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LINKS TO GAME INDUSTRY & GAME DESIGN WEBSITES
Note: Many of the articles/FAQs on this site contain links to other sites where further on-topic information can be found. Not all those links are also listed below. Looking for more links about (for instance) starting your own game company? Article 29 is about starting your own game company, so there are links at the bottom of the article. For example.
LISTINGS OF GAME COMPANIES:
SITES ABOUT BUSINESS ASPECTS OF GAMES
Gamasutra - The Art & Science of Making Games. HIGHLY recommended.
GameRankings.com is a site where you can read game reviews and statistics on sales (the ultimate measure of whether a game is "good" when it comes right down to it).
GameSpot is a great place to get reviews and information about video games that have been released. See who published them, who developed them, read reviews, see screenshots, and even links for buying them.
Want game biz salary info? Go to http://www.gamecareerguide.com and type "salary survey" in the site's Search box. Also check the IGDA salary research paper.
And in late 2008, GameCareerGuide put together the 2007 salary survey with past entry-level figures, at
http://www.gamecareerguide.com/features/617/the_paycheck_how_much_to_expect_.php.
The Fall 2009 salary survey is at
http://gamedeveloper.texterity.com/gamedeveloper/2009fall/#pg33.
In April 2001 I wrote an article about Financial Aspects of Game Development for the idevgames online magazine. idevgames has given me permission to put the article here on my site, which is a good thing, because it seems like every time I try to see the article on
the idevgames site, the site is down or the article is at a different location... Use this article together with...
... Diana Gruber's royalty calculator.
Are you a female who's interested in working in games? Go to www.girlsingames.com and volunteer, get connected, get a head start.
http://www.gamesbiz.net/ is an online business resource for the games industry. If you are looking to set up a games company, do a deal with
a publisher, or find work, gamesbiz can help. The site provides both
legal and general business advice, many documents are free.
Jeff Tunnel's site, MakeItBigInGames.com, has lots of articles for those just starting out in the game biz.
Some sites you can use for researching game sales statistics:
- vgchartz.com
- researchandmarkets.com
- marketresearch.com
- abiresearch.com
- And more links are available at http://www.igda.org/faq.php#biz01.
ORGANIZATIONS, TRADE SHOWS AND EXPOS:
The International Game Developers Association is the very important organization supporting those who work in the game industry. Site is chock full of great stuff - forums, whitepapers, columns, career info.
Game Developers Conference is the most important conference of the year for those who working in the industry or wanting to work in the industry. Also see Lesson 6.
Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences
D.I.C.E. SUMMIT -- The yearly conference hosted by the AIAS (usually in Las Vegas). For information, go to the AIAS website at http://www.interactive.org and click the D.I.C.E. logo!
The Software Development Conference & Expo is an event geared towards the programmers who create any kind of software (not just game software).
In Europe (Leipzig), the latest greatest (2007) European event for video/PC games is the GC Games Convention
http://www.gc-germany.com/ (click the English button)
and the Games Convention Developer Conference (GCDC),
http://www.gcdc.eu/.
Tokyo Game Show (Click the English link.) - Also see Lesson 6. Ollie Barder's photos of the 2002 TGS are at
http://cacophanus.net/tgs2002/tgs2002/.
The Shareware Industry Conference is an annual event for those who publish games using the shareware model.
http://www.sic.org/
The Southeast's Largest Digital game Expo - http://www.dgxpo.com (Southeast United States)
The Austin Game Conference is growing year by year - http://www.austingameconference.com
The Game Manufacturers Association, --the companies that bring you great family, strategy, roleplaying, popular trading card, historical boardgames and miniatures. Information on the games industry as well as GAMA and the many events and activities that GAMA sponsors.
Hong Kong Toys & Games Fair - Also see my report.
Toy And Game Inventors Forum takes place in September in Las Vegas.
