As a boy, Mike Chubb was intrigued by computer-generated special effects. Whether watching Star Wars, Terminator 2, or playing video games such as Virtua Fighter, Chubb marveled at how computers could digitally breathe life into characters and scenery. “I was blown away by these movies and games, so I wanted and needed to know how they did what they did,” says Chubb, 27, a 3-D artist for Sony Online Entertainment, the makers of the blockbuster franchises EverQuest and PlanetSide.
His tools of the trade: a pumped-up PC with plenty of memory and a high-end graphics card used to render high-resolution images; Photoshop, the standby program for graphic artists; and Maya, software used to render and animate three-dimensional images.
Chubb does prop modeling, a process whereby he creates the actual objects in a game such as tables and chairs or entire rooms. He also adds texture and color to those objects or environments. When a game calls for special effects such as a torch fire, explosion, spell effect, or muzzle flash, he simply lets his imagination run wild, generating ideas for how he thinks the effect should look. Then, he works with the game’s programmers to figure out the best approach to achieve each effect.
A graduate of Illinois Institute of Art-Schaumburg, Chubb landed his first industry job at a startup company called Past Tree. It didn’t take the then 21-year-old artist long to scale the ladder. Just six months after he was hired, Chubb was promoted to the position of art director.
But as with many startups, Past Tree began to experience financial difficulties and, ultimately, folded. Chubb scheduled an interview with Sony. Two weeks later he was hired as an artist. Chubb has worked on two games since joining SOE, PlanetSide and Untold Legends: Brotherhood of the Blade. His first project was PlanetSide, an online multiplayer game involving thousands of players that wage war across the face of a planet from their own computers.
Chubb is one of the relatively few African Americans who have sought out and achieved successful careers in the video game industry. Think it’s all child’s play? Well, think again. When Atari released the Atari 2600 in the late 1970s, the company sold more than 30 million of the consoles and created an industry that’s still growing. Fast-forward three decades and it’s now a $10 billion industry in the U.S. alone.
There are lucrative careers in designing, programming, and marketing these games, but sadly, it’s yet another booming sector overlooked by African Americans. In fact, there are so few African Americans working in the video game industry that there is no official statistic that records their placement in this field.
“I think one of the reasons why there aren’t very many African Americans is because we just don’t know about it as an industry in which you can work,” says Nichol Bradford, senior global brand manager for Vivendi Universal Games, marketer of video games linked to major film properties like Van Helsing, Fight Club, and Scarface in North America, Asia, and Europe.
The pay scale for each position varies depending on your level of experience. But according to a 2003 salary survey conducted by Game Developer Magazine, programmers, who are responsible for writing the complicated code that drives the games, earn anywhere from $58,000 to $110,000 per year. Producers, who lead and manage the creative teams behind the games, make between $44,000 and $122,000 annually. Artists bring in anywhere from $40,000 to $75,000. Designers, the people credited for the game’s fun factor, gross $41,000 to $92,000 each year. Audio personnel make between $45,000 and $77,000. And QAs, or game testers, take home anywhere from $32,000 to $56,000 yearly.
But these positions require the skills and education necessary to secure jobs in the field. Although not entirely institutionalized, certain positions, such as programming, do require a specific level of education. To that end, Bradford plans to begin speaking with educators in California and members of the International Game Developers Association about how to develop a curriculum using commercial games already on the market to inspire African American kids in math and science.
“Most people don’t know what games are. They don’t know that beneath the color is nothing but polygons, which is nothing but geometry, which below that is linear algebra. A video game is really math, science, and literature. So the things that kids are learning or need to learn in school is the beginning of getting them to the point of making games. We just have to show it to them,” Bradford says.
Over the next few pages, we’ll introduce you to a few individuals who’ve already entered the West Coast-based industry with great success. They are ambitious, interesting, and without question, on top of their game.
FELICE STANDIFER, PRODUCER, SONY
COMPUTER ENTERTAINMENT AMERICA Felice Standifer sits at the controls of a PlayStation 2 console. On the monitor, a highly detailed all-terrain vehicle blazes a trail through snow and ice, rounding corners and spinning out on a muddy patch. On the screen is ATV Offroad Fury 3, the newest release from the top selling racing game franchise Standifer produces for Sony Computer Entertainment America.As a producer, Standifer, 36, oversees the development of various titles and is the keeper of the budget and production schedule for all works in progress. Standifer manages a team of 15 to 30 programmers, artists, designers, audio, and production staff to ensure that each game is delivered as envisioned, on time, and on budget.
