Game Plan: The Insider's Guide to Breaking In and Succeeding in the Computer and Video Game Business

Front Cover
St. Martin's Publishing Group, 2007 M04 1 - 352 pages

The $20 billion computer and video gaming business is the fastest-growing entertainment medium in the world---on track to surpass both the movie and record businesses. More than 200 million computer and video games are sold to the 140 million gamers in America every year.

Game Plan: The Insiders Guide to Breaking In and Succeeding in the Computer and Video Game Business is the first book that clearly explains how to get a foot in the door to this incredibly dynamic and exciting field.

This essential guide includes everything job seekers need to know about:

-How the computer and video game business really works
-How to break into the industry
-How to get your dream game made
-The many different jobs in the field
-Surviving and thriving in the marketplace

Three top game veterans provide all the information readers need to begin their search: Alan Gershenfeld, former senior vice-president of Activision Studios, Mark Loparco, one of the industry's top edutainment producers, and Cecilia Barajas, an acclaimed game producer/ director and a design consultant on hundreds of games.

Game Plan also features expert advice by top gamemakers from such leading game publishers and developers as Electronic Arts, Activision, Microsoft, Midway, LucasArts, and THQ.

No matter what your background or job qualifications are, Game Plan will help you to decide which area of the video and computer game business appeals to you the most, and how to attain your goals of working in the industry.

For anyone who's ever dreamed of one day making a game, or is simply curious if this is the field to go into---this book is a must-read.

 

Contents

1 UNDERSTANDING THE BASICS
1
2 THE JOBS
27
3 HOW A GAME COMES TO MARKET
83
4 LAYING A FOUNDATION
117
5 BREAKING IN
137
6 SURVIVING THRIVING
163
7 GETTING YOUR GAME MADE
197
8 SO YOU WANT TO MAKE EDUCATIONAL GAMES?
245
9 FINAL THOUGHTS
255
REFERENCES
259
SAMPLE SUBMISSION PROCEDURES AND AGREEMENT
281
Copyright

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About the author (2007)

Alan Gershenfeld is a full-time writer/producer for the interactive entertainment industry and former Senior Vice President of Activision.

Mark Loparco is an interactive designer, producer and programmer and former Senior Producer at Disney Interactive.

Cecilia Barajas is a software consultant who has worked on hundreds of games, providing creative and production guidance in addition to game design.

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