Real Life Highscore

G’day! Today I have the pleasure of introducing you to a guest poster by the name of Clayton Donaldson who is the alter ego of the HULKGAMECRITIC Twitter personality. Hulk has taken on the noble duty of smashing the gaming industry for it’s failures and although Hulk may not be the hero the gaming industry wants, it’s the hero it needs. Today Clayton is here to share his experiences on leaving graduating and trying to make his way in the world of video games.

– Daniel ‘ZiggyD’

Editor @ RLHighscore

#5 The game industry is exceptionally bad at realizing who is serious about making games, and who simply sees it as a way to make money.

Not too long ago the focus on the game industry was making experiences that truly mattered to people. Sadly, through a failure in marketing these games correctly (and maybe some sheer ignorance from the game designers) we quickly began to see a shift in focus. Now more than ever I hear game studios talking about how their “metrics” decided which part of their game was good and which part wasn’t working so well, but it usually has more to do with what items were selling instead of being about whether or not their experience was improving.

To some, this chain of thought doesn’t really seem like much, but to me it shows a very dangerous change. People that subconsciously think of ways to make games better are not being given positions where they’re able to explore these thoughts and ideas, while individuals that are more focused on money, and how to milk a system are placed in charge of multi-million dollar projects that many believe won’t last beyond 2 years of the release date.

While the OMGPOP fiasco had nothing much to do with this argument itself, Their CEO’s tweets and personality are what first signified the problem to me. These guys have the final say in everything to do with the game’s development. They are not supposed to be talking shit about people or admitting they are more interested in watching their market share instead of their games future development, and as many personalities on twitter have stated already, ” It’s a miracle they got a game done, or that Zynga decided to buy them”.

#4 Proving yourself to a game studio cannot be done just by making games.

It has become a famous line from the first day of college, “How do I get a job in the industry? Make games.” In a perfect world where everyone wasn’t laid off from Sony then I’d say you have a better chance, but with everyone in the application pool already having worked on at least one “AAA” game, your chance of being picked is slim to none. What’s even sadder is the amounts of jobs available that are actually entry level (you can usually find a handful every 7 months) and all of those jobs are also being taken by people that are over qualified for them.

While making games is definitely important, we sadly need something more, something unique, something that defines ourselves and shows that we are willing to go the distance to find a job in the industry. Do you realize how insane that is? We’re talking about what will likely result in months of research and soul searching to maybe come up with one clever idea, and sadly it still might never be enough to impress the person hiring you in the HR department.

Along the way you would have had to learn several different styles, perhaps a coding language, and discovered what it is about yourself that made you love games to begin with, and I personally know many people that likely will never reach that kind of level of “self” before they need to start paying off college loans.

#3 Contrary to popular belief… half the game industry doesn’t care about you.

When I first started the Hulk account, I began receiving tidbits from studios in the industry, and one of them was crazy enough to even give me a media pass for PAX Prime. I used that pass for all it was freaking worth.

I had a great time, got lots of guests for the podcast, game reviews, and other silly adventures I had planned with these new contacts. Out of the 60 contacts I met, only about 30 were interested in working on content, chatting about games, or even considered giving advice to students. Further in I was able to discover that international game studios were up for discussion, studios that were close to military complexes like the Baltimore area had very little interest in doing anything (most students have never met anyone that even works for the local studios), while other areas like Boston and Seattle that already have large indie developments were ready for anything…. one even said ” bring it”.

Please keep in mind that if I wasn’t given that PAX Prime pass then none of this would have even been possible… another key issue for students just about to graduate.

#2 Other industries are watching the game industry with great interest.

The military, simulation, and health industries of the world see the game industry as this gigantic crock pot full of money and strange ideas that might pan out. Since the game industry likes to take risks by hiring war criminals for ad commercials and spending hundreds of millions of dollars on fancy graphic engines every 2 years. They like to use us as a kind of litmus paper for their own endeavors. If you’re hunting for a job… you might find work there.

#1 You cannot ever give up.

I was lucky enough to know people that kept inspiring me to try over and over again, but a lot of people don’t have that. They go out of college thinking they’ll find a job, can’t find that job, then subsequently give up on trying to get better at their craft by choosing to get better at making mocha frappuccinos instead.

You were crazy enough to study game design, so you should start making games or using that knowledge to create other stuff on the side. It’s fine to go look for a part time job while waiting for your game design career to finally take off, but to give up on everything you poured your heart and soul into over some last minute disappointment is pathetic… you need to try harder. For those of you that think I’m crazy, on average we must have around 300 people graduating with game design degrees every quarter… where do you think 90% of them end up after 5 months of job hunting with no success?

So that’s it, these are all things I learned after or during graduation that I really wished I had known four years ago. I have made a bunch of stuff for twitter, worked on a few games, celebrated my 50th podcast. I only wish I had two extra years of development to go on top of the one I already have. You can take my rantings with a grain of salt or listen to it for all it’s worth. I only hope you have a better time finding a job than half the industry right now.

If you enjoyed this article please consider leaving a comment below. You can follow Clayton Donaldson through the HULKGAMECRITIC Twitter and through the HULKGAMECRITIC Blog.