Carlos Nieves

🎮 Want a job in the video game industry? 🎮 Begin with the end in mind.* ➡ When you drive to work do you just turn left or right based on how you feel that day? 😅 (I hope you left extra early that day) ➡ When you gather data for a project, do you grab monthly active users, popular breakfast items and breeds of dog? 🤐 (This report might be fun but your boss will not be happy) ➡ When you schedule a doctor appointment, do you call random numbers in the phone book? 🙃 The same applies to...well...applying for jobs. ❔ Do you look at the minimum requirements for a job or do you click easy apply on cool titles? (Although, I might as well shoot my shot for Game Director) ❔ Do you update your resume with your most relevant experience when you apply? What is your desired outcome? Work backwards and you'll see at least some of the steps in a path to get there. This is not easy to do, because there is no perfect way to be the best fit for a job. Everyone's journey is different. What steps have you taken to get to your goal or how have you been successful in your journey? *One possible end goal pictured #Letsgetyouhired #RecruiterAdvice

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🎮 Want a job in the video game industry? 🎮 📅 It's July. We made it through the first half of 2024. Are you looking at your resume/skills/experience for the second half of the year and 2025? Are you bookmarking your favorite career sites in case the perfect job opens up and you're ready to apply? *cough* https://lnkd.in/gmapUg36 *cough* What skills are needed in your line of work for your next role? Are you taking any classes/courses or applying to tangentially related roles (i.e. not the dream job yet) to build those skills? In your last interview, was there a skill could you not explain to the best of your ability or are you unsure of that you could learn more about? Your dream job won't always come tomorrow, but are you preparing in case it opens in a week? A month? January 2025? Any questions? Put them in the comment section and we'll see what we can do to help. #startpreparingnow #Letsgetyouhired

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👶 Game producers = great parents… ? 🎮 Problem-Solving: Working with different partners/audiences with varying comm methods. 💬 Empathy/Sympathy: Seeing the world through other viewpoints. Interpreting signals! 🧘‍♂️ Stress Management: Resilience in the face of constant pivots & uncertainty… Are you a creating clarity or chaos when having to clean 💩? 📅 Organization: Scheduling routines and adjusting when your plan goes south. Have a mitigation? That helps! Game production = solid parenting prep! 🌟👾🍼 #parenting #chaos💩 #empathy

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Transferable Skills from Gaming to Game Development Transitioning from passionate gamer to game developer is easier than you think. The skills you've honed through gameplay can be valuable assets in the development world. Here’s how your gaming experience translates into game development expertise. 1. Problem-Solving and Critical Thinking In Games: Strategy and RPGs like The Legend of Zelda or Civilization require solving puzzles, making strategic decisions, and thinking ahead. In Development: Game development involves debugging code, designing levels, and balancing mechanics. Highlighting your in-game problem-solving skills can showcase your ability to tackle development challenges. 2. Team Collaboration In Games: Multiplayer games like League of Legends or Overwatch emphasize teamwork and communication. In Development: Collaboration is key in development teams. Your experience coordinating with teammates to achieve common goals can demonstrate your ability to work well in a team environment. 3. Creativity and Innovation In Games: Creative thinking is required in games like Minecraft, where players solve problems and create content. In Development: Creativity is essential for designing mechanics, storylines, and characters. Showcasing your creative achievements in gaming can illustrate your potential for innovation in game design. 4. Technical Proficiency In Games: Gamers often understand hardware, software, and platforms. Modding communities require basic programming skills. In Development: Familiarity with gaming platforms and programming concepts eases the learning curve for development tools. Experience with modding or game editors like Unreal Engine or Unity is particularly valuable. 5. Time Management and Perseverance In Games: Long campaigns and high ranks in games require significant time investment and dedication. In Development: Game development projects often have tight deadlines and require sustained effort. Your dedication to mastering difficult games showcases your time management and perseverance. 6. Understanding Player Experience In Games: Avid gamers know what makes a game enjoyable or frustrating. In Development: Empathy for the player is crucial. Your deep understanding of player experience can help you create more engaging, user-friendly games. Transitioning from player to professional involves leveraging the skills you've developed through gaming. By identifying and articulating these transferable skills—problem-solving, teamwork, creativity, technical know-how, time management, and player empathy—you can position yourself as a strong candidate for roles in game development. Embrace these skills, continue to learn, and take the leap from playing games to creating them.

