The document provides an outline for a talk on navigating a career in the games industry as a graduate. It discusses the speaker's journey from university to current roles, including an internship and junior designer position. It outlines the various types and sizes of game studios, available job titles, and resources for graduates seeking help or opportunities. The day-to-day responsibilities of different roles are explained, along with tips on creating an effective portfolio as a game or level designer to highlight one's skills and projects. The talk concludes by noting everyone's career path is different and to keep open-minded while pursuing short and long-term goals.

1. Navigating The Games Industry
As a graduate

2. Talk Outline
- Introduction and my journey.
- What the industry looks like for a graduate.
- Where to find help.
- My day-to-day/What does a designer do?
- Portfolios for Level/Game Designers.
- Different journeys and Goals.
- Q&A.

3. Hello!
I’m Megan.
Gamesmegan.wordpress.com
sketchbook.megan@gmail.com
@MemoPotato
Game Designer - Specialism in
Level Design
Interested in making games
that are accessible to
everyone and revolve around
non-violent, cozy, and relaxing
themes. Enjoys designing
games with unique mechanics
or levels that push the
boundaries of play.

5. My Journey
- University: studying Games Design
And Art
- Lost and didn't know what role I
wanted to do
- Limitbreak Mentorship
- Game jams

6. Moving on from university
- Finished my 3rd year project:
Gardeners Grove.
- Junior level designer at Playtra
games.
- Scholarship to Code Coven/Facebook
gaming summer program - Game
Designer.
My final
year degree
project

7. Career Journey
Summer Program: working on a
game called “Trailer Tales”
Playtra Games: creating battles for
the game “Grid Force - Mask Of the
Goddess”

8. Burnout
And taking a step back.
- Freelance Environment designer @
Carrotcake studio.
- Taking our game “Trailer Tales”
forward for funding.
Lost Camper Games Team

9. Next Steps
- Short term goal: A full-time game design role.
- Mid-Term goal: publish “Trailer Tales”.
- Long term goal: My very own indie studio.

10. What does the industry look like for a Graduate?
?
?
?

11. Graduate Outlook
- Scary but full of opportunities.
- Lots of remote work.
- More roles are asking for a Degree in Games.
- There are more places to find jobs.
- There are government schemes to help you
get a games industry job.

12. Studio sizes and types
AAA - Internships, Graduate roles, Junior roles, Offers training, Set role.
AA - Graduate roles, Junior roles, Some training, Set role.
Indie - Junior roles, Often no training, Taking on multiple roles at once.
Publishers - Often for more experienced designers.
Outsourcing - Indie studios will hire juniors, established studios hire seniors.
Mobile or FtP - Graduate opportunities, perfect for experience, fast paced.
Freelance - Difficult to get the ball rolling, Very flexible, Multiple projects.

13. Job Titles
- Narrowing yourself down will rule out opportunities (ie. its better to say
I’m a ‘Game Designer’ with a specialism in Level Design).
- Some jobs will be asking for an “Environment Designer” but you might
actually be doing the role of a “Level Designer”.

14. Where to get help as a Student/Graduate?
- Limit Break, Navee Mentorship, Prospela/Into Games Mentorship
- Grads In Games, Code Coven, Ukie (#raisethegamejam), Out making
games (OMG), Women Making Games (WOMG), POC in play, Game Devs
of Color Expo, Safe In Our World.
- Tranzfuser, Tentacle Zone, D&AD awards, Barclays eagle labs, UK Games
Fund.
- DISCORD SERVERS - Work with indies, Game Dev Network, The Design
Den, Code Coven.
- Game Jams: look for ones with industry mentors or judges.

15. Day-To-Day
What do I do?
How has each role been different?
Key Skills
In Graduate Roles

16. Junior Level Designer
- Joined during the development/Production cycle.
- My aim: to identify problems with the gameplay and design solutions.

17. Junior Level Designer
- Morning meetings, SCRUM/AGILE framework, every 2 weeks sprint review,
new sprint creation, and project retrospective
- Check tasks on Hack n Plan
- Testing game, logging bugs
- Tweaking variables to balance mechanics
- Working with programmers to implement new design tools to speed up
development
- Designing and implementing AI patterns, Attacks and movesets
- Designing and implementing character attacks
- Taking user playtesting data and converting into deliverables

18. Day to Day as Freelance Environment Designer
- Log hours on spreadsheet, creating invoices (gotta do your taxes)
- Create new area using documentation
- Plan the layout (sketch):
- Water, Cliffs, Paths, Texture
- Implement first layer^
- Create plant layer
- Decide soil level and herb type (balance)
- Compose plants in scene
- Check from player POV, check items can fit in spaces
- Separate scenes and send to client

19. Game Designer - Trailer Tales
- Creating game mechanics
- Sketching and Greyboxing levels
- Testing and reviewing gameplay
- Talking with the programmer to implement gameplay
- Creating pitch decks for funding
- Publicizing the game at online events
- Attending interviews or talks with the team

20. Portfolios
What to include for a game/level design role?

21. Portfolios
Think of it like giving a gift
- You think of the recipient and
what they want/like
- You create a budget/timescale for
getting that gift
- You think about the contents of
the gift
- When you give the gift you think
about presentation (wrapping)
- When the person opens the gift
they react to it
Giving a Portfolio
- You think of the recipient and
what they want/like
- You create a budget/timescale for
creating your portfolio
- You think about the contents of
the portfolio
- Think about presentation of
portfolio (website, blog etc.)
- When the person opens the
portfolio they react to it

22. Landing Page
Simple and clean
Feature 4-6 key projects
Create a small introduction

23. Project page
- Show your wide-range knowledge
here.
- Include a catchy image and short
description.

24. Portfolio tips for game designers - Projects
- Diagrams
- Greybox/Whitebox screenshots
- Gameplay gifs (with description)
- List what you did
- Postmortems/Retrospectives
- Trailer reels are not that great: explaining stuff is a lot more useful
If applying to indie studios, show extra skills if you have examples of them.
- Music creation, working with sound designers
- Programming

25. Project Example
Project status, my role, link, and
description.
Gameplay trailer.
Key areas of work that I
completed.
Design sections: deep-dive
breakdown into puzzle design.

26. Portfolio Do’s and Don'ts
Do:
- Show appropriate work and how
you did it.
- Explain what the project was and
what stage it is in.
- Clearly explain your role and what
you did.
- Include annotated images.
- Write positively.
Don’t:
- Show inappropriate work (This is
not the space for NSFW projects!).
- Talk negatively about what other
people did or didn't do.
- Post lots of images with no
explanation.
- Write an essay. If it takes too long
to read, they will never see it all.

27. Different journeys
- No one will have the same path.
- Be open minded, take opportunities that suit you.
- Create long-term and short-term goals.

28. Thankyou :)