Predictions that games will keep growing

For those of you looking to get into the games industry, here’s something to convince those skeptical friends and family members. A recent Arstechnica article reports that the games industry, which has been growing like crazy, is predicted to keep on growing. The games industry took in almost $42 billion last year. A PriceWaterhouseCooper report predicts that it’ll grow to $68 billion by 2012.

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May Baltimore IGDA meeting Student Showcase

The May 29th meeting of the Baltimore chapter of the International Game Developers Association will be a showcase and demo of student projects around the area. See the announcement for details on where and when.

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ZeniMax opening new MD studio

ZeniMax (parent company of Bethesda Softworks) is opening a new studio in Hunt Valley, MD, ZeniMax online. New studio means lots of new hires, as their job listing page shows.

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UMBC 3rd Annual Digital Entertainment Conference

First, the announcment:

UMBC’s Game Developer’s Club along with the Computer Science Department, is hosting their annual Digital Entertainment Conference on April 12 from 10:30am - 6:00pm in Lecture Hall 3 in the Administration Building. This all day event includes speakers from local video game companies like Breakaway, Big Huge Games, and Firaxis. They’ll be speaking about different aspects of the video game industry, including art, programming, and design. If you have any interest in getting into the industry or just playing games, mark your calendars and come join us on April 12!

DEC’s official web site: www.umbcgdc.org/dec/
For Facebook members, you can join the DEC event here:
www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=9446589599

This has really been a great event in the past. It is open to the public, so whether you are a UMBC student or not, if you want to find out more about what the games industry is really like, you should come.

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Reassuring Parents about Game Degrees

I almost missed it with the holidays and all, but game career site gamecareerguide.com had an interesting article at the end of last month entitled “Reassuring Parents about Game Degrees” by Andrew Tuson, who heads the Department of Computing at City University London. He makes a bunch of great points, all of which apply at least as much, if not more, for programs on this side of the pond. In particular:

• “Are there jobs…” - He mentions jobs in the UK, but the industry is clearly booming in the US, and a number of the major Baltimore area game companies have been growing.
• “How can a degree help…” - I agree with his points 100%. There are plenty of examples of people working in the industry who don’t have a game-focused degree, but we’ve talked to lots of game developers, and they all agree. They are desperate for skilled people. Anyone can learn to play a game without formal training, but only a select few can learn game development without formal training.
• “Will a game degree be recognized outside of the games industry” - We came to the same conclusion he does. A “game degree” may not mean much outside the games industry. A game-focused version of a regular degree (Computer Science or Art) can be your ticket into the games industry, but can also just be a fun way to get that regular degree that will be widely recognized.
• “Are game degrees a soft option” - Hardly! Ask any student taking an advanced graphics or AI or parallel programming class (Cell processing anyone?). Just be sure to ask them both if it’s easy, and if it’s fun!

GameCareerGuide is a great site, by the way, run by the same people who do gamasutra, game developer magazine, and the annual Game Developers Conference. Well worth a look.

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Game Career panel at UMBC Commons

The UMBC Shriver Center has organized a panel of experts from Firaxis Games, Breakaway Ltd., Legendary Studios and the Imaging Research Center to talk about their experiences in the video game industry. If you want to learn more about the video game industry or are interested in a career in gaming, modeling or simulation (and if you’re reading this blog, that seems likely!), this should be pretty good.

It is Monday, November 5th from 12-1 in the UMBC Commons room 331.

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Serious Games Summit student rate

The Modeling, Simulation and Serious Games Day and Expo, on October 19th at Martin’s West in Baltimore (the subject of a previous blog posting), now has a special $75 student registration rate. That’s about half of the regular registration rate.

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New Maryland game company Zenimax Online Studios is hiring

ZeniMax Media (Rockville MD) is setting up a new game development company ZeniMax Online Studios. This will be a new separate game development company devoted to MMO game creations.

“ZeniMax Media Inc., parent company of Bethesda Softworks, announced today the creation of ZeniMax Online Studios. The division will be headed by Matt Firor, a well-known expert in the field of online gaming, and will focus on the Massively Multiplayer Online Game (MMO) market segment.” (link)

Firor was formerly the Executive Producer at Mythic Entertainment

This Wednesday, September 19th, ZeniMax Online Studios will hold a career fair from 11:00am to 8:00pm at the Baltimore Marriott Hunt Valley (245 Shawan Road, Hunt Valley). They are interviewing for all positions, including game designers, programmers, artists, animators, content specialists and producers. See the job listings page for a detailed list of position.

In a recent interview Matt Firor said:

“Right now my number one priority is to assemble the best MMO team possible, and this will take most of my time and energy over the next year. It doesn’t matter how good an idea you have for a game if you don’t have a team that can execute it.” (link)

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Baltimore modeling, simulation and serious games day

There will be a a one-day Modeling, Simulation and Serious Games Day and Expo on Friday 19 October 2007 at Martin’s West in Baltimore (map).

The event is designed for game developers, corporations, business development professionals, government, and others interested in 3D modeling, simulation, and applications of game technology. It will feature keynote talks by political cartoonist Kevin Kallaugher (Animated Politics:Seeing satire come alive in 3D) and Microsoft researcher John Nordlinger (A Serious Approach). There will be three parallel sessions focusing on (1) defense and homeland security, (2) medical and medical military training, and (3) education and corporate training.

The conference is sponsored by the Baltimore County Department of Economic Development, the Maryland Department of Business and Economic Development, the Canadian Embassy, UK Trade and Investment, and Stanton Communications. Registration is $129 through September 15 and $149 after that date.

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Game industry salary survey

How much will I earn? While that’s not the most important question to ask when choosing a career direction, it’s a significant one.

Game Developer magazine has released a free abbreviated look at the data in their annual Game Developer’s sixth annual salary survey which was published in April 2007. The survey covers programmers, software engineers, artists, animators, game designers, producers and game testers. The data was collected via email invitations sent to subscribers, Game Developers Conference 2006 attendees, and Gamasutra.com members in January 2007. A digital copy of the April 2007 issue can be purchased for $3.95 from the Game Developer magazine site.

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