Article #12:

"Things You Can Do At Home To Sweeten Your Résumé"

Starting Your Portfolio

Originally written: February, 2002. Most recent update: October, 2012

INTRODUCTION

Fresh out of college, a grad doesn't have much to show on his résumé. It's understandably difficult to get professional experience while you're busy studying!

But, even if your résumé is kind of thin, you can still sweeten your cover letter and portfolio (I know, I used the word "résumé" in the title, but that was done for "sweetening," heh) by listing other things you've done to show your enthusiasm for games.

Here are some suggestions for other things you can do on your own to enhance your desirability as a game industry applicant.

THINGS YOU CAN DO ON YOUR OWN TO PREPARE FOR A GAME CAREER

• Play a lot of games. Why not keep a list while you're at it?

• Discuss their strengths and weaknesses with other gamers on bulletin boards and newsgroups - use complete sentences, punctuation marks, and the shift key. Create a fan site for your favorite games (or for games made by a company where you would like to work).

• Host multi-player games (act as dungeon master or perform other such roles). Some companies even pay (not big buck$, maybe, but $o what? moola i$ moola) their game masters. It isn't easy to go seek something like that but if you're actively vocal on their community forums (and you sound exceptionally intelligent, involved, capable, and interested) it's very possible. This kind of thing looks good on your résumé or cover letter.

• Volunteer for beta testing as opportunities present themselves. Those opportunities come along if you are actively involved in online forums about games (for example, sometimes you might see announcements of public betas at http://www.bluesnews.com), or if you are acting as dungeon master, game master, etc. (as mentioned above and in FAQ 5) - so get out there and get busy.

• If you have creative ideas for games, that's great. You should write them down and copyright them. See Article #2 and see Article #8. Then you should get more game ideas, write those down, copyright those, and repeat.

• Build levels or "mods" for games that come with level-building tools. If you are involved in modding projects, guess what - you have a demo of your work! Read FAQ 56 and FAQ 69.

• Create your own pencil puzzles, brainteasers, crosswords. Design card games, board games, parlor games, riding-in-the-car games. These make great additions to a portfolio or cover letter.

• Follow your interests! Read, write, research on the internet and at the library. Get out there and do, participate.

• Write and draw...
  
  
  • Write about whatever interests you. Anything that inspires you to work and create. You need to develop habits of working on projects, and finishing them.
    
  • Fan fiction would be a good addition to a design portfolio. It's a lot of work to create stories, even based on characters you didn't create. Fan fiction shows that you can create.
    
  • Draw whatever interests you so you can polish art skills. You can draw using markers, paints, pixels, or polygons. However you want to create your own graphics is fine. Animation would be great too. Still drawings could make up a portfolio (see below) - animations would go well on a demo reel (see below).
    
  • Write game reviews and submit them to magazines, fan publications and websites. If they're rejected, that's okay. Every creative person ought to have some reject letters in their files!

• Books to read -- see Article 8.

• Organize game contests in your neighborhood arcade or internet game center (if done well, the arcade owner will enjoy the extra business). Join game clubs... or start your own. Start your own internet game center.

• Attend conventions and trade events if you can. I don't mean only E3 (or ECTS or Milia) but also computer shows, toy trade shows, import shows - comic conventions, sci-fi conventions, and board game events. The purpose for going to these events is just to see the business world (including the business of pop culture) from another perspective. When you are there, look to see what trends you can observe. Many trade events are closed to the public, but if you join organizations you might be able to get in. E3 is closed to anyone under 18.

• Get really good at playing games. Get so good that people will pay to watch you play at "professional gamer" events. Start now by researching "professional gamer" on Google to learn more about what it means to be a professional gamer. Game companies will definitely notice you if you're a champion game player - so that is a unique way to get your foot into the door.

These are just some ideas that occur to me. You're a creative person, think of some more!

