PSekula's Blog

What got you into the industry? Are there classes/degrees for that sort of thing? Most importantly, are you having fun?

The desire to create video games is what drove me to get a job in the industry. During college I did some C++ programming; real beginner stuff. There was also a digital imaging class during the curriculum. I already tooled around in Photoshop for a bit, so I was prepared for the class. After awhile though, I became a bit discouraged with computer programming. It just didn't offer me the appeal that art did. Soon afterwards I got into 3D modelling with 3d studio max. Went to another school for that. Got an internship with a facial animation technology company as a modeler/animator/texture artist, then landed a job at RSE as a level artist.

Sure, there are alot of schools arond that offer Game Development degrees. But I personally would never recommend any of them for many reasons.

1. If you want to be an artist, employers only care about experience and your portfolio, not really where you graudated from. Telling someone you graduated from the School of l33t 3D Artworkz means nothing. All that says is that you completed what was required of that school's curriculum.

2. The schools don't specialize. The best way to get a job is to focus on one aspect of art (modeling, texturing, animating) and be absolutely great at it. I was always torn on whether I should dabble in a little bit of both and produce a demo reel in which I was a sort of "jack of all trades," or focus my precious time and effort one one thing. After some thought and advice, i believe focusing is the key.

Schools do indeed teach you other things like color theory, design, storyboarding, etc etc... While "some" of these are important, most are not. If Bob wants to be a character artist, he doesn't need to learn storyboarding.

3. The schools just want your money. They'll push you through the door and through their curriculum just to get your money. Whether you do great, on par, or really crappy work doesn't matter to them. They still get paid.

4. This isn't really a pro or a con, but still an item of note: The schools just give the students the tools; it is up to the student to build the house. That basically means it's up to the student to really want to learn and practice his skills on his own time outside of class. You really need to practice this in your time away from class to get better. Practice makes perfect.

I went through a couple schools. One gave me what I needed, but not what I wanted. I'm not a supporter of it so I won't mention it here on the forum. They've changed their curriculum entirely so it makes no difference if you go there or anywhere else now. It's sad really. My advice is to do it all on your own and seek the advice of those who do it for a living.

But after getting hired, yes, I am definitely having fun. I've been employed at RSE for almost 3 years now and have been involved in 5 RSE titles (mostly level art). It was a difficult road getting the job (moving 400 miles from home, being unemployed for awhile, etc), but it's all worth it in the end. Everyday is something new. And now with new tech on the horizon, it's going to get even more fun.

Wow, thanks for sharing that. Definately the kind of insite that people who want to get into the industry appreciate!

I should also note that those comments only apply to artists and are only my opinion. If you want to be an engineer, that's an entirely different story.

Somthing iv been noticing in the game industry taking a turn around.... and i must say i like it a lot....

Not to long ago to get hired as a 3d modeler or what have you you had to be talented in sevral diffrent things. (i.e. do characters, weapons, maps, etc....)

movie CG has almost always been one man does this other man does that ... sort of like how in pixars a bugs life one man just did flick modeling, some other guy animates it, another guy just does water, one does the sand.... etc etc.....

now it seems with the power of PCs and consoles reaching higher and higher the trend seems to be moving towards a lot like CG movie development.

intreasting for sure. It will definitly will create some top end games in the future