A Follow-Up Call Wins the Interview

Signs of the changing times. This article talks about following up your interview with a call, but most companies do not give you their phone number anymore. This is especially true in the video game industry. So, what do you do?

Don't make the mistake of letting your interview go a couple of days without sending a thank you email. That's right--and email. If it is the only link in communication that you have, so be it. The longer you wait to send the thank you email, the more comfortable you will be without sending it.

This is referring to a follow up email after the initial application. After an actual interview, if you have not heard back from the hiring department within a week or two, then--now you have a phone number--you can call to check in and ask them how the process is going.

A sample call should sound like this: "Hi, my name is Ken Flemming. I had an interview with John Doe last Tuesday and I am checking in to see the status of my interview. I feel that I am a good fit for your studio. How soon will you make a decision in whom you plan to hire?" They may have just forgotten to let you know, and may have already chosen someone else. It never hurts either way, as if you show interest and initiative you will separate yourself from the competition who will appear to not care about the position as much.

http://career-advice.monster.com/job-interview/following-up/a-follow-up-call-wins-the-interview/article.aspx

The Dilemma of Modern Games

With the latest reviews on Gamespot.com being sub-stellar, I have come to ask the question: are gamers changing their minds as to what they want to see in video games?

We all know that social and mobile games have been picking up steam lately, and console games seem to be nitpicked more than ever. Graphics do not matter to people as much as they used to, it seems. I also believe that smaller-scale and more digestible games are getting better reviews than larger games. It goes to show that it is not how large your game is, but the experience you provide within that time-frame  Portal and Super Meat Boy are perfect examples of these: shorter games, which probably did not take long to develop and also has less overhead with smaller teams. The games did outstanding critically.

Clif Bleszinski furthered this claim by a recent statement that he made, referring to the release of the Game Dead Space 3: "In the 60$ disc based market horror doesn't fly." http://www.ign.com/articles/2013/02/13/cliff-bleszinski-horror-games-dont-work-in-disc-based-market
He is saying that it's a struggle for certain genres to even think about being successful on traditional consoles, because of the high expense costs to develop them and the high turnover rate of the games that are resold back to stores. I know that I wouldn't watch The Shining just for fun on a Saturday evening. Horror itself is a very one-time thrill that loses it's appeal once it has been accessed.

A recent review of the Gearbox game Aliens: Colonial Warefare also didn't fair to well: it received a 4.5 out of 10 review on Gamespot.com, yet it is at the top of the popularity chart right now (http://www.gamespot.com/aliens-colonial-marines/). Will this hurt sales? It can't help them, that's for sure.

With a smaller-scale game it is harder to get the exposure of a big budget game, yet when one can, they tend to be more lucrative than the bigger ones.

My theory is that smaller games are naturally good games and are poor at marketing. When they start getting more players, the games market themselves though. Then, the game is already good and a snowball effect of sales is created. Take Minecraft, for instance. I knew nothing about the game until it became popular on PC. Then it exploded with console releases and merchandise.

It feels that reviewers are even giving support to the smaller games now and helping them combat the larger studios. Larger studios are then answering by closing down, as has been happening lately--with Vigil Games and Junciton Point Studios of Austin, TX to name a couple.

It truly is an interesting time and it seems that the gamers are making the choice more than ever whether a game studio will be successful or not. With the current rate that markets are going, the future feels like Youtube and user-made content will be more popular than large-scale movies. Commercials are already turning more to Youtube stars than to better known athletes to help brand their products.

If there could be a title to this dilemma, I would call it the Abstract Expressionism of Gaming (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abstract_expressionism).

-Ken

Scavenger Hunt

So I have decided to create a scavenger hunt in Austin, TX (my hometown) to give out free books in return for Amazon reviews. I am not sure if the ads are generating enough buzz and I may have to switch to a different marketing campaign if not enough people are interested. If you are interested, please just leave a quick comment that you are. I was originally planning on doing six drop locations with a free copy of my book. I may have to scale that back to just two or three at first. I will also be planning on giving out free copies through online book review forums. If you have interest in joining the scavenger hunt please let me know. The weather in Austin has been rainy lately so I was planning on waiting a few days before I search for locations to hide the books.

-Ken

10 Ways to Make Your Boss Love You

This is an interesting article about the psychology of being likable. Those that don't think that this is important to their job are missing out on extra opportunities. This is something that is going to work in any industry, video game development included, because it is a core human trait to be liked and it creates trustworthiness.

The first step in using this information is realizing that you have to change. So it may take some balls but you should be able to pull it off if you are willing to practice instead of just idly reading helpful information such as this. Some of these tactics of pleasing your boss may be self-explanatory, but others, such as emulating the way they dress to gain their acceptance, is a subtle and powerful method of being instantly understood without having to jump through hoops to prove yourself and what kind of person/employee that you are.

Try utilizing a few of these techniques and observe how you are treated differently. If something is working for you and you are on good terms with your boss, continue to put emphasis on that. If you are making your boss uncomfortable or they are feeling distanced from you, then you'll want to change your strategy. I am a firm believer that every situation is different, so these strategies will not work universally but most of them should work most of the time.

http://www.smartmoney.com/plan/careers/10-ways-to-make-your-boss-love-you/

-Ken

12 Deadly Sins That Kill Your Job Search

A good article about searching for jobs. You will find that not all of these tips are obvious. If you want to take your job search to the new level, then try some of these tactics out and see if they help you get more responses to your applications.

http://newgradlife.blogspot.com/2010/01/job-openings-new-jobs-job-search-job_11.html

-Ken

Book Release!

Hi everyone, this is Ken and I have released a new book, How to Get a Job in Video Games. I hope that all of you may enjoy it and I am excited about sharing my knowledge about the video game industry with all of you. I have been in the game industry for some years now and I am always learning new things. I am proud of the book and I hope that all of you get a chance to buy it and read it. Here is the book on Amazon:

http://www.amazon.com/How-Get-Job-Video-Games/dp/0985377801/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1359473323&sr=1-2&keywords=how+to+get+a+job+in+video+games

P.S. My next post will be a short excerpt from the book so you can get a taste of the quality information that you will find among its pages.

-Ken