The guest speaker for our elective class on Thursday, the 2nd of February, was Mr. Bryan Neider. Having been in the industry for around 25 years, Mr. Neider currently serves as the current Chief Operating Officer of Electronic Arts. Mr. Neider shared his insights and valuable experience that he has gained while in the game industry and covered topics such as the opportunities and current issues, the unprecedented changes that are occurring within and what the future looks like, all pertaining to the gaming industry. Being open to questions, Mr. Neider shed broader light and helped answer many good questions that the audience had.

Here are some of the topics and corresponding notes that Mr. Neider covered are,

• Global Reach – Games have reached various parts of the world and the numbers for people who play games has been steadily increasing. People of all demographics, even if they don’t consider themselves as gamers, play games now, unlike in the past 2 decades. New business models and billing options lead to more people buying games or subscription services, etc. offered by game publishers. New areas of creativity opening up as games have spread over to tablets, smartphones, browser-based social games, etc.

• Ubiquity - Games can be played everywhere. They are available whenever wanted and wherever needed. It is important for the industry as this can be categorized as a mode of entertainment like other mainstream media and hence opens up new business opportunities.

• Relationships - People want to be connected with family and friends. This holds true even while playing games and can easily be attributed to the success of social games. It is estimated that over 50 million people globally, play social games daily. Due to this reason, it’s incumbent that games are created by accommodating this value as well, if they are to succeed.

• Academia – There are many academic programs that specially cater to the requirements of the industry by improving the skills of students that are tailored to match the industry’s expectations. This has led to a considerable improvement in art, which can be seen in the current games. The academic programs also legitimize the gaming industry and games as media. These academic programs have also solved tough tech challenges, led to more innovation, better game design and creativity.

• Trading Dollars – Other forms of entertainment such as music have added features like singles download. TV Shows and Movies have increased their revenue by making them available for smartphones. Gaming accommodates the best of both worlds, by trying to increase revenue by releasing a game for PC/Consoles and for mobile phones.

• Artificial Intelligence – The AI in games will continue to improve and will get better. There have already been big advancements in this area and AI has now grown “smart” compared to games a decade ago where the interaction with the environment would be minimal, the enemies would follow only a certain path, etc. These advancements have also led to augmented reality / location based gaming.

These are some of the topics covered by Mr. Neider in addition to some of his fun experiences he shared with us, we are truly honored to have had him as our guest speaker and for having learnt about all these issues faced by the industry, where the industry’s headed and what we as students would be required to keep in mind and focus on when we begin working in the industry.

On Thursd­ay January 26, we had two special guest speakers from EA Sims – Rez Graham, a senior AI programmer, and Albert Truong, a senior concept artist. They came to share their past experiences before getting into the game industry and held a Q&A session for us to share insights on what we should do in order to become professional. It was great because we had a chance to ask about both technical and artistic sides of the industry, and therefore everyone was rushing to ask questions.

Here are some valuable tips that our speakers gave:

• Research what other people in the industry do and follow the format. By reading their resumes and seeing their portfolio, you may learn what skill sets are needed in order to work in their position.
• Just do it. Start making things out of scratch based on your interest. This way, you can teach yourself along the way by solving problems, and it will link into another area to study and learn; this will naturally make you an expert at what you do.
• Remember that we live in a small world. Everyone knows everyone and your current coworker can be a future coworker again. Represent yourself well and be professional around them.
• Ask people for help! People who are in this industry are more than likely to help you. Expose yourself and ask for any kind of feedback. You might be surprised to find how helpful people are!
• The entertainment industry is a fast-paced industry. Be prepared to adapt to rapid changes.
• Even after you make it into the industry, stay curious and keep in mind what your heart really wants.
• Being part of this industry is a great opportunity to work with amazing technology, and there is nothing more satisfying than seeing your work published. It is also great to work with people who truly enjoy their work.