Learning Outcomes |
Unit Aims |
1. Understand progression opportunities within the creative media sector.
2. Understand the skills needed to pursue a career in the creative media sector. 3. Be able to carry out roles and responsibilities consistent with professional practice. |
Unit 3 is aimed at developing your knowledge and understanding of professional practice within the games industry. You will have the opportunity to research and develop your knowledge on the type of job roles available to you within the games industry. You will also gain gather research on potential career opportunities that will be open to you once you have gained your qualification.
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Scenario |
Assessment Guidance |
You are working as a member of staff in a small indie games development studio and decide that you want to gain employment with AAA Company. You will be researching the job market to understand what potential opportunities that are available to you outside your current employer.
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You will have to keep a log of your research via the use of a blog. You will need to use research techniques to locate information about job roles within the games industry. Research will have to be done on the relationships between game development software and how they can be used together to create a game. You will also have the opportunity to showcase your work and provide/give valuable feedback to help develop your skills.
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Locate, access and use information to support own development.
Report on job roles complete with potential progression opportunities where applicable. (1500 words)
3 Job advertisements.
09th October 2019.
Critically evaluate a range of working practices and methods.
Game development pipelines report
The importance of working to and meeting deadlines report.
18th November 2019.
Apply knowledge of working practices to support own development.
Planning document/Schedule giving detailed information on how you are going to manage your time with unit 1+2.
18th November 2019.
Organise self and work to meet deadlines and targets.
Planning document/Schedule giving detailed information on how you are going to manage your time with unit 1+2.
18th November 2019.
Demonstrate consideration and professionalism in working with others.
Presentation of work done in units 1+2.
Peer review with constructive feedback
Response to feedback
Survey designed to gain specific feedback.
Evaluation of methods.
5th December 2019.
Report on job roles complete with potential progression opportunities where applicable. (1500 words)
3 Job advertisements.
09th October 2019.
Critically evaluate a range of working practices and methods.
Game development pipelines report
The importance of working to and meeting deadlines report.
18th November 2019.
Apply knowledge of working practices to support own development.
Planning document/Schedule giving detailed information on how you are going to manage your time with unit 1+2.
18th November 2019.
Organise self and work to meet deadlines and targets.
Planning document/Schedule giving detailed information on how you are going to manage your time with unit 1+2.
18th November 2019.
Demonstrate consideration and professionalism in working with others.
Presentation of work done in units 1+2.
Peer review with constructive feedback
Response to feedback
Survey designed to gain specific feedback.
Evaluation of methods.
5th December 2019.
Unit 3 - Task 1
Producer
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Role explanation
The role of producer in the game development industry is assembling and managing the teams for each role for the development of a game, making sure that the project is following the right path and outlining, scheduling and tracking their tasks correctly. Potential progression opportunities The producer has opportunity in different companies as a producer or assistant producer. Responsibilities The producer is the one that has the responsibility for making the teams for the job roles needed and also for the outline scheduling and track tasks. Skills required The skills required for the producer are being able to work as a group, having excellent communication skills, amazing IT skills such as being able to use a variety of programming languages such as C++, good reasoning skills, an intelligent approach on solving problems, being able to work under pressure. |
Publisher
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Role explanation
The role of publisher in the game development industry is everything related to the marketing, release date of the game and financing the game. Potential progression opportunities The publisher has opportunities in lead publisher, marketing, licenser, assistant publisher. Responsibilities The publisher has the responsibility on how the game is advertised and the investments. Skills required The skills required for being a publisher in the game development industry are having passion for games, knowing what is trending also being a good team worker. |
Artist
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aRole explanation
The role of artist in the game development industry is the visual elements of the game and within these elements there are different types of artists which all of them are knowledgeable and responsible of for the in game arquitecture, structures, characters, textures, colours, lighting, objects and environment, etc. Potential progression opportunities The artist loads of different potential progression opportunities such as head artist, character artist, texture artist, colouring artist, lighting artist, objects artist, concept artist, movement artist, environment artist, arquitecture, head artist assistant, etc. Responsibilities The responsibilities of an artist in the games development industry are, drawing and modelling the characters, structures and colouring the game, using 3D or 2D “objects”. Skills required The skills required for being an artist in the game development industry are knowing how to draw, knowing how to do 3D modelling, using a variety of software’s such as blender, adobe Photoshop, adobe illustrator, paint tool sai, Autodesk Maya, and other software’s. Types of artists within the industry, 2D, 3D The types of artists within the game development industry are head artist, character artist, texture artist, colouring artist, lighting artist, objects artist, concept artist, movement artist, environment artist, arquitecture, head artist assistant, etc. Freelance opportunities The freelance opportunities for an artist are drawing for companies and people, selling 3D models. |
