International recruiter, Interactive Selection, is proud to sponsor this year’s Women in Games Conference (now in its 7th year) at University of Bradford, West Yorkshire, UK on 25th and 26th March 2010. The two days of the conference bring together people from the games industry, public sector and academia to discuss issues pertinent to women in games round a general topic which this year is focused on general imbalance in the industry both in gender and ethnicity. Speakers this year include Sheri Grayner Ray, Designer and Author, Dr Aphra Kerr from the National University of Ireland Maynooth, whose research focusses on exploring the production and consumption of digital games and Paul Mayze and Rebecca Bull from Monumental Games (COO and Human Resources Manager respectively).
David Smith from Interactive Selection will be speaking on a panel entitled ‘Competing Globally’ in addition to being one of the conference sponsors so do get in touch to let us know if you’re going or give us your thoughts if you have attended in the past.
Fancy a career with one of the games industrys most exciting, dynamic and creative companys? Reflecting the fast-paced and ever-changing nature of the games industry, SEGA is growing rapidly – not just because of the success of our computer game titles, but due to our aggressive acquisition of prominent games developers (e.g., The Creative Assembly, Sports Interactive). Its an exciting time for the company, with a London European head office and subsidiaries in France, Germany, Spain, The Netherlands and Australia. The foundations are now in place for SEGA Europe to become one of the worlds leading software publishers and developers. All of SEGA’s current vacancies including those of the development studios can be viewed at the careers page website: www.sega-direct.sega.co.uk
Martyn Brown is studio director and co-founder of Team 17, whose global client list includes publishing giants Sony, Microsoft, Vivendi and THQ. Team17 Software are one of the few remaining “Britsoft” veterans and a wholly independent entertainment software studio based in Wakefield, West Yorkshire, UK. Currently they have approximately 70 staff and are developing titles for current, next-gen, digital platforms and handheld technology – and are constantly looking for the right talent to join them.
Click the button to Join Us. Games :: Tester was the first site for game testers created in 2002. This site and the facebook group is completely FREE. It has never charged anyone a fee to join. Beware of any site or group that asks for money upfront. It could be a scam. Happy Networking wth fellow game testers!
Diane Lagrange and Jen Bolton talk about their passion for working on online games and give advice to people wanting to find a job in the games industry.
The Art Director is responsible for the overall look and feel of the game. Working with the Game Designer in the first instance, the Art Director devises the game’s visual style and directs the production of all visual material throughout the game’s development. The Art Director may produce much of the initial artwork themselves, setting creative and technical standards and also determining the best tools and techniques to deploy.
Art Manager £35,000-£55,000
Head Artist, Head of Art
In conjunction with the producer, the Art Manager puts together and manages the team of artists and animators who produce the bulk of the art assets for the game (including environments, characters, objects and effects) under the Art Director’s direction. The Lead Artist must ensure that the art and animation team works to schedule and within budget. They also work closely with the programming team to make sure that all art and animation assets produced can be easily imported into the game engine.
Lead Artist £35,000-£45,000
Lead 3D ArtistLead Concept ArtistLead ModellerLead Character Artist
The Lead Artist will manage Graphic Artists that create the visual elements of a game, such as characters, scenery, objects, vehicles, surface textures, clothing, props, and even user interface components.
Senior Artist £25,000-£35,000
Senior 3D ArtistSenior Concept ArtistSenior ModellerSenior Texture Artist
Senior Environment Artist
Senior Character Artist
Senior GUI Artists
Senior Artists create the visual elements of a game, such as characters, scenery, objects, vehicles, surface textures, clothing, props, and even user interface components. Artists also create concept art and storyboards which help communicate the proposed visual elements during the pre-production phase. A minimum of three years experience as a Graphic Artist would be expected. They may supervise other artists as part of a project team.
Graphic Artist £20,000-£30,000
3D Artist,Concept ArtistStoryboard Artist3D Modeller
Texture Artist
Environment Artist
Character Artist
GUI Artist
Graphic Artists create the visual elements of a game, such as characters, scenery, objects, vehicles, surface textures, clothing, props, and even user interface components. Graphic Artists also create concept art and storyboards which help communicate the proposed visual elements during the pre-production phase. Artists work under the supervision of the Lead Artist. They create art assets for the game according to the specification and they are usually responsible for managing those assets. Some Graphic Artists specialise in the design of human figures and characters, others in buildings and landscapes, and some in textures for 3D objects. Graphic Artists must be aware of the technical constraints and capabilities of the platform that the game will be played on.
Special Effects Artist £25,000-£32,000
Visual Effects Artist, Cinematics Artist
Special Effects Artists specialise in the visual elements of a game, such as explosions, smoke and water.
