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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. And many of the links below may be dead or out of date. Find a dead link below? Please report it to webmaster at sloperama.com and it'll be deleted.
There are a lot of topic-specific links in the FAQs. They are not all repeated here. For instance: Looking for more links about 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? There used to be a yearly game industry salary survey. The best way to find the latest one is to use Google (type "2017 game industry salary survey," for instance) and see what links come up. Here is a link to the 2012 Game Industry Salary Survey on GameCareerGuide.com.
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's no longer viewable at idevgames.
Are you a female who's interested in working in games?
Join Women In Games International and volunteer, get connected, get a head start.
Jeff Tunnel's site, MakeItBigInGames.com, has information 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.)
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
GameDev.NET has a number of excellent forums, and a large active community; very worthwhile. Note, though, that the site is focused more on indie development and freelancing than on jobs in AAA - and more on programming than on design.
GameCareerGuide.com used to be active, but has been permitted to languish by its owners.
The IGDA (International Game Developers Association) used to have a very active forum, then a disastrous website upgrade destroyed it. A better redesign may have included a new forum, but I don't know if it's active or not.
You can also try Reddit and Discord. Google can help you find those and others.
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:
You can find game jobs listed at https://www.gamedev.net/jobs/.
CreativeHeads.net also lists game jobs.
A collection of articles on game development and careers in games: http://ithare.com/programming-guide-for-video-gamers/. Thanks to Mrs. Lowe for the link (January, 2017).
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.
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/ptw/ 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. You can get the e-book free from that site.
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.
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/
Are you an aspiring programmer or producer? Then you should subscribe to Game Developer magazine ("GD"): gdmag.com.
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
App & video game lawyer, Jovan A. Johnson of Johnson & Moo, a Los Angeles legal firm, offers a variety of legal services for video game developers.
For full information on copyrights, see the US Copyright Office's website, at: http://www.loc.gov/copyright/.
In particular, check out the FAQ and the Factsheet on games (which is at: http://www.copyright.gov/fls/fl108.pdf. (Thanks to Travis Casey for the links.)
U. S. Patent & Trademark Office (you can do trademark searches here)
http://www.nameprotect.com/ - another site where you can do trademark searches (internationally, even). Thanks to Rosie Sharman for the link.
Home of Nolo Press, excellent books on legal matters. Go to their home page and look for their Copyright & Trademark page.
Sample contracts - not game-industry-specific, but darned useful - http://contracts.onecle.com/.
The other side of the IP coin, one side being "protect yours," is "don't abuse somebody else's!" Check out
http://www.templetons.com/brad/copymyths.html -- "10 Big Myths about copyright explained;" An attempt to answer common myths about copyright, and issues related to copyright and USENET/Internet publication.
MY INTERVIEWS
Interview with app & video game lawyer, Jovan A. Johnson
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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