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I found a question on Reddit about "How to go from highly technical career game programmer to solo dev game designer?." This subject fills me with interest because both areas of video game creation are presented so differently even when they are forever intertwined. How many times you have played a video game with perfect gameplay mechanics that it's boring as hell? This was my answer to the question from this programmer. I'm going to tell you what works in my case, but have in consideration that every path can be different. I started studying and reading a lot of content related to games and level design. Yes, I know that there are many YouTube tutorials, but I went back to the previous technology: Books. What is important in any type of learning is the structure methodology. Try to avoid leaving holes without explanation. That's a killing approach when you're learning new basic concepts. Remember, you don't know about this, or even worse, you still don't know how much you don't know. This is my recommendation based on books I've read that help me understand the intricacies of video game design and level design. From the most essential to the less, here's my list: - The Art of Game Design - Jesse Schell - An Architectural Approach to Level Design - Christopher W. Totten - Level Design for Games - Phil Co - Level Up - Scott Rogers The other part is to try to connect with your gamers of the game genre you're creating. Start building a relationship so they can provide you with some feedback and ideas to improve your game. Be open to listen and to test ideas. Post Saturdays on Twitter (X) using #screenshotsaturday and ask for feedback. This will help you build a fan base and get ideas/suggestions for free. Finally, to continue my education in that area I listen to podcasts related to game design. Perspectives from other designers will help you big time. One more little thing I purchased, was the Master Class of "Will Wright - Teaches Game Design and Theory." He's a master of the art of game design. To close this post, remember that I'm creating an educational program with live sessions to mentor and teach people about how to become a successful video game creator. You can't be only a game developer, a game designer, or a level designer. You need to build your career with intention and follow a path and a strategy. If you're interested in becoming part of this project, I'm doing a group of interviews to collect information and design the content of this educational program. Reserve your time to talk with me here: https://lnkd.in/gPYJeadb Have a great journey! Tony #GameDesign #GameDevelopment #SoloDev #IndieGameDev #GameProgramming #LevelDesign #GameDesigner #GameDevCommunity #GameDevTips #LearnGameDesign #GameDesignBooks #GameDesignLearning #GameDesignJourney #GameDevResources #MasterClass

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"Required: X titles shipped" I've been involved in a few conversations lately with aspiring or junior developers who are frustrated that so many job descriptions require shipped titles. It gets even more difficult when a JD requires specific types of games shipped. These job seekers become more infuriated to find out that a lot of recruiters or hiring managers don't really count their game jam titles or solo games as "shipped" for purposes of these roles. Why is that? What exactly are hiring managers looking for here? Does it even matter? To answer that last question first: yes. It matters. First off, let's be clear on a couple of things here. As a general rule, you shouldn't be seeing shipped title requirements in true entry level positions. In those cases, any experience is better than no experience, so you should call out your jam, student, or solo games whenever you don't have anything else to show (or just call them out anyway if you're still relatively new or you're particularly proud of something you've worked on or built). But the reason you see a lot of jobs asking for shipped titles is less about the end result and more about showing that you've got experience working in a particular environment. If I'm asking, it's because I want to know that you can work on a team in the first place. You've been through the process already and have gone through the reviews and planning sessions and discussions that you simply wouldn't get building a game on your own or even in a quick jam. I've been through this a lot, with games that shipped and those that unfortunately did not. I've seen it on tiny teams where we could fit everyone in a single room and the entire schedule took months to teams which numbered in the hundreds across continents with multiyear schedules and the differences are very real. I've seen how different it can be in having to ship a boxed game through first party submissions or maintaining a liveops MMO that only existed on PC or mobile. Different processes. Different tools. Different methodologies. Different scales. I know how rough the market is out there. I know it seems hopeless at times and utterly unfair. I know it can really hurt to find a role you think you're just perfect for but then you see they want "shipped titles" experience or you need to have "worked on AAA teams" or "must have liveops experience" and it just doesn't make sense. Your challenge is in trying to show how you have the skills without the direct experience, while also competing against others (potentially dozens of others) who already have both. I wish the process could be easier for you. At the least, I hope I've added some context from the other side of the table here.

