Creative Industries Level 5:The Bitmap Brothers way into the games industry

Looking at The Bitmap Brothers site i came across their way of getting into the games industry and although it seemed to focus on becoming a games developer but later down the page there is a mention how artists can get into the games company and mentions certain software's which i have been introduced to during my tenure at Leeds College of Art.



Utilities like Dark Basic (3D Games Maker - http://www.darkbasic.com/) are not used in the professional computing world, but do help beginners understand the process of creating a game. Individuals carry out each aspect of the creation of a game, e.g. we have artists to work on anything relating to art/graphics, programmers to code the game and designers (level and game designers) to create the levels and design the game. These types of utilities put everything into one and make things much simpler, but are limited. You would need to have in-depth knowledge and would need to be either fluent in at least one programming language like C/C++, be able to use software packages such as 3DStudio Max, Maya, Photoshop, etc., to be able to use programs such as Steinberg's Cubase VST for creating music or have used and created levels of such games like Quake, Unreal, Half-Life, etc. with their respective editors. Good Game Designers have all-round knowledge and perhaps have concentrated heavily on one area, e.g art. There's also the Internet or mobile aspect of gaming to think about. These are getting more and more important all the time so any skills or knowledge you have relating this is can be beneficial.



Going straight into artists, programmers, musicians or designers roles is harder and generally most companies (developers) in the games industry look for experienced people or people with high levels of qualifications, so for example, we generally look for people who have already worked on programming projects, preferably games, or have a degree, or equivalent, in programming, e.g. in C/C++ and have good demos of games or utilities they've created. Art/Graphic roles are more subjective, so good examples of previous work are very important.



There are more and more university degrees becoming available that are aimed for the computer games industry (programming, art, etc.), so check with them. Included below is a brief list of the courses and links to the university's sites below (taken from Issue 7 in 2001 of Develop (http://www.developmag.com/), an international monthly magazine for game programmers, artists, musicians and producers).