PPD Report

PPD was all about the skills, information and the preparation that would be required of me to progress into employment or higher education.This unit revolved around the research of the types of careers we would want to progress into and working towards a portfolio, development of personal presentation and communication skills. I was required to gather information, evaluate and prepare information that supports my career choice and progression goals.

I begun by researching for atleast three possible career choices of your desired choice for whatever career you were  following or wanted to follow. For my career path, I am hoping to get into the gaming industry as a possible game designer. The gaming industry offers a lot of job opportunity's that interest me so I gathered more than three relevant career choices for my task. I feel this was a great start for the unit as I had begun already with a goal in sight. I had alot of choices of jobs within the gaming industry that interested me.

My next task involved looking into any development and improvement and then to complete an action plan for my Personal development. My action plan involved what my most desired achievement was and how I was going to go about to achieve it. I planned together that my first achievement would be to finish further education and move into higher education, I hope to finish my education with a degree in game design. After I finish my education I hope to start moving into the gaming industry, looking for work. I can't guarantee I will be able to jump straight into game development. So I hope to do some work maybe as a game tester first, and then use this as a stepping stone towards my more desirable job.

I had to source course information from atleast three higher education providers. This is what a great step to take a look at what different desired courses had to offer for what I wanted to learn and how it would affect my future career.This was also a great way to look at my options and break down which had the best to offer and was most appropriate for what I wanted to achieve.

I had to research through portfolios from several people. I mainly researched into the other people's work around the same interests as me. So I mainly researched into people's work involved in game development, 3D modelling, concept artwork. By researching through other peoples work it help gather an understanding of  how others layout and organise their portfolios, this in turn will help to understand how I met want to present my work through a portfolio in an interesting way.

This process of thinking about my future and what I want to do for a career has helped me alot to set a path of how I plan to achieve this ultimate goal. Researching into higher education courses that will help me develop the skills necessary to work in my desired line of work. 

Companies I'd Like To Work For

Bethesda


Bethesda have created some of my most favourite games to date such as the Elder Scrolls series. I am very inspired by their work and their development towards their games, and would be very interested to be a part of their team, to have the chance to be aboard the team to be a part of the development process in their games. I am very interested to see how they work towards the development of their very unique games. I would love to be a part of their concept artists, 3D modelling or to help create the story, the sounds for the game, quests, coding. They also appear to hire plenty of QA testers, as their games can be quite large and filled with possible bugs to find and fix.


Rockstar


Rockstar are well known for their open world free roam games such as the GTA series, but also for their successful release such as Red Dead Redemption. I admire the time they spend on these games to create a very large open world environment free for players to explore, the story and the overall enjoyment that is offered through the game for players. I would enjoy to be a part of this team to help create the setting, story and game play.


Capcom


Capcom have created some very successful titles such as Street Fighter, Dead rising and a very popular Resident evil series.

Portfolio Research

http://scuro.carbonmade.com/

I really like this person's portfolio for his large range of inspiring and talented concept art. The portfolio consists of a wide range of different types such as character concept, environment concepts and equipment/guns concepts

http://madmassey.com/

I chose this person for his involvement in the level design for some of the most popular games to date. He created many environments for single-player and multi-player. I am very interested in 3D environment modelling so it's interesting to see the person who helped create environments of some of my favourite games.

http://jessecarpenter.carbonmade.com/

I really like this persons 3D work, and the 3D demo reel in particular which showcases this persons work brought into UDK, this shows this persons 3D modelling brought into a game, and shows the different 3D objects in the environment.

Higher Education Courses

BSc (Hons) Computing And Games Development


http://www1.plymouth.ac.uk/courses/undergraduate/4230/Pages/CourseOverview.aspx

The course balances Games Development workshops with core Computer Science topics, supported by mainstream Computing modules. We actively encourage enterprise activity and provide a professional studio environment tailored to support agile development across new and emerging platforms.

We see our students working across the independent and commercial sector as agile developers with a passion for games and related interactive systems, but with realistic expectations. We have excellent links with a wide range like minded companies, with regular guest visits, placements and related events.

Work individually and as part of an interdisciplinary  team to hone your skills, develop your portfolio and deliver live projects as you carve a niche in this fast evolving sector.

FdSc Computer Games Technology

http://www.somerset.ac.uk/course/fdsc-computer-games-technology.html

Students who have successfully completed their further education courses, either a National Diploma in a computing or media discipline or related A level subjects, who wish to study at a Higher Education level with a view to entering a career in computer games technology or design. It is also suitable for mature students who have relevant computing experience who want to return to learning or change career direction with a view to working in the games or computing industry.