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Horrible news today, with Bethesda Game Studios having announced that Arkane Studios Austin, タンゴゲームワークス（Tango Gameworks）and Alpha Dog Games | Bethesda are being shut down. Roundhouse Games is being merged into ZeniMax Online Studios, and staff of some of the affected studios will be moved into other studios, where possible. To those affected by these closures and reshuffles, please find a comprehensive list of resources, below: 🥇First, Discipline Games Jobs Resources: Over the past weeks I have created nine Games Jobs Resources to find jobs in a wide range of disciplines: 🎨 Art, Animation, VFX and UI This resource contains around 1,300 jobs worldwide across all links. Link: https://lnkd.in/eu2bjadW ⚙ Engineering and Programming This resource lists just over 1,700 jobs worldwide across all links. Link: https://lnkd.in/etPj22BE 🕹 Quality Assurance This resource lists over 440 QA jobs worldwide. Link: https://lnkd.in/dkiEy8da 📑 Game Production This resource lists around 400 jobs worldwide. Link: https://lnkd.in/d9qfQ5tg 📢 Marketing & Community This resource lists around 380 jobs worldwide. Link: https://lnkd.in/dc-PVb3h 🎶 Audio and Sound Design This resource lists around 180 jobs worldwide. Link: https://lnkd.in/dU8t6Esq 📠 Studio Support, HR, Recruitment and BizDev This resource lists around 300 jobs worldwide. Link: https://lnkd.in/dMdWv4xN ⚙ IT This resource lists around 100 jobs worldwide. Link: https://lnkd.in/df7d-KkR 🎮 Game Design This resource lists around 600 jobs worldwide. Link: https://lnkd.in/d2kKaw95 🥈 Second, the Ultimate list of Video Games Career Resources: This should be your one-stop shop for all information. My dear friend Amir Satvat maintains these documents, he is a legend for doing this - please check them out: https://amirsatvat.com/ 🥉 Third, If you have worked in publishing, please message me. I am looking for quite a few roles right now! ⬅ 🎖 Finally, do not give up. Ever. No matter how dark things may look right now, I KNOW you will get through this, you have got this! 👊 Remember you are not alone. If you need help, advice, or even an ear to listen, we're here for you. Always! ➡ A request to my community, please can I ask you to repost this post to your colleagues and friends, so that we can get as many into jobs as possible! And please comment if you or your studio are currently hiring - let's help each other! Much love ❤️ #layoffs #gamesindustry #jobsingames #arkaneaustin #roundhousegames #tangogameworks #alphadoggames

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Complaining won't get you hired. Sending hundreds of applications without a reply sucks, I get it. And job hunting in game development is tough in 2024. But hear me out: No one hires out of pity. People hire because you show value. Instead of complaining about the market, focus on creating value for others: • Share common best practices • Contribute to professional topics • Create useful solutions or courses • Make a tutorial on a complex issue Or go a step further: prepare a list of recommendations for the company you want to join and send it with your CV (and also share it publicly). How so, you might ask? Do something for others for FREE? Yes, absolutely. It's called "content marketing." You create value upfront, become more recognizable, and gain a reputation. And then you get hired easily because you provided value upfront. If you're willing to spend hundreds of hours on interviews, spend some time creating value for others. It'll pay off in the long run.

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I interviewed our Casting Director and this was the clear takeaway... Voice Actors often ask me "how can I break into video games work." I thought this advise was brilliant 👇 - Actors who are also active gamers seem to get cast in games a lot! - However, Casting Directors aren't specifically looking for this - These actors tend to have a great understanding of the material - They instinctively know how a line or an effort should be performed - They have an enthusiasm & passion for the work - They are often easier to direct and are familiar with the language I am by no means suggesting an actor has to be a gamer to be a voice actor in games! But, if this is an area of the industry an actor wants to get into... Consider getting into the industry via this area... Do those last two lines make sense? I was trying to be clever! #VoiceActing #GameAudio #Develop2024

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Dear Games' Industry, I've had enough of remaining silent, and you should too. If there's going to be any change in the way our community does things, it needs to start with us. THE PEOPLE. 👏 How many layoffs is it going to take? How many people have to uproot their entire lives, only to have it ripped from them right before they even start? How many more IPs, corrupted by microtransactions are we willing to put up with?? Is this the Industry we want to leave behind for the next generation??? As someone who's had friends give up on their dreams because of the sheer hopelessness they felt, I already know my answer. I'm sure these Indies do too. Cave Bear Games Digital Scorpion Interactive DigiPen Institute of Technology WTTW Games Kyrie Studios Steelion Studios Serious Point Games Dontae Phillips Willem Delventhal Kat Craig Raftur Games Dinobyte Softworks LLC Indie Game Academy Things need to change. And I want to help dedicate my platform to accomplish that. #IndieRevolution #GameIndustry #GameDev #IndieDev #Games #Change #Movement #EnoughIsEnough #Indie #OpenToNetwork #ProjectManager #Community #Networking

