Brand Building

I know it's been a while since my last post, though I needed something worthwhile to post rather than writing for the sake of writing. I think this topic might be what I was waiting for.

Anyway, I'm going to type away and hope some kind of comprehensible blog post appears.

What have I been up to?

As you may know, getting into the games industry with zero professional experience is practically impossible right now. That means any student or graduate currently exiting university is being shoved aside in favour of experienced industry professionals (who themselves are taking a pay cut to stay employed in the games industry).

I am biased in saying this, but surely large studios should be looking to train the next generation of game designers. Not to benefit themselves, but to encourage, inspire and provide a little technical support where needed. Hell, even if you want to be a bit selfish, see it as training the people that will keep your studio's name going after your methods are considered outdated.

I recently volunteered at a games event near London, the team in charge said something that stuck with me. I actually haven't had a single day yet where this thought wasn't in my head; "We all need to help eachother as much as possible. Pass on your knowledge, if you only know a little share everything! You never know what games you might be helping to create"

Information should be free. Instead we treat it as a currency, using it sparingly in the hopes we get something in return. For that one day at least, it felt like everyone's knowledge was unlocked. You could ask anything and get honest answers.

So to pass on what I've learned and keep sharing a little, here's what I'm doing off the back of my findings...

Freelance

Starting today, I am opening myself up to any freelance work in 3D modelling, Environment Design, Hard Surface Texturing, QA and other odd jobs that I feel are within my capability. As I may have mentioned (in great length and detail), getting into a large studio isn't really in the books for someone in my situation. So if I can't go big, I'm not going home just yet. Freelancing, even just for the experience, is worth it. It's a way of sharing my knowledge, helping the little guy (indies) all the while building up my own reputation. I'm going to look around over the next week and see which sites are best to host my 3D modelling and game design services. However, if anyone wants to start freelancing, you can't stop at making a webpage and saying "I'm here". You've got to go out there and pitch yourself, make them believe that they need you in their arsenal.

To do that, I'm going to reach out to indie studios and offer my services, maybe get some feedback in return. For those of you that might be interested, all I'd ask is for permission to use my contribution in my portfolio and possibly a monetary compensation for my efforts.

The New Studio

Now obviously I can't expect to make a living from odd jobs here and there as a freelancer. At the moment I've got enough time on my hands for a few personal projects. After getting some advice and examining my options, I realised that I have the time and the means to create my own games. They won't be huge (at least not to begin with), but it'll be enough to create a platform.

To give you an idea of scale, I was talking to this one solo developer who made a game about skimming stones across a lake. It was something simplistic, relaxing and rewarding for the player. Ultimately, the player would search along a beach for a flat stone, play a mini game to throw the stone and have a high score counter that they could toggle on or off for the number of times the stone bounces. My point is that this game worked.

Some that went to the stall were there for a competitive streak to see if they could beat the high score, others went for a casual game and it seemed to appeal to both audiences.

Keeping simplicity at the heart of what I aim to make, I feel the best course would be to build small scale sandbox games.

Volunteering

I found that there are a number of benefits to volunteering at gaming events.

I'll start with an obvious one, you get to spend more time on site with the developers.

When you're a visitor or attendee of an event, you might spend a few minutes at each stall to play their game and grab a freebie. You don't tend to stand around afterwards talking to the dev about how they made the game, if they're working on something new or asking about their background.

As a volunteer, you're there from setting up in the morning to packing up afterwards. Throughout the day, you'll become a face they recognise and seek out when they need assistance (usually a charging cable issue or trying to find the nearest loo).

Another benefit is that you go on break when it gets quiet, meaning you get more time to talk with devs than most others will. I found that this allowed for a better networking experience.

Then of course there's the matter of free entry. Offering to help out always has a way of paying off.

For those reasons and a few of my own, I'm looking to volunteer at a few more gaming events this year and next. So if you know of one or are looking to set up an event in the near future, please feel free to reach out.

As always, thank you for taking the time to read this far.

Please feel free to read another blog post or take a look at some of my 3D work.