I get occasional questions about the game industry, and so I have set aside this page to answer them.

For the record, my official title is Game Designer and I work for High Voltage Software. My job duties basically involve level implementation and game play design. There is also lot and lots of documentation. I have attended three different academic programs for game design, and finally graduated from The Guildhall@SMU.

Here is a list of what I have worked on so far:
Brothers in Arms (Contractor - I implemented the lipsync for the French version - hooray me!)
Ghost Recon for the PSP - Level implementation
America’s Army:True Soldiers - Research and documentation
Flame Sim - Design and level implementation
I am currently working on an unannounced project.

So that people are aware, I am not claiming to to be the supreme expert on all things getting into the game industry. But I’m willing to share whatever information that I have.

And now, here are the questions.

Justin writes:

“Mr. Schwarz, my name is Justin and I am a student at East Carolina University who is about to graduate this summer from the Animation/ Interactive Design program. It is my goal to work for a game design company, and like you I am a veteran who also did some time at Bragg. My question is in setting up a resume, all the example I can find of game designers resume are of seasoned professionals and not students fresh out of school. If you have no work experience relating to game design then what should I put. I have six years active duty experience but how or should I list that when applying to a gaming company. I would love to work for a company that creates allot of military games like Redstorm. What is relevant when it comes to military job experience? Should I just list that I was in this company at this time and I was an Infantry squad leader or would it be helpful to list a job description and schools I have attended. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you for your time,
Justin

PS. Is having a military background an asset when applying to a company like Redstorm?”

First of all there here is are some links to some student portfolios. This school is pretty good at getting their graduates employed, and they’re the folks that taught me how set up my work. So you could do worse than look there. From what I have seen so far examples of your work seem to be the biggest factor other than previous experience in getting an employer interested in you.

It is probably worth listing any schools you went to, and any leadership positions that you held, but don’t go overboard with it. Remember, you are trying to get hired to make video games, not lead an infantry squad.

As to your PS, my first actual telephone interview was with Red Storm shortly after I graduated. They liked the fact that I had been in the Army, but it didn’t appear to be especially significant to them. They were more concerned with the contract work I had done on Brothers in Arms, and my ability with scripting. I failed to impress them significantly and so I wound up getting hired by another company, and was immediately set to work making a Red Storm game. Are there any Red Storm employed readers who have any information on this?