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In this moment, immersed in the creative chaos of my workstation, surrounded by an array of musical instruments and cutting-edge production software, I am reminded of the profound impact music has on the world of video games. It's not just background noise or a series of notes strung together. You can test by yourself with amazing games like Baldur's Gate 3 with the music composed by Borislav Slavov or Stray Gods with the music composed by Austin Wintory and many more (however, thank you for this enchanting sonic experience.). Music in video games is a storyteller in its own right. It sets the tone, builds tension, and brings characters and environments to life in ways that visuals alone cannot achieve. I strive to create more than just a soundtrack. I aim to craft an emotional journey, a musical narrative that captivates, inspires, and stays with players long after the game is over. This is the power of music in video games, a crucial element that transforms the interactive experience into something truly unforgettable. Don't underestimate the power of a custom music track!

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TONIGHT AT 6:30 PM join us for an improvised version of PVP Circuit and help us rebuild our local community brick by brick. I still can't believe I get to work in the video game industry. My 6-year-old would laugh, and then cry once she realized what it means to work in the creative technology sector. That's why IMO everyone could use some levity during these unprecedented times. Join us for a fun evening to raise funds for the Trevor Project. Event link >>> https://lnkd.in/g7tBuP6d Frequently Asked Questions: What if I can't attend the event? - If you can't make it, please consider purchasing a ticket to help us raise money for charity or get one on behalf of someone impacted by layoffs. What if I want to join but can't justify the cost? - If you want to join but find the cost prohibitive, DM me and we'll make it happen (see point above). Do I have to pitch at the event? - No, you don't have to pitch if you prefer to observe. It’s a great way to see how it's done. Will there be another event like this? - We plan to host our community again, but I can't specify if this event will be the focus. #gamesindustry #event #comedy <3

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I was asked, "How will Simply Sweet Games raise the bar for the industry?" The challenges are clear: frequent layoffs, inaccessibility, and a significant lack of diversity. Too often, games are just a side note in business strategies focused on short-term gains at the expense of passionate, underpaid newcomers. That’s why at Simply Sweet Games, we are committed to creating change. Our motivation stems not from greed, but from a vision to transform the gaming industry to include more diverse perspectives. We are actively addressing the diversity gap by creating games that cater to and celebrate women, who represented nearly half of all gamers in the U.S. in 2023. This market isn’t a niche—it’s a major segment that deserves better representation. I wake up and feel amazed at how this has become my full-time focus. We uphold sustainable hiring practices and foster an inclusive environment where everyone can contribute and succeed. We aim to redefine industry standards with principles of honesty, respect, and support—not just for our products, but for our people too. #DiversityinGames #Equity #InclusiveHiring #GameIndustry #WomenInGaming #womenwhowork #SimplySweetGames

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If you are a math teacher about to teach Pythagoras Theorem to your students, read this! Assign Pythagoras Quest games 1 - 3 for homework. These are playable on a Chromebook, and no installation or password is required. Here is the link: https://lnkd.in/gkE7jHyh Students will learn the types of triangles and their properties by sorting them into the correct groups. They will then identify all the right triangles in the game environment, which demonstrates that the student has understood the difference between a right triangle and other types of triangles. Through this part of the quest, students will also learn that a rectangle is made of two right triangles. In the third game, they will learn about the lengths of the sides of the right triangle and identify the hypotenuse as the longest side. This homework assignment serves as an excellent introduction to Pythagoras’s Theorem. By completing it, your students will come to class with a solid understanding of the properties of right triangles, ready to explore more, derive the theorem, and use it to solve word problems. Students are expected to fully interact with the problems and their participation is required at each step. Try it and see! #math #mathteachers #edtech