OK, so you've done some of the things on that list above. You have written a résumé about your college education, and it also lists any jobs you've held during vacations, etc. But a résumé isn't everything. You should also write a cover letter. Any good book on résumés also describes cover letters, so read up on what makes a good cover letter. And see my Links page.

A good cover letter that also lists things like, "I hosted WizzerQuest, I beta-tested Lori Craft's Pteradactyl Nightmare, I designed my own board games and I've had my reviews published on GameZot," is not just a good cover letter - now it's a GREAT cover letter!

And what about all the stuff you did that doesn't make it into the cover letter? You might be able to drop those into conversation when you're in an interview.

And bringing a portfolio (or demo reel) of your best work puts your résumé on top of the stack for sure.

PORTFOLIOS

IF you have made some presentable writings and drawings, you could collect them into a portfolio. What's a portfolio, you ask? According to Merriam-Webster, a portfolio is:

1. a hinged cover or flexible case for carrying loose papers, pictures, or pamphlets
2. a set of pictures (as drawings or photographs) either bound in book form or loose in a folder

Today, an online portfolio is a must. For example, you could use wordpress.com. Get the free version, and use links to Dropbox or Google Docs for files you want visitors to be able to download or view. Dropbox lets you have 2GB for free. When creating an online portfolio, pay a lot of attention to the readability and usability of your website. If you're an aspiring game designer and your portfolio site has an unfriendly UI/UX, then you've shot yourself in the foot before even getting started. Many of the tips about paper portfolios (below) also apply to the online portfolio.

If you're an artist or writer, you could also make a paper portfolio. For example, an artist would make a collection of his/her sketches, putting the best of them into a flexible binder. An ad writer can tear his/her printed ads out of magazines and collect them into a portfolio. Then the portfolio can be copied and sent off to potential hirers.

If you're an aspiring game designer, you can create a paper portfolio with samples of your writings and drawings, photographs of your original table games, flyers or newspaper clippings or photos from game events you organized - anything that shows off your creativity and desirability as a job candidate. Just the best stuff, though. A portfolio should fit into a 1/2" flexible 3-ring binder (it shouldn't be too thick; you only have a few minutes to show it off). Protect the paper by encasing it in "sheet protectors" (available at office supply stores). And make copies of your portfolio, so you can leave one with a hiring manager (or mail it away) and perhaps never get it back. If you make a design portfolio with game concepts in it, it might be a good idea to also put your stuff on the internet somewhere. Go get a free Geocities page or something. Game companies can't view "unsolicited submissions," and if your stuff is public knowledge, maybe that makes it look less like a submission. [Added March 22, and revised Aug. 6, 2003]

Organize your portfolio with your most striking stuff in the front. If you have stuff that needs a lot of explanation, either put it in the back or leave it out. In an interview, the interviewer may open the binder, look at the first few things, then close it (possibly to look over the rest later or not at all). So you need to make the best possible impression with the first things, right up front.

Make sure your name, address, and phone number are on the portfolio - preferably on the outside front cover.

If you've written a complete game design (or even game treatments), you can make it (or them) available for download from your portfolio site. But don't put complete designs into your paper design portfolio - game companies almost always have strict prohibitions against receiving game concept "submissions" without signed agreements in place, and they might treat your paper portfolio as a submission if it includes original designs. There shouldn't be more than about 20 sheets in a paper portfolio.

So that's what a portfolio is, and how it's used. If you can't make a spectacular portfolio, don't make a portfolio at all. It's okay to show up without a portfolio (unless you're a graphic artist and you don't have a portfolio on CD) - but if you can, then do it! For an artist, writer, or game designer, a paper portfolio is a good thing to have, even if you also have a portfolio on CD/DVD.

Also read Patrick Curry's Thoughts On Creating the Ultimate Game Design Portfolio.

