I worked two years at EA inside AAA videgames industry, currently I am a part of an independent videogame studio developing his first title. Maybe your interested on working in the videogame industry. Ask me anything!

Want to hear a funny anecdote?

I remember that at the job interview, they asked me to mention my 3 favourite games and the reason why.

I said "Battlefield because it's about killing people and that's always fun"

And they hired me!!

Well, they understood that I was just joking, but I can't picture myself saying something like that in a regular job interview.

Awesome. What are some misconceptions about the video game industry and what are some truths you've come to learn about it as well?

Misconceptions:

-Videogame testers DO NOT play videogames at work. It's a great place to work at, of course, but you got to work very hard and put great effort to be a good tester. There are lots of guidelines and techical requirements that first party companies demand to be compliant to.

-Truths:

"You can do it if you really want, but you must try, try and try...you succeed at last" The song says it all, only people who put the best out of theirselves at trying, get to work at something they really love.

Why is madden constantly a terrible representation of real football?

Well, I'm not a gamedev so I'm afraid I can't answer to that.

In fact, I remember that I had to learn fast about american football rules when I had to test Madden. (remenber I'm spanish)

So, EA did testing in Spain? As a spaniard myself I didn't think there was a lot of interest in american football here in europe.

Yes Edu, EA QA Certification is located in Madrid, Spain. Though, there are workers from all nacionalities working at there, and everyone works with english as first language.

Why is is the NCAA franchise different from Madden? Why doesn't EA just re-skin the Madden game?

Sorry, but I don't know how the answer to this question. I admit that I'm not a professional in EA Madden.

What did EA require from you to be a QA tester? (qualifications wise)

I want to go into the video game industry and was thinking about going down the route as a QA tester for a big game developer company as a starting point.

Basically, good english skills. Knowledge of any additional language is really appreciated too.They look for proactive people, able to express their ideas in a clear manner.

Nothing special at first sight as you may see. I didn't have any previous professional experience at the videogame industry.

Ah cheers, thanks for the quick reply.

you're welcome!

Hearing "I work at EA" sounds incredibly fun, so I have to ask....is it?

Yes it is, indeed. First day was like Tom Hanks job at "Big" movie. And all colleagues were awesome. However as I said before it's a hard work being a tester and you need to be detail oriented and have a depth understanding of how videogames work.

I fully recommend to apply to positions at QA in big companies if you want to enter into videogame industry. Ubisoft is also a really good choice

So did the startup go like you expected or was it more difficult in the beginning?

I don't know what to say, we're in a risky point now. We're running our Kickstarter to seek funds for the game, so as you can imagine we really need money to make the game as good as we've planned. In the other hand, we've got the satisfaction of working in something that we really love, and developing the game that we wanted to.

I'm talking about DragonJam

Yes, I meant DragonJam too! DragonJam is a videogame studio, we're seeking funds on Kickstarter for our first video game Formula Wincars.

Sounds really cool! Do you ever want to learn how to code your own games, or can you do so already?

Are there enough women in the videogame industry?

-YES, I'd love to code my own games, in fact, I'd love to code an Amstrad or Spectrum videogame. I must say that I'm not able to do it yet. :(

-And yes, I must confess that I was positively surprised by the fact that there were lots of women working there! :)

How did the DragonJam team get together? Where did you meet one another and how did you decide to start your own studio?

How'd you fund the initial startup? Did you self-fund? Did everyone work from home and just not draw a paycheck? Did you all keep your 9-5 and moonlight for a while?

I work a normal software dev 9-5 and do games in my spare time. Eventually, I plan to make a similar move.

Well this a loooong story.

Basically yes, we got a paycheck but this ain't like a regular day job at all. We developed a first prototipe and then tried to get funds to develop it. One little company said yes to the project and we've got a little space shared in their offices, but there's always the risk that any month could be the last. That's why we're launching a Kickstarter. This week I've been working at average of 12 hours a day.

Once you had the prototype how did you show it off to potential production companies to get more funding?

There are several ways of doing this. We had the luck of being contacted by a company which was interested on developing a videogame, so we didn't have to do a big search. We also had an offer made by a big and well known company but they wanted to take control of the dev process, so we declined the offer an prefered to stay indie managing all important decisions regarding our game.

Did you develop Battletoads?

No! LoL

I love Battletoads, I think that it was RARE, which before were Ultimate play the game, one of my favourite videogame companies EVER.

Was working in EA as hard as it was in other times? Like with the story with the ea_spouse and those horrible stories that circulate around the internet.

Not for me at all. Just realize that EA is huge company, and I can imagine that it won't be same thing in every studio.

I must say that regarding thatt, EA was an excellent company which really cared for their workers and I didn't have any problem with them.

if you don't mind me asking, how was the pay?

Pretty good, I got more than the average pay here at Spain.

Guys, I'll be here one hour more answering this AMA and then, I will close it because sadly I've got a lot of work to do yet.

I must confess that it's being a pleasure to count with your interest.