Indie Games Con is "a fun, informal and informative gathering of independent game developers from around the world. IGC is designed to be a summit meeting of like-minded developers with the shared goal to focus on collaboration and building community. This is an unprecedented opportunity to meet other indie developers, professional guest developers, hardware manufactures as well as the GarageGames staff." The conference takes place in Eugene, Oregon, USA, on October 10-12, 2003. More info can be found at http://www.indiegamescon.com/.
The Piecepack Game Design Competition website is at www.piecepack.org.
There's a free online games magazine at
http://www.dice2mice.com/
(not sure if the magazine covers game design, but if you like games...)
ONLINE DISCUSSION FORUMS
The IGDA (International Game Developers Association) hosts a forum for wannabes and students, and
"words of wisdom" from pros in the game development industry
(see Design Resources listings, below).
http://www.igda.org/Forums/forumdisplay.php?forumid=44. If you have to register to access the forum, then register! You need to belong to the IGDA anyway.
I contribute a regular advice column for wannabes and newbies at the IGDA website. I recommend that you register on the site, it's a wealth of resources. My column is at
http://www.igda.org/games-game/.
GameDev.NET has a number of excellent forums, and a large active community; very worthwhile.
GameCareerGuide.com has some great forums for those interested in starting a career in games.
http://www.discovergames.com/... "Resource for toy and game inventors to show their products to board game retailers, manufacturers & licensors and game players. Retailers need new products. In between inventors & retailers are game suppliers, reps, agents, contests and FUN."
The Yahoo BoardGameDesign Group is at
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/BoardGameDesign/
The Board Game Design Forum is at
http://www.bgdf.com/ (thanks to Mario T. Lanza for posting the info on the newsgroup rec.games.design).
Discussions about indie game development: http://forums.indiegamer.com/.
The Talemonger's Emporium: Ask A Developer, a Q&A site where you can ask questions of game developers other than me (I have my own Q&A board right here!)
For those of you interested in actually programming games (as opposed to only designing them), here are two sites where you can ask questions and get good answers from a numgber of participants (as opposed to my site, where I only discuss design aspects and career advice):
Mikko S Mattila of the University of Helsinki hosts a forum on game development at http://www.gamedev.org.
A website that is both a software store (perhaps selling stuff made by garage gamers?) and a clearing house for garage gamers to meet one another and join or start indy projects is http://www.garagegames.com.
A website for those working on offshore gambling game sites is http://www.theprescription.com/. Maybe there's information about the legal aspects and other important information you need to know if you want to work on a project that involves gambling for money. Or maybe the site is just a portal to gambling games, I don't know... (^_^)
Usenet was once the primary place to go for discussions but it has fallen largely out of use, replaced by Web-based discussion forums. But if you want to give it a try:
The Game Design newsgroup (news:rec.games.design). Mainly for the discussion of design aspects of all kinds of games (board games, card games, computer games, parlor games, whatever), but a lot of programming topics appear. If you have difficulty accessing newsgroups, try http://groups.google.com/
The Computer Games Design newsgroup (news:comp.games.development.design). Mainly for the discussion of design aspects of computer games, but a lot of programming topics appear. If you have difficulty accessing newsgroups, try http://groups.google.com/
The Computer Games Industry newsgroup (news:comp.games.development.industry). If you have difficulty accessing newsgroups, try http://groups.google.com/
If you are into programming, also use http://groups.google.com/ to find newsgroups about programming (start with the comp.games.development.* hierarchy), or use Outlook Express and list groups with the keyword "programming" in the name.
SCHOOLS & COLLEGES WITH DESIGN CURRICULAE:
As I stated in
Lesson 3 and Lesson 25, there are schools that offer programs in "game design" (and each school defines the term differently - one school means "game graphics" when they say "game design" - and another school means "game programming" when they say "game design" - very few of them actually mean "game design" when they say "game design").