DEMO REELS & CDs/DVDs

IF you have created animations, music, audio pieces, or programs, collect those on a CD or DVD (you could also make a graphic portfolio in CD form). If you have created music, that could go on CD or DVD. When this article was originally written, every interviewer had easy access to not only a CD player, but also a VCR, and a cassette player (don't bring demos on Zip disks, 8-tracks, Syquests, or reel-to-reel tapes!!). Increasingly, VCRs and cassetes are becoming old tech too, so CDs/DVDs are now the best medium for things that cannot be made into a paper portfolio.
As with the paper portfolio, make copies. And be prepared to leave a copy behind. If this interviewer doesn't give you a job, s/he may pass your portfolio or disc along to someone else who will.

And, as with the portfolio, you won't have a lot of time to show off your disc. So keep them short.

Animation

Should be at least 2 minutes. No more than 4 minutes long. Ya gotta wow'em in the first 30 seconds.

While your tape Note: Not everybody has VCRs anymore; a CD or DVD would be better. is playing, the interviewer still has the tape sleeve in his/her hand. So put a label on the sleeve (not on the tape itself) describing what each snippet is, and what your contribution to the piece was.

I've heard of people showing footage from a film they worked on, when their contribution doesn't even show up on the tape itself - if your job was Assistant to the Director (running for coffee), then don't show a scene of a snake fighting a scorpion - if you animated the snake and/or the scorpion, OK. Only show footage you participated in. I also met an artist once whose demo reel was of a whale swimming. The interviewer asked him, "this is beautiful film footage, but why are you showing it to me? What did you do on this piece?" The artist tried to explain that it wasn't film - it was CG, and he'd created everything (the water, the whale, the choreography, the camera movements...).

Make sure your name, address, and phone number are on the labels - both on the sleeve and on the tape itself.

Music

Should have 3 or 4 pieces embodying different moods or worlds. Should be applicable to games (should not sound like movie music). Each piece must be short, with silence to delineate the breaks between them. Make sure you have a label on the sleeve or case describing each piece (for example, "Sci-Fi battle - Sword & Sorcery adventure - FPS action"). I assume you composed and performed. If you didn't do both, then specify which you did. If you're just a member of the band and your instrument is the washboard, then maybe a demo reel isn't your best bet.

Make sure your name, address, and phone number are on the labels - both on the sleeve and on the tape itself.

Voice

If you've written or directed radio plays in college, or if you've done standup comedy, or you do voiceovers, I suppose you could make a demo reel of those (normally we only get voice tapes from voice actors, but what the hey). Anything to show your creativity, right? Keep it short and punchy (3 minutes max). Make sure you put a label on the sleeve or case, describing what each piece is and what you did.

Make sure your name, address, and phone number are on the labels - both on the sleeve and on the disc or tape itself.

CDs/DVDs (demo programs, levels, art, animation, music)

IF you have programmed a demo program, make sure that the program is absolutely foolproof, bug-free, and dead simple to run directly from the disc. Do not require the user to have any non-standard DLLs or APIs installed. The demo must be entirely self-contained. You don't want to have to explain if the interviewer can't get it to run on his computer. Better yet, just bring the demo in a laptop. Then give the interviewer a copy of the disc. Of course you're not going to leave your laptop. Oh - and make sure the laptop's battery is fully charged.

Include the source code on the disc as well. If you're interviewing for a programmer job, they want to see if you write clean code. Include a printout of a page or two of sample code.

Make sure your name, address, and phone number are on the labels - both on the sleeve and on the disc itself, and on any printouts.

If you are learning programming and are interested in the Xbox 360, you might want to look into getting into the XNA tools from Microsoft. Search the internet and go on indie game dev forums (see Links page) to learn more, or to stay on top of the situation as it changes.

If you are a level designer, you can put your levels or mods on the disc. Figure out the best way to do it.

Website

If you've created your own website, either to show off your portfolio, your animations, or your demo program, that's great, but do NOT expect an interviewer to navigate to your site and check it out during the interview. Your website needs to have a short, easy-to-type URL, and it needs to be EASY (intuitive) to navigate. And do not expect the interviewer to have the latest Shackwove or Flush plug-in installed. The interviewer will not appreciate having to go download a plug-in, restart the computer, type in a URL, navigate to the demo, etc. etc. etc.

