For the past six years, I have been involved in the creation of serious games.  The purpose of serious games is not to entertain, but to teach.  A serious game whose players do not find it in some way compelling will be of little value to either the players or those who created it.  This “genre,” for want of a better term, is expanding rapidly, and many people (such as my own core team) who are making these games are seasoned professionals with years of experience in the commercial gaming industry.

Why do we do it? Well, apart from the obvious value of earning an income, the people I know who have chosen to work on serious games, do it because they feel that they can help to make games that will not only make a difference in somebody’s life – they may also help to save lives.

They're doing it again! Champlain College is continually growing their degreed programs and they are hiring another Professor!! Mary-Margaret Network is working hand in hand with Champlain to identify a new Game Programming Assistant or Associate Professor.

The ideal candidate will have game industry experience and a Masters or Ph.D. in a technology field. Responsibilities include undergraduate instruction (possibly some graduate level), course development, student advising and mentoring, community and industry outreach, and student team project supervision. Course instruction will be held primarily on campus but will include some online classes as well.

Champlain believes in a practical, hands-on approach to teaching - a philosophy reflected in the remarkable array of campus resources and facilities available to both students and faculty. Teachers are armed with fully wired and wireless classrooms featuring interactive whiteboards and the latest multimedia software and equipment. Open development stations facilitate teamwork and interactive learning. A fiber-optic computer network links faculty, staff and students throughout campus. Champlain College has state of the art facilities, which gives the instructors all the resources they need in order to excel in their teaching positions.

I can hardly wait for the holidays -- I need a rest!  I can also hardly wait for the New Year!  I love the excitement and fresh renewal that comes with January, springtime and back to school!  It’s been a difficult year with lots of ups and downs for all of us.  I’ve talked to many of you about your job searches or about wishing you could hire more people.  We are all seeing a slow recovery and are eager to see what the New Year will bring.  Although it is just another day and another month, fresh beginnings are psychologically reinvigorating and psychology is 80% of success.

But we are only half way through December and you have time to make quality connections if you are unemployed or feel like you may be soon.  Here are five important tips to help you make progress between now and the first week of January.

Simple rules for casual game design.

Here’s an idea for a game. So what do you think? Will it be fun?



Believe it or not, this screenshot makes more sense than many of game proposals I’ve seen!

The answer is, of course, no. At least not yet.

Although this is an exaggerated example, the first step in creating a fun experience is to make sure players can UNDERSTAND what they’re looking at. Strive to ensure all aspects of the visual presentation are clear and direct. Power meters that looks like a clocks and timers that look like thermometers, while graphically interesting, can cause confusion to first-time players. Saying “once they’ve played it a few times they’ll understand” doesn’t work for casual games!

When I get approached to compose for any video game, it is exciting. When it's for a game that is a classic Nintendo title and has a unique fan base, it is VERY exciting. When Wayforward approached me to score"A Boy And His Blob" I was thrilled. I remember calling up director Sean Velasco the next day and saying “I have to score this!" "I'm the composer for this game!" “I loved this game growing up!” and other things like that.

Once I got the job and received the music document (which contained the list of music that will be needed in the game), the creative wheels started turning in my mind. I knew that the music had to capture the essence of the classic game, contain a sense of adventure, and emphasize the relationship between "A Boy And His Blob". If I made sure to capture all of those elements, I felt that there would be enough musical ideas and emotion to help tell this amazing story. On the flip side, the game had a colorful children's aesthetic about it and the art was beautiful yet simple, so I felt the music had to mimic that as well. This was not the type of game calling for the music to be over layered, textured, complex or over sophisticated. The music needed to strike the right balance of sophistication and texture, and it needed to imitate the look and feel of the game:  colorful, simple, emotional and realistic. Real in the sense that Wayforward didn't want this game to feel like a comical game like Mario, but they wanted it to take on a more serious film score tone.

