I recently circulated a few questions to some veteran video game developers I know about their experience and their insight into video game development. The 1st response I received is from Stuart Harrison who has been programming games since 1995. Stuart is currently a Lead Programmer at Sony Computer Entertainment and continues to be a top game developer.
I’d like to thank Stuart for his contribution and please read on to find out what Stuart had to say…
Whilst researching teams, I recently came across 2 similar concepts that describe the skills of people working in your beloved game development industry – “T-Shaped” people and “Generalising Specialist”.
I wanted to know more about them and how these types relate to my experience of people and if the idea gives me something for me to learn.
The shape of the letter is a nice way to visualise someones skill with the horizontal stroke ‘——–’ referring to the breadth of someones skills and the vertical ‘|’ referring to how skilled they are in that particular skill.
Therefore, “T-Shaped” people have a principal skill that describes the vertical leg of the ‘T’, they’re multi-player level designers, script writes, AI programmers or shader artist. However, they have a broad understanding of how things fit together and can branch out into other skills when required although this may not be their strongest area. They can also see things from multiple perspectives and be inspired and diverse.
“Generalising Specialist” is a term given to someone who has a broad set of skills that peak in one particular area *but* they can slide between similar roles when required. E.g., a level designer who can also script, a gameplay programmer who can also prepare UIs, an animator who can also sculpt.
‘I-Shaped‘ people are highly skilled in a particular area, more so than is seen in people with broader skills, but they pay for this depth of knowledge with a much narrower skillset. This narrow, but deep, set of skills may not be required for a whole project and this may be where you consider outsourcing, freelancers or contract workers to hit the sweet spot without taking the hit of them having nothing to do outside of that one task.
When building a team it’s important to include various types of people in order to succeed. Generally smaller teams start out with all T-shapes and as the team grows and more specialists are needed then the ‘I-Shaped’ people start to appear to when the team and the game start to require more specialist knowledge.
What type of person are you? I think I’m ‘T’ shaped. 
The Ten Faces of Innovation – IDEO’s Strategies for Beating the Devil’s Advocate & Driving Creativity Throughout Your Organization.
Is middleware replacing talented, creative developers? Is everything becoming mass produced?
During the industrial revolution businesses replaced highly skilled but slow workers with machines and cheap labour. The products were technically better and more cost effective but the skill was driven out of the business and interchangeable workers were brought in. New mediocre products appeared at a phenomenal rate as they were churned out and ultimately mass produced. At one point, almost 50% of cars on the planet were one specific model!
Echo’s of this are happening now. Game Engines like Unreal Engine 3 are the Victorian machines, drone artists who can produce 3D facsimile of concept art, level designers following tried and trusted methods, managers who follow methodologies, anyone being trained in how to do one specific interchangeable job without thought. It’s an easy life but ultimately there’s a lot of people who can get that far up the career ladder very quickly, and for much less pay.
The way we apply for roles is still baked into the tradition of a paper CV along with the formatting that goes with it. Stop, think about it.
Imagine your Resume sat in a pile with the recruiter shuffling through them at high speed, what makes your CV stand out? Do you get your key message across in the 1st few lines?
Does the recruiter need to know your address and education first? Do we care about what you did 10 years ago? What are you offering? How do you fit the role you’re applying for? Does it communicate you?
Remember, if you’re CV passes through an agency they will inevitably strip it of all of your contact information and ultimately re-format it.
Remember, you’re always talking to your game players, the end audience. You’re not talking to the middle-man, the Interviewer, Lead Designer, Journalist or your Manager. Think about who it is you’re really addressing.
In a world of freelancers, contractors and small, tight development communities. Everyone is on the public face of their business and reputation.
Hi, my name is Simeon Pashley and I'd like to introduce you to my blog. I've been professionally developing software since 1986. After an extensive career in Game Development, I switched to Web Development in 2010.