All the young-eyed hopefuls out there, wishing to jump headfirst into the game industry need to realise that things aren’t always as they appear. Here are five myths that cling to the glamorous world of game design, and why you should not believe them.
1. All you need is a Good Idea
Ideas are ten-a-penny. The game industry doesn’t need ideas, it needs people who make the ideas happen.
2. Working in Game Development is easy
No. It’s time-consuming, it’s hard work, there’s a lot of pressure to succeed. I don’t know anybody who works in games – in whatever position – who doesn’t frequently put in twelve hour days. The plus-side, of course, is that you’re doing what you love.
3. You don’t have to play games to make games
This is generally spouted by the casual gamer. Because they’ve seen someone playing Final Fantasy once, they think they can make something like that. After all, how hard can it be? You just need some weird looking people and some magic spells, right?
Wrong. Video games adhere to a set of complex rules that places them within a very particular genre. To write that genre, you have to know those rules. The only way you learn those rules is by playing games. Lots and lots of games.
4. It’s all about who you know
It’s all about your portfolio. Get developing today – make game mods, design characters, write scripts, do whatever you have to do, so that you have something to show people. Game companies need workers, not social butterflies.
5. You don’t need training
Wrong. Whilst experience makes up a lot of your potential worth, doing a course will give you the skill-set you need, as well as giving you the resources, time and space to work on your portfolio. I’ll be talking more about university courses in another entry, but suffice to say – if getting a degree is an option, it is one you should take.