If you have a website to show off, put it all on a CD. Better yet, bring it on a laptop with all the plug-ins already installed so you can show it working. (And make sure the battery is fully charged.) Then give the interviewer a copy of the CD. Of course you're not going to leave your laptop.

From the bulletin board...

>Name = Victor D
>Age-Ed-Occ = 18, last year of High School
>Date = 08.01.2006
>Comments = Greeting,
>First of all, as this is my very first post here let me thank you for the site, the lessons and all that precious advices. I am very grateful for finding out this site - this is the most completed source of information about game design I've ever seen.. I wish I could return the favour to you, some day. Well.. - thank you:)
>
>I have a quick question about the portfolio of a candidate for a game design job.
>I know that after a month Ubisoft are setting up a new division - here in my country(Bulgaria), in my city. And I know that there is going to be a job for a game designer.
>I have been told that I should send my CV, along with a portfolio. And here I am confused. What should this portfolio look like? We are talking about game design, so I presume it should be a sample of a Design Document, right? I have to think of a concept for a whole game, including all it's features. And I have to describe it into well-organized document. Ok. My questions is, how much detailed this design document should be? I have seen some examples for a design document. But they were all for already finished games, and so they are the complete documentation for the game, as it is at the end of the development process. I have no idea how a deisgn document should look like in the begining where it is used just as a portfolio.
>Can you give me some sort of definition of how to make the portfolio? Since it should be just an example of what I am capable of. The company does not need a concept on which they will start working on, I know I am going to work on their own project.
>
>Thank you in advance.
>Please, correct me if I have misunderstood something.
>
>Respectfully yours: Victor D

Hello Victor,
I wrote about portfolios in FAQ 12 and I think you should also look at FAQs 3 and 14.

Your portfolio should include different things, depending on what you've created. You do not need to create a GDD - in fact, they might refuse to look at a GDD without a submission agreement!

Here is a partial list of the kind of things a game design portfolio might include:

• Original stories you wrote.
• Original drawings you created.
• Original animations you created.
• Flyers for game events you organized.
• Printed materials from game events you participated in, if you won or placed.
• Newspaper articles that were written about your game activities, or any other newsworthy thing you did.
• Screen shots of mods you worked on (and include the mod itself).
• Reviews you've written of games.
• Articles you've written about any topic (not school assignments). Nonfiction, fiction, technical, analysis...
• And yes, if you've created some game concepts, include short portions of those to show how you write game descriptions.

  This is just an example of the sort of things you can put in a portfolio - these things show what you're capable of.

  However, if you are still in high school, your chances of getting hired are not very good. Not only that, but you should really go to college or uni. anyway, and get a degree.

  All the best to you, and good luck!
  Tom Sloper (湯姆スローパー)
  
  Las Vegas, Nevada, USA
  January 8, 2006

  ---

  Student project = portfolio fodder?
  
  >From: "Smoot,
  >Sent: Fri, October 22, 2010 9:46:58 AM
  >Subject: School Projects as Portfolio Material
  >1. 24
  >2. Will complete Bachelor's in Computer Science in May '11
  >3. Full-time student / part-time student I.T. intern
  >4. Game programming
  >5. USA
  >Hi Tom,
  >Since I have to be where the jobs are, my wife and I are saving money to move to North Carolina after I graduate. I know it's a little late, but I've been considering what's going to be in my portfolio to show potential employers. Is it appropriate to include school projects in my portfolio? Because I took several classes that apply to game programming, I've had several projects that relate to game programming (including a clone of a Space Invaders game). Would these be candidates for portfolio material?
  >Thanks!
  >Micheal

  Consider, Micheal:
  When you are a student and making class assignments, you are learning how to do the thing you're trying to show expertise in. So most of the time, your student assignment isn't going to wow anybody in the industry. There can be exceptions, like if you get an award for a creative innovative concept, or if you find an elegant solution to a programming problem. But for the most part, your portfolio should include only your best stuff -- your masterpieces. Not stuff you made while learning programming.
  Tom Sloper
  Los Angeles, California, USA
  October 22, 2010

  ---

  Should I post my designs? What if they're based on existing IP?
  
