Level 4 Games careers plan and map

Careers plan and map

Career paths

 One possible career path that I would potentially do in the future would be art design for 2D and 3D games. Which revolves around the process of creating the visual elements of a video game whether it is 2D or 3D including characters, environments, and special effects. Game artists use a variety of techniques, including 2D and 3D modelling, animation, texturing, and lighting, to bring the game world to life. They work closely with game designers and programmers to ensure that the art style and visuals complement the gameplay and overall game experience. The difference between a game artist and a 3D artist is that characters are brought to life via 3D modelling, which fleshes out the movements, mannerisms, and tracking of the characters as they move through the world of the game. Game artists are tasked with producing a library of 3D assets that will be used to populate the various levels of the game. A game artist is different to a game designer as game art gives a feel of the game by making and shaping the characters, environments, props, assets and visual effects whereas game design is designing the concept, game mechanics, story, plot points and the users overall experience when playing the game. The duties and responsibilities of a game artist can vary depending on the specific role, studio, and project requirements. However, some common responsibilities associated with game artists include: 2D/3D art, character art, concept art, environmental art, technical art, texture art and vfx art. 

Real world jobs

An example of this job is a technical art intern for Code masters Software company in Birmingham who creates extraordinary new gaming experiences for millions of players. This company has a reputation as a global team of creators, storytellers, technologists and experience originators. This is an internship career and requires at least a year of experience. Another example is an intermediate Environment Artist career (Ubisoft) in Newcastle which requires between 2 to 5 years of experience. When it comes to game artists, people in this role lead the vision for a project and establish its core principles. To be a good game designer, I would need creativity to come up with concepts, logic to problem-solve and bring them to life using different software's. Other skills required for this role would be strong drawing and designing skills with the ability to visualize and design from abstract ideas. Game artists also need an advanced understanding of visual language, texture, colors, dimension scale, perspective and a working knowledge of industry standard software and ongoing professional development. One of the most common hard skills when it comes to game artists is animation, for example, game artists must have experience with animation and video composition and learn to develop with programmers to develop custom animation tools, such one of the earliest real time cloth billowing and deformation systems.

The next career I would be very interested in doing for a future career would be game design which unlike a game artist, they largely focus on aesthetics and storylines, while video game developers handle the coding to bring the gameplay to life. Game designing involves the process of creating concepts and rules for the gameplay. Game designers work on the actual gameplay, mechanics and systems that form the game and they use their creativity and problem-solving skills to make the game enjoyable, engaging, and challenging. For this, game designers need to make sure they are able to collaborate with other members of the game development team, including artists, programmers, and audio engineers, to discuss everyone else’s ideas and opinions about the concept of the game, otherwise these ideas can’t be brought to life. Working in teams, video game designers develop concepts through storyboards and flowcharts that describe gameplay. An example of a career for this role is Sports Interactive Game designer career which is the British videogame developer best known for developing the Sports Manager series.

For this job, developers would be responsible for creating and guiding the latest feature designs for Football Manager projects on PC. Typical activities would include features definition, systems, and interfaces. Game designers must possess a great understanding of videogame levels, layouts, drawing maps and architecture. Good Level Designers need a high level of creativity. They don’t need to be super technical, but this role does require a good understanding of some of the basic aspects of technical game development and game programming. It is also useful to have basic to advanced drawing skills to communicate ideas visually to the game developers, so they know what they are working with when developing the actual project.

The other career I would be interested working in would be a marketing job. This career revolves around to the promotion and advertising of video games and video game-related products, services, and personalities to potential customers, users, or followers. This can include creating trailers and other promotional materials, posting on social media, and other platforms to be able to engage with the game community through events, giveaways, and campaigns. Influencer marketing has become a popular way for gaming companies to reach new audiences and build up brand awareness. By partnering with popular game influences, companies can leverage their audiences to reach a broader market and create a new level of engagement. The types of roles this career would include would be brand marketing, community management, digital/email marketing, product marketing, social media and user acquisition. A marketing manager is known to be good at thinking creatively and analytically, creating engaging content and is good at understanding who the game is for and how to reach them. Marketing is all about asking and answering the right questions in the right way at the right time. Common sense, emotional intelligence and risk management are all important aspects of problem-solving. The skill sets that make sales and marketing teams successful are a combination of both hard skills (what a person knows) and soft skills (how a person thinks and behaves). When it comes to hard skills, marketers need to excel in one or more of the following marketing hard skills, depending on their specialty. Marketing generalists typically need to have mastered each of the following hard skills. If a marketer has focused on a specialty, they might only need to excel in one of the following, depending on their role.  Marketing manages must make sure they include data analysis as marketing departments rely heavily on data analysis that helps them gain insights into customer behavior, website traffic, social campaign results, and more. Analyzing information and creating a marketing strategy based on those findings is critical to a marketing team's success. It's also important for video game marketers to have well-developed communication skills since the role requires several types of communication. These professionals communicate in this role by interacting with the client and their team, presenting campaign suggestions to clients, writing content for promotions and reporting on the success of the campaign. Examples of videogame marketing careers in the UK include EA sports FC Senior media planner (Guildford UK) Head of brand and marketing (Sports interactive, London) which requires two – five years of experience and a good understanding of this sector in the industry.

