5th Dec, 2018: This talk was delivered at Indian Game Developer Conference (IGDC) 2018 (4th, 5th Dec, 2018).
Why would one want a career in the game industry? The pros, cons and details about what it takes to be a game maker – is what the YouTube description of my talk reads.
Below is a link to my talk’s youtube video and also, a little more about how my talk is structured.
The title “Game Industry Careers – The “Why” Factor” is inspired by the phrase “X-factor” used to describe things that matter but are an unknown – The “Y-factor” or “Why-factor” in my view, is the things that go a step beyond the X-factor – in being the lesser known things that’d determine whether or not a person finds a game industry career to be an interesting or worthwhile option for them.
The talk is around 40 minutes long.
(1) 0 – 8:30 – The first 8:30 minutes of the talk describe Nalin’s own journey in the game industry; from the times he got involved making games while in school and in college – to his company’s first financial successes in various mobile app stores – which happened around Sept/Oct 2012 (Q3 / Q4 2012) – to the point where Nalin felt he as well as his company Darksun Tech had finally arrived as a viable business making mobile apps and games.
(2) 8:30 – The scope; the possibilities and the pain – of being in the game industry.
(3) 11:57 – what makes the game industry dangerous ?
(4) 14:50 – Texas saying – “we wouldnt have pissed off the last oil boom if we knew it wont
(5) 15:20 – Octro founder saurabh Aggarwal story
(6) 16:51 – gap in market moonfrog and others came – investors invested in them also
(7) 17:13 – oday for example 3 patti not such a big thing – now chasing the next big thing
(8) 17:34 Same with moonfrog – ludo king / ludo club
(9) 17:50 reality – what can an artist, programmer, designer in that situation do ?
(10) 18:05 – airline analogy – still try to be the best possible pilot; but employees cannot ride as passengers – eiher you are a pilot or a supportive crew member with more space to fail but need better team skills – no space for 9 to 5 bureaucrats riding as passengers
(11) 19:52 – some examples
20:05 – why do you always want to be a pilot or someone who can slog like hell and make a game or product / project succeed on his or her own.
20:15 – positive side of industry where it’s demanded everybody should be a pilot
20:24 – friend that was a very bright engineer and worked with a company making EDA software and decided to spend his time to improve the UI of his company’s EDA software – but that company was not market driven.
22:23 – game industry is market driven and recognition driven
1.
2. 22:25 – role that involves results
24:24 – IIT + Indian navy friend – gamified a software – and got recognised for it
25:12 – the next question is – should you still do it ? or should you not do it ?
Why not ? You need to have a very long attention span.
26:14 another thing you need…. can do attitude – cant quote rules but have to get stuff done….
buck stops here
need doers not yes men…
not good for rule followers; have that spirit….
dont have that spirit – then go somewhere with less responsibility on the shoulders
28:05 – when HP was started – keep tools unlocked
founds would work with their own hands – would work at night –
29:02 rules of the garage – same rules in game industry also – advantage is you can make a huge impact.
29:17 if new guy trying to make an impact – 1 man army I am virat, I am sachin – I will do it all
29:34 – big picture guy that doesnt want details wont be a good fit in the game industry
game industry guy has to be in touch with his product.
30:23
30:45 – this is a photo – (pic of Steve Jobs & John Sculley)
31:46 – number clucker- didnt care about UI or UX the way steve jobs does
32:30 User experience versus MBA style number based thinking and analysis
33:01 – when somebody is giving you advice; ask where are they coming from ? Are they thinking like a big company CEO or do they really “get it” and understand game industry and user experience and more?
ask what advice you will act on and ask what advice is not applicable ?
33:30 the brighter side is closely knit teams – they forget everything else and stick their necks out for each other
35:14 reward of being on same team and looking shoulder to shoulder – IPL Sachin and low level cricketeer
all for one and one for all
36:05 tightly bound team – senior came to junior’s wedding 10 years after they worked together even just one day after wife’s father had just passed
36:42 guys on extreme right side – game & people – Crossy Road – Matt Hall & chinese guy
success
37:26 – logo of moonfrog
37:30 – nobody can forget angry birds
37:42 – may say just students
38:16 – like walt disney etc
38:30 – happy to email presentation – my email ID is….
39:05 – happy to help