(If this is in the wrong section, please move it. I couldn’t find anywhere else that seemed appropriate and apologize ahead of time for it.)
Quite simply, as the title says, how do you avoid appearing as a similar, generic developer when it comes to recruitment and collaboration?
For example, I’m a creative writer and programmer(tell me to make a model, and you’ll get a cube; tell me to write a story, and you get Alexandre Dumas) As such, I know that in order to display my skillset I have to have various examples of my script writing, dialog scripts, GDD examples, mechanics document examples, and level-design/game-flow documents readily available to read online. On the programming spectrum, I have to have various examples of my coding capabilities in examples that really showcase them.
So, my first thought goes to making a website or a demo reel, but do those really catch people’s attention? What is the best hook for your interest when looking for team members on a project? Is prior experience a must-have for you, or are you willing to take intern material on for your project and help guide them along?
Ask yourself the tuff question of whether you actually ARE like all the others. … be honest with yourself… because trying to pretend that you are different when you’re not will fail and people will see through it… so many sure you actually ARE unique and interesting and the rest will just fall into place.
Khyrid: That’s the problem. While trying to find someone that compliments my skillset on a project, I want to be able to inspire confidence and assurance that I’m not just another run-of-the-mill greenhorn game dev.
imaginaryhuman: Ah, a bit of a question that requires clarification. If by “like all the others” you mean the guys that say they have the next big MMO project and only want to pitch ideas onto the table, then no, I’m not a member of that cluster. However, if you mean the numerous individuals that have minor-to-no experience and limited skillsets, offset by their eagerness and dedication to game development, then yes, I do fall into that group.
I’ve been trying to diversify my programming skillset and strengthen my writings. I’m copying several GDD’s that I had in notebooks to electronic format and I’m going to try to put it all together. I guess I should rephrase my initial statement though. What’s a better way to present your strengths and skills without it seeming generic, like a resume or website? Something that pops out and catches the eye of developers and says “Hey, I may not be the best writer or programmer out there, but look, this is what I can do, and this is what I’m willing to undertake for the projects I work on!”
If you are trying to build a game start to finish, you should learn how to everything.
Code, model, drawing, animate, texturing, how things work on the engine behind the scenes, etc, everything…
If your focus is try a job on a company, don’t try to make a game, focus on your area only. When you have a nice portfolio of, lets say code, an artist will for sure partner with you to build a collaborative portfolio… But don’t try to ask people to help you to make a commercial game with no money involved, that won’t work and both will waste time.
Also, keep in mind that if you are coder, if you don’t know that already, when you apply for a job as programmer the company usually starts their test by simple .NET stuff and goes downhill to low level stuff until you face yourself messing with OpenGL code and assembler weirdness, so there’s plenty of options for you to build your portfolio as coder only.
Well finding a partner online is easy, but it doesn’t tend to work out very well. Few people are strongly committed to a meaningful large scope project online. There is something to the human element of being there in person that helps communication and team bonding work much more effectively. Finding somebody in real life can be a challenge also, it helps if you live near a city.
You could try to pay artist with scripts if you can’t afford to buy models (custom or otherwise). I know if I had a script for obstacle avoidance for my dumb ass AIs, I’d be willing to make some nice art if I wasn’t currently preoccupied with life throwing everything and the kitchen sink at me.