Designer
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Role explanation
The role of designer in the game development industry is creating the design of certain types of stuff such as the design of characters, the design of levels, puzzles, art, animation also they write a bit of code using C++ and some other programming languages. Potential progression opportunities The potential progression and opportunities for a designer in the game development industry are head designer, character designer, puzzles designer, art designer, animation designer and assistant head designer. Responsibilities The responsibilities for a designer in the game development industry are how the character and objects have to look like and how the environment is portrayed. Skills required The skills required for a designer in the game development industry are knowing how to draw, a tiny bit of knowledge on programming languages, communication, collaboration, artistic point of view, creativity and project managing skills. |
Programmer
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Role explanation
The role of programmer in the game development industry is to be the person who is the mind behind the movements made by each character of the game, being a fundamental piece in the games development industry. For example, how fast a car goes, the physics behind the characters and objects work. Potential progression opportunities The potential progression and opportunities are very vast for the programmer in the game development industry such as the game site programmer, the head programmer, the platform programmer and level programmer. Responsibilities The responsibility of a programmer in the game development industry is to make sure that every single code is working properly, do the code properly, fix the codes if anything is not working properly, bugs solving, adding life to the game and NPC AI programming. Skills required The skills required of a programmer in the game development industry are different knowledge of various programming languages such as C++, Java, HTML5, CSS3, JavaScript, SQL, Flash, team work and communication skills. Software specialism Unity 3D / Unity 5.0, Unreal engine, Riot Engine, CRYENGINE, GameMaker: Studio, Stencyl, Cocos2D, Unreal Engine 4, GameSalad.(Most of them aren’t necessary but the more the better) |
Level Designer
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Level designer
Role explanation The role of level designer/environment designer in the game development industry is the creation and design of the levels, it some games development software’s feature already level editing tools, level designer can go through artistic and technical working. Potential progression opportunities The potential progression and opportunities of the level designer are programmer, head programmer, assistant programmer, artist, concept artist, game architecture, team work and communication skills. Responsibilities The responsibilities the level designer in the games development industry are concept art, sketching, rendering, physical models, designing the levels and the environment design, placing specific entities and adding hidden features. Skills required The skills required for a level designer in the games development industry are knowledge about environment, reasonable thinking about rewards, level understanding, creativity and able to communicate with the game developing team. Software specialism The software specialism for a level designer are Unreal Engine, Unity 3D, Unity 2.0, Unreal Engine 4 and Level editor. |
Sound engineer
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Role explanation
The role of sound engineer in the game development industry is to create, obtain and put in the game audio and sounds required for certain things such as fighting sounds, steps, weather, boss sounds, screams, NPC voices, soundtrack, etc. Potential progression opportunities The potential progression and opportunities of a sound engineer in the game development industry are musician, sound artist, dubbing capture, head sound engineer and sound designer. Responsibilities The responsibilities of the sound engineer in the game development industry is to capture sound, create sound, assemble it to the game and make it look realistic. Skills required The skills required of the sound engineer in the game development industry are to collaborate with producers and performers, capturing ambient sound, regulating sound volumes, digital sound engineering. Software specialism The software specialism for a sound engineer in the game development industry is Mixcraft 8 pro studio, pro tools, Logic pro, Ableton live, FL Studio. |
Tester
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Role explanation
The role of tester in the game development industry is to play the game being developed as much as he can so he can spot every mistake made during the process of developing the game, such as character bugs, wrong physics, movement bugs, game difficulty, etc. Potential progression opportunities The potential progression opportunities of the tester in the game development industry are the gamer, professional gamer, developer, programmer assistant, developer assistant. Responsibilities The responsibilities of the tester in the game development industry is to spot on almost everything that isn’t correct with the game before the launching of the product, making sure that there are no bugs that can interfere with the player/costumer experience. Skills required The skills required of the tester in the game development industry are being patient to repeat the same levels/bosses over and over again, making sure that somethings aren’t impossible to achieve, self-motivated, familiar with games, a bit of knowledge about how the software works, communication skills. |
Freelance Researc
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What is freelance?
