作者：Destin Bales

在本文，我们将谈论如何开发实际游戏体验及准备丰富的面试文件资料。下文来自Bales的博客“I Need To Make Games”。（请点击此处阅读本系列第1、第3部分）

步骤4：积累实际经验

现在是时候该动手创建能够运行的体验内容，你可以将此当作获得首份开发工作的垫脚石。

在本系列的所有文章内容和建议中，“积累实际经验”是目前为止最重要的一点。遵循此路线，你将实现自己涉足游戏领域的目标。若你跳过这一步骤，你会发现自己更难涉足开发领域，机会将不会垂青于你。是的，这需要花时间——可能是相当多的时间。但最终这将是你获得的最宝贵的经验，这将成为你简历的主要亮点，是你向潜在雇主推销自己的筹码。

无论是你希望涉足哪个具体学科，你需要坚持的最重要的一点是，通过呈现艺术元素或设计感觉，在荧屏上证实自己的价值，或通过共享功能演示内容、模型、修改内容或新创建的游戏展现自己的编程技能。虽然实现这一目标有很多渠道，但我们建议从学习免费的强大游戏开发引擎Unity入手。Unity过去曾帮助开发者在PC和iOS平台推出众多商业成绩显著的作品，它提供直观的界面、众多在线指南及书籍，甚至还允许我们花几美元购买可运用于游戏中的资产。此外，Unity支持C#和Javascript语言，所以如果你遵循我们的意见，参加免费Stanford Programming Methodology课堂，那么你就能够动手编写任何必要的代码元素。

“Unity引擎兼具强大功能和易用性。我们还有其他免费引擎选择，但没有工具能够呈现类似于Unity的创造性自由。”

——Paragon Studios技术总监Neal Kettler

循序渐进，遵循如下步骤，朝目标迈进：

* 下载和安装Unity引擎

* 通过阅读若干基本教程熟悉界面

* 通过高级指南、书籍或在线文章研究更多引擎的高级功能

* 着手通过引擎创建自己的内容

无论你基于哪个学科展现自己的才华，都可以遵照这一流程。Unity引擎可以向网页玩家导出项目内容，这令你能够通过步骤6创建的在线资料夹在线呈现你的作品。

只要你熟悉引擎，独立制作内容，现在就是时候涉足普通的内容修改社区。诸如《军团要塞2》和《无冬之夜2》之类的众多零售游戏都允许游戏爱好者对其内容进行修改，在其中融入调整过的玩法或新内容，供他人进行体验。虽然从头创建目标内容是项艰巨的任务，但我们完全可以基于既有作品在相当短的时间内创建引人注目的内容。通过修改内容，你甚至能够同他人合作，获得宝贵的跨学科经验。最后，成功修改内容受玩家追捧通常能够让你获得第一手用户反馈信息。这是制作杰出简历，获得第一份正式开发工作的筹码。

如今业内有两款可进行修改的热门作品，即《Minecraft》和《天际》。不妨给这款作品制作引人注目的修改内容，这样你就能够在面试过程中呈现丰富的开发经验。

“在查阅简历的过程中，我倾向关注创建过修改内容或演示内容的求职者。他们多半能够快速掌握我们的工具，这说明他们非常着迷于游戏制作。

有些人希望能够制作出杰出的作品，而有些人则是不得不创造出杰出的作品。最终选择聘用谁完全无需思考。”

——Paragon Studios制作人Ellisa Barr

步骤5：教育

这里我们将分享若干关于教育的建议，因为这涉及游戏开发。无论你是即将步入大学的高中毕业生，还是没时间争取学位的成年工作者，在此我们将提供众多选择。

关于教育及游戏开发最常见的问题是，大学学位是否是在行业谋得职位的必要条件。答案是否定的，你无需依靠获得学位涉足游戏开发。

但你应该积极获得学位。

虽然大学学位不是专职开发游戏的绝对要求，但拥有相关学位能够提高你获得首份工作，最终发挥自己最大潜能的机会。大学学位对于涉足游戏开发至关重要的原因主要如下：

* 在这一高度竞争的领域，你应该争取所有的有利条件

* 没有学位会限制你的长远发展潜能，限制你在行业的发展空间

* 获得学位能够提高你的创造性思维，扩宽你的兴趣，赋予你稳固的工作技能，这可能会在今后派上用场

* 最终你也许会放弃游戏开发，那么学位将能够给你的其他事业增添筹码

“我庆幸自己置身和电子游戏一样有趣、富有创造性和有意义的行业。教育背景是我成功的一大推动因素。”

——NCSoft品牌和商业策略高级副总裁Ross Borden

关于获取什么学位及就读什么学校，我们有很多选择。很多传统大学有提供计算机科学专业的学位，近来有些学校开始提供有关游戏开发的课程。

此外，如果有兴趣，Ross Borden之类的大学会集中培训学生，帮助他们入行。虽然我们无法证实相比更传统的大学，就读这类型的学校能够提高你在行业内找到工作的机会，但显而易见的是，专注于这一过程能够协助你提高自己的开发技能。

