Develop December/January 2016/2017: Working In Games

Viciously Competitive: This issue of Develop focuses on the work opportunities present in the games industry. A twist on our normal ‘recruitment special’, we’re not just catering for games professionals looking for their next gig. We’ve got practical advice for indies, students, developers looking to start a new studio and even a little something for those of you on the other side of the interview table. Full list is below.

You can read this issue on your browser or mobile device here. If you’re not already subscribed to Develop, you can sign up for as little as £35 to ensure you receive your monthly look at global games development.

Got feedback? Are you a developer who wants to get involved with future issues? Feel free to email me at jalexander@nbmedia.com. (Dog gifs always appreciated.)

Here’s a full overview of what to expect this month:

• Setting up a studio: A brief history of Supermassive, how the industry has changed since its inception and what developers looking to set up a new production house can learn from them.
• Graduating to games: Supermassive and key industry recruiters give practical advice for students looking to get into the increasingly competitive games industry.
• A chat with Jo-Remi Madsen, programmer on Owlboy, and how the game remained in production for almost a decase.
• Crytek’s audio director Simon Pressey discusses Robinson: The Journey‘s sound design and creating audio for VR games.
• Ubisoft’s Anne Blondel on the evolution of games as a service and how the publisher has changed as a result.
• Parallel Worlds: The Victoria & Albert Museum makes its first foray into games events and the results are very encouraging.
• The Develop Post-Mortem takes an in-depth look at Dying Light.
• Brexit: The future of the UK games sector. Why it’s likely to be one of our greatest challenges, but that with solid planning the UK could remain a world leader in games. 
• Finding funding: Indies give insight into the difficulties you might encounter looking for funding as a first-time developer.
• Bird Song: Sean chats to composer Inon Zur about creating soundtracks for VR games
• Why making sure you’re hiring the right people is so important, and how to go about it. 
• The Jim Henson company has made movements into real-time animation and have created an in-house games engine to do so.
• Find out how the Royal Shakespeare Company’s latest production of The Tempest uses games technology to create on-stage avatars and what the future holds for this cross-over.
• Services spotlight: Substance Source, a high resolution asset library from Allegorithmic.
• SuperData’s Stephanie Llamas explains why diversity in games isn’t just a nice-to-have, but could actually affect your bottom line.
• Shahid Ahmad discusses how time affects the choices we make and how taking risks is more important than a comfortable life.
• The jobs section includes a discussion of the variety of roles available in games, as well as looks at both Creative Assembly and Ubisoft Reflections and what makes them such great places to work.