Work-Based Learning: Curriculum Vitae (26/11/2012)

Looking back over the careers I have been interested in I decided to focus on the role of a lead game designer for now. Once I have become confident with understanding one existing gaming career then I will look at the others.

Clearly, I understand that I would not be able to step into this role imeditally and would have to be part of a company working my way towards this dream job.

What does a lead game designer do?

Taken from the site 'BREAKING IN' I found their description for the role of Lead Designer as seen below:

'A Lead Designer may or may not be the person who "invented" the game's idea, but it's almost certain you'll be specifying its primary interactions. As Lead Designer, you will perform most of the tasks mentioned for Game Designer, and you'll also lead the other members of the design team to achieve the product goals. Along with producer, you'll have decision-making power regarding the design, especially in cases where your choices don't result in any changes to scope or schedule. You will participate in, and may be ultimately responsible for, the selection of the other designers on the team. Often the Lead Designer holds or shares the responsibility of representing the game to the media.' http://archives.igda.org/breakingin/path_design.htm

I then further looked online at a real job application on the website 'gamesindustry INTERNATIONAL' for a lead game designer and discovered the following job in London that paid between £30,000 to £50,000 per year:

Responsibilities:
- Maintaining and tuning both single and multiplayer balancing.
- Be Time conscious with the desire to keep to deadlines.
- Being the direct point of contact to Artists and Programmers and being able to liaise between both departments (ideally some form of technical background or scripting would help here) - Must have shipped at least 3 very successful titles as a lead or senior GD position.
- Draw realistic assets and natural geological features and know the difference between what works and what doesn’t with the end user in mind - Conveying ideas and clear formalisation of complex concepts.
- Designing the start process of the game itself, down to the planning and designing of game settings - Excellent organizational skills.

Requirements:
- Desire to make quality AAA games on console platform.
- Degree in a Games field or related qualification (Computer Science, Programming etc) - Above 5 years as GD including experiences as lead GD or main GD for core gameplay on mobile platforms.
- Good A Levels or equivalent - Proficient in all aspects of game design such as gameplay, balancing, and reward system, etc.
- 4 Years + as a ‘Games Designer’ for PS3, Xbox360 or PC - Prototyping ideas via one of those standard tools like Photoshop, Flash, Sketch-up, 3D Studio Max, Unity, Blitz, etc.
- Experience in 3D modelling tools and scripting languages - Good knowledge of classic console video games, their flagship titles and their audience an asset.

Examples of good and bad CV's:

Looking online I decided to research examples of both good and bad Curriculum Vitae so as to get a better understanding of how to present mine and what to include. I ended up discovering a website called 'Kent' which contained two examples that would help me out under the title of 'Examples of Good and Bad CVs'.

Below, in my own words are points to remember:

Bad examples:

Presentation is poor and/or takes up too much space. For example, the spaces between paragraphs are too big, thus making you use more pages than you should do.
Even including something as basic as your email address is essential as that is one of the methods they will most likely contact you with. Therefore having a silly or offensive email name is also not a very good idea and doesn't look professional.
As simple as it sounds don't forget to include anything relevant to the job you are applying for, no matter how small it may seem, many people miss out this oppounity.

Good examples:

Needs to be short and punchy.
Interests are divided into different groups and any that demonstrate key skills should be listed first.
Instead of writing Curriculum Vitae at the top of the page it should be your name in large bold letters. Personally, why not both?
Use bullet points to list skills as anything else may confuse the reader e.g. a negative symbol / a '-' may make them think its a negative of yours instead of a positive by mistake.
Save as much space as possible, but make sure that it is clear at the same time.