Standifer started her ascent in the industry as an administrative assistant at Sony in 1993. At that time, PlayStation was an idea yet to be born and the company, known then as Sony Image Soft, was making video games for Nintendo and Sega. Fresh out of the University of California at Berkeley with a degree in Social Science with an emphasis in communications, Standifer worked closely with the then-director of product development. In 1995, Standifer was promoted to department administrator. It didn’t take long for Standifer to be elevated to assistant producer. In 2001, She completed ATV Offroad Fury. It was her first title as producer and her first title for the PlayStation 2 platform. One year later, ATV Offroad Fury 2 debuted, followed by ATV Offroad Fury 3, which debuted in 2004. Today, the series has sold more than 4 million units.
Standifer is now fast at work putting her racing game on Sony’s PlayStation Portable, a handheld video game system that debuted in North America and Europe this spring.
She, like many of her African American colleagues, would like to see their numbers increase. “I think one of the things that might help a lot more African Americans get into the field is making sure they are informed and perhaps letting them know of some of the industry functions like the Game Developers Conference and about internships.” The GDC, which was held March 7 — 11 at the Moscone West in San Francisco, is a convention where game developers, hardware developers, and press get together to preview new and upcoming products and to discuss game development in general or to look for new talent. For information on the 2006 event, visit the GDC at www.gdconf.com.
ROB GATSON, SENIOR ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE, SOFTWARE ENGINEER, VISUAL CONCEPTS INC. While most 9-year-old boys spend their afternoons playing video games, as a boy growing up in Fort Wayne, Indiana, Rob Gatson spent his free time learning how to make them.
“When my mom would go to the mall to shop, I would go to the bookstore to read computer books,” says Gatson, who taught himself C++ and BASIC (Beginners All-Purpose Symbolic Instruction Code), an early programming language. “And if I wasn’t reading a computer book, I was outside dribbling a basketball because I was either g
oing to be in the NBA or I was going to make video games.”
Though his plan to become a basketball star ended in 1993 when he dropped out of Purdue University, he’d accumulated enough knowledge of computer science to start his own game development company, E Entertainment, that he ended up selling to The 3DO, a San Francisco-based gaming company. By 1997, Gatson was in Chicago working as the lead programmer on NBA Showtime for an arcade game development company called Midway. In 1999, video game giant EA Sports recruited him to program NBA Street.
Today, Gatson, 34, is a software engineer for Visual Concepts Inc., the major development and production arm of 2K Sports video games brand and video game franchise. As a programmer for the San Rafael, California-based company, Gatson writes complicated code for some of the most popular basketball video games on the PlayStation and Xbox platforms. Since joining Visual Concepts in 2001, Gatson has programmed titles such as NBA 2K2, NBA 2K3, ESPN NBA 2K4, and ESPN NBA 2K5. He is currently working on NBA 2K6.
Gatson is one of only two African American programmers at Visual Concepts. He says the number of blacks working in the industry, particularly as engineers, is small because the idea of making video games a career path is simply not encouraged. “Computer science isn’t cultivated enough within our community,” says Gatson, who talks with many kids about the industry. “The family unit needs to foster the mindset that is required in order to be a productive contributor in this field. If a parent can see that there are some good careers in the video game industry and encourage that child to be an engineer, then there will be more blacks in this industry.”
BREAKING IN!
Breaking into
Determine your area of interest: There are many career options from which to choose when working in the video game industry. Jason Della Rocca, executive director of the International Game Developers Association, says it’s smart to first determine what aspect of game development interests you before getting started. If you are technical and like math and science, a position in programming may be right for you. If drawing is your forte and you admire fine arts and painting, perhaps visual arts is the area you may want to try.
Get an education: The industry does not require degrees across the board for all positions. However, as the business grows and changes, it is becoming more institutionalized. Consider attending an art school or a university that offers a curriculum or degree specific to the position that you want to pursue. Also, research internships with various game development studios. While internship programs are difficult to find, a handful of the bigger companies like EA (Electronic Arts) do offer these opportunities.
Study the industry: Staying plugged in to what’s going on in the field is important to your success. Read industry-related books and magazines such as Ernest Adam’s Break Into the Game Industry: How to Get a Job Making Videogames (McGraw-Hill Osborne Media; $24.99), Game Developer Magazine, Electronic Gaming Monthly, and PC Gamer. Also, view gaming Websites such as www.AAgamer.com and www.gamasutra.com.
Attend gaming conferences: Game conferences are an opportunity to network with people in the industry and learn more about your craft. Consider attending the annual Game Developers Conference, E3 Conference & Expo, COMICON, and any smaller seminars or symposiums geared toward educating the public about the video game industry.
Join an association: The International Game Developers Association (www.igda.org) is a great resource for newcomers. This association offers tips on how to break into the video game industry; information about particular career paths in the business; and networking opportunities through online articles, reports, local events, and forums.
Play: If you want to be in gaming, you have to play games. Playing gives you insight into what the public likes, as well as how characters look, sound, and move.