若我无法进入你所说的大学呢？也许你是肩负其他责任的成年人，你没有足够的时间和资金念大学。不要烦恼。通过遵循本网站罗列的所有步骤，你依然有望实现自己的目标。许多这一年轻行业的杰出人士凭借自主学习和个人决心获得成功。你可以通过实际操作经验弥补教育背景的不足（游戏邦注：通过创建修改版本的内容或其他作品）。

步骤6：简历和在线资料夹

现在是时候该追逐自己的梦想了。通过制作适当的简历和在线资料夹做好充分准备。下面就来谈论如何进行这一操作。

待到在游戏行业谋求职位的时候，你的简历和在线资料夹在向潜在雇主呈现你的价值方面起着举足轻重的作用。在当前的数码形式世界里，我们建议求职者同时制作简历和在线资料夹，以确保获得最大限度的曝光度，提高目标公司的操作便利性。

制作优秀简历的建议：

* 突出你的实践经验，作为没有开发经验的求职者，突出自己修改过的作品或Unity工作经验至关重要。

* 将内容限制在2页之内

* 仔细校对你的简历，同时请好友帮忙查看

* 不要满足于传统模板，上网搜索富有创意的范例

* 制作突出开发激情和自我成就的求职信

* 就所申请的各职位定制相应的求职信和简历，运用相关职位的常见术语

制作在线资料夹的建议：

* 网上有许多免费的托管和设计网站

* 在资料夹中融入不针对特定公司的简历版本

* 突出自己的工作经验，清晰、简要概述你所扮演的角色，具体制作什么内容

* 只展示自己的突出成就，因为在此质量远比数量重要得多

“若你有制作样品录像带，要将时间控制在1分钟以内，大小要在10mbs以内。保持简历的简单性、易读性，只融入重要信息。将Google Analytics同网站绑定，方便查看谁何时阅读过你的资料夹，这样你就能够获悉是否有公司阅读你的信息。仔细填写自己的LinkedIn资料，因为公司通常会在阅读简历前查看这一信息。”

——Paragon Studios高级动画师Colin Brown

如今许多开发者都以LinkedIn作为同他人分享自己工作经历的渠道，我们鼓励你也这么做（游戏邦注：这一免费服务让你能够将自己的简历和在线资料夹同平台联系起来，向所有查看你信息的潜在雇主提供方便的一站式服务）。

游戏工作室每天会收到很多的申请资料，所以花时间制作精致的简历和资料夹非常重要，记得应该只呈现自己最杰出的作品，最重要的是，要保持简洁性。

若你希望获得简历和资料夹的反馈信息，不妨点击下方的评论或我们的讨论版块。要发布内容前要记得移除家庭住址之类的个人信息。（本文为游戏邦/gamerboom.com编译，拒绝任何不保留版权的转载，如需转载请联系：游戏邦）

How To Break Into The Industry, Part 2

By Destin Bales

In part two of this introductory series for aspiring developers, Destin Bales discusses some of the best ways to develop real experience and prepare a solid portfolio for a future job. The following text comes from Bales’ blog, “I Need To Make Games.”

Part one of this series is available here.

Step 4: Build Hands-On Experience

Now it is time to get your hands dirty and begin building applicable experience that you can use as a stepping stone to secure your first development job.

Of all of the articles and bits of advice in this series, “Build Hands-On Experience” is by far the most important one of the bunch.  Follow this path and you will reach your goal of working in the games industry. If however you skip this step you will find it significantly more difficult to break into development and the odds may not be in your favor. Yes it takes time — possibly a considerable amount of time.  In the end, however, it is the most valuable experience you can gain and it is this work that you will ultimately feature on your resume and use to sell yourself to prospective employers.

Regardless of your desired discipline the most important thing that you need to do is prove your worth on screen by showing your art, design sense, or engineering skillset in a game engine by sharing a functional demo, prototype, mod or newly created game. While there are a number of different ways to achieve this goal we suggest getting started by learning a powerful and free game development engine named the Unity engine.  Used to make many commercially successful games on the PC and iOS platforms, Unity offers an intuitive interface, numerous online tutorials and available books, and even the ability to purchase assets for use in your game for just a few dollars each. Furthermore, Unity supports both C# and Javascript so if you followed our advice and participated in the free Stanford Programming Methodology class you are practically equipped to write any code necessary.

“The Unity engine has a great mix of powerful features and ease of use.  There are other free engines out there, but none give you the creative freedom that Unity has to offer.”

- Neal Kettler, Technical Director | Paragon Studios

Take it slow, and follow these steps towards achieving your goal:

* Download and install the Unity engine

* Familiarize yourself with the interface by completing some basic tutorials

* Read up on the more advanced features of the engine through advanced tutorials, books or articles online

* Begin creating content of your own using the engine

This process can be used regardless of your discipline to showcase your talent.  The Unity engine allows for exporting of projects to a web player which may allow you to demonstrate your work online via the online portfolio we help you create in Step 6.

