also become more and more specific; this is no longer an industry where knowing a little bit of everything would land you a job, now you have to be extremely specialized in at least one area, and be competent in relevant areas.

It's still an industry that isn't always taken seriously though or fully understood. My parents still don't fully understand exactly what I'm studying despite trying to countless times, and the amount of times I've told someone I'm studying 'Game Art Design' only for them to reply 'oh so you make games and stuff, you should totally make...' even after me explicitly stating that I would only be doing things to do with the visual side of games. The games industry is always seen as a kind of lax industry, which isn't helped by certain games journalists equally lax way of reporting things (and tending to believe whatever they hear about the industry). Truth is, even if the office environment is more casual than usual, (with good reason, working on games should be every employees dream), it's still an industry. And industries can be volatile and dangerous places. If a movie bombs at the box office, it's usually alright, Hollywood can afford a few flops. If a game doesn't do as well as hoped, the whole studio could be shut down as a result. Sometimes working conditions can be so tight and difficult to work with the company has to shut down because the employees could no longer work under such conditions.

For me, knowing what works for me and doesn't is essential to getting a job. I know that I'm not the best character artist, nor do I know all the secret tricks and tips to 3DS Max and Texturing to the best of my ability (yet). But I do know that I'm getting better at environment art and my 3D modelling is coming along nicely. I'm obviously hoping to improve what I'm less confident in, to adhere to the 'T-shaped employee' model and be skillful all round, but I know I'm a lot more confident at environmental stuff than character or vehicle (I would say character is my weakest). Because of this, I'm planning on honing my skills at rendering environments, and modelling environmental assets. After the group project, I've also come to realise the importance of sharing work (and if things fail, the blame) and just generally co-operating well as a team to ensure everything gets done to the best of our ability because at the end of the day, it's not your own work. Sure, you worked on it, but collectively it's a team effort and should be treated as such.