Blizzard is Hiring...

[checkmate]

Did you know that Blizzard Entertainment is hiring? Check out the website: www.blizzard.com (http://www.blizzard.com)

I wish that I could get a job there but I'm not old or experienced enough. I think I could do small wonders for the company but not wonders. Too bad. Well, good luck to those of you whom are going to apply!

[RWB]

I went to school for this sort of thing, yet not even I can get a job with them. I have yet to run into a place that doesn't require 2 to 5 years professional experience in the industry, while I only have one and that is what I was told I would recieve "technically" becuase of the school I attended. Right now I truthfully have ZERO :shakehead

[checkmate]

That sucks. I feel your pain. This is exactly the opportunity that I need for my career but I wouldn't be able to do it because of the experiance and age factors. I wish that they would have done this a couple years from now instead so that I could get a job wih them. I guess my time will come though...

[Nomad]

I have the experience at this point but not the age.

[checkmate]

Yeah, your older than I am though.

[Leonardo]

That sucks. I feel your pain. This is exactly the opportunity that I need for my career but I wouldn't be able to do it because of the experiance and age factors. I wish that they would have done this a couple years from now instead so that I could get a job wih them. I guess my time will come though...Your time will come. Persistence - if you so engage, will pay off. Pay dues, don't burn bridges, make ambitious goals, and you will succeed.

[checkmate]

Thanx. So, what do you think they are hiring new people for? I read that it was an expansion of the company but what do you think they'll be working on?

[RWB]

Blizzard is almost always hiring someone, if i recall you'll need a demoreel. More than likely on VHS, yes VHS not DVD. Depending on the job offerings. You can find the listings here...http://www.blizzard.com/jobopp/ and somewhere around there(look around) you'll see the requirements for what they need from you, and what you need to be capable of for each listing.

[checkmate]

I saw all of that on the site before I posted the first post of this thread. A demoreel, I wanted to know exactly what a demoreel was. Is it a video to show what you can do or is it an interview?

[Gargoyle]

Would it be possible to get an unpaid internship to get the experience? Of course, unpaid internships suck because you need to have enough saved up to move across the country and live on for months to years. Might be the only way to get in, though.

[primesuspect]

you still have, what, two more years of high school? a lot can change in the industry in the next two years. By the time you are old enough to get an internship, the game industry will look very different. Hardware physics will be the norm, as will multithreaded and multi-GPU-supporting games. Who knows, by that time OSX might storm the enthusiast market and apple's OS will be the gamer's choice and you'll be coding in XCode.

Finish high school, keep abreast on the latest gaming stuff, and learn C++ right now. You won't be able to do anything in the game industry without some basic coding knowledge. If you want to be an artist or animator or character designer instead, then get a copy of 3DSmax right now, and master it. You will need to be REALLY good at this stuff - because there is a LOT of competition in the industry, and there will very likely be someone that is way better than you, so you need to get better than her or him before you even meet them.

[Nomad]

Either 3DSMAX or XSI-Softimage, a lot of companies are switching to it because it's cheaper and has more game related tools. HL2, for instance, was made in all XSI-Softimage.

[checkmate]

I have the Maya PLE 5.0 from the UT04: Special Edition (The first special edition). I've been using it quite a bit. I think that I have the basics down or most of them at least. I am practicing most of the time that I am at home on my computer. There is a problem with meshing characters though. The PLE doesn't support DirectX so I can't export animation straight to UnrealEd, and I can't use the UPaint application for the same reason. I also have a copy of Context and a copy of Visual C++ 6.0 for coding. I've also been spending some time on the 3DBuzz forums and site. 3DBuzz is a good community(But not as good as here :thumbsup: ). I'm doing what I can, well most of what I can.

[RWB]

Depends on what you want to do.... if you want to do the background stuff such as what makes a game tick, then the coding side is what you may want. If you want to be an Artist, then that's cool too.

A demoreel is basically work you have done. If you want to be an animator, then it showcases several things you've worked on either professionally or on your own. Generally they like to see things that were done professionally. If you want to be a Modeller then it should showcase models you have made. A texturer would showcase those models textured. Etc... For a coder you'd have a portfolio with bits of code showing you know how to code well.

For starters as an artist get any free programs you can. Maya PLE, Blender(which I am in love with right now), or a trial version of 3Ds Max. Mind you trial versions are limited to usually 30 days, so make sure you utilize those 30 days well! Softimage XSI is generally cheap and I highly recomend that if you have the $500 to spare it would be a good investment.

Look up some sites for help and tutorials, in fact, I'll give you one right now. CGTALK.NET is a GREAT source. Don't let the stuff they do downplay your enthusiasm becuase most of them are PRO's and make me feel like crap at times.

Get to know these programs, don't immediatly shoot for the greatest thing in the world or you WILL fail. This stuff takes time and money for it to pay off.

BTW, there is one great thing I think you could POSSIBLY start off with. It's called the Torque Game Engine. If you have about $200 you should buy the TGE(Torque Game Engine) and a book called "3D Game Programming All in One" by Kenneth C. Finney, there ae a ocuple different ones by this same name and I think a couple of them look just like this book but with different authors. These two items combined will help you along the process of building your OWN game, scripting and modeling combined for a Game Engine that has been and is being used professionally such as Tribes 1 & 2 and I belive Vengence as well plus a couple others. Work with it, then if you like it you could go more advanced and get the Torque Shader Engine and get the more advanced book as well.

There are some good books I'd recomend as well for modeling and texturing. Game Art, and Creating the Art of the GAME. Look up on Amazon for some of these books which showcase some ideas and theories behind being an artist. I have a bunch more information, but not sure where to begin. If you have any questions PM me I'd be glad to help out :thumbsup:

[Nomad]

If you're applying for an 'artist job' it may be job sector-specific such as you'd only do texturing, only do animation, etc., but you should be well versed in the entire line of creation from concept to post.

[checkmate]

That's a very good point, Nomad. I say that we all work to our full potential and see if we can make the industry better. What do you think?

[checkmate]

Sorry for the double-post but I felt it necessary to post again later even though I have a post that I can edit.

It looks like I was on the right track with my thoughts of what Blizzard was hiring for. They are hiring for World of Warcraft. For game testers they have a night shift open. Go to this link to find out more. http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/jobs/