Welcome to the GAME BIZ ADVICE zone of Sloperama.com.

My intent here is to help game biz aspirants learn what it takes to get in and move up in the game business. I write occasional articles to answer Frequently Asked Questions ("FAQs") about designing and making games - computer games, video games, even board games. I also write a monthly column, The Games Game, on the website of the International Game Developers Association.

Please read the articles below before you ask me a question. "All your email are belong to me." If you email me looking for free game design advice or free game career advice, your email and my reply will be posted on the Game Design Bulletin Board for everyone to see. I do not give FREE and PRIVATE game design advice or game career advice. Do NOT send me any original game concepts if you don't want to (A) pay me or (B) see them posted publicly.

So, wanna learn something or find out something about the game biz? Get comfy and grab your mouse. Let's get started.

Lesson #1. "I have a Great Idea for a game. How do I sell it?"

Lesson #2. Basic Outline For a Game Design Document.

Lesson #3. Preparing For a Career in Game Design.

Lesson #4. Applying For a Job in Game Design.

Lesson #5. Testers -- The Unsung Heroes of Games.

Lesson #6. Trade Shows and Conferences -- Are They Worthwhile?  (Note: contains some outdated material)

Lesson #7. Various Jobs In The Game Biz -- Which Are You Suited For?

Lesson #8. Recommended Reading For Aspiring Designers

Lesson #9. Professionalism and Attitude

Lesson #10. All About The Process (How Videogames Are Made) (December 2001)

Lesson #11. "Lesson 1 Redux" - MORE About What To Do With Your Game Idea (January 2002)

Lesson #12. Things You Can Do At Home (February 2002)

Lesson #13. More Game Design Tips (March 2002)

Lesson #14. The Job of Game Designer (April 2002)

Lesson #15. The Job of Game Programmer by guest lecturer Marc Vaughan (May 2002)

Lesson #16. Developing Independent Games by guest lecturer Noah Decter-Jackson (June 2002)

Lesson #17. More About Testing (The View From Inside Q.A.) by guest lecturer Matthew S Burns (July 2002)

Lesson #18. How I Got My Start: The GAME TIME Watch   (August 2002)

Lesson #19. Game Calculator (another blast from the past)   (September 2002)

Lesson #20. Board Game Design   (October 2002)

Lesson #21. The Submission Process (November 2002)

Lesson #22. Classic Games Q&A (December 2002)

"Catch-23." Quandaries, Contradictions, and Oxymora of the Game Biz. (January 2003)

Lesson #24. Ten Stupid Wannabe Tricks (February 2003)

Lesson #25. How To Choose A College/University (March 2003)

Lesson #26. "How Hard Is It?" (April 2003)

Lesson #27. Barrier-Busting Tips (May 2003)

FAQ #28. A GLOSSARY OF GAME BIZ TERMS (June 2003)

Article #29. Starting Your Own Development Company (July 2003)

Article #30. "If You Have To Ask..." (August 2003)

Article #31. "What If I Have The Ultimate Idea?" (September 2003)

Article #32. Writing For Games (October 2003)

Article #33. The Korean Game Developers Conference 2003 (November 2003)

Article #34. A Question of Degree (December 2003)

Article #35. More About Submissions (January 2004)

Article #36. Learn How to Fish (February 2004)

Article #37. A's to Teacher-Assigned Career Project Q's (March 2004)

Article #38. Prototyping Card Games (April 2004)

Article #39. Legal Stuff (May 2004)

Article #40. Passions! vs. Feelings (June 2004)

FAQ #41. Switching Careers (July 2004)

Article #42. Producing (August 2004)

Article #43. The Idea Man Calleth... Again (September 2004)

FAQ #44. Regular College vs. Game School (October 2004)

FAQ #45. DaMath (November 2004) (Note: Outdated material, not relevant to aspiring designers)

Article #46. Conferences Redux (December 2004) (Note: contains some outdated material)

Lesson #47. Words of Wisdom (January 2005)

Lesson #48. So You Want to Work In Japan (February 2005)

Lesson #49. "Is It Enough?" (March 2005)

Lesson #50. "Is It Possible?" (April 2005)

Lesson #51. "Waste Of Time?" (May 2005)

Article #52. Two-Choices Questions (June 2005)

Article #53. Graphics & Audio (July 2005)

Article #54. Networking Tips (August 2005)