It's great to see accredited colleges and universities growing their degreed programs for the video game industry.  It's the innovative schools that attract young minds who are not only looking for opportunities, but want to create them.  Champlain College has introduced new courses to their curriculum such as Game Design and Computer & Digital Forensics.  Champlain College has a unique liberal arts education combined with a professional focus.  They have a can-do culture; where people with diverse talents, pool their skills in enterprising ways.

Champlain is looking for an Assistant Professor of Game Design. The program is recognized for its outstanding labs, state-of-the art software, team-oriented faculty, and strong, innovative, project-based curriculum patterned after and designed with game development industry input and support.  The Assistant Professor will be responsible for creating curriculum and course development, student advising, instruction and enrichment, industry outreach and development of program presence.  Experience in level design, construction and scripting is a must.  The ideal candidate must have experience working with game engines such as  Unreal, Torque, Virtools or similar.  Candidates must also have experience working in a 3D pipeline and using 3D packages such as Maya.

February 10-11, 2010
Microsoft Gamefest 2010
Seattle, Washington

Change is a fact of life in the fast-paced and dynamic business of making games, and Microsoft is right here with you on the cutting edge. This year marks a historical movement in game creation as we disclose to you the latest technology details for “Project Natal”, the technology Forrester principal analyst, Paul Jackson described as “taking things to the next extreme."  You will hear first hand from the engineering teams on how we are progressing with “Project Natal” and enjoy two full tracks on the latest development and design best practices.

Join us for two solid days of presentations across ten content tracks delivered by top industry professionals and learn about the state of the business, new opportunities for reaching and amazing your customers, and all the latest tools and technologies for all Microsoft platforms.

The freelance business model has a big trial and error factor.  Even if you always do the same thing, doing it for a new client introduces surprising variables.  So let's talk trials and errors.  As a self-styled writer for interactive games, I went out to seek my fortune armed with untested assumptions about an industry in which I had no experience.  Although you've probably made your own mistakes in previous stages of your career, I invite you to cringe along with me as I replay a few instructively embarrassing moments.

Know What You're Talking About
Imagine being so desperate to get your hands into your first interactive software project that you'll pitch one to a creative director with a vague idea, offer a first draft on spec, and deliver it as a detailed linear document -- without a flow chart.  As for our discussion about compensation, I quote his email: "I know that you are new to this kind of deal, but I must tell you that the licensing of an entire technology ... costs me 2%.  For me to pay you 6.5 % is out of the question ... The creation of a story line for a small component of the software will not make you rich in this environment ... sorry."  Yes, sir!  So noted.

January 29-31, 2010
Global Game Jam
http://www.globalgamejam.org/

The Global Game Jam (GGJ) was founded in 2008 as an IGDA event to broaden the outreach of the organization while giving the world an opportunity to create games in the world’s largest Game Jam to date. The 1st Annual Global Game Jam was held January 30-Feburary 1, 2009 to much critical acclaim and success. With over 1600 participants in 23 countries, the GGJ produced 370 games.

The Global Game Jam was created as collaboration between Susan Gold, Gorm Lai and Ian Schrieber – three active members of the IGDA who wanted to connect the community through cooperation, innovation, creativity and experimentation. The 2010 GGJ wants to triple in size, including more locations and making GGJ a truly global event.

Mary-Margaret Network is your life preserver!

The unemployment rate in the United States has hit 10% for the first time in over two decades. For employers looking to staff up, this is good news. There is an abundance of new talent flooding the market ready to fill each and every job available. There are hundreds of resumes and applications pouring into HR offices daily. That’s great, right?!

Unfortunately, quantity does not always equate to quality. HR representatives have to work harder than ever to process the multitude of resumes and find the top talent. Does your company have the tools and resources it needs to swim through the sea of resumes?

February 17-19, 2010
2010 DICE Summit
Las Vegas, Nevada
FROM GAMEMAKERS TO NEUROSCIENTISTS; INVENTIVE AND ORIGINAL

The Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences® (AIAS) announced the initial speakers for the 2010 D.I.C.E. (Design, Innovate, Communicate, Entertain) Summit®. The event will be held at the Red Rock Resort in Las Vegas, February 17-19, 2010, and feature a line-up of industry leaders and decision makers, and visionaries from the disciplines that are shaping the future of interactive entertainment.

