NEW YEAR, NEW JOB: Improve your game demo

Every day in January – and thanks our ‘New Year, New Job’ series’ huge popularity – well into February, Develop is helping job-hunters and employers with advice and tips from the industry’s finest developers, experts, HR specialists and recruitment execs on a range of topics.

Today we bring you a quintet of tips on making your all important game demo the best it can possibly be, with advice from a range of industry experts covering everything from writers to recruiters.

5 ways to improve your games demo

• “Make sure you get some people who know nothing about your game to play it. And don’t tell them how, just watch them, and note what they miss, or spend ‘too much time’ on. Is your game’s fun where you think it is?”
Ed Stern, Lead Writer, Splash Damage

• “Irrespective of software development platform, make sure your demo works on the broadest hardware base possible.”
Julian Widdows, VP of Development, Codemasters

• “Always ensure your game demo is double and then treble checked.”
Stig Strand, Games Manager, Amiqus

• “Do something simple, a little different and finish it. 50 per cent of effort in building a game is in the final 10 per cent. Showing you’re a starter-finisher is more valuable than a half-finished high-poly tech demo.”
Will Luton, Creative Director, Mobile Pie

• “Ok, so you’ve programmed an innovative new piece of code that will revolutionise the way that games are developed. What’s that? It doesn’t work when you send it to a prospective employer? Oh no! If you don’t want to read the ‘sorry, we just felt you didn’t have the right level of experience’ emails, then you have to be at one with test driven development.”
Alex Wright-Manning, Senior Development Consultant, Datascope

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Our daily ‘New Year, New Jobs’ series of articles are extracted from the February issue of Develop magazine – currently available in several forms – which boasts an essential compendium of advice, tips and tricks on getting a new job and improving your employment prospects.The same issue brings you all the results from our sweeping games industry Salary Survey. Check back with Develop Online every day this month for more.

To find out more about advertising opportunities relating to our New Year, New Job series contact Alex.Boucher@intentmedia.co.uk or call him on +44 (0) 1992 535 646.