Technical Artist £25,000-£32,000
Senior Technical Artists, Lead Technical Artist
The Technical Artist acts as a bridge between the artists and programmers working on a game. They ensure art assets can be easily integrated into a game without sacrificing either the overall artistic vision or exceeding the technical limits of the chosen platform. One large part of the job involves keeping up-to-date in changes in technology, both in terms of console hardware, art packages and new techniques. The Technical Artist is expected to be able to create custom tools to improve the efficiency of their team. This is usually carried out using the scripting languages included in the main modeling and animation packages. Technical Artists will also have an overseeing role when it comes to providing feedback or debugging complex assets such as character skeleton rigs and skinning systems.
Animator £20,000-£42,000
Senior Animator, Lead Animator, Animation Manager
Animators in the games industry are responsible for the portrayal of movement and behaviour. Most often this is applied to give life to game characters and creatures, but sometimes animations are also applied to other elements such as objects, scenery, vegetation and environmental effects. Specialist software packages are used to create the animations, which are used for both automated or ‘in game’ behaviours and predefined sequences or ‘cut scenes’.
Outsource Manager £25,000-£40,000
Outsource Production Manager, External Art Manager
The Outsource Manager is responsible for ensuring the successful delivery of the elements of a game that have been subcontracted to another developer, on time and within budget. They control the financial and other resources needed for outsourced elements of a project and co-ordinate the work of the sub contracted developer, making sure that the quality and vision of the game is maintained, whatever problems may arise.
Asset Manager £20,000-£32,000
Asset Managers are responsible for managing the collection of graphic files, movie files, sound files, music files that are used to make a game.
A good game for women – Recruiter magazine article 9 December 2009.
Global recruiter Interactive Selection has launched a website-centred initiative to attract more women into the male-dominated games industry. An informal diversity audit undertaken by the games and interactive entertainment specialist revealed that about one in 10 candidates for games industry jobs is a woman. In the games development specialism, the figure dropped to one in 15 but about a quarter of applicants for games marketing were women. The industry welcomes – and would like to see more – women recruits to both help develop games and take on business-focused roles, Interactive managing director David Smith told Recruiter. “While it’s not possible to overtly advertise for guys or girls, the message I get is, if they have two candidates of equal ability, they’d probably hire the women.
“We know that the numbers of women in the games industry are frustratingly low,” Smith continued. “It’s a failing of the games industry as a whole -; not just on a social level but on a business level.” But whatever the cause, he said, “I want to do more to help women work and progress their careers in the games sector.”
The website, http://www.womeningamesjobs.com, showcases professional women who enjoy successful careers across a spectrum of specialisms in games companies. Interactive Selection consultant Antonia Cullum conducts the interviews and addresses the issues with an understanding gained from first-hand experience; Cullum previously worked as a producer in the games industry.
“Women just don’t think of it as an option” in part because of the prevailing stereotype of the industry as “geeky boys sitting around in rooms coming up with all of these games”, Cullum told Recruiter. “That’s massively out of date.” Instead, Cullum said, the reality is a sophisticated, multi-billion pound global industry. “There is this really exciting industry out there!” she exclaimed.
To date the site gets about 2,000 hits a month. Smith believes that will increase within six to 12 months to 20,000 hits per month.
Darryl Still is International Publishing Director of 1C UK Ltd. Founded in 1991, 1C has become the leading publisher and distributor of computer games in Eastern and Central Europe. 1C Company is widely acknowledged as a game developer and has several internal studios. Internal developments of 1C include IL-2 Sturmovik, IL-2 Sturmovik: Forgotten Battles, Aces Expansion Pack, Pacific Fighters and Theatre of War. 1C Uk focus on helping Western companies distribute their titles in the fast growing Eastern European marketplaces and on bringing 1Cs titles from Eastern Europe to both the Western European and North American markets. 1C UK also deals with all IHV, OEM and Online Distribution issues.
Proper Games is a small, highly skilled games development studio, located in Dundee, Scotland, founded by industry veterans in early 2006. Proper Games first title Flock! recently scooped the Game Award at the Scottish BAFTAs, the first time the Scottish BAFTAs have included a category specifically for videogames. Chris Wright is COO of Proper Games.
International recruiter, Interactive Selection, is proud to sponsor this year’s Women in Games Conference (now in its 7th year) at University of Bradford, West Yorkshire, UK on 25th and 26th March 2010. The two days of the conference bring together people from the games industry, public sector and academia to discuss issues pertinent to women in games round a general topic which this year is focused on general imbalance in the industry both in gender and ethnicity. Speakers this year include Sheri Grayner Ray, Designer and Author, Dr Aphra Kerr from the National University of Ireland Maynooth, whose research focusses on exploring the production and consumption of digital games and Paul Mayze and Rebecca Bull from Monumental Games (COO and Human Resources Manager respectively).
