Game design guru Chris Crawford's advice and encouragement to young people

AhMy young friends, you want to become a game designer, so I want to ask what kind of advice I have? I will give you my best advice, but I guess you may not be able to hear it. You may be more willing to listen to the suggestions provided by those who say what you love. But it doesn't matter to me. What I can do is actually something that I want to get into some people's ears.

 

First, you should have an initial plan for your career path. Do you want to receive more specialized training or want more comprehensive education? Specialized training can give you some special skills, so that you can enter the job as soon as you graduate. However, education can give you a more comprehensive quality training, but it may not immediately see the benefits, but in the long run it will bring you more advantages. This is a simple choice: the road to quick development or the road after strategic planning. If you are eager for success, you should immediately go to the specialized schools and they will teach you the latest and most dazzling computer technology. Energetic is the advantage of young people, but patience is by no means the specialty of young people, so I can fully understand that you can hardly bear to learn those seemingly unrelated sub-subjects. When I was your age, I was always impatient with other college courses. But now, I am ashamed of my reckless thoughts and sincerely thank the teacher who taught me.

 

The road to speed up is the road to immediate effect. If you enter Specialized A school that teaches Computer Game production, or majored in computer game design at a regular university. Here, you will learn a lot about the latest computer game design technologies. After graduation, you are likely to be able to find a job in a regular game company right away, and you can do it by the age of 23.

 

Please stop. It should be noted here. Production and design games are completely different. The first job you get must be a small job. For example, you can draw an animation for an insignificant NPC. What this NPC does is just a leisurely move on the background; or write a piece of code. The purpose of this Code is to display "are you sure you want to exit?" when you press exit? ". If you are good at doing these things, you may be able to draw more complex animations or write more important code in a few years. Then, in a few years, you may be able to take on a more important position and handle more important things.

 

But please do not count on this. The fundamental problem is that there are hundreds or even millions of students, just like you, who are doing the same dream and want to enter the game industry. Consider the supply and demand curve. If the supply of employees is ten or even hundreds of times higher than the demand of employees, the price curve will tilt down. You will surely get a poor salary and no respect. Of course you can complain, but the answer is not only simple but also very real: If you don't like it, you can choose to leave, hundreds of young people like you want to get your job.

 

In fact, this is what is happening now. If possible, you can go to the "Game Developers Conference" held in San Jose on March 13, March or April each year. You don't really need to attend any seminars, but you just need to go around the conference center in San Jose, let's look at the people who walk. You will find two amazing facts: First, everyone is dressed in black, and second, their average age is between 25 and 30.

 

I don't know why they all wear black. This may be the rule that everyone needs to follow. But I can tell you why they are all so young: because everyone will leave this industry after several years of work. The game industry is like a strange huge building. This building has only one entrance, but there are many exits. Thousands of young people are crowded at the entrance, scrambling to push each other into the door. Only a few of them can enter smoothly. But for any entrant, there will always be another person leaving -- this can balance the industry. How young people are in this industry, it means how fast people are to be squeezed out. Few people are up to 30 years old.

 

If you think more deeply, you will find another fact: if you are the boss and there are so many little guys who want to play games for you, you can naturally hire a group of people with just a dime of money, drive them like slaves until they are exhausted and then look for replacements. You only need to hire some managers to ensure that these little guys work hard. This system works perfectly.

 

The only question is, are you planning to become one of them? I hope not. However, if you are so keen to sharpen your head and drill your head into the game industry, move on! It is useless for me to say so much. Let's take the time to see this.

 

But here I have another solution to tell you. First, you should get a formal education, which is by no means a one-night training. Go to a formal university and study any major except game production. Almost all majors can be: biology, physics (the one I first read), art, literature, history, psychology, linguistics. You only need to ensure that you have obtained regular education and try to take courses other than your major. Of course, you should take computer courses.

 

At the same time, you should start experimenting with making a game. Do not be disturbed by trendy image technologies-this cannot help your game design. You should focus on the Connotation of the game: the system and architecture of the game. How can a game run with a few elements? Don't fantasized about making products that are as good as commercial games-I 'd like to say to you that these games can only be completed with the power of many people. What you can do at this time can only be described in the word "poor" in comparison with those gadgets. If you compare making a game to making a car, you don't have to worry about the exterior coating and painting of the car, you should focus on how to allow the piston to work collaboratively, how to control the normal closure of the valve, and how to figure out what the carburetor is. What you want to make is a small kart, not a Rolls-Royce. All this is a test process. Don't imagine that your gadgets have commercial purposes. All you have to do is to create one and discard one-to increase creativity, you want to kill your own "child ". If you are addicted to these works and don't want to give up, you will never have the creativity that a real game designer deserves.

 

Continue to work hard to increase your creativity. So far, your work cannot compete with an experienced game designer, so increasing your capabilities is the only thing you should do at this time. The matrix has been used in the movie. The untrained NEO is not the opponent of Agent Smith in any case. Learn anything you can learn. Before graduation, I will repeat all the bookshelves in your school library, and I will not be able to hide any interesting things under the dust.

 

When you leave school, do not enter the game industry immediately. Find a decent job in a regular company and make some money. What's more, keep learning. You must learn a lot about teamwork and how to find your place in front of everyone. You should learn when and where to stand up and talk to your boss-although this opportunity is rare. Also, you should learn how to deal with experienced experts around you.

 

Continue to make games in your spare time and try to make as many different types of "Small cardinator" as possible, and try to understand the performance of various types of cardinator, such as the flexibility, speed, and other factors. When you have made six or ten such products, you may want to continue working on larger projects. Good. Find some like-minded friends who will help you complete your plan. I am sure this will be an impressive result. After that, show your baby to the world. Now, you can apply for a position in the game industry as part of your resume. If your products are really good, you will be able to get a real game designer position, rather than serving as those of rongo. At this time, you may still be an assistant to other game designers, but you are already in the right position. If you can do your job well, you will certainly have a future in the game industry.

I know these are not what you want to hear. What you want is the so-called fast medicine, such as learning this and then learning that, the next step is to make sure you get a high-income job, have a huge office, use the most advanced computer equipment, and do creative things. That's right. Everyone thinks so, but no one will get it. The people who describe these stories to you are just scammers who only want money in your pockets. A sad fact is that the days when the game pioneers dominated the world have passed. Now the game industry is an industry where no one will suddenly be discovered and become a superstar overnight, for anyone who wants to get started, there must be a long way to go before you.

 

You have passion and energy to make impossible possible. But are you ready for this long journey? Or are you planning to rush in before the real preparation is complete?

 

Good luck, children. I believe you will succeed.