Whether you are starting your university level study after completing your further education or returning to learning as a mature student this course will provide you with the skills and knowledge to enter the computer games/technology industry or assist you in your application to progress onto the third year at the University of Plymouth to achieve your BSc (Hons) degree in Computing and Games Development or other computing related fields

Design for Games (PCA)

http://www.plymouthart.ac.uk/prospectus/Degree-and-Honours/Foundation-Degree/FD-Design-for-Games--/DFFH1A1112

http://www.plymouthart.ac.uk/prospectus/Degree-and-Honours/BA-Topup/BA-(Hons)-

Design-for-Games-(3-year)/DFFT1A1112

Design for Games at Plymouth is much more than learning how to create yet another point-and-shoot scenario – although to be able to do that calls for a tremendous range of skills. Our students learn about the commercial entertainment industry and we equip them to find career openings, but the programme takes a much wider cultural view. It recognises that games technology is being put to a huge range of purposes, for example in education, medical simulation and architecture, and is informing the spread of new ideas about social and democratic design. The meaning and value of games and play are changing and deepening.
We teach the complete design chain from drawing on paper to developments in Photoshop, to making 3D models and adding texture and rig, as well as sound production, narrative structure and character development. You will explore how digital games have evolved in genre and design to become complex experientialnarrational texts with the power to influence how we understand stories and information. And just as the industry relies on teamwork among specialists we will encourage you to collaborate. Tuition is provided through lectures, studio-based activities and online through a virtual learning environment. You will be encouraged to meet practising designers and to participate in study visits, external commissions, national competitions and exhibitions. The reality of the games producing world is built into everything we do.

Action plan

My most desired achievement to my goal is to finish my further education and move into higher education in game development, to learn the skills that will benefit me in the gaming industry as a whole. I hope to achieve a degree in Game development. Straight after I finish education I plan to start applying for QA jobs for games, such as game tester/Analyst. I consider such a job as this important to my career. While I largely desire this job, I view it as a stepping-stone in my career as I hope to move directly from this, into Game development.

As I am currently learning 3D in my present course, I aim to to stay focused and learn as much about 3D as it could be a fundamental skill for a game development job such as 3D modelling or 3D environments.

I am currently trying to afford a new and powerful PC so I can do alot of work through this in my spare time, such as photoshop work, 3D modelling, concept art etc. I also plan to set up a youtube channel for game commentary videos. If my channel is successful I could gain partnerships on youtube and be earning money just for doing my hobby. This could also benefit me in the gaming industry.

Some opportunity's in the gaming industry are still quite vague to me at the moment, as I may still be unaware of some. but I hope to continue learning about all the opportunity's the industry has to offer. But in the meantime I am aware of alot of opportunity's that interest me.

Career choices

Game Tester

You will be expected to play games looking for problems and accurately report errors through our database to ensure superior game quality before release.

Qualifications

Successful applicants will have excellent written and verbal communication skills and be able to observe attention to detail. You will have good general computer skills and be a confident learner working with word processing, databases and spreadsheets.

Candidates must be 18 years of age and above and provide two references. Applicants will preferably be educated to further or higher education standards.

Game Analyst

Self-motivated game enthusiasts

Role will involve working alongside developers. To do this effectively successful applicants will be required to demonstrate excellent written and verbal communication skills. Will be required to pay close attention to detail. You will have strong computer skills and be confident learner working with word processing, databases and spreadsheets.

Qualifcations

A good knowledge of the video game industry and the processes involved in creating a game would be beneficial.

Game Designer

Game development is a collaborative process involving multi-disciplinary teams. Designers must be able to communicate their vision to artists, programmers, producers, marketing staff, and others involved in the development process, and accept feedback on their work.

This involves presenting their ideas both verbally and on paper, for which they need writing and basic visual design and drawing skills. They should also be reasonably fluent in a range of 2D and 3D graphics and animation packages, such as 3D Studio Max or Maya.

Good technical knowledge is required, with some programming skills at least at ‘scripting’ level and awareness of the various games platforms and technologies. This is a multi-skilled role, requiring:

·         thorough understanding of game play theory;

·         storytelling and narrative development skills;

·         information design and user interface design skills;

·         excellent communication and presentation skills;

·         the ability to work as part of a team and independently;

·         systematic and strategic thinking;

·         imagination and creativity;

·         knowledge of the requirements of the relevant Health and Safety legislation and procedures.

A common route into the role is via a developer or publisher Quality Assurance (QA) department working as a Game Tester. This offers a good grounding in the development process, access to software and tools, and an insight into the different job roles.

Youtube Partnerships

As part of my hobby, I could gain a partnership on YouTube for the allowance of advertisements on my videos.

My videos will be Gameplay videos, commentary’s and possibly game reviews. This could lead to a partnership with Machinima. Meaning I could have an income from this.

I believe the Amount of money you get depends on the amount of views you get on video.

All that is required is a passion for gaming, committed to recording, editing and uploading videos regularly. A basic knowledge of editing software for videos and sound. And possibly a certain amount of YouTube subscribers

Level Editor

Working from the overall game design documentation, the Level Editor designs a portion of the game usually referred to as a ‘level’, specifying in detail all the possible actions and game play events which take place within that level; the environment, including locations, general layout of the spaces within the level, and thoughts about visuals, eg lighting, textures, and forms; the characters and objects involved, whether they are player controlled or non-player characters; and any specific behaviours associated with the characters and objects

Level Editors must have good spatial and layout design skills, knowledge of 3D modelling, and a firm grasp of game design principles.

They also need to be very well organised. Game development is a collaborative process and Level Editors work both independently and as part of a team and they must be able to accept and give direction.

They train the testers to play the game and also work closely with artists and programmers, for which they need a practical understanding of programming and preferably some scripting language competence. This is a multi-skilled role, requiring:

·         spatial awareness and the ability to visualise layouts; imagination and creativity;

·         excellent communication skills (both verbal and written);

·         IT skills and competence in the use of world editing tools;

·         attention to detail and the ability to evaluate quality;

·         knowledge of different platforms;

·         a passion for games and knowledge of game design theory;

·         knowledge of the requirements of the relevant Health and Safety legislation and procedures.