10 Misconceptions You Have About Working In The Games Industry
9. Were Not All Programmers
Universal PicturesThats the assumption made by a standard, Second-Tier Normal Person; theyre savvy enough to have realised that there are actually people making the games, but they dont have much clue as to how that happens beyond what Hollywood has shown them. Tell these people that youre a game developer and their minds eye will conjure up images of you hunched over a keyboard, bathed in the glow of a CRT monitor as your fingers stream pseudocode feverishly into something that looks like MS-DOS. Fortunately, its a little bit easier to explain this misconception to your new BFF without causing offence or dribbling. You might have the conversational good fortune to actually be a programmer, at which point you can confirm that yes, everything theyre imagining is exactly right except that these days they let you have two monitors. Alternatively, why not take the opportunity to enlighten them as to the existence of concept artists, level designers, 3D modellers, riggers and animators, quality assurance and user research roles, musicians and sound designers, project managers, producers, writers, people who work in PR and marketing, team leads, business intelligence, community managers and studio development? Once theyve stopped whimpering, theyll almost thank you profusely for the education - before diving out the window.
Universal PicturesThats the assumption made by a standard, Second-Tier Normal Person; theyre savvy enough to have realised that there are actually people making the games, but they dont have much clue as to how that happens beyond what Hollywood has shown them. Tell these people that youre a game developer and their minds eye will conjure up images of you hunched over a keyboard, bathed in the glow of a CRT monitor as your fingers stream pseudocode feverishly into something that looks like MS-DOS. Fortunately, its a little bit easier to explain this misconception to your new BFF without causing offence or dribbling. You might have the conversational good fortune to actually be a programmer, at which point you can confirm that yes, everything theyre imagining is exactly right except that these days they let you have two monitors. Alternatively, why not take the opportunity to enlighten them as to the existence of concept artists, level designers, 3D modellers, riggers and animators, quality assurance and user research roles, musicians and sound designers, project managers, producers, writers, people who work in PR and marketing, team leads, business intelligence, community managers and studio development? Once theyve stopped whimpering, theyll almost thank you profusely for the education - before diving out the window.