The Gaming Industry

[dick longfellow offline]

You know, it seems ironic. I'm pursuing an education in the gaming industry, but lately it seems I've really forgotten the game that gave me a passion for game design in the first place. I'm hardly ever around these forums anymore, and I rarely play Tribes 2, when I used to browse these forums 4+ times a day, and play Tribes 2 at least 5 times a week. I kind of attribute this fault to my addiction to MMORPG's, a really bad habit for passionate gamers such as myself because MMO's will really wreck your outlook on games. Whats also ironic is that I'm majoring in game design, but I really dont play a lot of games. I attribute this to how sick I am of playing the same game clone over and over. I've been getting an insider's view of the game industry, and there's really a problem with "sequel-itis." Once a game becomes popular, sequels will be made for it in an attempt to sqeeze more money out of the franchise, when it would have been more beneficial to the gaming company to make something original (eg. Halo 1, Halo 2, Halo 3...).

I love video games, but something needs to re-fire my passion for making them. I used to stay up late at night, bleary-eyed from staring at lines of Tribes 2 code, trying to figure out why my Gravity Gun isnt working right. I literally kept a pad of paper by my bed so I could write down the cool ideas I had for Tribes 2 mods. I certainly hope I'm making the right choice in pursuing a career in the gaming industry. The industry is young, and it seems I'd have it made if I could just get my foot in the door. At the same time, its highly competitive, and everyone else wants just as badly as I do to get their cool ideas out. However, I'm not just some idiot with a "really good idea for a game," I actually feel I could change the industry for the better, if I don't get disgusted at how things are run.

These are basically my thoughts after my first trimester in college. I started my year with a great interest in making games, but I ended the quarter feeling like everything was mediocre. My gaming class was kind of a joke, as it seems too many people took the class just so they could screw off. I'd hate to spend 4 years with people who don't take the industry seriously. At the same time, I really enjoyed the animation class I took. I made my first cartoon not too long ago, and while I was making it I felt just like I was making a really cool Tribes 2 level. I'm almost thinking my job prospects would be better if I pursued a career in animation... the CGI industry is also growing, and if I was good enough, I could find employment at animation studios as well as game companies. At the same time, I'm worried that an education in animation wouldn't allow me to exercise influence on the game industry. At least it's early on, so I've got a really good amount of time to think about this.

Maybe its time for me to just quit my MMO's and just start playing some really kick ass games again. Finishing up some of the T2 maps I left at 80% completion would be cool. And I always did want to make that map of my school, to be played in Half Life.

[Cyborg_Boba_fet offline]

Yeah, I dont think i would be able to sit at my computer and just do line after line of code, that is why I did not really want to go into computer programing after a while. Sure I really wanted to know how to make my own game, but I just think that I couldn't stand doing code cause its quite boring fixing it or finding bugs.
But lately I've found that i'm way better at modeling, and it is a little more fun for me. So maybe in like half a year when the new semester comes i'll try to take up some 3d digital design class. Because I know that its something I can do, and I can do it fast so I wouldn't have to sit at the computer all day.

[Red Shifter offline]

I was going to go into game design as a career until I saw what happens to a company that makes an original FPS without bothering to make it be a part of World War II and without bothering to conform to the standard weapons of the genre (Pistol, Shotgun, Chaingun, Rocket Launcher).

Tribes 2 saved my life.

But more than that, there has been a major shift in the industry. In the old days, it was the developers who designed the games, and they had the vision. You can't even TRY to do that now. The vision belongs to the developers until they get picked up by the publisher, and then the publisher can spit on the entire legacy whenever it serves them best.

[Red Shifter offline]

I was going to go into game design as a career until I saw what happens to a company that makes an original FPS without bothering to make it be a part of World War II and without bothering to conform to the standard weapons of the genre (Pistol, Shotgun, Chaingun, Rocket Launcher).

In that regard, Tribes 2 saved my life.

But more than that, there has been a major shift in the industry. In the old days, it was the developers who designed the games, and they had the vision. You can't even TRY to do that now. The vision belongs to the developers until they get picked up by the publisher, and then the publisher can spit on the entire legacy whenever it serves them best.

[Jugger d offline]

I had the same idea, but after I graduated I began to resort to my childhood dream (architecture)

[Ghost Fly offline]

i went ot school for architecture and foudn jobs to be few and far between....

[Jugger d offline]

[kittenstomper2 offline]

[Ghost Fly offline]

[Jugger d offline]

[Ghost Fly offline]

[Jugger d offline]

[dick longfellow offline]

It's really interesting. I taught myself Tribes 2 scripting from scratch. As a matter of fact, the Tribes 2 language was the first ever language I saw. And since its basically all C++, I predict that I'm going to do awesome in the C++ intro class that I'm taking. But now I actually understand exactly what I'm doing. Before I had to look at what someone else coded in order to write my own code, but now I should be able to code from scratch.

[Hacker[SOW] offline]

I think the greatest pull of the games that I love is the modability.

A still-in-development game that I'm curently hungering for is Will Wright's Spore. The philosophy behind Spore is that he wants people to be able to connect with the game as much as possible. Instead of playing through it, they're playing with it. Just about everything is proceduarlly generated instead of modelled by an artist, which mean that you can have a near-infinite combinations and areonly limited by the (many) parts given.

People play in the sandbox and with fingerpaints as a kid for a reason, and there's always a sense of that creativity that always linger with you no matter how old you are. I think that moddable games are the smartest way to go, not only creatively but economically as well. The lifetime of Bioware's Neverwinter Nights is atronomical, and I completely credit the heavy focus on modability that the designers built into the game.

I too am interested in a gaming industry career, but I think I can see some faint glimmers of hope in the from of a shift towards more procedural and more modable stuff, which, I believe, is what can really make or break a game.

[kittenstomper2 offline]

i think everyone with half a brain is awaiting spore the game engine pretty much lets yu make whatever you want and will automatically figure out how a three armed lizard will walk and use things it is pretty cool