Career options: an analysis

My last blog post was almost a year ago. There hasn’t been a reason in particular why I haven’t made any blog posts during that time, rather I’ve simply prioritized other things since it’s been a busy year to say the least. Mostly, I’ve continued to study game design at the university college. I’m in my second year now, the third and final year starting after the summer. Since a year ago, we got a new game design teacher after our old one left, we canceled Project Different Reality (read about it in the update to this post), and I’ve made a few discoveries and decisions which I want to share.

It hasn’t been possible to study game design at a university during three years for that long, even in Sweden, and there have certainly been flaws in the education. However, one of the best things about BTH, where I study, is that the management are very keen to listen to us students, and they have already made significant improvements. The biggest one will be for the coming students, however. Before, students had to choose between game design and programming. From the coming fall onwards, graphics has been added. This is an enormous improvement, since it means classes can work on productions together in a way that hasn’t previously been possible, when traditionally some people from design had to make the (oftentimes lackluster) graphics.

For me, studying has primarily been about getting enough time to study the things I find important, getting to know other students and, ultimately, my goal to start a small game development studio after I’m finished with my studies. I’ve learned a lot about myself during my time here so far in the small city of Karlshamn. I’ve learned about things I’m good at and things I’m mediocre at best and bad at. I’ve decided that I won’t try to become good at the things I perceive to be worse at than the average student here. Making a game today is about working in a team, each person doing the best job possible in his or her own respective area of expertise. I should focus on becoming better at the things I have an affinity for instead.

The way I’m reasoning is, why should I put time and effort into becoming good at something when another student here, who is excellent at it, could do it instead? I’d rather put that time and effort into becoming the best I can in the fields I feel I have a talent for, things I find interesting, challenging and fun. As a result, some courses here dig too deep into some things for my tastes, while others don’t dig deep enough. I therefore spend much of my free time reading books and articles, writing design documents, plans and scripts – in short, doing a lot of digging on my own into the things I find worthwhile.

I think it was towards the end of the first year that I suggested to a classmate studying programming that we (being him and I, and some others students in general) should start our own company when our studies are over. I had analyzed my own situation in relation to the rest of the industry and come to the conclusion that it would be very difficult to get an entry-level job as a game designer. This was especially true considering the skills I wanted to focus on, which are usually given to people with experience. Even if I knew that I was good at those things, it would be very difficult to prove it to a potential employer.

In addition, my own mindset (and, I suspect, that of the other students in my class) was that we would get jobs as low-level game designers at a large company such as DICE, Massive, Avalanche or Starbreeze (or their equivalents abroad). These established Swedish companies either already have more than 100 employees, are rapidly expanding in that direction or have passed it a couple of times already. We don’t know of enough companies like SouthEnd. One can hardly blame the bigger companies for it, but when Swedish media writes about “the Swedish video game wonder,” smaller companies are rarely if ever mentioned. The reality is that quite small development studios exist aplenty, but they aren’t in the minds of the hard core gamer. And therein lies the problem – as hard core gamers are the ones most likely to apply to a three year programme such as the one I’m attending.

The big companies aren’t likely to hire game designers fresh out of school. They are looking for people with experience, because their games are AAA titles and they need to staff accordingly. Sure, there are exceptions, but I for one have come to the conclusion that basing my career on an exception isn’t a viable option. Although, to be honest, it was kind of my initial plan. Going in, my aim was to become an excellent writer or high-level game designer. I naturally didn’t expect to get a job doing that immediately. But I did expect to get a job with less responsibility which would eventually lead towards that. The problem, as noted, was that I would have problems proving my capabilities to a prospective employer, even if I succeeded. And then I would still have to compete with designers who already had experience working in the industry.

When I realized that, the gears in my head started turning. It certainly isn’t completely out of the question that I could get such a job, but realistically the chance is pretty slim. I also came to understand the reason why so many stories in games are lacking in quality. One of my long-term goals was to change the ones I’d have influence over for the better, because it couldn’t really be that hard, could it? But the reality of a larger game production makes it necessary to be able to modify, add and throw out parts of the story as demands change. Having considered writing for games as a fairly linear process, I now understood that this was far from the case. During the production of an average game (if there is such a thing), so much changes that the story has to be extremely versatile and adaptable. Not everyone can pull that off, it takes considerable work, talent and experience – or the story will suffer. Some companies are also fortunate to have the luxury of time, which I can imagine helps considerably. I might still be able to get there one day, but it will have to wait. It’s unfortunate, because writing those big, epic stories for games entails just the kind of challenge I love, but I also realize that I should get some more experience first.

Getting a Quality Assurance job would then be a much more realistic proposition – but it could take years before I’d reach a place where I could use what I know to its utmost extent. I still consider it an entirely viable option. If I can’t do a job well and put my heart into it, I usually don’t bother. It’s part of the reason why I wanted to focus on the things I have a talent for instead of the things I don’t. But QA, I can see myself doing, and enjoying it. I’m a perfectionist by nature, I absolutely hate bugs in games, and I hold my popular entertainment to some pretty high standards. I would get to use what I’ve learned, even if it only ends up being part of it. Most important of all, I’m sure I could do it, and do it well. My hope would then be that my broader game design talents would eventually lead me into the production team, perhaps as an assistant producer or designer, perhaps as something entirely different.

However, starting my own company would put me straight into the trenches when it comes to producing, designing, writing, leading and managing; a concept I find more appealing. We’re still at the dawn of the age of small game development companies in Sweden, but their numbers are steadily increasing. They don’t try to compete with the blockbuster titles which the big companies are making. Without the resources to produce cutting edge graphics or include large voice casts (among other things), they are forced to focus on gameplay. Big companies do this too (in addition to focusing on other things), but they are still bound by the requirements of creating a mass market hit within their genre. Less money involved certainly has both its advantages and drawbacks.

That is also why I consider it a great mystery of the industry, why every larger company doesn’t have a small internal development team which produces one or two smaller titles every year. It would provide them with a perfect training ground for new employees, a chance for potential leads to show their worth in a situation with less money on the line, and allow the company to the benefits of small productions as well as big ones. The Pixar shorts are produced for much the same reasons. In fact, DICE may be trying something similar with Battlefield: Heroes and Battlefield: 1943. The other major studios would be wise to follow. A reason may be that they can’t afford it: while DICE is owned by EA, Starbreeze and Avalanche are independents. They may not have a big enough money flow coming in from their royalties (if any) and publisher-based development contracts to set something like it in motion. Massive, now owned by Ubisoft, is developing what Ubisoft’s CEO Yves Guillemot has described as a “light MMO”. Such a game might be easier for newcomers to the industry to learn their ropes on, when the game’s systems are already in place and the job is to expand on them (although that’s just speculation on my part).

What about me and my classmate’s plans to start a company, then? I don’t want to say too much about it now, but suffice to say that we want to develop smaller games which are distributed digitally. If everything goes as planned, we will be able to spend our final third year at school developing a game or two (together with other students) and the foundations for the company in time for when we finish.