This "you can get a degree in game development" stuff is pretty new. The situation may be different 10 years from now when "game degrees" are more widespread, but in today's game job market, it is not "required" or "expected" that you have a game degree. A regular 4-year college degree will do, so long as you also take the time to build a spectacular portfolio.
You can also supplement your regular 4-year degree with some specialized game education.
Here's a partial list of some sites that list game schools. If you hear of more school list sites, please email me, and it'll be added to this list.
DESIGN & JOB HUNTING RESOURCES:
If you aren't in the industry and are thinking about career paths, check out http://www.igda.org/breakingin/career_paths.htm (and of course I assume you have read the articles here on my site too!).
Highly recommended: GameCareerGuide.com and "So You Want to Work in Games..." at http://www.gamedaily.com/articles/features/so-you-want-to-work-in-games/71362/?biz=1.
So you wanna be a game designer? Read
http://www.gamecareerguide.com/features/491/designer_advice_a_beginners_.php.
CreativeHeads.net lists game jobs.
GameJobs.com lists game jobs too.
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/.
If you haven't yet read my FAQs and think "game design" is the same thing as "game programming" (and what you want is information about how to program rather than how to design), there's an excellent starter tutorial at gamedev.net.
For those of you dissatisfied with Microsoft Paint as your graphics tool and who need a free tool, check out
GIMP (GNU Image Manipulation Program). Reader Pete says: "It works just like Photoshop, and is far more powerful than MS Paint. And it's free. http://www.gimp.org/
Need to include 3D sketches in your design? Google Sketchup is highly recommended. And it's free!
A great tool for laying out your game's menuing system is MetaCard.
Discover Games has a GREAT series of articles about what to do with your original BOARD game or toy concept. (Including one that will sound familiar if you have read our Lessons on this site.)
"How To Get A Job In The Gaming Biz" by Cliff Bleszinski of Epic Games. I saw Cliff speak at the 2003
D.I.C.E. Summit (the AIAS awards convention) in Las Vegas. He's got his stuff together.
http://www.cliffyb.com/how-to-get-hired.htm.
"A Message From Sid" Meier of Firaxis games on how to "Start A Gaming Career" --
http://www.firaxis.com/jobs/career.php.
The IGDA hosts a new collection of "words of wisdom" from pros in the game development industry, collected by Barbara Walter as part of her role as the IGDA newbie forum moderator (see Forums section, above).
Excellent adjunct to the lessons on this site; great resource for wannabes. If you have to register to access the site, then register! You need to belong to the IGDA anyway.
Game recruiter Mary Margaret has a good FAQ on getting a game job, on her site at http://www.mary-margaret.com/faq.html.
A 1997 Gamasutra article by Tzvi Freeman
about how to write a design document.
Fi's Quotes on Game Design; quotes and insights from famous game designers and others. (The direct URL changed, so explore the site to find the quotes page.)
David Sirlin wrote http://www.sirlin.net/archive/playing-to-win-part-1/ in 2000. It was so widely quoted and valuable to so many that he wrote the book "Playing to Win," about the process of self-improvement through competitive games.
Free graphical user interfaces
http://www.complexgames.com/, the site of Exender (frequent contributor to discussions on our own bulletin board).
Bio of designer Chris Crawford
About Shigeru Miyamoto. On Sept. 24-25, 2002, I got an emailed rumor that Miyamoto was dead. It sent me all over the net and to my Japanese friends to find confirmation or denial, and thank goodness I got denial. (No, not de Nile Virus, denial. Not only that, I actually shook hands with the man, the following year! (^_^)
"You know your game is in trouble when..." by Steven Woodcock. This'll give you a look behind the electron curtain (ignore the man working the levers back there)! Thanks to Geoff Howland and Carl G. for the link, and thanks to Arklan for trying
www.gametutorials.com has a wealth of information, especially if you aspire to program.
PlanetRecruit.com - Game job postings - also be sure to look on Gamasutra too!
