Get in the Game: Careers in the Game Industry

by Marc Mencher

Have you dreamed of obtaining a game industry job? Get in the Game will help you achieve this This friendly guide shows you step-by-step how to prepare yourself for a game industry career. With... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0735713073
• ISBN13: 9780735713079
• Release Date: January 2002
• Publisher: New Riders Publishing
• Length: 320 Pages
• Weight: 1.05 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 7.0" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

PLEASE, BUY THIS BOOK!

Ok, first off. If you want to get in to the games industry then buy this book. If you dont then you are just cheating yourself. I have learnt more from this book than all the other design books conbined. While most books seem reasonably happy to bombard you with complicated and confusing infomation, this book presents every topic very clear and concise. It takes you through all the areas of game development with great detail yet acknowledges that you are new to a lot of things and does its very best to give you a good understanding. Before reading this book I was very unclear on a lot of industry related infomation. But not now thanks to Marc Mencher acting as my personal tutor page after page. Finally I have a structured plan on how I am going to break in to the industry. Before reading Get In The Game I really had no idea of how I was going to get in to my dream job. Now however I have a great understanding of what I have to learn and everything I need to do. I now have a great degree of confidence and with Marc Mencher's advice I have began networking. I really can not think of anything negative to say about this book. Ok, so the resume section could of been a little better executed but it was there to teach you how to put together a good resume and thats what its done. On top of all that it has a very useful resource catalogue. Please for your own benefit buy this book. It will really help you. I cannot thank Marc enough for putting together this fantastic book.

Marc's advice from this book got me a job in the industry

I read his book and started networking and marketing myself. 6 months later through a contact I got through networking I got a job as a Content Manager for a AAA game company.It's all who you know and how well you can network to get there. The game developers are a small tight-knit group who rely on other people's referrals.Marc's tips got me started creating a database of game developers and keeping touch with those contacts. I also redid my resume according to his advice and it really stood out.I did other things on the side: Create modifications for existing games (Unreal, Half-Life), reworked my demo reel (also using advice from Marc's book), and worked as an intern for a 3-D design company. But this book was the glue that held all those parts together.This is a great book and well worth the money. My current position can testify to that.

Perfect gift for nieces and nephews

I've been in the industry for ten years and I still learned things from this book. It has simple, surface truths and also deeper, specific suggestions that you might never come up with on your own. I'm constantly asked by folks, "How do I get a job in the games industry" and this is a great answer to that. It won't get them the job, but it answers the question far better than I can in an email or over a beer. And it has some great references in the back to help someone find even more sources of information.I've also enjoyed giving this book to the sons and daughters of friends -- high school aged kids who don't know what they want to do in life but like video games. It doesn't hurt to get them started thinking about their career.Hope this helps.

Great help for college students like myself!

I've always dreamed of getting into the game industry but have always had lingering doubts about what it takes to break into this industry. Get Into The Game not only sheds light into the secretive inner workings of the game industry, but teaches how to nail down those elusive interviews. Regardless of what type of work I may end up doing, the techniques in this book dealing with networking oneself to the available job market will be a great help. Throughout all the independent research I've done, I have never come across articles or books that actually deal with landing a job, only the requirements for such jobs. For a change, there is a definite running theme in the book which (ironically enough) deals with getting an actual job in the game industry. Topics include; the pros' and cons' of using recruiting groups versus marketing yourself independently, the development of affective demo reels, the do and donts of interviews, and how to stay employed once hired. Be warned all you readers not serious about working in this industry... this book may not be for you. It doesn't paint any pretty pictures about making video games, its not all fun and games. It's full of stories about meeting deadlines and dealing with 100 hour work weeks during `crunch time.' Also mentioned is the emerging trend of underpaid, over worked, programmers. If you are expecting to read about how much fun one can look forward in this career, well, get ready for a shock. However, the book points out very clearly that it is one of the most rewarding jobs out there. This book gets a definitive 5 stars. There has been books dealing with video game history, but to my knowledge, this is the first book dealing with the inner workings of the industry. As a college student looking for answers about the video game industry, I found this book to be a great help in shaping my studies to come.Thanks Marc!

Very insightful, especially to college students like myself!

I've always dreamed of getting into the game industry but have always had lingering doubts about what it takes to break into this industry. Get Into The Game not only sheds light into the secretive inner workings of the game industry, but teaches how to nail down those elusive interviews. Regardless of what type of work I may end up doing, the techniques in this book dealing with networking oneself to the available job market will be a great help. Throughout all the independent research I've done, I have never come across articles or books that actually deal with landing a job, only the requirements for such jobs. For a change, there is a definite running theme in the book which (ironically enough) deals with getting an actual job in the game industry. Topics include; the pros' and cons' of using recruiting groups versus marketing yourself independently, the development of an effective demo reel, the do's and don'ts of interviews, and how to stay employed once hired. Be warned all you readers not serious about working in this industry... this book may not be for you. It doesn't paint any pretty pictures about making video games, its not all fun and games. It's full of stories about meeting deadlines and dealing with 100 hour work weeks during `crunch time.' Also mentioned is the emerging trend of underpaid, over worked, programmers. If you are expecting to read about how much fun one can look forward in this career, well, get ready for a shock. However, the book points out very clearly that it is one of the most rewarding jobs out there. This book gets a definitive 5 stars. There has been books dealing with video game history, but to my knowledge, this is the first book dealing with the inner workings of the industry. As a college student looking for answers about the video game industry, I found this book to be a great help in shaping my studies to come.Thanks Marc!