Getting into the industry

[Theroc]

I really have no idea where such a topic could go, but I believe this is where Morrus suggested I take it.

I've had a lot of trouble with job-hunting and various other things as I became a young adult(I'm a high-functioning autistic who was diagnosed late and thus lack some coping strategies and struggle in areas where others have no issues), but I've recently found a therapist who suggested I look into the careers I'm interested in, and my top two were tabletop design, or videogame design. When I thought of places to learn of how one would 'get started' on tabletops, the first place I thought of was Enworld here, since I knew that there was forum activity from publishers, as well as Enworld having it's own publishing wing.

What qualifications are there to hopping from the consumer's side of the fence to the publisher's/developer's side of the fence?

Is it publishing 'homebrew' on forums and hoping to be noticed? Are there degrees one can acquire to help learn the process and design philosophies?

I'd very much appreciate any information you can give on the topic.

Cheers!

 

[Morrus]

There's no formal qualification. It's a very small industry, and reputation forms a large part of it.

The freelance route is the traditional way in. My advice would be to start small - start as a freelancer (you can get small gigs from EN5ide read similar places) and work your way up until you're being commissioned for adventures, then books. Make sure you keep to deadlines, turn in quality work to specification, and follow any guidelines a publisher posts.

An alternative is the self-publishing route (blogs, small OGL products, DMsG etc.) but if employment in the industry is your goal, the freelancer route provides the necessary networking you'll need.

As a side note, there are not many people who are employed full time in the industry. Even WotC only has about 15 people working full time on D&D. Freelancers make up a vast percentage of the industry, and some are able to do it full time. It takes time to get there, though.

So, step one - look around for open calls, freelance opportunities, etc. Take something small, make sure you do it right, and on time. Get repeat work. Build up slowly, and don't take on more than you can chew, because if you start missing deadlines that reduces the chance of repeat work. So for now, find yourself one small freelance commission and do it well. They you're on your way.

 

[Wicht]

I think everyone working in the industry had a slightly different path. Though many within the parameters Morrus mentioned above.

I know that I had sent a few queries off to Dungeon, back in the day, and had sent a submission to Clark Peterson for Necromancer. The Necromancer submission got put in queue for a might use, and I eventually got one Dungeon submission that almost saw the light of day, and then certain non-game related events pulled me away from writing for a while....

Then, one day, while posting on Paizo's boards, Wolfgang Baur invited a group of us to submit some ideas. So I bit the bullet and did. I sent him a short little piece on the Care and Keeping of Gelatinous Cubes. This led to several articles written for Kobold Quarterly.

Following this, an online gaming friend suggested we colloborate to write some stuff for Steve Russell for Rite Publishing. We did one piece, and then Steve asked me if I wanted to work on a specific project for him. This led to a whole catalog of work done for Rite. Since, I have produced some material for others as well and continue to write.

I will say about this approach - you would have to work very, very hard to make any decent money at it. Most that want to make an actual living end up running their own company; which is great if you have the time and are willing to learn the skills and disciplines necessary. Otherwise, it is an enjoyable second job.

 

[SwivSnapshot]

My old school, the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, offers a minor in game design that focuses on video games and it's my understanding that programs like this are available at a number of schools.

http://www.uww.edu/cac/magd/

 

[gamerprinter]

I followed a completely different path starting as a freelance cartographic illustrator (map maker) for various RPG publishers, with an interest in developing some game setting ideas I had. One publisher, Rite Publishing, allowed me to develop and publish the Kaidan setting of Japanese Horror (PFRPG) as an imprint under his company, which continues in development with a dozen or so products released so far. I have since pursued self-publishing, mostly of map products, but I am now involved in 4 projects with four different writer/designers where I will serve as publisher myself. My professional path has crossed with both Wicht and Morrus, having done work with both of them for various projects. As Morrus said, everything depends upon reputation.

For the video game industry, a college education in the field is what you'll need, but there are both more opportunities in video than tabletop RPGs with better pay, but it's also a much more competitive industry.