You can also check out our videogame page and ask anything more specific on how we made the game. I'm right now at the studio and I can ask any member of the studio in charge of it.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/dragonjam/formula-wincars-mmo-racing-arcade

Well, I must leave know.

Thank you everyone for such a good AMA, believe it or not I've also learned a lot from you. You can still check out our project at the link below (and do a pledge if you really like it of course) and send feedback or any questions to my personal email [email protected] THANKS

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/dragonjam/formula-wincars-mmo-racing-arcade/comments

Hey did you work at the North American Testing center on the LSU Campus?

Nope, just in Europe.

Hi guys, I'm really busy right now and I can't answer everyone. Leave your question and I promise I'll answer it ASAP

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Batman and Head Over Heels from Jon Ritman, Zelda: A link to the past, Super Mario World and Out-Run.

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No worries! First, I said that I've studied programming but never worked as one, in fact, I don't know if I'd be able to do it now without studying again. What career should you pursue?

"Follow your heart, son"

No, seriously. My opinion is that everybody should wonder that and be honest with the answer. I worked 7 years in a job that I hated, I wasn't happy at all and did't have the strenght to quit, neither. In my case, I found out that I was only be able to stand out at work, if I chose something that I really loved. I chose videogame, find out yours.

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You're welcome

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In fact, most of my colleagues were translators in fact. Remember what i said about the importance of languages.

Nope, nobody asked me a degree. I've studied High-Level Technical Degree in Software design and development.

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In my opinion, don't giving up will end up with a victory. Put your best and don't let others tell you what you can not do with your life. I didn't study any engineeting degree, so I can't really compare.

Hi there,
I'm currently studying towards a games programming degree, hopefully somewhere in the multiplayer side of things... I'm also part of our own independent games studio as well.
My question is how do you distribute creative control effectively, and how is it done in a bigger company?
Thanks for the AMA, and good luck with your project! :)

Hi xavium!

Here at DragonJam we've got complete creative control, although we listen every opinion and we haven't had any issue so far. I guess that it depends a lot of whom you partner with. We refused to partner with another investor cause it was pretty obvious that he came with his own idea and wanted to change everything.

At EA, I was part of the QA Certification team, so I really don't know how it worked on there.

hope this helps!

It sounds like you guys have the right idea!
Thanks again, this helps a lot!

You're welcome!

How difficult is it to get into the gaming industry? I'm a computer science student and I have no idea how to pursue a career there :/ any tips that could be of use? I have absolutely no experience with creating a game or anything :S

One tip could be that the best thing to do, is research how videogames are developed. Everybody tend to think that you can only do it if you're a programming geek, but in fact, there are a lot of different fields related to videogames: Concept Artists, Musicians, QA testers, Modellers, Social Media managers, etc....

I didn't have any previous experience neither. Find out if your profile suits any of the mentioned.

Thanks for the reply, its much appreciated. I hardly have talent for any of those above fields haha. I could possibly see myself as a solo indie game developer, but i dont even know where or how to start!

The best way of start doing videogames is doing a videogame. Try to start for yourself, seek help, learn and try.

There are communities like Indie DB or TIGforums where there are always nice people who will help you out!

How do video game companies hire? Do they prefer to hire someone with degrees or experience? And yes, I hope to go working in the video game industry as a developer.

First, seek if you've got one nearby. Check out their websites and register although there are no job offers at the moment. Join facebook and Linkedin groups oriented to videogame professionals, I usually read news ehen they are hiring there.

You can start here: http://careers.ea.com/ for example. Try the biggest one first, like EA, Ubisoft, Nintendo, Sony....

Thank you! Good luck on your project!

Thanks to you!

Any advice to a kid going to college hoping to get a degree in Game Design?

Study hard and start doing games by yourself. I would also consider to get involved into the gamedev online community and share knowledge with others.

What's it inside EA studios? Is it an nice and clean enviorment?

There are several EA studios. I worked at EA CERT europe located in Spain, and it's the best place I've ever worked so far. People always tried to help you and had a proactive and cooperating attitude.

Could you pleeease make a lacrosse video game?

hahahaha

I'm afraid I can't. Sorry!

Do you have any proof other than linkedin? It can be altered too easily to be accepted as proof.

Let me check the internet.

One of complain that we had, is that temporary tester weren't mentioned in the game credits, only Senior Tester were credited for that. I have my yearbook with my photograph at home, so later when I come back home i can post here a photo. Anyway let me check if I appear somewhere on the internet

Nope I didn't find anything which could be a doubtless proof on the web. Well you can see my personal facebook too:

https://www.facebook.com/hanier.khan

I belong to several groups like "Inside EA" and have like 20-30 friends who worked or are woriking still at EA. Any way I can post my photo of the yearbook when I come back home.

A lot of big companies are pretty good about reporting fake claims on LinkedIn. Agree that its not the best proof, though.

I just noticed that I have my Linkedin Skills and endorsments recommended by friends who also worked at EA. You can go and check it out, I think that it looks a little bit impossible that I would be able to fake that too, right?