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The first question is where are you looking? If you are interested in a particular studio, outside of industry sites the best place to find jobs for the studios is on their own site. In my experience (from just looking around, speaking to people) the industry has no shortage of applicants. Because of that, there is no real need to expend extra resources ...

Welcome to the game industry :) So you're doing a massive refactoring. Massive refactoring is Evil, but that's not the topic. You were probably given this task to test your nerves anyway, so don't give up on it. My answer is: you have to break it down into little chunks. It'll be your daily routine in a few months, so you have to learn how to divide and ...

What does the job game designer entail? I always explain design to people like this: What's the difference between Black Jack and Poker? They both involved players and the same deck of cards, but are entirely different games because the rules that define how the games are played are different. In essence that is what a designer does, writes a series of ...

As with a lot of hiring questions, "it depends". The human element in hiring can't be ignored. That being said, there are a couple of things to keep in mind. Are you going to be talking to a big company or a small one? Bigger companies might have HR personnel who aren't necessarily game developers who do the initial filtering. They might be more ...

It depends on the studio. There are two fundamental camps. The terms are ones I've used, but probably aren't common elsewhere. "Dallas-style" level designers typically do everything, typically using some kind of engine that has heavy brush editing (i.e. quake based). Usually from layout, texturing, placing props, lighting, NPC placement, scripting, etc. ...

I want to focus on your third question, because it's within my area of knowledge (indie developer): I haven't written a line of C++ code for many, many years. And, in fact, I have forgotten many of the nitty-gritty details (and in C++ there are a lot of those). I do most of my work in C#. And you absolutely don't have to learn C++. However, the skills I ...

Don't write a demo for an interview if you can avoid it; submit existing code or projects if you can. Demos and code samples are important for a lot of reasons (which vary by reviewer), but mostly they are about showing potential employers the kind of code you write in the wild and the kind of problems you are interested in solving. They also help ...

You don't see game development positions on general programming job sites because good candidates don't come from there. With few exceptions (web/database guys, for one), game programming is such a different beast than the majority of programming jobs out there. And "game programmer" is one of those "sexy" titles that has a lot of casual people throwing ...

It is worth noting that there are no industry standards for either the test material or the evaluation thereof, so your mileage may (read: will) vary wildly from that described by the answers here (my own included). That said, what you describe doesn't sound like an uncommon test structure to me (the number of questions is a bit higher than any test I've ...

If you're sure that's the direction you want to take your career, I wonder why you haven't done a simple game or demo. As a developer, I had been making simple games, demos and experiments since I was 5 until I was 22 and finally started my company. When hiring people, not having anything to show was a red flag for me. Please don't take this the wrong way, ...

Frequently coders are called upon to figure out if designs are possible, and also help order new features in schedules, but when it comes to actively providing creative input, each company varies wildly. Some don't have many dedicated designers and the coders are meant to "add value" while developing the features. In other companies there is a very strict ...

The answer is: it depends. Unfortunately that's probably the best you're going to get. While a level designer isn't as likely to be using Java (but it's possible), they're commonly going to implement some form of scripting language. Depending on the type of level design you're doing, scripting may be all you do. It's good that you have the skills in art and ...

I do not have personal experience doing this so my suggestions are just speculation. (this is just how I would do it) Firstly, you'll need a portfolio for your writing, developed characters, manifested environment/world descriptions ect... You'll need to showcase your abilities in this way to allow people to explore the possibility of you being a good fit ...

Hardly anyone A select few (see comments) do game design full time: but more typically game design is only part of a job. Some designers are also producers: they manage the personnel, schedules, budgets, and contracts of the games they design. Others combine game design with development (programming, art, audio, etc). So if you want to do game design as a ...

I'm going to point you to my answer on the game dev degree vs. computer science degree question: Game Development Degree vs Computer Science Degree A CS degree is more than just learning how to program. And working with a team making games is a lot more than just programming.

If I was looking at your resume, no. A math minor is probably the most common thing to accompany a CS major, and at most universities requires only one or two more classes - sometimes not even that, just a careful choice of electives. It won't hurt you at all, but all it tells me is that you're good at playing the college course picking game, not anything ...

This data is hardly standardized. On top of that, most companies aren't completely open with what they're working on. Just because company X shipped a certain kind of game in the past, doesn't mean they're working on that kind of game now or in the future. I mean for some companies it's pretty obvious, but for others not so much. So I doubt you'll find ...

Do what they want you to do. Create a game or demo (walk through landscape etc.). Don't be disappointed with that they did not want you to intership now. Great is they even responsed. And interships are the best what you can do in paralel with school. Also it is what will makes you unique in eyes of employers after school. For example, when i get my ...

I would recommend attending any game and/or mobile development meetups you can. There you will find more than a few folks that have the opposite situation...they understand the programming end of things, but can't wrap a story around their pixels. Talk with them (and listen!). In the meantime, develop a storyboard for a game. Start with your favorite genre ...

If you want to be a game programmer you probably can't avoid learning C++. If you want a different job in the game industry, like producer or artist, then you don't need C++. C++ is hard. Lots of people don't learn it until college. You have lots of time. Work with some other languages to get up to speed on basic programming concepts. Start small and take ...

Personally, I feel that you should always convey a professional image. You don't have to be completely suited and booted, but you should at least make an effort to wear an ironed shirt and some smart trousers. Regardless of whether you have a small or large games company, even if the culture is to work in T-shirts and jeans, like it is as my place (and many ...

Testing/QA in the games industry is basically just like anywhere else, albeit with a tendency towards less process and formal methodology than in non-game work. Companies will hire for full-time QA as well as contract staff; the ratio of each will vary based on the culture of the studio and the needs of their current project or projects (typically contract ...

This is almost standard in even the smaller software studios now. I haven't applied to any game studios but it's easy to assume they would be at the same level of difficulty if not more in the interview. They want to know exactly what you said. If you've ever been taught that or not. If you didn't get a degree in computer science or have significant ...

You have a lot of time to learn yet, so I don't think you should be too worried about which language you use, but I will state some things that you might find helpfull: C++ is a language while XNA is a framework. XNA is not going to be updated by Microsoft any more, so I find it incredibly hard to imagine it being used 9 years from now in any serious ...

Hiring is kind of a black box. It really depends on the person who's looking at your resume/CV. All I can say is that saying you have a minor in something is just another bullet point. Sometimes that helps. Maybe it shows you're more useful on the heavy math side of programming which some generalists programmers have trouble with. Maybe the person ...

There's no rules, sometimes There was no rules in the game company I worked at. Sure, I don't think it's uncommon for coders to do design. I'll share my examples. Regarding, While I was hired as a programmer, but I did design and music. It's not that I wanted to do the creative stuff, they just had no structure and needed my design. Yes, moving from a ...

If you want to work in the games industry as a programmer, make a game demo.. I can not stress enough how much one of these will increase your chances if you do not want to go to a school for game development. If however you are more interested in level and environment development, this is what designers do. You may want to get an existing engine (Unreal?) ...

As a burned-out, bitter, and cynical programmer with >10 years in the industry, this would be my advice: Don't plan on games as a long-term career. Plan to do it for a few years, get it out of your system. But plan for a more sensible career longer-term, and don't leave it too late to make that change You might manage 5-10 years in the industry, then ...

As an engineer at a mid-size studio, if I'm reviewing your resume, then yes it certainly helps -- but it also means that I'd drill deeper into linear algebra and geometry during the interview. It also signals that you are more interested in the systems/engine side of programming. A minor in the creative arts or language or so on can also be a positive ...