Riddle me this: What do a Russian graffiti artist turned project manager of a major mobile gaming company, a veteran game journalist who holds fast to his challenging career choice, a young writer who’s worked at a host of writing-related gaming jobs and an up-and-coming, globe-trotting indie developer have in common? If you guessed: they are people who work in the video game industry or they are the same whose stories are featured in Hardcore Droid’s new series: So You Want to Work in Video Games? You would be right on both counts. But a better answer I think is that they are people who are doing what they love for money.
For you twenty-somethings and younger, this is a concept that you’re liable to think on years from now when you look back over the first half of your life. At which point you’ll probably think something like: “man, how come they didn’t stress that one a bit more.” You know, the adults in your life, when you were approaching your twentysomethings. Along with “eat your peas!” and “don’t eat candy with wrapper still on it!” you’ll wonder why they didn’t add in: “And do what you love for money!” Us thirty-somethings and above, on the other hand, many of whom have already engaged in said reflection as well as perhaps a hair brained scheme or two, are more likely to understand what a difficult trick it is to pull off. But for either group, for anyone really, regardless of context, the story of the guy who earns the right to do what he loves for money always makes for a good yarn, and these first four stories in our ongoing series do not disappoint.
Lastly, they are also, as the series’ name implies, written specifically to people who aspire to join the video game industry. To that end, not only do each of these professionals tell you the story of how they managed to break into the highly competitive video game industry, and often how they met with success, each of them has also taken the time to offer industry hopefuls advice on how they might go about getting their foot in the door. But, again, it doesn’t matter whether you’re an aspiring indie developer or just someone interested in a good story, we’re pretty sure you’ll be at least entertained and at best inspired. Enjoy.
Al Jackson
Editor-in-Chief
Hardcore Droid
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