“Our program for 2010 is fast becoming the most prolific line-up we’ve ever produced,” said Joseph Olin, president of the Academy. “From the industry’s most gifted minds behind some of the greatest entertainment properties, to leading edge thinkers steeped in the nature of creativity, there will be a lot to talk about at this year’s Summit.”

MMN Connect is an effective way to tap Mary-Margaret Network resources for your company's hiring needs. This particular service enables you to obtain targeted candidates and solutions while saving valuable time.

Mary-Margaret Network will assign cost-effective sourcing resources to your position profiles and drive a consistent candidate pipeline.

We filter candidates to the save the bulk of your time and provide high-quality consulting and business partnering to your hiring managers.

Experience the Power of our Network through this service:

Powerful products for people who live their lives on the go.  Palm is pulling a team together to create tools that are not just better, they're faster.  Palm Inc. continues to grow and they are building the software team that crafts the best tools and technologies for game developers on Palm's WebOS platform. Palm has great things in the pipeline and more graphics engineers are needed to work on their Linux-powered operating system that powers the PRE.

Palm is responsible for smartphones like the Pre, Treo, and Centro.  In the spirit of making technology smaller, slimmer and faster, they recently introduced the Palm Pixi.  Mary-Margaret Network has partnered with Palm to identify the best talent in the video games industry to build a solid team. Palm is currently looking for a variety of Graphics Engineers to assist in delivering products that implement technology in innovative ways.  Learn more about the company that continues to push technology and be the best! Check out this video.

Actively or Passively looking for a job?

We are doing our best to put quality opportunities in front of you through our newsletter, job board and direct outreach.

Please check in to our website regularly for new updates and send us your resume for our Employer Searchable Database if you haven't already.

Since I wrote about DLC (Downloadable Content) as a business model concerning mainly free-to-play titles, I started thinking about the future of DLC. The eventual digital distribution model may render the retail store a little redundant, but would depend heavily on broadband connections.

DLC is a main component for both the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3.  Both have weekly updates with game content.  Microsoft has Netflix while Sony has been pushing the Video Store on the PlayStation Store.  On the PlayStation Portable side, many developers are releasing their titles on the PSN.  Along with the new PSP Minis, smaller games that would be most similar to Apple’s iTunes Apps, the race is on for Sony to make the PSPGo a worthy purchase for those early adopters.

The game industry that we thrive in today is filled with many great ideas and many great idea makers. However, far too often great ideas and opportunities somehow get lost in the fray and sadly dwindle down to non-existence. To help reverse this, there are five key steps that anyone, at any level of game development can follow. By maximizing the methods by which an IP is produced and presented, a developer can increase their chances for success with publishing.

1 - Making Sure Your Idea Is Novel

Rule #1: Do something new.
Rule #2: If you are not going to do something new, at least do something different!

If one were to break a game down to its core elements, what would they find? Sure, there is story and artwork, and of course audio; but what really makes a game?

March 9-13, 2010
GDC 2010
Moscone Center, San Francisco, CA

GDC returns to the Moscone Convention Center in San Francisco March 9-13 for five days of learning, networking, and inspiration. Join a global community of programmers, artists, producers, game designers, audio professionals, business decision-makers as we convene gather to exchange ideas and shape the future of the industry.

For up-to-date event and registration information, please visit: http://www.gdconf.com/.

