Womb Creator "iToken" offered a job at a major gaming company!

[itokengroup]

Hi All,

Just wanted to give information on how to land a job at a gaming company, using RPGmaker as your Portofolio, If I can do it, you

can do it too!

I released my first RPG maker "WOMB" on October 10, 2013. And received good amount of reviews, also averaging 200 downloads a month. You can view the game at the "Completed Projects" section.

MY RESUME:

A) I have no programming experience

I can't draw anything

C) Womb is my first and only project

Never in my wildest dreams that I would ever land a job...hell, get an interview in a gaming company with my resume. But still, I decided to prepare one, just in case there are openings.

SEARCHING FOR JOB OPENINGS

I used careerjet.com. Maybe I applied 50 jobs, any jobs that are related to gaming (I am full time employee in a major electronic company currenty). So my advice is to send your resume to anyone that has "video game" as its keyword.

FIRST CONTACT

I received a response email, job titled as "Lead Game Designer" ..... I can't believe my eyes when I read it. It came from the creative director of the company. the response was:

"We played your game and we really liked it very much. I have never played a game with such a story, and never expected an experience quite like it, BUT......we cant judge your abilities with only one game. Please create two more games, within this week, and come and present your game to us by Monday next week!"

Holy s***t!!!!! Create two games in one week!!!!

So, I did create two more games in a week, but since the lack of time, I did not create a RPG, I created a puzzle game using RPGmaker (I don't know anything else!)

So Monday, comes and I went to the office...coming to their building I was dwarfed by its size, its located in a software park, this company shares this building with Google and Facebook...at that moment, seeing these huge giant logo's on the building's entrance, I was thinking of chickening out.

..I mean, cmon...Me? An RPGmaker game? Is this a joke?

PART 2:

Gaining my composure, I went to the office for an interview, this place was huge! I was summoned into the conference room and met the Creative Director. After some chit-chat, I was asked this questions:

A) When did you start playing video games?

Name 3 of the best games every created and why?

C) Give me games you played in the last 3 months.

D) Which are the gaming companies you admire and why?

Now for the hard ones:

A) You say you want to work for a gaming company all your life, how come you have no software background?

Are you a member of any gaming forums? Can you name at least three?

C) Name the projects that you participated on, volunteered?

D) Your top three favorite games are all RPG games, whats wrong with..FPS or Platforms?

E) Whats wrong with the game industry these days?

F) What will video games be, say after 20 years?

After these questions, I was asked to present my 2 games (created in a week). I asked why they wanted me create 2 games in such a short time, the CD answered "We want to see your creativity under Pressure!"

After the Demo, the CD then asked about "Womb" here are his questions:

A) How did you come up with that story, how long did it take you to do research?

Why put "real" audio instead of text for the AI?

C) How long did it take you to finish the game? Create the plot?

Instead of answering his questions directly, I loaded Womb into my Laptop and answered the questions. Why? It created more impact and at the same time make him remember the game all over again. For example for his questions "why put audio instead of text for the AI?" I loaded a saved file where the AI (Airei) talks to 36D. And answered his questions, that audio adds more impact and character to the AI, furthermore, since the setting is in a space station, it adds the creepiness because there is no one else there but the main character.

And guess what, when I was explaining, the CD's eyes where staring at my laptop and smiling, I guess it brought back the memory when he was played the game for the first time. I also loaded the climax scene and showed it to him again, which he said with a grin "I have to play this game again!"

So if you have an interview be sure to prepare your game, and save files (the important and memorable ones) so you can load each scenario without playing whole game.

After about 2 hours, the CD told me to wait, because the CEO will be interviewing me next.

GULP!

----------------To be continued --------------------------------

iTOKEN

 

[cabfe]

I hope things will go well for you.

However, that requirement of making not one but two games, in one week?

I don't know how it can be done even by the more experienced people here. Good luck, anyway!

 

[Kyuukon]

gratz dude!

To be honest I played a bit of WOMB, but quit because it was kinda hard to play :S (lighting issues, mapping issues, gameplay issues in general...; you should address those problems).

What I'd have told them if they asked me to create two games in a week is: "If you want to see good quality games, don't rush me D;"

Keep it up!

 

[Engr. Adiktuzmiko]

Congrats dude! Go for the stars!!! I hope you get the job. :3


Me, I just wanna go indie all the way.

 

[Shaz]

Really? "Please create two more games within a week"? I would seriously question the authenticity of this company and suspect that its creative director really doesn't have a clue. To ask that of you, it sounds more like they're wannabe's who think giving themselves impressive titles will hide the fact that they've never made a game or been involved in game making in their lives.


I'd run the other way.

 

[Engr. Adiktuzmiko]

which "major" company is it anyway?

 

[Jomarcenter]

Really? "Please create two more games within a week"? I would seriously question the authenticity of this company and suspect that its creative director really doesn't have a clue. To ask that of you, it sounds more like they're wannabe's who think giving themselves impressive titles will hide the fact that they've never made a game or been involved in game making in their lives.

I'd run the other way.

Yeah. What kind of "Major Gaming Company" try to make a single developer make 2 games in one week. Do you have any knowledge of the company also? it is even a major legitimate company? Does they release any game before.

If I were you I'd go do some research about the company before accepting the opening.

What is the company name anyway?

 

[Ksi]

Well, from experience, it is possible to create two or three games in a week, but they'd be very short and most likely quite ****ty. So, yeah, I also question the veracity of this company. Perhaps do some extra research into them beyond surface googling.

