Game Jobs

Ever wondered how to become a video game producer? Pete Wanat is the most baseball-loving, sunglasses-wearing video game producer at Universal Interactive, and here he tells you how to try and get a video game job by any means necessary. Wanat works as an executive producer at Universal, and he's been behind games like The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape From Butcher Bay and All-Star Baseball.  

Wanat proves to be a terrific source of information here, first telling you to "Malcolm X that sucker" by being aggressive, and then talking about writing down things you love about the game you're playing. Plus, I really like his idea about asking your teachers if you can do a report on a video game instead of a book report. Imagine reading about Uncharted 2 rather than The Scarlet Letter. That's good stuff. Now just convince your teacher that it's worth it.

• INFO: How To Become A Video Game Producer

Keep your browser tuned to G4 all week as we keep bringing you G4 University, and at the end of the week we'll have a guide for you that rounds up all of the information, and gives you the perfect places to start looking, along with some helpful tips. 

Ken Levine of Irrational Games is the guy behind BioShock, and the eagerly awaited sequel BioShock Infinite, and here he tells you where to get a start in the video game industry. Echoing much of what other people said during day one of G4U, Ken says that the best ground-floor position is Quality Assurance, otherwise known as Video Game Testing. But, he gives you a further tidbit of information that is crucial. Find out in the video below.

Working for a developer, rather than a publisher, will get you much more exposure to the creative team. As luck would have it, Irrational is looking for some QA testers right now! Slap together that resume and apply, no plasmids needed.

Keep your browser tuned to G4 all week as we keep bringing you G4 University, and at the end of the week we'll have a guide for you that rounds up all of the information, and gives you the perfect places to start looking, along with some helpful tips. 

In the world of video game development, associate producers are the lieutenants who hand down the orders from above. They are the people who make sure the game stays on track, is organized, and that things get done according to the gameplan. Jess Reed, associate producer for the combat team on God of War 3, explains what an associate producer does, how development works and what it's like to work on one of the most epic titles in video game history. 

She talks about what you need to be good at, chief amongst which is "not freaking out." It's a job with long hours and tough work, but you're at the heart of the industry working on one of the biggest games in the world. That's not too shabby. 

Keep your browser tuned to G4 all week as we keep bringing you G4 University, and at the end of the week we'll have a guide for you that rounds up all of the information, and gives you the perfect places to start looking, along with some helpful tips. 

Texas has long had a thriving video game development community, from the days of Origin Systems and the early years of id Software, to the modern day where id continues working alongside Gearbox Software and Bioware’s Austin studio. It makes sense that a game design program would eventually have been founded at a Texas university.

In 2002, Dr. Peter Raad, the director of Southern Methodist University’s Linda and Mitch Hart eCenter, was approached by members of the North Texas game development community who were concerned about a lack of local opportunities to train new members of the industry. SMU collaborated with these developers, and in 2003 founded The Guildhall, a master’s degree program in video game development.

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Getting into the video game industry as a tester is often where many people start. But in all honesty, it's like playing multiplayer with your buddies for eight hours a day. Instead, you're often playing the same level over and over, trying to break through the map, searching for bugs, and keeping your eyes peeled for what could be wrong. 

In a past segment of X-Play, we visited the inner working of the now-defunct Pandemic Studios where associate designer Ali Zandi talks about testing games and the work and hours that go into it. While Pandemic is sadly not still around, the work that goes into being a tester remains the same. Listen to Zandi explain the job while you steel your nerves and consider this approach.

Keep your browser tuned to G4 all week as we keep bringing you G4 University, and at the end of the week we'll have a guide for you that rounds up all of the information, and gives you the perfect places to start looking, along with some helpful links.

Mike Capps isn't just the president at Gears of War powerhouse Epic Games, he's also a bonafide professor. In fact, while he taught at the Naval Postgraduate School, he was also the producer, designer, and lead programmer on America's Army. Here, he holds class and gives you frank advice about getting a job in the video game industry.

Namely, get out there and create your own games! He encourages you to use the free Unreal Development Kit and to get your hands dirty by making your own games with a passion. There are plenty of other free tools out there that will allow you to do the same thing, so assemble your own team, and see if you have what it takes to build a game from scratch.

Keep your browser tuned to G4 all week as we keep bringing you G4 University, and at the end of the week we'll have a guide for you that rounds up all of the information, and gives you the perfect places to start looking, along with some helpful tips. 

is one of the mosy highly anticipated video games coming out this holiday season, and one of the starting points for people in the games industry is often the role of Video Game Tester. G4 University ventures out into the trenches where the work is happening, and we spoke to Epic Games' Senior Game Test Manager Prince Arrington, and he talks about what that job entails. See? Playing games for work can be a reality. 

Want to work for Epic and play a part in their next game? Check out their job listings and start brushing up on your resume, and keep your browser on G4 University all week long.

Game design at Northeastern University

I’m going to start this article with a full disclosure – I am a faculty member at Northeastern University in Boston, with a couple of years of teaching interactive narrative and game design courses under my belt. Don’t scream “OMG Bias!” in panic, though – this is no vapid sales pitch. Instead, consider this a tour through the program, with a guide who just happens to know the ins and outs reasonably well.

The Basics

Game Design is offered as a core curriculum in the master’s program at Northeastern’s College of Professional studies. The school offers a 12-month certificate program in Game Design and a Master’s of Professional Studies in Digital Media with a concentration in Game Design, if you want the specifics and wordy titles. What this means in plain English is that you can opt for the quicker certificate if you are simply looking to brush up on skills or learn an aspect of development that’s new to you, or you can go for the full degree program for the in-depth educational experience (encompassing core classes, specialty classes, and a thesis component) and the resume-sweetening power of a master’s degree. It’s up to you.

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G4 University wants to enroll you into the "How To Get A Job In Video Games" course, and the good news is that the enrollment fee is free. Playing video games is incredibly fun, which is probably why you're here reading this. But wouldn't you love to turn your obsession and love for pixellated playtime into a career? Now when people tell you that work isn't all fun and games, you can turn around and tell them that yes, it actually IS games. And fun as well.

Starting on Monday, September 12, we'll have an entire week's worth of information for you, and you won't have to read a single textbook. We'll have multiple features every day like "How To Be A Video Game Producer," a video look inside the making of Gears of War 3, interviews with industry notables like Ken Levine, the BioWare Doctors Greg Zeschuk and Ray Muzyka, Pete Wanat, and a look inside the video game programs at Northeastern University, the University of Utah, The Guildhall at SMU, along with the Gnomon Workshop and MIT's GAMBIT program.

It's an entire education aimed at helping you get into the games, and we'll be covering every facet of the industry. Stay tuned next week as it all unfolds, and keep it here all week for daily new G4U content. Veni Vidi Videogame!

Even though Dr. Ray and Dr. Greg from BioWare are actually doctors in real life, you don't have to be a doctor to get a job in the game industry. Here, the two company founders give you some inside tips on what it takes to get a job in the video game industry. Granted, these guys were doctors before when got into video games, but there's no reason you can't skip the doctor route and power forward.

Like Professor Capps from Epic, the Doctors encourage you to get your hands dirty and start making your own games right now. There are plenty of tools out there that let you start building your own games right now, and if you're passionate about what you're doing, you'll find a way to make it work. 

Keep your browser tuned to G4 all week as we keep bringing you G4 University, and at the end of the week we'll have a guide for you that rounds up all of the information, and gives you the perfect places to start looking, along with some helpful tips.