January 19-20, 2010
7th Annual Mobile Games Forum
Mandarin Oriental Hyde Park
London, United Kingdom

http://www.mobilegamesforum.co.uk

Now in its 7th year, the Mobile Games Forum is firmly established as the leading Mobile Games event in Europe. With the whole ecosystem present – operators, publishers, developers, handset manufacturers and software providers – all industry viewpoints will be represented at MGF 2010 at the Mandarin Oriental Hyde Park in London on 19th and 20th January 2010. This is your perfect opportunity to question and meet industry experts from Orange, Vodafone, 3, Sony Ericsson, Nokia, EA Mobile, Chillingo, AdMob, Walt Disney Internet Group, Ariadne Capital, PAN Vision, Flirtomatic, GetJar, Digital Legends Entertainment, Mplayit, Fishlabs, TinRaven, Mountain Sheep, Namco Bandai Networks Europe, Finblade, DFJ Esprit, Digital Chocolate, Doughty Hanson, Xendex, Ideaworks 3D, HandyGames, Fox Mobile Distribution, Handmark, Dojo Media, Real Networks plus many more. The unbeatable speaker line-up includes over 40 cutting-edge viewpoints from industry leaders.

If you are in the US then you are looking forward to the Thanksgiving holiday this week.  If you are outside the US, I’m sure you’d love to take off Thursday and Friday, spend time with loved ones and eat lots of turkey.  Either way, if you are a hiring manager, you know that this month means that you have to start looking at your hiring for the New Year or the next quarter.  If you are looking for a job, don’t think for a second that you have to wait till January to see movement in your search.  In all my years in the industry, I have seen innumerable interviews and hires in December or early January as companies move into their new fiscal year or their fourth quarter.  Some of you may know that I lived in London for several years and while there, like a good expat, I celebrated Thanksgiving with my Scottish husband by going to a nice hotel for a traditional American Thanksgiving dinner.  This year, we are taking the time to visit Andrew’s parents near Glasgow.  We will be making a family event out of having Thanksgiving in Scotland, dining at a hotel in Glasgow catering to expats.

While I'm out of the office this week, that doesn't mean I'm not working hard! Contact me now to set up a time to talk about your hiring needs! Don't wait, January is right around the corner!

If you are hiring – check out our MMN Connect and other services.

If you are looking for a job – make sure to send us your resume for our searchable database.

For all of you, have a great week!  Mary-Margaret

The end of the year doesn’t mean you have to sit and wait until January rolls around before you can make headway on your job search.  December is a great time to talk to hiring managers, network, interview and even end up accepting a job offer.

One way that we can help you with that is by including you in our employer-searchable database. Just send us your resume to be included.

To widen your network, feel free to connect with Mary-Margaret Walker on LinkedIn or Facebook or any of the other members of the Mary-Margaret Network team.  We want to make our connections work for you!

Let’s address the basics of PR for games, shall we? While social media and other technologies (like streaming video) have somewhat changed PR, the basics still apply. Despite the hype, Twitter will not save a failing launch. Neither will Facebook. Like everything in life, promoting a game requires a clear strategy and first-rate execution.

Strategy. The chosen PR firm must help developers pick the activities that best address their needs. A company about to start licensing technology will have different requirements than another launching a Nintendo DSi title, for example. Picking the right programs and targets is essential to keep PR costs low while maximizing coverage.

January 8, 2010
Digital Media Insider @ CES
The Venetian
Las Vegas, NV

Digital Media Wire is hosting its 3rd Annual Digital Media Insider @ CES, an exclusive event for the digital media industry’s key movers and influencers at the 2010 Consumer Electronics Show (CES). The afternoon/evening event will include two panels and a keynote focused on "Distribution and Monetization of Digital Content" from the content owners perspective. The speaking sessions will be followed by a networking reception honoring the 2010 "25 Digital Entertainment Executives to Watch."

For event information and registration, please visit: http://www.digitalmediainsider.com.

December 6-8, 2009
GCAP 09
Crown Promenade Hotel
Melbourne, Australia

This year's Game Connect Asia Pacific (GCAP) 2009 theme, Create Innovate Thrive, will bring together the Asia Pacific region's game development industry to focus on industry improvement, success and growth. It provides the ideal opportunity for Australian and international game developers to network with industry colleagues such as publishers, programmers, developers, creative artists and with players intimately involved in digital content.

