How to Break into the Game Business

Advice from Rich Redman

We get letters and e-mail (well, mostly e-mail) asking us how to break into the game business. While I can't give you guidelines for being the best most employable worker in the world (hey, I got laid off two years ago and work as a temp), consider this your road map to getting in the game business as a designer.

Preparations

Here are some things to think about before you start.

Don't Do It

Game designers do not make big money. Many people in the game industry are two steps ahead of the bill collectors at best. You need to seriously consider your personal goals before taking up this career. If you measure success by money, a big house, a sweet ride, and widespread fame, then choose another path. The best you can hope for is moderate financial success, peer awards, and fan recognition. All of which are pretty sweet, but may not be what you need.

Get Educated

You can get into the game industry with a high school diploma. I've seen it done. However, it's easier if you have a college degree. Good fields include English, math (especially statistics and game theory), art, design, and business. No, seriously. A degree in business sets you up to start your own company, or to advance up the corporate ladder of an established one. Granted, those two things quickly move you away from designing games, but they can get you in the business.

Alternately, a business degree can get you in the door at a gaming company, give you a chance to get to know R&D, and you can make a lateral transfer over to a design position.

Not to mention that this is a long process and you'll need that degree to help you get a job while you're working your way in.

First Steps

Here's how you start.

Get Known

God bless the Internet. It makes it so much easier to get known. First, decide what games you like. Then start answering rules questions on the message boards of the companies that make those games. You will very quickly learn what you do and do not know as other posters point it out to you. Learn from your mistakes and delve more deeply into the rules.

Keep posting. Do not get emotional in your posts. Don't start or respond to flames. Stay calm and reasonable. In this way, you develop a reputation for knowing products and for being an analytical, intelligent person.

Introduce yourself to staff (see Freelance, below) at conventions, too.

Write

If you're interested in designing games, then you need to be able to communicate using the written word. The best training in writing is actually writing.

Take writing courses in college or as part of continuing or adult education. These courses can't do much more than get you started, but they will put you in touch with other writers.

Form a writers' circle with a few of them. Circles create a weekly commitment to write, and to read others' writing. Circles get you used to being criticized - and you will be criticized. It's part of the job. If you can't handle it, find something else to do.

Publish

The Internet makes it possible for you to publish your work, and gather comments on it, under various open licenses (including the OGL and d20 License). Do so.

Setting up a website isn't that hard and you probably know someone who can help you. If your target game or company doesn't use an open license, then contact the company and ask if they have a policy about fan websites, and what that policy is before you publish anything.

Play

Just because you're getting ready to write games doesn't mean you should sacrifice playtime. Play the games for which you want to write. Play all sorts of other games. Talk with like-minded friends about what makes a game fun or not fun. Spend some time analyzing the games in addition to holding opinions about them.

Working

Now you're ready to work as a game designer.

Freelance

You can skip the "Get Known" step if you want. It didn't much exist before the Internet anyway, and lots of people got jobs in the game business before the Internet was so accessible. Instead, you can develop a reputation as a writer by freelancing.

It's generally easier to freelance for periodicals like Dragon, Dungeon, Pyramid, and so forth than it is to freelance for a game company. Write to those periodicals or check out their websites for writers' guidelines. Contact the editors and ask what they need for an upcoming issue. Don't send writing samples unless they ask for them. Don't go on for hours about your great idea for an article. Don't ruin your chances by criticizing their magazine (or anyone else's magazine, since the editor probably hasn't always worked at the magazine you're contacting).

Please understand: Once you get a reputation for being a dependable, professional, competent freelance writer, then the editors will want to hear your ideas for articles. You will be able to write what you want after you demonstrate that you adhere to deadlines, have a decent vocabulary, can implement the rules, bring a vivid imagination to the task, and can run a spelling and grammar checker even if you don't know every single rule.

This may seem like it goes without saying, but you will need a computer and word-processing software for this step.

Once you freelance for periodicals, contact a game company for which you'd like to write. You can contact designers or editors directly, but the people you really want to contact have titles like design manager, development manager, or director of R&D.

If you have any question about who the right person to contact is, how to spell that person's name, that person's gender, or the correct address, call the company and ask. Be brief when you make that inquiry, be courteous, get to the point, thank whomever you speak to, and move on. Don't try to make best friends on the first contact.

When you contact the company about work, do so in writing. Do not send a hand-written letter asking for work. Do not use a typewriter. Partly this demonstrates you can turn in a clean electronic file, partly it demonstrates that you are capable of writing, and partly it gives the recipient a chance to forward your letter to the proper person and to think about jobs for you.

Now, there're lots of books out there on writing professional letters and resumes, so I'm not going to rehash the topic here. What you want to do after the open salutation is hit the high points: You are looking for freelance writing opportunities. Your writing credits include X, Y, and Z. You can provide samples of those credits at the person's request. You can be contacted using the information in the letter, and you will follow up with a phone call in about two weeks. Then call two weeks later.

Once you get freelance work, you're not done. After you turn over your files, find out who your editor is and talk with that person. Let that person know you're interested in improving your writing, and that you would like to discuss any changes the editor has to make. Set up an appointment for a call, or an office visit if you live nearby. Follow up with editors and developers. Learn from the changes that they make.

Keep Playing

Monte Cook once posted a rant on his website about designers and editors who no longer played the games on which they worked. I won't try to out-do Monte. Instead, I advise you not to be one of those people. Keep playing the games. Play at conventions and see how people outside your circle of friends think about games and what they want for their games.

Get In

This next step is entirely optional. Many people in the game business are freelancers with some other, full-time job to pay the bills, just like me. They're great folks, they do terrific work, and I respect their ability to hold down a full-time job and turn in quality writing.

If, however, you still want to go further after this much exposure to the eldritch guts of the gaming industry and the rabid opinions of your "fans," here's what you do: Talk to the head of R&D (whose name you should know by now). Find out if there are any job openings, or if there are likely to be any in the near future. Politely let that person know that you are interested in any such position, and accept that person's feedback courteously (because that person may tell you that you need to work some more on your writing). Don't worry about a resume, cover letter, or list of references at this point. Have those ready, because you might need them on short notice, but don't offer them at this stage.

Keep your ears to the ground, check out websites (because companies often post job openings on their websites), subscribe to professional mailing lists, and generally look for job openings.

You may have to build your reputation at some other company (and don't be surprised if one of the periodical companies offers you a job during this process) before getting a job with your dream employer.

Parting Shot

It's often said about finding a job that it's not what you know; it's who you know. Knowing someone is how I got my first job at Wizards of the Coast, and it's how I got my current temp gig. You, too, may have a family member or friend in the business who already knows and respects your talent and can hook you up. If so, great! More power to you! If you're not in that position, the steps I outlined above should bring you into the fold. Good luck and gooble-gobble, we accept you. Now stop writing us and get to work!

Your Turn

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