 

[Shaz]

Yeah, could be done, but they wouldn't be good games (NOBODY here with a TON of experience could make two good games in a week), and if the company is happy with that quality, then they can't be legit. Be VERY careful what sort of offer they make and what you might be committing yourself to.

 

[Jomarcenter]

Yeah, could be done, but they wouldn't be good games (NOBODY here with a TON of experience could make two good games in a week), and if the company is happy with that quality, then they can't be legit. Be VERY careful what sort of offer they make and what you might be committing yourself to.

He got a point. Since you have to make two game in one week. The quality will be poor by any standards which could literally affect both you(as a developer) and the company(as a distributors or studio) reputation.

I should be careful about that kind of thing.

and also like I said before if you check out on the company and they have some sort of problem with their relationship or their reputation to the public DON'T WORK THERE you just going to ruined your reputation than making it good. Instead you should just go Indie (working as your own studio) or search and research online for any legitimate small indie game studio (which already have few game releases) for any job opening.

If you are going indie instead and make a game. For distribution you could just go to Big fish game, Amaranth Games, Etc... But don't go to Steam Greenlight yet. Unless if you already have a large fan base you can.

Hope this help you out on how you will find a job.

And also instead of using a regular job finder. Since you are a game developer I suggest that you go there http://www.indiedb.com/jobs it contains a list of Job opening from different game studios around the world.

 

[Another Ned]

About this two games in a week thing: To me, it sounds more like they just want to see how you think, for lack of a better word, rather than have you create amazingly polished stuff. Design = problem-solving, after all.

Anyway, congrats on landing a job interview, and good luck/success.

 

[kerbonklin]

You guys are jumping the gun a bit. The whole "two games a week" definitely doesn't have to be anything massive. Maybe a short-story like game with some unique mechanics, to show your thinking and creativity prowess. Also I think he chose to not say specific names and details for the sake of being anonymous until things are set in stone. Don't want possibly-wrongful lashing out against a demanding company, don't we?

 

[Shaz]

Instead you should just go Indie (working as your own studio) or search and research online for any legitimate small indie game studio (which already have few game releases) for any job opening.

I don't agree with this. There's nothing wrong with working for other companies or for big companies. Just make sure you know what you're getting yourself into, and are not being taken advantage of.


Not everyone wants to go indie, and those that do aren't always in a position to do it. After all, working for another company means you don't have to wait for your first game to be released and stress about how well it will do, in order to keep your bills paid

 

[Milena]

I've seen people from RM who can do two games in a week and they're quite quality (and those that are not made in RM), so I don't see any idea why this would be called something wrong. Besides, maybe the two games in a week are something small for the employers to see how good the developer is in making systems for a game or how to do some mechanics, creativity or how they can pull out a game within a managed time. Maybe that's what they want to see.

 

[Sharm]

Not by themselves, and not with only one game under their belt. It could be fine but it seems a bit odd to me.

 

[Mouser]

My take on it is they want to see how he performs under pressure and can he burn the midnight oil when he needs to.

Remember - commercial software ships by "date", not by "done". And date is not determined by the people responsible for coding and developing the software. Once the date comes down from marketing or whatever PHB is responsible for setting it, it's all hands on deck until the game goes gold, and then for a good bit after to get the first patch out in time (because you weren't able to finish everything by ship date).

Edit: and as far as working for a company - some people like to know they'll draw a paycheck every two weeks (has to do with that 'rent' stuff...).  If SOE offered me a design position to work on H1Z1 I'd take it in a heartbeat. Whether or not my mental state would let me keep the job would be another matter...

 

[Milena]

Not by themselves, and not with only one game under their belt. It could be fine but it seems a bit odd to me.

In RPG Maker, you can do a Sokoban game within 3 days, by yourself (since that can be done via eventing).

The remaining days you can make a puzzle game that involves input or answering, or maybe word puzzles, platform puzzles.

Two Games in a Week then.

 

[Shaz]

mmm ... it is an assumption that they wanted to see two more games "like the game he already showed them" - so two more RPGs with decent stories, since that is what appears to have impressed them.


Yes, it would be easy to create a couple of individual puzzles in a week, if you knew what you were doing.


lol Mouser:


"My take on it is they want to see how he performs under pressure and can he burn the midnight oil when he needs to."


They wouldn't want to see how you perform under pressure and burn the midnight oil unless they planned for you to be doing a bit of that.


That would DEFINITELY have me running the other way

 

[Sharm]

That's one reason why I don't ever want to stop doing indie, burning the midnight oil is well known to be a very big and common thing in studios. I know so very many stories about people who literally never go home the last few weeks before a game ships, they just sleep right at work.

 

[Mouser]

mmm ... it is an assumption that they wanted to see two more games "like the game he already showed them" - so two more RPGs with decent stories, since that is what appears to have impressed them.

Yes, it would be easy to create a couple of individual puzzles in a week, if you knew what you were doing.

lol Mouser:

"My take on it is they want to see how he performs under pressure and can he burn the midnight oil when he needs to."

They wouldn't want to see how you perform under pressure and burn the midnight oil unless they planned for you to be doing a bit of that.

That would DEFINITELY have me running the other way

That's part of the game.

I can count on one hand (two tops) the number of software publishers that can afford to release a major product "when it's done":

Microsoft, IBM, Oracle, Blizzard, Google, maybe Apple (but they're a fashion company so software is a side gig for them), EA if they really wanted to, maybe a couple in Europe/Russia. A couple of the big console franchises.