OVER THE EDGE September 26 - October 10, 2007 SimRAN LEHAL ConrripuTor | Yesterday evening, s music autend of. a ones pass | a walk- me to and from the bathroom. Others smoke near . Some fin ig Arts and Culture 7 Careers in the Video Game Industry JESSE VENINSKY CONTRIBUTOR Most people have played a video game at one point or another. Some may play every chance they get, some may be addicted to an online MMORPG (massively multiplayer online role-playing- game) like World of Warcraft, or some may be limited to playing a game of pong or tetris every now and then. You can probably guess that there are tons and tons of code be- hind those games, but there is so much more to it than a single person hunched over a computer screen! There are many games that are based in fantasy seta ona imagination to life in a way that can entrap the player in its “magic”. Thenthere are those games that mimic reality. For ex- § ample, war games may try to be historically accurate. fy A computer strategy game called “Age of Mythology” includes encyclopedia-like information on the history and mythology that those characters/units/weapons/ etc are based on! Some university courses |; may be more involved in these games then some may realize. ' Economics: Many games involve some kind of sys- tem involving money, be it from killing monsters, sell- ing vegetables, creating items to sell to ‘other players, or even hav- ing an entire empire to worry about! A good example of this is a MMORPG called “Maple Story”. There are NPC (non-player-characters) that sell items, and many people are fixated on getting more money than ever necessary; since people charge outrageous prices for rare items, some people’ play just to get money, buying low and selling high. The situation got so bad that the developers had to include taxes to reduce prices and the overall total of “mesos” - the in-game currency. English and INTS: While in early games writing was limited - pac-man wasn’t really writing intensive - as games get more and more epic, script writers are necessary for games with high produc- tion values. It’s just like reading an interactive book at times! With games being imported from other countries, localization (translating and editing to make the game more receptive to other countries) also becomes important. History: Being historically accurate is something that some game series must strive for. “Medal of Honor, Rising Sun” is based on WWIL. Having the player initially on one of the ships being bombed, it advertises “Over 20 authentic WWII weapons”. on a computer if you don’t have someone to run that computer! Pro- gramming, hardware design, online/network programming and hack protection (starting to get really important!) are some examples. Programming is what puts everything together, what allows things to move and “think”, getting into artificial intelligence. Arts: If you’re interested in this field of gaming, expect to be wor- shipped! Artists truly bring the game to life! Oh sure, I can think up an awesome idea for a game, program it, get everything working, but if my epic-sci-fi adventure action R.P.G. with a twist is filled with stick figures, it’s not going to be fun to look at, not to men- tion play! Character design, Environments, Technical artists (kind of like an artist + i eet combo) and Level design are some -% ix artistic aspects. Music (The Audio Artist): Another integral part of the de- sign of a game! Good sound and music effects work with art to draw the player into the game world and inspire emotion, or if done well enough, a sense of 1 beauty. I can name a few beauti- | ful songs even from the age of the Super Nintendo! 4 Scary games use music to be q scary, sad moments in games use sad music. These enhance the } experience and make playing a | game something enjoyable. } If the production values are * high enough, a whole orchestra i and composer may be hired! I’m looking at you, Final Fantasy! Soundtrack composers, sound designers, and voice acting are a féw examples of musical aspects. Several other careers are involved less directly, or do, not require a university degree: Quality Assurance: Playing the game over and over and over and. over... and over again to find all the bugs. Game Management: Producers, directors, vice orcitents and | presidents... this is starting to sound like a movie set... Game Publishing: People who make sure the game is sellable. Journalism: Running websites, magazines, and even funny web- comics are involved here. Professional Gamers: Don’t get your hopes up too high, Mr. “noob-killer’, these guys are on a completely different level to ac- tually turn their gaming prowess into $$$! Solo Game Designer (also known as freelancers): Extremely risky and difficult, you would have to do all of the above! It’s not impos- sible though, one of my favorite games was a freelance game. Retail: Part time job... blah... And last, but not least, one of my favorites: The Game Designer: With the knowledge of a hundred different games played over “Bats also got to bed in the morning, After a ht Physics: While you wouldn’t expect Mario to do any goomba- and over again, knowing what is fun and what’s not, and coming as hunting and foraging, blind and in the dark, they stomping in real-world physics, such games like “Worms Arma- up with idea after idea to create something amazing "Vides people poe oe — of their caves, peed geddon” and “Tank Wars” have weapon fire altered by wind and ye their imagination along with the skills of their sein to bring it side down, silently, by the thump of a) gravity! Even having a general idea of how physics works will help _ 1 together! Like nurturing a flower, the designer carefully watches thousand other hearts beating as still and as mutely greatly with programming. Many characters are allowed to “jump”, — over and cares for it until it blooms as theirs. Not until the next night do they awake} but how do you determine how high they jump? How far? How fast —_}f you are interested and would a, ee ognnel aries este a aces TRS they rise and fall? What if they jump off an inclined plane? What the book “Paid to Play, An Insider’s Guide to Video Game Careers” of see en eee — . a if something hits them while they are jumping? which has helped me learn much about these different careers avail- hollows ame in the be ee Computer Science: You can’t expect to create something thatruns able, and helped me write this article.