An Inside Look at the Game Development World

(from Hitpoint Studio Presentation)

Our Game Design camp was fortunate to have two visitors yesterday from a local game development company called Hitpoint Studios, which makes a wide variety of games (We have another visitor coming in today). Dorinda and Jerry from Hitpoint gave a thoughtful presentation about what goes on in the development of a video game, and what my co-instructor Tina and I liked most of all was how they explained all of the skills that one would need to get a job as a game developer.

Here are some of my notes:

Jobs in the Game Industry

• Programmer
• Artists
• Animators
• Artist Techs
• Tester/Quality Assurance
• Game Writers
• Designers
• Project Managers

And here are some of the academic skills that they say are needed for the variety of jobs:

• Math
• Logic
• Drawing
• Creativity
• Collaboration
• Physics
• Composition/Writing
• Acting
• Communication
• Attention Span
• Organization

Dorinda and Jerry both encouraged our middle school campers to consider advanced classes in math, programming and writing in high school if they truly are interested in entering the game industry. I loved that message — that gaming is more than just playing a game. Writing and story development and collaboration are key components to developing and publishing a successful game. Remember that next time that gamer in your classroom asks: “Why is writing so important?” They also suggested getting into development with Flash software, since most mobile and web-based games are built in some version of Flash.

Peace (in the game),
Kevin