Games in Japan, An article by Taiju Sawada in The Games Journal, A boardgame monthly, about what table games the Japanese like to play the most.
http://www.thegamesjournal.com/.
http://www.sirlin.net is "Your source of shocking insights on game design." Useful articles on game design, including some that borrow insights from Sun Tzu's The Art of War.
The Gamers' Alliance is the international network of board game and table game players and professionals. "Our interests span ALL varieties of play and we believe ALL quality games are deserving of support. Since 1986, we have been alerting our worldwide membership to the newest and best games on the market today through our quarterly publication."
For those interested in designing board games and toy-type games, see the Toy Inventor / Designer Guide on the website of the Toy Industry Association, Inc. (formerly Toy Manufacturers of America, Inc.). Very excellent info on every aspect. Go to
http://www.toy-tia.org.
GameGirl Advance is an interesting site that looks at games from a global perspective as opposed to the usual "what do the core male players think is cool" perspective.
http://www.gamediscovery.com/ is a site you might want to check out, especially if you live in a remote region far from game companies, and remote collaborations are the right way for you to go.
http://www.gamedeveloper.com/ has articles and forums - read. Volunteer. Remote collaborations are one good way to get started (but don't let it get in the way of your college studies).
Wikipedia is your friend. Check out
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_gaming_topics.
Greg Costikyan, Chief Creative Officer of Unplugged Inc. (
www.unplugged-inc.com)
has a blog dealing with games, game design, and game
culture at:
http://www.costik.com/weblog
Greg is posting a fairly extensive essay every week or so, dealing
with one or another of his "bete noires," some recent development in the
field, a particular game, or something of the kind. Rationale: "I'm starting the blog mainly because I rarely find this kind of material on
the Web; consumer-oriented sites offer mainly reviews, while professional
sites offer mainly how-to material. I want deeper analysis, and since I
don't often find it, I might as well write it myself."
GAM3R 7H30RY is an online book in progress about computer games that tries to answer two questions: 1) Can we explore games as allegories for the world we live in? 2) Can there be a critical theory of games? http://www.futureofthebook.org/gamertheory/
You can find some audio articles about game design at IndustryBroadcast.com.
Our Lesson 2 has been translated into Italian. Click here to go to Game Programming Italia!
Our Lessons are being translated into Korean as well. Click here. The Korean translations are hosted by ...
Gamedesignerz.net, a Korean-language site about game design.
Want to do some volunteer (unpaid) beta testing? Check out fileplanet.
Webmasters: want to translate the lessons for your site? Read the copyright notice at the bottom of this page and email the webmaster. 
ABOUT RESUMES AND COVER LETTERS:
LEGAL SITES -- PROTECT YOUR INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY
MY INTERVIEWS
Read about my 2006 Serious Games Summit talk, "How To Find And Work With The Right Studio For Your Serious Game Project" at
http://seriousgamessource.com/features/feature_111706_sgsdc_1.php. You can download the Powerpoint slides at
http://www.seriousgamessummit.com/conference/proceedings.htm or
https://www.cmpevents.com/GDsg06/a.asp?option=C&V=1&PV=2.
I was quoted in The Daily Breeze, Friday, June 21, 2002, in their page B1 story, "Video games not just for teen, pre-teen boys"
An article about me appeared in TD Monthly (a trade magazine for the toy, hobby, game, and gift industry), August 2003.
An interview I did with the idevgames online magazine in April 2001.
Gamedesignerz.net's webzine OnGoing, a Korean-language online magazine about game design. There's an interview with me there somewhere (conducted in April 2001 while I was in Tokyo)... I happen to have the English version.
Game Design Perspectives and Secrets of the Game Business are two books on the game industry, by game industry professionals like me (I wrote two chapters in each book). See Lesson 8 or http://www.charlesriver.com/titles/larameegames.html.
CLASSIC VIDEOGAME SITES (especially Vectrex)
And there are lots more websites. Just enter your desired topic in your internet search engine and go exploring. Game designers must be good explorers -- and good researchers.
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