What happens after graduation is the likely pretty high on the concern list for most local students currently studying games development. With all the news of studio closures and massive staff lay-offs in recent years, it's hard to feel even a little bit optimistic about chances of employment in any of the commercial studios remaining in the local games industry.
It was a discussion with one student hopeful over portfolio advice during Freeplay that has inspired accomplished sound designer and creator of Sound Library, Stephan Schultz, to submit an article to Screenplay's 'Your Turn' on the current state of the industry. Shultz argues that the industry isn't just rising from the ashes, but that it is most definitely alive... and thriving.
Shultz likens the happenings of the local games industry to the decline of the big studios in the movie industry of the late 50's and early 60's. These giant studios which operated with permanent production staff (that also included actors and actresses) were replaced with more agile production companies that contracted the staff they needed for each project. The benefit of this model, Shultz says, allows talent to move from one quality project to the next, and he suggests that the local games industry should take a similar approach. From Screenplay...
(Stephan Schultz) Australia is currently dominating much of the world market in mobile and casual gaming and I believe there is a lot more of this to come if events like Freeplay are anything to go by. I would also suggest that if the Australian industry evolves into a group of creative individuals who gather for certain projects, contract, produce and then move on; it will not only continue to grow, but will find itself in an ideal position globally.
Teething is a painful part of growing up, but the ultimate result frees you from the reliance on the teat that has been drip-feeding you. In my opinion, the Australian Games Industry is just about ready to start sinking its teeth into a whole new world of creative excellence.
We've had discussions about the film production model in the past on tsumea, and one of the issues was whether assembling an entire team from scratch for each new project would slow down production as programmers would have to learn the engine tech each time, and teams would have to get accustomed to working with a whole bunch of new people again, but this was at the time of large console projects and 100+ development teams. With the rise of mobile games development, the availability of great tools like Unity and UDK, and the extraordinary amount of excess talent we have here, it just may be the right time for the film production model.
For Stephan Schultz's entire article, head on over to Screenplay...