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Bob Bates, industry veteran responsible for such titles as Timequest (Legend Entertainment, 1991) knows all about it. He started working on games in 1980 and has seen enthousiastic youngsters come and go, and experienced his fair share of ups and downs as well. In his presentation “The Belly of the Whale – Living a Creative Life in the Games Industry” at GDC 2010 he recounted his own experience to the audience as well as the confessions of more than 60 game devs he interviewed.
Many people enter the games industry thinking they’re going to be the next Miyamoto or Will Wright. In reality, the chances of actually becoming an ‘auteur’ are pretty slim. Making games is a collaborative effort and there never seems to be enough time or room for you to add your own unique twist. But feeling like a cog in the machine, Bates said, might actually be a good thing. As long as you ARE the cog and make sure you find something worthwhile about every project you’re involved with. Such an attitude makes it possible for an individual programmer/artist to feel important and distill meaning from his or her work. That’s at least how many game devs told Bates they cope. Bates: “While in the industry, you are in the best position to move forward so why not start out as a cog? After all, being the guy in the proverbial ‘mail room’ is how many veterans started out. Who knows, you might learn something about yourself and your qualities.”
For people who want to move up on the ladder or want to be self-employed Bates had advice as well. Many former designers fear they might miss their creative work as soon as they take up a management position. “You must compare yourself with the conductor of an orchestra”, Bates said. “You’re not actually making music, but you feel the joy of mentoring and leading others.” The difficulty in being a manager lies in the fact that you no longer have your tasks cut out for you. It’s more likely you have a million little tasks half-done, but can’t expect a compliment when you actually finish them.
In contrast, being a freelancer does not give you complete creative control either (as popular belief goes), since your clients probably have very specific requests which you must adhere to. The freedom lies in having more than one client and the possibility of passing up on an assignment if you feel its not right for you. Just make sure to put food on the table!
To sum up, Bates told the audience that whether you’re self-employed or working for a company, you should never be afraid to take risks. Take the risk of moving to another position or company, keep learning new stuff in order to prevent your knowledge becoming outdated and expand your skills by starting personal ‘side projects’ you do in your spare time. “More skills means more opportunity to show them”. Bates advice -based on those 60 interviews he had- might possibly keep people working happily in an industry which traditionally has always had a high turnover.
Original source: Nisute by Martijn van Best
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