CVs and Covering Letters

Difference between CV and Covering Letter.

CV: Detailed description of your qualifications
CL: Sells yourself and express your interest in job.

CL - Pick the 'required and desired' qualifications and USE THE WORDINGS from those requirements.

TICK BOXES




CV:

2 pages or a little more,
Contains Name, Contact, Education, Work Experience, Relevant work-related skills,. Summary of background academically as well as teaching/research experience, publications, presentations, awards, honours, affiliations and other details.

Detailed account of qualifications and relevant experience to the position you are applying for. Personal details so employers can contact you.

CL:

1 page
Brief info about self, work experiencem Job profile and career goal.

Complement the CV - briefly introduce yourself and explain interest and fit for the job.

Portfolios

Analysis of Portfolios:

• Games Designer
• Games Artist
• Commonalities
• Tailoring content to meet requirements of different.
• Analyse own work - begin to think about how to display in own portfolio.

Designers:

Jacob Minkoff - jacobminkoff.com
Sam Kaplan - samkaplangamedesign.com/#!portfolio
Nick Knebel - vimeo.com/54724654
Jean Canellas - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DnkIlTBoeFU

Artists:

James Haywood - jhaywood.com
Jon McCoy - jonmccoyart.com
Richard Craig - rcraig-design.co.uk

Jacon Minkoff:

http://jacobminkoff.com/professional-work/

Videos present
Plot of level, requirements and responcibilies detailed.
Sections clearly seperated.

Sam Kaplan

http://www.samkaplangamedesign.com/#!portfolio/vstc5=guns-of-icarus

Videos present, detailed desciption of his role.

Nick Knebel

http://vimeo.com/54724654

Video only.
Describes process, showing workings out and why he made such decisions.
Seems a little juvinile.

Jean Canellas

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DnkIlTBoeFU

Video only, not showing process but all work. Sometimes a little confusing as to what we're looking at, description needed.

James Haywood

jhaywood.com

Clearly sectioned work which when clicked on has more information about what it is and where.
Shows traditional and digital art practices.

 

Jon McCoy

http://www.jonmccoyart.com/index.html


Clear again, work is well layed out in squares showing highlights of a piece. Shows everything from rough to completed artwork. Many different styles and objects of work: people and landscapes.

No descriptions but work speaks for itself.

 

Richard Craig

http://rcraig-design.co.uk/index.htm

Clearly laid out work, CV attached. Small desciptions. Shots at different stages - shows progress of textured and untextured work.

What makes a good design portfolio?

• Shows process.
• Decisions are justified.
• Detail is placed.
• Video of gameplay.
• Design philosophy is displayed
• Positive Language
• Clean easy layout
• Contact info/CV
• Bio
• Software experience

 

What makes a good Art Portfolio?

• Wide ranging content
• Best work only
• Define your specialism

What role do I want in the industy?
Do I have supporting work?
Can they stand toe to toe with existing work?
How will you present  this?
Sell yourself and your skills.

Start collating work selected and define why?

Case Studies: Ninja Theory

Investigate and analyse independant Games dev. Ninja Theory.

Find out about the company

• What games?
• Where are they based?
• What makes them Unique?

CASE: Ninja Theory

http://www.ninjatheory.com/

Professional Presentation Techniques: How To Pitch Ideas.

How to Prepare for a Professional Pitch

"Failling to prepare is preparing to fail."

• Know your audience - Who you're presenting to is important, it must be relevant to them or they won't be interested.
• Do your research - get your facts straight.
• Keep supporting material concise - The support material is support, not to distract or lead.
• "A picture paints a thousand words" - Keep text minimum, stick to key words and phrases.
• Look professional, be proffesional. Look the part, inspire confidence.

 Command the Audience - Keep them Focused

Powerpoint techniques:

• Match your colours up. Use a colour scheme. 
• Keep design basic and simple so it doesn't distract.
• Always express a take-home message - Underlying message.
• Keep text simple. Keywords and phrases.
• Same font face and size.
• Use easy eye colours.

Pitch techniques:

• BE PROFESSIONAL.
• Be passionate.
• Smiling and eye contact.
• Stick to the point.
• Know what you're making.
• Be honest.
• Know your T/A
• Know your competition.
• Platform matters.
• When's it Shipping?
• Know Budgets.
• Be Almost-Greedy.

Fallout zones - Pripyat

Pripyat after the disaster - still in the dead zone.

BEFORE CHERNOBYL

 

Abandoned areas/rioted areas - In a hurry.

Deserted streets left abandoned in a hurry.

Burnt out cars on the side of a road after a riot.

Public transport would also come to a halt.

Buildings left with appliances unattended may catch fire.

Police Vans - they'd be around to try and sort the chaos.

Perhaps in the panic, there was looting?

The streets would be incredibly eerie

A deserted city-scape.

 

Exploration games - Camera System and Health

Camera and Health
Having the two interlinked could be very effective.

A 3rd person camera would allow the player to keep an eye on the character's condition and thus allow the game to give the player feed back in a digetic way.

Left 4 Dead 2

Although the game is 1st person, Left 4 Dead 2 allows you to see the status of your teammates via digetic means. The characters cramp forwards, limping and labouring to their destination.

Rochelle is healing the player.

