Presentations

Portfolio

Angels Den

Angels den is a group of business angels, or investors looking to invest in businesses, and during a university visit Cameron Thomson, Regional Director discussed what they do and how to get funding.

Why would you need a business angel? Money is the obvious one, althought unlike the other investment sources you may think of (highstreet banks), they also bring a couple of other important things a startup business may find valuable - experience, valuable skills and business contacts.

What do they need from you? An idea with potential, passion, a return on their investment (they look for at least a 200% return in 2/3 years), proof that you have done some solid market research, and a way to get out with their money once it's all done.

What do they want to hear during the pitch? They want to hear the idea. Make it clear and consice, and avoid the use of acronyms - keep it simple. Get their idea quickly. Tell them about your team, the skills and commitment, and they will want to hear about the cashflow of your business - how much are your making, spending, profit - how much do you expect to be spending and making etc.

They are looking for a high return, a proven business model and an idea which is scalable, ideally in a sector which they have experience of and can add direct value through experience. Angels want to get in on the idea as cheaply as possible and get out again quickly, whilst making as much profit as possible.

Breaking into the games industry

A presentation from codemasters on how to get your foot in the door of the games industry.

The CV -

The CV needs to grab the reader's attention - give it an eye-catching presentation and make it stand out from the rest. (But try to avoid the dingbats font - employers really don't like it!)
Your CV should be about 2 pages, unless your really have a lot of previous experience in the games industry which needs to be on there. Show any relevant experience, demonstare your ability for the job and your interests, but don't waffle on. The CV is your sales pitch - and your selling yourself. Make sure you write a cover letter about 2 or 3 paragraphs showing your enthusiasm, this gives you more room to sell yourself, and is just as important as the CV.

Agencies are a tool to be used - they do all the legwork of finding you a job, but are not always the best option - agencies usually take 20% of your salary as commision once you have secured a job. It won't be coming out of your paycheck, but the company which hired you will be required to pay up. For this reason, when possible it's usually better to go to the hiring company direct rather than through an agency.

The portfolio -

When your applying for a job in the games industry, your going to need a portfolio - a website with a collection of your previous work to demonstrate you abilities. The website should be easy to navigate - employers don't want to be spending 10 minutes trying to find your work. Display demos, videos of your work, and documents - this is a place to sell yourself again. Think outside the box, give it an eye-catching presentation, make your portfolio stand out from all the others the employer is going to be viewing.

The interview -

Prepararion is key - do your research on the company, play their games. You need to show passion and enthusiasm about their company and the games industry. If you've got this far you've sold yourself well in your CV and portfolio, but now it's time to sell yourself again. Tell them why you're right for the job. During the interview they are going to be testing your knowledge, so you need to be prepared. At the end fo the interview, it's your chance to ask any questions you have, don't pass on this opportunity - asking questions shows that you are interested, so have some questions prepared before you enter the interview room. If you've done your research into the company, you should have a handful of questions you can ask them.

Mobile Gaming - QA and testing

A talk about mobile phone game development, QA and testing.

What are the advantages of developing games for mobile phones rather than games consoles? Almost everyone as a mobile phone now which is capable of playing games - about 80% of the population, compared to about 6% of the population which owns an xbox 360- thats a large market to aim for. There are some serious limitations to the mobile phone as a games platform however - processor speeds, small amount of memory, small screen size, and an input mechanism which was never really deisgned to play games.

When designing a mobile phone game fun and casual are the key components - a game which you can play at the bus stop when waiting for the bus. Resources are limited, and so concentrate on a fun game, not graphical overkill.

Device - game interaction

A mobile phone is primarily a phone, not a games platform, and developers need to think about how the functions of the phone affect the game. What happens when the phone recieves a call during a game? Or an SMS? Is the user notified of network outage when a game is in progress? or a bluetooth connection is made? A game developer is obliged to make a game compatible with every handset available, and the game mst be tested on each handset thoroughly, which is expensive, repetitive and time consuming.

The testing process -

A game will not be released
- if the minimum number of handsets is not supported.
- if a game on a handset fails the certification test.

A game must be stable, playable and adhere to carrier certification requirements.
A game must be tested thoroughly on each handset.

Testing roles -

The test manager is responsible for:

The test strategy:
   -How many tests?
   - What quality needs to be achieved?
   - What resources are needed?

Test status reporting:
   - Effort spent vs effort planned
   - Bugs found
   - Project completion

Hiring, appraisals, performance feedback.

The test team leader is responsible for:

Creating a test plan
- What test cases so we need?
- What testing methods do we apply?

Running the show
- Co-ordinate the efforts of up to 15 testers
- Communicate with production

The test analyst is responsible for

   - Executing tests
   - Investigating issues
   - Logging bugs
   - Reporting progress

How to get a job in testing

Testing is often seen as an foot in the door to the games industry by many applicants, but testing and QA is a career just as development, art and design - some testers will make a career out of testing, moving up the ranks to team leader and test manager.

The first step into a testing role is your CV. It's always an advantage to have some previous experience in testing or the games industry, so some experience of beta testing, or a job placement over the holidays in a testing environment would be helpful.
Go direct to games companies where possible rather than through an agency so the employer can avoid the agency fees. It's important to be truthful in your CV, lies or exaggeration will be uncovered at some point, and your employer probably won't be too impressed. There is no excuse for spelling mistakes - nowadays all it takes is a click of the spellcheck button to check your spelling.

The interview -
- Know the company. Do some research, all it take is a web search and a bit of time.
- Imagine you got the job, what do you think the job will entail?
- Identify gaps and weaknesses in your CV and prepare for questions about these.
- Make sure they understand you can learn quickly.
- Talk in examples and real life situations.