Objectives and Goals - A 2-Day Assignment

  • You will research and understand the real-life opportunities for game programmers and designers.
  • You will review industry journals,and other resources to gain an understanding about a career path that leads to career employment in video computer gaming.
  • When you finish you'll need to sign the Sign-In sheet on my desk to let me know that you're ready for me to grade your work.
grade_template_-_orientation.xlsx
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4 Sections to Complete:
  1. Let's Get a Job in Video Gaming
  2. Make Good Use of Your School Time
  3. Choose a Feature to Read and Research
  4. Game Developer's Salary Survey
How to Take a Screen Capture
This movie will show you the Snipping Tool. Another way is to make sure that your OneNote binder is open, then click Windows S and Copy to Clipboard. Then you can paste in your binder (Ctrl V).
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How to Hand In Your Work
  1. Take a screen capture of your work (each activity).
  2. Paste it into your OneNote binder in the correct page of the Orientation section.
  3. If the document is more than 1 sheet, instead of a screen capture: In OneNote, click Insert > File Printout and browse to where you've saved your document.
  4. Sign the Sign-In Sheet (I won't know that you're ready for me to grade your work otherwise).

1) Let's Get a Job in Video Gaming

In this section, you’ll research, analyze and create a career path in the exciting world of video gaming. You’ll research future employment opportunities, locate domestic and international employment locations, and determine rates of pay and benefits for these jobs.

a) A Day in the Life of ...
b) Video Game Schools
Kim is a video game designer for Mind Control Software. As part of ConnectEd's "Day in the Life" series, Kim discusses her duties as a level designer and the education that helped her land the job

Download the file below and answer the questions on it. When you finish take a screen capture and paste it into the Orientation section of your OneNote binder. Call the page A Day in the Life. This movie will show you how. 
a_day_in_the_life_of.docx
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This is a 3-part activity and requires you to go to a web page. You can link to them here, and you'll also be able to link to them directly from the worksheet once you download it.
  1. Find Your Compatibility (a Career Test)
  2. What Does a Game Designer Do?
  3. Jobs

Download the file below and answer the questions on it. When you finish take a screen capture and paste it into the Video Game Schools section of your OneNote binder.  This movie will show you how. 
video_game_schools_2.docx
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2) Make Good Use of Your School Time

a) Think Different

Download the Think Different! file below this paragraph. 
  1. Read the article on Page 4 - find out how gaming designers think out-of-the-box.
  2. Summarize the article in the Orientation section of your OneNote binder. Title the page Think Different. Your summary should be a minimum of 250 words (a minimum does not earn an A).
  3. Check your work against the Summary Writing Rubric on Page 3 to ensure that you understand the requirements for full credit.
  4. This movie will show you how.
think_different.pdf
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b) Game Programming Colleges
  1. Download the Game Developer Career Guide (update to 2016 version!!!) below this paragraph. Save a copy in your Programming folder - you'll be using it a few times. As you read through it, you’re looking for Gaming Colleges. There are a great many advertised in the Career Guide,, especially from page 80 onwards.
  2. Download the Game Programming Colleges worksheet below this paragraph. 
  3. Choose any 10 colleges that interest you, and complete the table in the worksheet.
  4. When you finish take a screen capture and paste it into the Orientation section of your OneNote binder. Call the page Game Programming Colleges. This movie will show you how. 
game_developer_career_guide_2010.pdf
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game_programming_colleges.docx
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3) Choose a Feature to Read and Research

In this research activity, you will select a Feature located on page 3 of the Game Developer Career Guide to read and review. The choices are:

  1. Flash Foward page 25
  2. Make Games Not War page 41
  3. The Big Leap page 54

Once you’ve finished reading, you will create a new page in the Orientation section of your OneNote binder and write a summary of your chosen Feature in there. Title the page Article Summary. Make sure that you check your work against the Research Rubric to meet full grading requirements. This movie shows you how.
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Make Games Not War

4) Game Developer's Salary Survey

In this activity you'll research the salaries paid for a variety of Game Developer jobs on the basis of country and education.
  1. Read pages 17 - 23 of the Game Developer Career Guide to find the results of the Salary Survey. 
  2. Download the Salary Survey worksheet on the right and fill in your findings there.

When you finish create a new page in the Orientation section of your OneNote binder and paste a screen shot in there. Title the page Salary Survey. This movie shows you how. 
game_developers_salary_survey.docx
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File Type: docx
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