Resident Evil 5

The player has an over the shoulder 3rd person veiw of Chris Redfield in RE5. This allows the player to see the damage which is inflicted upon Chris.

Chris nurses his near fatal wound.

A digetic display of health mixed with some other elements such as screen effects will help illustrate to the player what state of health the character is in.

 

Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth

Vertigo~

Damage appears on the avatar in the pause menu. 

Although a FPS, the character's damage that was focusd on each limb would affect gameplay via movement, camera view and health from all manner of injuries. The character will limp bleed and black out. The damage shows here but is more visible in the pause menu where it shows your avatar.
If the character got too scared the camera would act as if in vertigo, the colour from the screen would sap into monochrome and you could feel his heartbeat in the vibration of the pad and hear it on-screen with his heavy breathing.

Exploration games: Time Based

Time trials is the very basic sort of time based mechanic. Racing to beat the time is exciting.

Moderation needs to be key. This element needs to be carefully placed within the pacing in order for the gameplay not to get stale.

Holding out for a time is also a well used mechanic - especially almost 'horde' modes.

Exploration Games - Collectables!

'No More In-Game Collectables!' - GamesBeat

'So no more blind hunts. No more fill-in-the-blank trash. If a developer wants me to go looking for his stuff, he better plan to make those locations practical and the act of fetching them worth my while. Because a geek's collection means something. It's special. It's specific. And as it stands, most in-game collectibles miss on all three counts.'


Goal: Creating a worthwile collectable.

Bioshock: Audio Diaries

Audio diary is clearly on the bed.

This audio diary is a little more blended into the area around it.

These audio diaries are worthwhile collectables as they fill in the gaps which the player is missing in the backstory of characters and events which happened in Rapture before the player arrived.

They're placed in obvious, easy to reach places whilst still almost blending into the surroundings.

Could have some collectables hidden in unlockable areas.

 

 



Skyrim: Books

Just some of the many many many books.

One of the serious story books in Skyrim.

The books in skyrim offer an immersive option to filling in more information about areas, items, people and the lore of the land. They also offer sillyness and comic relief.
Books are obviously scattered through all houses and dungeons, some are more rarer than others. Some even offer quests.

'The Lusty Argonian Maid' is a comical addition which has run as a joke through The Elder Scrolls series.

 

Alan Wake: Manuscript pages

The pages are clean and easy to read.

The Pages slightly glow to alert the player to its whereabouts.

Manuscript pages are just one of many collectables in Alan Wake. These, however, serve a purpose which may not be completely obvious. They actually give hits as to what happens next to Alan.

Having clues to what happens next....Good thing or bad?

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A collectable is worth while when:
They're obviously benefitial. Otherwise, why collect them?

Good for scene setting: Valuble resource of background information for the player.

Exploration Games - Direction Via Light/Keeping the goal in sight

Alan Wake

A dim light hovers in the distance as a general pointer.

Here, Alan's objective can be clearly seen.

Alan Wake keeps the goal insight by using Light and areas which are lit up to keep the path quite literally illuminated.

This guidence allows the player to efficiently progress despite the perpetual darkness which covers the rest of the level. It gives the player a target and direction to aim for with an environmental visual cue rather than a quest marker.

The light house is obviously the goal here.

 

Environmental cues are important as then the player feels more immersed and less spoon-fed.

 

 

Left 4 Dead 2

 

The player can easily be attracted to the open door at the back without even realising.

Here, the neon sign and lamp points the way.

Here, the use of lighting as a guide is much more subtle. The areas aren't as dark, though some of them still are, and the lighting is a lot less 'black and white'. There are light sources everywhere, but the ones which stand out the most are usually the guiding ones.

Something even as subtle as sunshine can be a pointer.

 

Gentle guidence like this means that the player is intuitivly guided instead of, once again, spoon fed.

 

 

Exploration games - How they make exploration interesting.

Incentive!

Goals:

Journey

The player is treated to a beautiful veiw of their goal - the mountain.

  

 

From the very beginning, it's ever looming presence is a beacon.

 

 

Journey keeps  the goal relativly in view of the player. The goal is clear and is obvious to the player that they need to be heading that way. The player is driven by curiosity.

Exploration of the level is also facilitated by collectables which the player can gain. Also, the little scarf pieces are obvious markers as to where the player needs to go.

 

 

 

Skyrim

Gorgeous environments are lush and interesting to explore. Wonder what goodies you can find in here to make potions with?

Wonder what's at the top of that mountain? The player has every capability to go as high as they wish.

Skyrim offers many hidden things for the player to explore. There is a bar at the top of the screen in un UI which shows players landmarks which are close so the player can choose to explore that area.

Many quests are available everywhere, as well as many different collectables which can be used for potions. There are variations within the terrain across the country too which gives the player a sense of distance and of having traveled

Assassin's Creed 2

Considering the player isn't held back from climbing to the top of that tower, he can happily clamber up and explore the roof of every building.

 

Here, Ezio is at the top of a veiw point, looking down at the city around him.

By using collectables and points of interest across the map, players are encouraged to use the extensive climbing mechanics too clamber to the top of every building, or at least to the top of ones which are marked as a veiwpoint.

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(From this research) - Things to place in the game:

Collectables - Perfectionists/Magpie syndrome.
Veiwpoints - Make goals visible.
Points of interest - Make goals visible/collectables.