Alright, this is a weird sort of post to make but I am just looking for ideas. I am going to make it short for you guys: I'm looking for people who work or have worked in and around the Video Game Industry. Be them level designers, programmers, QA, producers, CEO, anything.

The reason being that I am undertaking this rather long project regarding the Video Game Industry. And I need first hand information from the people who work there. I can write all I want about growth, history of games, but I do need people who have successfully walked the walk.

For those who are still reading this, if you have any good idea of how to reach somebody that could help - PLEASE do share. I am just running this idea through GD for some help.


tl;dr: If you work making video games for a living, could you spare 30mins of your time for a college research project?

Quote "For those who are still reading this, if you have any good idea of how to reach somebody that could help - PLEASE do share."

OK. Go to http://www.xgamestation.com, join the forum longue, and ask 'necron' (Andre La Mothe) any question you want.

What kind of information do you need?

Quote:

Original post by ApochPiQ What kind of information do you need?

That is a good question. The section which I require the most help is "Successful paths for novice developers". I do have a preliminary guide or the things I would want to ask a developer:

Body
I. Basic Information
a. Basic Demographics
b. Early Hobbies

II. Education
a. School
b. Outside of School
c. Work Experiences

III. Career Intro
a. Beginnings
b. Networking
c. First Lessons

IV. Career Development
a. Current Work
b. Related Activities
c. Challenges & Opportunities
d. Goals and the Future

V. Lessons
a. Hard learned lessons
b. Advice to young professionals
c. Other important lessons

That is just the outline, for example of questions. Well, those may vary but they would be similar to:

V. “Where you interested in clubs/fraternities/associations?”
a. “Which clubs/fraternities/associations did you attend?”
i. “What were your interests?”
ii. “Did you assume any major roles?”
b. “Did you work part-time?”
i. “How did you handle your schedule?”
ii. “Did you feel pressured?
iii. “How did you cope with it?”
c. “Did you work on developing games while in school?”
i. “What sorts of projects did you work on?”
ii. “Did you work alone or with others?”
iii. “What made it so interesting for you?”

VI. “What was your first job in [intended major]?”
a. “What did you work as?”
i. “What was your role?”
ii. “What duties and responsibilities did you undertake?”
iii. “What were your expectations about the job?”
iv. “Was it difficult adjusting?”
b. “How did you get the job?”
i. “Who did you know?”
ii. “Did you find any unexpected things about the job once you got in?”


Please do take in count that this is for school (educational purposes) and the questions are just samples to draw from. In all probability a person with Skype and 20-30mins to spare would be great.