  > From: Joan R
  > Sent: Monday, May 20, 2013 6:44 PM
  > Subject: A couple of questions regarding public GDDs
  > Hi Tom!
  > I'm a 24 year old recent graduate in Multimedia Engineering in La Salle URL (Spain), and I'm an aspiring game designer. My objective is to get some money and experience from real life companies while I program and prepare a couple of games and a cool portfolio, and then jump into the industry (as soon as I can).
  > I'm reading your page in my free time, and I understood the importance to write down everything you do/think. I'm working on a simple web page at the moment, and I thought about posting some samples of my game documentation there, but of course the GDDs are a tricky matter. Should I, in some form, publicly show my work, or just get it hidden until applications?
  > Alongside some minor (ongoing) mobile projects, I have some bigger ideas in my head. And some higly improbable (imposible) ones, like sequels or games related to existing big IPs. Could I upload them as sample game documentation, as I did them just for the fun of it?
  > Thanks for writing down your knowledge and experience!

  Hi, Joan.
  The main benefit in posting your original game ideas on your own site is to get around the "unsolicited submission" problem I cited in my FAQs. Note, though, that if you have ideas you really intend to execute some day, maybe you don't want to post those online.
  Game ideas that involve extending someone else's IP could be a problem in several ways:
  ▲   The IP owner might object and tell you to take it down;
  ▲   You might someday want to apply for a job with the IP owner, and they might not appreciate the "homage" implied by your concept;
  ▲   You might someday want to apply for a job with a company that competes with the IP owner, and they might be unhappy that you never saw fit to pay "homage" to THEIR game that's roughly similar to the one that "inspired" your design.
  It should be a given that you would never actually make a game inspired by someone else's IP. Writing a game design, though, basically amounts to little more than "fan fiction," which might or might not make the IP owner upset. Is there ever a reason to write one (a game concept based on someone else's IP)? Well, I know that aspiring TV writers are encouraged to submit scripts to TV shows they want to write for. I've never heard of game companies soliciting designs for their IP, so this may not be so much a parallel as a tangent. Hard to say.
  Tom Sloper
  Creator of the game advice FAQs -- donations appreciated.
  
  Los Angeles, California, USA
  May 20, 2013

CONCLUSION

I am not saying that you MUST bring a portfolio, CD, or demo reel to a game industry job interview. In fact, it might even be unusual to do so (if you are a game designer, or depending on what you've created versus what kind of job you're applying for). Artist portfolios are a must if you're an artist seeking an artist position. Animator demo reels are a must if you're an animator seeking an animation position. Programmers should have a demo and source code to show, but it can be online if your site is dead easy to navigate (no need to bring it on disc, but ought to at least have it on a thumb USB drive). But there isn't a concomitant standard practice for game designers. So what I'm saying is, if your creations enhance your desirability as a candidate, then "bring'em if ya got'em." As discussed ad nauseam in Article 4, you might want to contact the interviewer in advance. Inquire about bringing samples of your game design work to the interview, especially if there's a chance that you might run afoul of the company's "no submissions" policy. Maybe the interviewer would want you to send the sample prior to your coming for the interview - each company has different policies and preferences. [Modified Aug. 6, 2003, thanks to a nudge from Jason Gorski.]

So there you have it. There are a lot of things you can do at home to sweeten your résumé. Some of them belong in the cover letter. Some of them are best mentioned during the interview. And some of them can contribute to a portfolio or demo reel.

I hope this article has been helpful. If you have suggestions for improvements to this article, please email me.

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