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Start Your Video Game Career Review

Leave a Comment / Book Review / By William M Coyne, PharmD, MBA / September 30, 2021

Brief synopsis of Start Your Video Game Career

Start Your Video Game Career: Proven Advice on Jobs, Education, Interviews, and More for Starting and Succeeding in the Video Game Industry is a book focused on searching for jobs in the game development industry. It focuses on what hiring managers want to see on your resume and, broadly, how the reader can get the experience being asked for. It is not a blow-by-blow instruction manual for every skill a game programmer or audio engineer needs to learn. Instead, it covers the most frequently asked questions someone might have when considering a career in game development, how to apply for jobs, advice for interviews, etc. This is a book most suitable for someone inexperienced at applying and interviewing for jobs with limited knowledge of what the game industry is like. If you’re looking for a specific list of technologies to master, look elsewhere. This is a book for someone that isn’t aware of all the possible jobs that are available in the game development industry, what they pay, and what the work is like.

Length

This book is 113 pages in length; there are only a few extra pages at the back of the book for the credits and the author’s bio. This is a lean book with no bloat to bump the page count.

Target audience

The target audience for this book is anyone looking to enter the video game industry as an employee. Specifically, individuals with limited knowledge of the game development industry and those just starting out in a professional-level career. The author covers game testing, art, design, sound/music, and programming. A handful of other super niche areas are also covered briefly along the way. This is not for solo or indie game developers hoping to create their own studio or publish their own games on platforms like Steam and the Epic Game Store.

Relevance to game development

The relevance of this book to game development is 100% if your goal is to work for someone else as an employee. This is probably the majority of people who will actually get paid to develop games. If you’re a solo or indie developer hoping to create your own studio this won’t have much to offer, however.

How Start Your Video Game Career should be read

The book itself suggests the reader can skip around to applicable sections, but because of the short length I would recommend everyone just read the entire thing. When the time comes to apply the content to your job-seeking endeavor you can just go back and reference the respective section you need help with.

Best features

Start Your Video Game Career offers solid advice for applying to companies and landing a job as an employee. Much of the content could be applied to a career in any field, however. The video game applicability comes down to a few key areas covered: what each role in game development does, how each role gets experience employers care about, what the alternative education paths are, and how to transition from other careers into game development. I like how the author never spends too much time talking about any single game development role/job type because they don’t all apply to me as a reader. The FAQ format was great; the content is presented as answers to commonly asked questions. Finally, this book is short, but it’s lean and no-nonsense. The author did not add a bunch of fluff to bump up the page count and charge more money. This is a quick read, but you’re going to get exactly what you need and nothing more. I really appreciate this format.

What I wish was different

The author focused on the primary and most common traditional game development roles. That is, working as an employee for a game company as a programmer, artist, tester, etc. However, there are many other fields not covered. Things that come to mind include working for a game engine like Unity 3D and Unreal Engine. These huge companies offer tons of employment opportunities closely related to game development. Furthermore, I mentioned previously this book does not cover solo game development and indie game studios. For entrepreneurial readers like myself I would have appreciated some advice or general direction on this topic. The author does spend a little time talking about freelance positions, but this is not the same thing. Freelance is really working in a traditional role but as a 1099 contractor. It’s not the same as starting your own company or publishing your own games.

Writing quality

I did not notice any typos and the writing is very high quality. I would give this book high marks in that regard. It’s a short book, but the author did a great job putting this valuable content together. I appreciated the larger-than-average font size used and white space.

Code quality in Start Your Video Game Career

This is not a programming book, so this section is N/A.

Author’s attitude

The tone is professional, objective and upbeat. The author does not cast any judgement or suggest any one role in game development is better than any other. By the end of the book the reader gets a sense that the author is a genuinely nice guy just looking to help connect people with their dream job. He doesn’t pull any punches and explains the reality of the different game development career roles; crunch time, competitiveness, salary, etc. Nothing is sugar-coated.

Should you buy Start Your Video Game Career?

This is a book I recommend for someone in high school, college, or later in life that has limited knowledge of what the game industry is like and/or how to apply for a professional level job. If you’re operating a high level in a professional industry or generally have a lot of knowledge regarding what careers are available in game development the value proposition is limited. However, the advice found inside is extremely valuable for greener folks just starting out.

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GAMEDEV: 10 Steps to Making Your First Game Successful Review

Leave a Comment / Book Review / By William M Coyne, PharmD, MBA / September 29, 2021

Brief synopsis of GAMEDEV: 10 Steps

GAMEDEV: 10 Steps is two books in one. First, it’s a general high level guide for creating and publishing a game on platforms like Steam. Second, it’s a story about a young man that overcame tremendous adversity to achieve success in several different aspects of life. You’ll be inspired and you’ll very likely learn several things about the game development journey along the way.

Length

This book is 256 pages in length. There are no appendices or indices.

Target audience

The target audience of GAMEDEV: 10 Steps is an aspiring game developer interested in publishing their first commercially viable game. In general the author is coming from a background in which games are created with engines like Unity 3D and Unreal Engine. The primary platforms talked about in depth are Steam and the Epic Games Store, but there is also some coverage of other minor portals.

Relevance to game development

The relevance of this book to game development is very high for me because it’s exactly the direction I want to go in myself. That is, I want to create a commercial game for Steam using Unity 3D. I’d like to work solo for as much of the project as I possibly can and I’m primarily interested in the PC market.

How GAMEDEV: 10 Steps should be read

Because it’s not highly technical in nature this book should be read linearly like any other novel. I would not recommend skipping around.

Best features

The author acts as a role model for the reader; he overcame many substantial struggles throughout his life. It left me feeling inspired and that success is possible for me too if I continue to work hard. What stood out to me, by far, was the author’s suggestion to go big with your first game project. That is, make the game you really want, within reason of course. This is in sharp contrast to the advice I typically hear which is almost always centered around completing a bunch of small projects first. After giving this some thought I tend to agree with Wlad; the smaller projects may not be interesting enough to keep you motivated; making your dream game definitely will. Finally, each section has a bullet-point summary to reinforce the main takeaways. These will come in handy if you ever want to quickly reference a specific topic in the future. As stated in a different section, there is no index.

What I wish was different

This was genuinely a good read. I have no significant concerns. The author did a great job.

Writing quality

I was impressed with the writing in GAMEDEV: 10 Steps and I am not pulling any punches because English is the author’s third language either. I was turning pages quickly. I actually stopped reading 2 other books I was working on at the same time so I could focus on this one. As someone with a fair amount of industry knowledge I still learned plenty of new things. The entire book explains the game development process by telling the story of the author’s own successful game, DARQ. The author is essentially the underdog we all love to root for; he overcame all odds to become successful.

Code quality in GAMEDEV: 10 Steps

This book makes several suggestions regarding what types of features should be implemented in your game, but it’s purely descriptive in nature. There is no code, but the suggestions are generally helpful and will benefit a beginner that has yet to complete a full-featured commercial game.

Author’s attitude

The author is a hero in his own story, an underdog that overcomes impossible challenges. The book is filled with words of encouragement and hope. You’ll no doubt walk away from this one feeling good, feeling confident.

Should you buy Start Your Video Game Career?

I would absolutely recommend this book to anyone just starting out their game development journey. Not only will you gain some time-saving insight into the development and publication process, but you’ll also get to enjoy the author’s own tumultuous journey to success. It’s not often that you get to listen to a story and learn some useful semi-technical knowledge at the same time. You should take advantage of the opportunity.