Skills (Where are you on this journey)

One of the reasons why game artist could be a possible future career is because I have recently been doing a lot of designing 2D characters to use in my own 2D game in Unreal Engine and overall, I am really interested in creating my own designs for not just characters but also props, environments and special effects. I would be very interested to continue with this to help improve my skills even further and make more in depth and detailed designs for 2D and 3D games. I also spend a bit of time at home doing art like drawing as a hobby and I do enjoy designing characters, objects and backgrounds from time to time. One of the skills I would still need to work on would be working on creating 3d models on software's like 3Ds Max. This would be an essential skill for this career as Game artists are expected to be proficient in 3D animation software platforms and have the ability to translate 2D images and concept art into 3D models.

All game artists will be familiar with the Adobe creative suite, including Photoshop, Illustrator, and Flash, as well as 3D-based software like Maya and Blender. Working knowledge of ActionScript and/or FLEX would also be advantageous. A college degree isn't required for a career as a game artist, but a background in fine arts, graphic design and animation can be useful for a game artist. As a game artist, you and your development team are playing God in creating a world or a universe into which players are enticed. Being able to escape into the imagined worlds of games is part of what makes a game desirable to play. In many ways, game artists need to be keen on being an observer for behaviors to be able to replicate them in a virtual environment. For a game designer as a potential career, I’ll need creativity creativity to come up with concepts, logic to problem-solve and bring them to life, and empathy to understand player behavior, amongst other skills. To be able to work in any career in the gaming industry, you must have the essential skills such as excellent technical skills, including proficiency in programming languages and a wide-ranging knowledge of gaming trends. During the past couple years of me working in the game’s development course, I have learned a good range of skills when it comes to designing and developing ideas for videogames using different software's like Unreal Engine. I also have a decent amount of knowledge about different videogames, videogame genres, Esports and gaming trends due to the wide amount of research I have done over the last couple of years are that is vital to be able to understand and follow instructions to bring the creative vision to life. A good knowledge and understanding of game programming languages and specialization in a particular platform, such as PC, mobile or consoles, would aid my progression.  I am also aware that success in game development requires a strong focus on teamwork, communication, and problem-solving, qualities I am dedicated to cultivating further. As for a videogame marketing manager, typically marketing professionals earn a degree in marketing, public/media relations, advertising or in a related field. It’s important for videogame marketers to have these skills as it demonstrates the extent of their knowledge and expertise in the field of gaming and marketing. Video game marketers may benefit from organizational skills since marketing strategies tend to have several aspects. Organizational skills can help marketers manage each aspect of the marketing plan to successfully promote the video game. Different platforms appeal to specific audience segments, and the marketer should tell you the best channels to concentrate your marketing efforts. Marketing is costly, and brands should only spend marketing dollars on channels that promise the best returns. The marketer needs a good understanding of your target audience to know where to find them. With this knowledge, they will know the content formats that work well on those platforms to spur user engagement and use it to help create brand awareness. 

Conclusion and Final thoughts

So, in conclusion, my top choice for my future career in the gaming industry would be a game artist so I can design and create 2D and 3D assets like characters, objects and environmental backgrounds for 2D or 3D games. This would be because I have a lot of experience with creating my own designs for characters or environments which I really enjoy doing. Most recently I have been creating 2D pixel characters for an extra project I'm working on during my spare time which I plan to add in a 2D game in Unreal. This type of career would help with improving videogame designing skills even further.  My recent experiences as a 2D character designer for my own game in Unreal Engine have ignited a profound passion for game art. I am equally drawn to designing props, environments and special effects that transform virtual worlds into immersive experiences. The world - creating aspects of game art allows me to push the boundaries of my creativity, working with a wide range of themes and styles. My main goal would be to push the boundaries with designing more immersive, in-depth pieces of artwork for videogames that would make those games more appealing and interesting for the players. My passion for gaming, combined with my skill set, research, and experience, drives me to pursue these goals with commitment and passion for the gaming industry.

·         https://www.gameindustrycareerguide.com/video-game-careers/#designer

·         https://uk.indeed.com/career-advice/finding-a-job/how-to-get-video-game-job

·         https://hitmarker.net/career-advice/the-complete-list-of-gaming-esports-jobs   

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Swot Analysis

Strengths A decent amount of knowledge and understanding about the gaming industry, different videogames, videogame genres, Esports and gaming trends.  Some skills involved with developing 2D and 3D levels using Unreal Engine.  Game art skills including designing characters, objects and environmental backgrounds. Able to work and communicate with a team. Being able to balance working on different projects at the same time.

Weaknesses The gaming market can become oversaturated and highly competitive, making it more challenging to stand out.

Opportunities I am dedicated to cultivating further with focusing on teamwork, communication, and problem-solving in games.  I am interested in social media management for videogames and would be interested in an opportunity which allows me to focus on this area on digital marketing to promote games in the gaming industry.

Threats   The fast pace of technological changes and softwares could make it challenging to keep up with the latest tools and trends that I may need to use for certain projects.   Competition: The field of game art and design is highly competitive, with many talented individuals vying for limited job openings.

 

 Skills Development

I have been using a new 2D art software called Pyxel edit which is a useful software to use to create 2D pixel environments. Since this was the first time I used this software, I started off small by designing one of the items called a 'Chug Jug' from the game Fortnite as I am very familiar with what the style of the game looks like when it comes to the colors and designs it uses. I chose an image from google to remind myself exactly what it looks like so I can add all the little details and so I can add all the little details and used different shades of colors to make it look more 3D like. I also started designing a mini 2D pixel environment similar to the environments in the game Fortnite because I've played the game so much so I can easily visualize in my head what all the environments look like in the game. Same with the other image, I used a variety of different shades of colors so the image would stand out more and make it more 3D like.