Welcome back every one! As promised I
have part 2 of finding a team.
You've waited long enough, so let me
jump right in!
As you all may remember we discussed
some of the work that goes into finding a team. Primarily we talked
about how you need a lot of stuff to show off before any one will be
interested in your project. It's a huge task to tackle, but well
worth it. If you haven't read it check it out.
This time I'm going to focus more on
community and finding like minded individuals who share a passion for
making games. Networking is a huge part in any business, not just
game design. It also is very useful when doing nearly every aspect of
game design. Stuck on an issue with your code or art? There is a
community to help you. Need investors or promotion? There is a
community out there for you.
Finding and joining a multitude of
communities is very important for a host of reasons. Groups may talk
about a wide variety of things from issues they have, the latest
release from an obscure studio or just help wanted ads. All of these
and more will teach you about what does and doesn't work for their
respective issue.
So what are some good groups to join?
Here is a small starter list to help you. I highly suggest using this
as a jumping off point and find more groups to join.
Facebook groups:
GameDev Beginners
Indie Game Developers
Indie Game Promo
Twitter Hashtags:
#indiedev
#indiegamedev
#indiedevhour
Reddit:
GameDev Classifieds
DevBlogs
GameDev
Alright, now that you've found some
groups, how do you interact with them in the most benificial way?
Well really there is no easy answer.
Right now you are forming relationships which takes time and effort.
You just have to be active, friendly and as helpful as possible. Here
is a quick list of how you can be a better community member.
- Share other peoples stuff without expecting a like or follow.
People share a lot of cool things and
you shouldn't be afraid to show that you enjoy whatever they posted.
This is where you get to show a bit of your personality without
constantly updating your social media with what you did today. I
personally really enjoy art, especially game art. I'll take time to
look through various posts by artists on Facebook and Twitter and
share those pieces of art. The artist will like getting the publicity
and the people that look at my feed get to see what inspires me.
I encourage you to share awesome art,
informative articles, funny quotes and so on. Let your personality
shine through.
- Praise other for good work.
Just like you there are tons of
beginner developers. They put themselves out there and hope some one
will care about their project. They, like you, put a lot of work and
time and energy in to their projects so when they share their
progress I often praise them. Now, I don't always praise people. If I
don't like something then I simply ignore it. I won't go out of my
way to bash them of course. But when there is a cool piece of media
I'll at very least like it.
- Ask questions in groups.
I'm sure you have tons of questions
(I know I do!), so go ahead and ask them. Just try to have your
question well written. This is especially important if you are asking
your question in a language that isn't your first language. If people
can't understand what you are asking they may ask for you to clarify,
but more often they are either rude or ignore you. So please take
the time to format your question in a way that is easily understood
and make sure you give as much info as needed.
- Answer questions that you feel you know the answer to.
If you think you have the answer or
you want to look up the answer go for it. The person asking will be
very happy and most likely willing to help you in the future with a
problem you may have. But this goes beyond just answering questions.
You can always critique peoples work too. If some one is asking for
some critiques and comments on a piece of art, some code or a section
of their game give your two cents. I suggest the 'sandwich' method
when giving feedback. For those that don't know the sandwich critique
is when you give a complement then the suggestion/negative feedback
then wrap it up with a complement again. You don't want to come off
as a dick especially when you are surrounded by your peers. But don't
think you can't be honest too. People are sharing to get honest feed
back, so give it.
These 'guidelines' should help you get
a nice start on joining groups and communities and also some tips on
how to meet new people and form some connections. But all of that is
mostly for online interaction. Next I'm going to quickly cover more
face to face situations.
The best thing for you to do is join
your local IGDA (indie game developers association). I believe most
states have a branch and they are awesome. IGDA will introduce you to
indie game devs who live near you. You'll learn what they are doing
for work, where the work is, how they do their work and much much
more. This is the perfect place to meet like minded individuals who
live and breath game development.
On top of that there are always game
jams. These can be both in person and online. I personally am fond of
Global Game Jam, which my local IGDA hosts in my home state of
Minnesota. Game jams are a great way to not only meet people, but
also learn your craft.
Game jams help you understand what you
can and can't accomplish in a given time. It also helps you
prioritize aspects of your game as they tend to be 2 days long or so.
Each game jam has their own time limits, themes and so on.
You'll also get to meet new people and
make a quick game with them. You'll really get to know about your
team mates as you'll spend just about every waking hour working with
them on you game, solving problems and brain storming. This will be
scary for you introverts, but I can't suggest this enough. You will
be with a group of people who all love games as much as you and who
are happy to get your help.
The most important aspect of game jams
is you'll learn so much! You'll come across problems you never even
thought about. You'll learn how to meet new people, especially face
to face. You'll learn communication skills and most importantly
you'll learn very quickly what your skill set really is and what
needs to be improved. You'll also get a glimpse of new and cool
aspects of game design. Maybe you've never touched level design
before, but now your team needs a level and they are too busy, thus
you are thrown into the mix. It may be scary, but you'll learn
quickly and with every one being excited and eventually sleep
deprived you'll also have a very fun time conquering those
challenges.
What are some groups that you suggest
or have found? Let us know in the comments and maybe even share your
twitter handle or facebook page (whatever you feel comfortable
doing).
Next time I'm going to dump a bunch of
reading material on a wide variety of topics from level design to
marketing. I just want to give you some resources to read up on.
Take care and I look forward to seeing
you around the web!
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