Once you are familiar with the engine and creating content on your own, it’s time to enter the general mod (modification) community. Many retail games like Team Fortress 2 and Neverwinter Nights 2 can be modified by enthusiasts to include revised gameplay or new content for others to enjoy. While creating desirable content from scratch can be a monumental task (as you’ve no doubt learned from your time with Unity) it is possible to build off of established works to create something compelling in a relatively short amount of time. Through modding you even have the opportunity to work with others and gain valuable cross-disciplinary experience. Last but not least, successful mods are enjoyed by players allowing you to experience the feedback cycle from customers first hand. This is all gold for creating a stand-out resume and landing your first official development job.

Today two of the hottest mod-able games available include Minecraft and Skyrim. Make a compelling mod for either of these two products and you will have a fantastic wealth of experience to leverage on your application.

“When I’m looking through resumes, I tend to pay more attention to candidates that have already built a mod or who have a demo. They are more likely to learn our tools quickly, and it shows how passionate they are about making games.

There are people who want to make great games, and there are people who need to make great games.  It’s a no-brainer who I’d rather hire.”

- Ellisa Barr, Producer | Paragon Studios

Step 5: Education

Here we share our advice on education as it relates to game development. Whether you are a grade school student preparing for college, or a working adult who lacks the time to earn a degree, we discuss a variety of options available to you.

The most common question with regards to education and game development is whether or not a college degree is required to get a job in the industry. The answer to that question is no, you do not have to earn a degree to make games.

But you should.

While a college degree is not an absolute requirement to professionally develop games, having one can only help increase your chances of both landing that first job and ultimately reaching your full potential. Reasons that a college degree is valuable for entering game development include:

* In such a competitive landscape you should obtain every modifier in your favor possible

* Not having a degree could limit your long-term potential, capping your upward mobility in the industry

* Having a degree may help you think more critically, widen your interests, and give you solid work skills which may help you in the future

* Should you decide that ultimately game development is not for you, a degree adds value in other careers you may pursue

“I feel fortunate to work in an industry as fun, creative, and relevant as video games, and my education has been an important part of my success.”

- Ross Borden, Sr. Vice President, Brand and Business Strategy |NCSoft

There are a variety of options available when considering what type of degree to obtain or which school to attend. Many traditional colleges offer degrees in Computer Science and recently some have even begun to offer curriculums in game development.

Furthermore, for those who are interested there are even universities like Full Sail dedicated entirely to training students to enter the industry. While we’ve seen no evidence that attending such a school over a more traditional university will increase your chances of finding a job in the industry, it stands to reason that being immersed in the process will help you improve as a developer at some point in the future.

What if I am unable to go to college you ask? Perhaps you are an adult with other responsibilities and you lack the time or finances to do so. Don’t fret. By following all of the steps that are outlined on this site you are still more than capable of achieving your goal. Many of this young industry’s best and brightest found success through self-directed learning and determination.  What you lack in educational experience you can make up for with hands-on experience through the creation of mods or other displays of your work.

Step 6: Resume and Online Portfolio

It’s almost time to go after your dream.  Be prepared by creating an appropriate resume and online portfolio.  Let’s discuss how.

When the time comes to begin applying for jobs in the games industry, your resume and online portfolio will become critical in effectively communicating your value to a prospective employer.  In today’s digitally driven world we do recommend creating both a resume and an online portfolio to ensure the maximum level of exposure and ease of use for your target organizations.

Tips for Creating a Compelling Resume

* Feature your hands-on experience, as a candidate with no prior dev history it’s critical that you highlight the work you’ve done modding existing titles or working in Unity

* Limit your information to two pages or less

* Thoroughly proofread your resume and have friends review it as well

* Do not settle for traditional templates, search the web for attractive examples that you can build upon for your work

* Create a cover letter that emphasizes both your passion for development and your self-directed accomplishments to date

* Customize both your cover letter and resume to each job that you apply for, using familiar terminology found in the associated posting

Tips for Creating a Compelling Online Portfolio

* There are many free hosting and design sites available online

* Include a company-agnostic version of your resume in your portfolio

* Feature examples of your work with a clear and concise summary of what role you played and which elements you personally affected

* Show only the best of what you have accomplished as quality is far more valuable here than quantity

“If you have a demo reel, keep it to one minute or less in length and under 10mbs in size. Ensure your resume is simple, easy to read, and contains only the most important information. Attach Google Analytics to your website to track who looks at your portfolio and when, allowing you to see when a company views your information. And thoroughly fill out your LinkedIn profile, as people these days often look at that before reviewing a resume.”

- Colin Brown, Sr. Animator | Paragon Studios

Today many developers use LinkedIn as a means of sharing their work history with one another and we encourage you to do the same.  This free service allows you to link your resume and online portfolio to it as well, providing an accessible one-stop-shop for all prospective employers to view your information.

Game studios receive thousands of applications each year so it is critical that you take your time, create a polished resume and portfolio, share only your most promising work, and perhaps most importantly be as brief as possible.

If you would like feedback on your resume and portfolio feel free to link them in the comments below or in our discussion section.  Consider removing personal information such as your home address prior to posting.（Source：gamecareerguide）