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I’m flummoxed. See, we’re one of the few game companies hiring right now. Hence, 1,614 applications for a junior engineering spot. That’s 10X what it was a few years ago. And most of those applicants made no effort whatsoever. They didn’t research us. They don’t work in the games industry. They just read a prompt on a jobs site, read the title, and clicked, “Auto Apply.” Easier than a pizza. So then we have to sift through them. Hundreds of resumes, mostly written by AI - GPT, Gemini, whatever. Every resume looks the same - making it impossible to suss the strong from the weak. Worse are the cover letters. Far too many are written by AI. Not just a little bit - actually, 100% written by AI. They have the same length. They have the same structure. And they use overly grandiose language, like “With a strong background in Unity C# development and a passion for game design, I am eager to contribute to your mission of bringing joy through mobile games. … I am particularly drawn to the no-crunch philosophy at MobilityWare, which speaks volumes about your commitment to the personal development and wellness of your team.” GPT created those perfect sentences. Took less than 90 seconds. As the reviewer on the other side, I just don’t know what to do. I’ve read hundreds of these things. I’ve started to recognize the patterns. And that’s the best case. The worst case is when I can’t tell. After all, if I ask GPT to tone it down a bit, it will spit this out: "I'm Curtiss Murphy, and I'm excited about the Unity Engineer spot at MobilityWare. I've got a BS in Computer Science and have been building games in Unity C# for several years, focusing mainly on UI and game logic. My approach? Simple—write clean, maintainable code that works well.” That’s pretty good, right? And it’s made up, one word at a time. So, what am I supposed to do? I can’t tell the difference. And if I’m not careful, I worry that people who spent 90 seconds in AI will get preferential treatment over people who toiled for hours. In the end, I had no choice. I stopped reading cover letters. It makes me sad. And also, who knows. Maybe it’s okay. Maybe a cover letter is an old-school relic. Maybe all we need is a resume. Maybe a career can be reduced to a formulaic list of hashtags: #Unity, #WasOncePartOfATeam, and #ThisHashTagProvesICanCode. Of course, there's pre-screening tools that could help me. AI that will filter the stack, picking the ones it thinks are best. Those systems could filter 1,614 to 50, in seconds. And if we use those systems, here’s what’ll happen. AI will write the resumes and letters. AI will auto-apply to the jobs. And AI will pre-filter the applications on the other side. Creepily like a prequel to Phillip K. Dick’s, Autofac.

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Hello LinkedIn community! 👋 I think many of you use HDRI panoramas because they are a very convenient, realistic and easy light source. But how many people do their own 360 HDRIs? My blog tutorial will help you find out and start moving in that direction! https://lnkd.in/dh2AESSS

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Such a sad situation for Arkane Studios Austin. No team deserves to be shutdown like this. I played a lot of Redfall and enjoyed it. This isn't all corporate greed and stock prices; we as fans have a role in this as well. I'm not saying that we shouldn't critique or call out unkept promises during development. Far too often when we criticize, we lose the human element behind these large projects. Those at Arkane, Bethesda Game Studios, タンゴゲームワークス（Tango Gameworks）, this is not your fault. This situation does not define you or your talents. Move forward when you are ready, and let's help you find your new home. We are stronger together! https://lnkd.in/gjyF6F6t - Unknown Worlds https://sds.com/careers - Striking Distance https://lnkd.in/gmjKux5M - KRAFTON and PUBG #myplesha #gamedevjobs #KRAFTON #gamesindustry #hiring

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I want to talk about careers, specifically in the games industry. Did you know that there's more to the games industry than just art, design, and programming? Really, there’s a whole lot more. CIG is unique in that we possibly display the widest array of careers needed in the games industry under one roof. Every career is crucial to the development of our product. You don’t need to be a wizard at coding, the Da Vinci of anatomy, or the Ive of design. Sometimes, you can be that one person who just goes out of their way to make everyone’s working day that much better—like Ashley McGovern. The point is, there is a place for everyone in games, no matter where you are from or what your passion is. It's all about perspective. The next 12 months are going to be our biggest yet, and I want to show the next generation where they fit in the games industry. Check out this amazing resource created by Simon Lawson 🔜Develop Brighton, one of our awesome Talent Acquisition Team. I will be breaking this down over the coming weeks and sharing it with schools and colleges. But for now, here's a little peek. #GamesIndustry #CareersInGaming #BeyondArtAndCode #GamingJobs #GameDevCommunity #FutureOfGaming #DiverseGamingRoles #GamingPassion #GameIndustryInsights #CareerOpportunities #GamingEducation

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