Article #55. Life In "Perfect Land" (September 2005)

Article #56. "How Do I Make My Own Video Game?" (October 2005)

Article #57. How To Succeed In The Game Biz (November 2005)

Article #58. Legal Stuff Part 2: Contracts in the Game Biz (December 2005)

Article #59. Exceptions to the Rules (January 2006)

Article #60. The Publishing FAQ; Making A Game Is The Easy Part (February 2006 - last monthly article)

FAQ #61. So You Want To Copy Somebody Else's Game (April 2006 - they're not monthly any more)

FAQ #62. The Finances of Game Development (April 2001 - finally converted it to an FAQ)

FAQ #63. Freelancing (August 2006)

FAQ #64. Stuck In A Non-Game Country (September 2006)

FAQ #65. How To Ask Good Questions To Get Good Answers (December 2006)

FAQ #66. "Is It Worth It?" (January 2007)

FAQ #67. So You're Still In High School And You Want A Job Now (September 2007)

FAQ #68. "Game Time" Watch vs. "Game & Watch" (July 2008)

FAQ #69. Level Design (November 2008)

FAQ #70. How To Make a Decision Grid (May 2009)

FAQ #71. "Am I Screwed? Am I Too Old?" (August 2009)

Tom finally started keeping a detailed log of updates, changes, corrections, etc. to the above Lessons/Articles/Essays/FAQs on April Fool's Day, 2004. The log is here.

The Game Design Bulletin Board Ask questions, you'll get straight answers. On the bulletin board. In this online format only. Please don't ask for special treatment, like phone answers, or emailing the FAQs to you... Tom is programmed to be helpful in this online format only.

Links to lots of essential sites about game design and the games industry.

How To Search For Any Kind of Information On the Internet (from our Mah-Jongg Zone; concepts apply equally to any kind of info search).

Who the heck is this Tom Sloper guy anyway? I mean, you know, what games did he ever design or produce? (For the answer, CLICK HERE.)

See Tom make a fool of himself on cable TV! http://www.g4tv.com/html/video.asp

Read my 2008 article "Am I In The Wrong Degree Program?" on GameDev.net.

I spoke at E For All's Game Career Seminar in the summer of 2007. The talk was entitled "Switching It Up: Changing Career Paths" and you can download the slides at http://www.gamecareerseminar.com/.

Game Design Perspectives and Secrets of the Game Business tell inside secrets of the game industry, written by game industry professionals like me (I wrote two chapters in each book). See Lesson 8 or http://www.charlesriver.com/titles/larameegames.html.

How To Sell Your Video Game Idea (a "Reader's Digest" version of some of our most popular lessons).

"Classic" Videogames - My CGE speech about how the classic Vectrex game SPIKE was designed.

Our Lesson 2 has been translated into Italian. Click here to go to Game Programming Italia!

Some of our Lessons have been translated into Korean at Gamedesignerz.net, a Korean-language site about game design. There was an interview with me there somewhere (conducted in April 2001 while I was in Tokyo). I happen to have the English version.

Webmasters: want to translate the lessons for your non-English site? Email the webmaster to request permission.

Some pictures I took in Japan. I've been there only seventeen times... (^_^) [Number 17 was to participate in the 2002 World Championship in Mah-Jongg.]

Some pictures I took in Hong Kong when I went to the Toys & Games Fair 2002.

Pictures of Seoul, South Korea, from when I went to speak at the 2003 Korean Game Developers Conference.

More pictures of Seoul, South Korea, from when I went to speak the following year at the 2004 Korea Games Conference.

Pictures of Beijing, from when I went to participate in the 2003 China Majiang Open Championship.

Pictures of Seoul (KGC and G*Star 2006) and of Tianjin (China Majiang Championship 2006).

Pictures of Mumbai, 2009

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Got a question about the game biz? Email me and I'll respond on The Game Design Bulletin Board.
PRIVACY POLICY: If you are not a relative, friend, student in my class, or journalist, and if you are not doing or intending to do business with me: "when you email me, I own it." I give free advice and answers, but I do it in public forums only. If you email me or IM me or PM me to ask for free advice or answers, you implicitly relinquish your right of privacy as regards to that communication. This policy is stated in numerous places on this website.

Email the webmaster with updates, link requests, and link removal requests. Or to request permission to translate any content on this site.