Freelance is a self-employment type of job, which you will be submitted to work for different companies on particular assignments. For example, programming professionals can have their own business doing websites for different companies, restaurants and etc. All at the same time. Artists can do sketches, drawings, logos, etc. Different things for different companies, Example of freelancer sites https://sketchfab.com/ https://www.fiverr.com Pros Own boss No uniform No transport cost Choose own contracts Financial control Cons Inconsistant income Independent – no cover Own equipment cost Software costs Pay your own tax |
Acquiring skills w/ poster
First Poster
Skills
C++, Java, JavaScript, CSS3, SQL, Flash, Team Work, Communication skills, Unity and Unreal Engine
How to acquire the skills
To learn any programming language is necessary do a study and practice it at home, search online courses about programming languages such as C++, Java, JavaScript, CSS3, SQL, Flash, otherwise it would be impossible to pull this knowledge out of thin air. The same goes for knowledge of how to use Unity and Unreal Engine, it is impossible to just know it, you have to practice and have a common knowledge about what and how the engine works and what programming language will be used for coding physics and other things such as movements of objects.
To have communication skills its necessary not to be shy in certain situations and know how to interact and talk to people, it is necessary for a productive team work, otherwise it would be almost impossible to work as a team without know how to talk your ideas and communicating through the work colleagues, be confident about your role in the company and how to communicate with your works colleagues, otherwise it will be impossible to have a productive games development company. A really good way to acquire this skills is just by listening, accepting criticism, give advice, help each other and communicate with people on a daily basis.
C++, Java, JavaScript, CSS3, SQL, Flash, Team Work, Communication skills, Unity and Unreal Engine
How to acquire the skills
To learn any programming language is necessary do a study and practice it at home, search online courses about programming languages such as C++, Java, JavaScript, CSS3, SQL, Flash, otherwise it would be impossible to pull this knowledge out of thin air. The same goes for knowledge of how to use Unity and Unreal Engine, it is impossible to just know it, you have to practice and have a common knowledge about what and how the engine works and what programming language will be used for coding physics and other things such as movements of objects.
To have communication skills its necessary not to be shy in certain situations and know how to interact and talk to people, it is necessary for a productive team work, otherwise it would be almost impossible to work as a team without know how to talk your ideas and communicating through the work colleagues, be confident about your role in the company and how to communicate with your works colleagues, otherwise it will be impossible to have a productive games development company. A really good way to acquire this skills is just by listening, accepting criticism, give advice, help each other and communicate with people on a daily basis.
Second Poster
Skills
3D modelling, 3D modelling for games, painting/colouring, team work, communication skills, knowledge about how 3d models work in a game engine.
How to acquire them
The only way to acquire software knowledge is through practicing and using them on a daily basis, as for the required skills is necessary to have at least a completed online course about how to 3D model, how 3d models work for games, and how game engines work, otherwise, as I said, it is impossible to pull this type of knowledge out of thin air. As for team work and communication skills it is needed to be confident about your role in the company and how to communicate with your works colleagues, otherwise it will be impossible to have a productive games development company a really good way to acquire this skills is just by listening, accepting criticism, give advice, help each other and communicate with people on a daily basis.
3D modelling, 3D modelling for games, painting/colouring, team work, communication skills, knowledge about how 3d models work in a game engine.
How to acquire them
The only way to acquire software knowledge is through practicing and using them on a daily basis, as for the required skills is necessary to have at least a completed online course about how to 3D model, how 3d models work for games, and how game engines work, otherwise, as I said, it is impossible to pull this type of knowledge out of thin air. As for team work and communication skills it is needed to be confident about your role in the company and how to communicate with your works colleagues, otherwise it will be impossible to have a productive games development company a really good way to acquire this skills is just by listening, accepting criticism, give advice, help each other and communicate with people on a daily basis.