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Guide

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Getting into games can be tough, but GamesIndustry.biz has some handy resources

Get into Games: Essential guides to start your career in video games

Over the next two weeks, GamesIndustry.biz will be exploring ways to find the right career in the video games business …

www.gamesindustry.biz

Do you think all gamers at one stage in their life think about joining the games industry? I know I did!

My undergrad degree many lifetimes ago focused on computer games technology. Instead of joining a company I decided to work for myself. I've taken a long and winding road that eventually lead to Just About, but I still spend my free time helping young people learn about getting into the industry.

Have any of you thought about getting into games industry, including publishing, journalism etc? What sort of games would you work on if you could?

Created at 2:50pm, 17th January, 2024. Page last updated at 2:43pm, 16th May, 2024.

Retro Stu 1/17/2024, 4:02:54 PM

You must've known I was looking to change roles once my paternity cover is up! I'd love to get into community management. I've had a bit of a winding road myself, my degree is in music production, I worked for a classical music exam board for years, then volunteered for a video game charity which got me the experience doing social media to land me a job with the MS Society and from there I've ended up doing various jobs at health charities. Rewarding causes but I want to really get to grips with communities and being able to work on something like Cult of the Lamb for example would be a dream.

BoomerMod1/17/2024, 4:45:04 PM

Retro Stu

The winding road can really benefit community roles, as you build up a diverse and flexible skillset. That's also true for starting your own business, as you take on so many roles and swap between them from moment to moment!

Excellent choice of game, by the way. What draws you to Cult of the Lamb? Also, if you don't mind me asking, what was the gaming charity you volunteered with?

Retro Stu 1/17/2024, 9:43:02 PM

Boomer

I started my own business for a while as well! Started off with ebay re-selling while I was signed off with depression for one job, then it turned into a full on site with merch and then freelance social media management. Wouldn't swap the winding road for anything!

Cult of the Lamb just scratches that itch of incredible rogue like, the gameplay loop is so satisfying and it's broken up with fairly minimal farming/crafting stuff so it's just the right level of variety and difficulty. The humour around it and the community is great too, the team really know how to connect with their fans.

I would tell you what gaming charity but I parted ways with them after a few things I and other volunteers didn't like after a change in trustees so I don't talk about them by name because of that now. So in the spirit of keeping it positive, it was good experience for me and they did good work.

Lanah Tyra 1/17/2024, 6:46:49 PM

I think a lot of gamers would be excellent in the games industry problem is we don't really know how many different roles are there, and once we find out that we can't draw beautiful concept arts, model in 3D or be an expert coder, then we give up.

Especially when you are fresh to the jobs market you have no idea there are community and social media managers or PR people, script writers, player support teams etc which are basically doing the same thing these roles would do at any other company. And for these you might very well have all the skills needed.

In many countries kids don't even get work experience during high school so they can't even get a glimpse at the industry they want to work in. I wish I had all the info about the industry I have now when I was graduating, I would have not given up on my dreams so easily.

My dream role would be making game trailers, I love the visual storytelling and editing.

But given all my years of experience in customer service I had to realize that community management would be a very fitting role for me as well. Sad thing that most places want 3+ years industry experience.