GCAP 09 will deliver thought provoking, creative and innovative topics covering programming, art, design and more from leaders in game development.

Game developers, publishers, distributors and investors should attend, along with interactive entertainment industry players and educators. Whether you're a programmer, project director, senior architect or designer, studio staff member, a new recruit or student, GCAP 09 offers real benefits.

GCAP 09 will take place at the Crown Promenade Hotel located in the bustling Southbank entertainment precinct.

For registration and event information, please visit: http://www.gameconnectap.com/.

We all know when we’re having fun - but what exactly is “fun?” Why is it that some activities are considered more enjoyable while others are not? How do we feel when we’re having fun? The answers may seem obvious, but in reality there is a myriad of complex events that must occur for an activity to be fun. But, in order for an activity to feel “fun,” it must first trigger the brain into releasing endorphins into the bloodstream. It is this release of endorphins that gives us the pleasurable feeling we call “fun.” Furthermore, if this positive physical sensation of fun can be prolonged over a period of time, the activity causing the fun might even be considered addicting!

Endorphins

Because they are naturally produced by the body, endorphins are possibly the best way to achieve the natural high we call fun. "Chemically speaking, endorphins are polypeptides, which bind to the neuro-receptors in the brain to make us feel good. Endorphins are the reason why soldiers wounded in battle can have the strength to save someone else; why avid runners experience the so-called runner's high; and why some people are drawn to dangerous activities like car racing, sky diving and bungee jumping. In our case, endorphins enable someone to spend hours in front of a TV playing videogames!" (from "The Beta Clear CD" as published in Life Technology)

Two important points to remember about having fun:

If I told you Mary-Margaret Network is building a team that is making innovative tools, would you want to hear more?  I thought so.  We're currently focused on finding the top talent for Palm Inc.  Sound like déjà vu or like you've heard that from us recently? That's because there are MORE positions to fill!

Palm Inc. is growing and we have more graphics engineer positions available. Palm has great projects in the pipeline and we're building the software team to create the best tools and technologies to allow game developers to design and develop innovative gaming applications for Palm's webOS platform.

December 5-6, 2009
Flash GAMM Kyiv 2009
Hotel Lybid

Kyiv, Ukraine

Flash GAMM! is а unique event devoted to flash games and organized specially for professional flash games
developers, publishers, producers, programmers and designers, for representatives of game portals and
potential investors, which purpose is to share experience, contacts and ideas.

The meeting is hours of close communication between representatives of game industry from different
countries and of different specializations.

You can find more information at the official website of the conference – http://www.flashgamm.com.

December 8-10, 2009
Game Connection Lyon
Lyon, France

Game Connection is a unique speed dating event for business-focused game makers. It is a one-stop shop to meet face to face dozens of targeted potential partners involved in all stages of the production pipeline, from the concept to the outsourcing, publishing, distribution and financing, in back-to-back 30-minute meetings.
Where else do you get to conduct an average of 27 tailored meetings in just three days, network with the best developers, publishers, distributors and service providers of the industry who are committed to make great games?

For more information about this event, please visit the website: http://www.game-connection.com/.

The 2009 Independent Game Conference West will take place Thursday and Friday (November 5-6) at the Marriott Marina del Rey in Los Angeles.  This conference is aimed directly for the independent studio or development team, and is bringing great speakers and sessions in without charging an arm and a leg to attend!

We recently published an article, The Future is This Way, in which several industry leaders provided their thoughts and ideas about the direction of the games industry.  Tom Dusenberry, Founder of Dusenberry Entertainment and Director and Advisor for Robinca, also shared some great insights with Mary-Margaret Walker prior to attending the NY Games Conference in September.  Tom has been an important part of our industry for many years and it was critical to share his insights with our network.

MM: Where do you think the industry is going?

Tom: The Interactive Entertainment industry is undergoing dynamic global growth. This growth is coming from consumer expansion that is a result of interactive innovation and new business segment development. We see more and more men and women of all ages embracing interactive experiences with consumer applications expanding into huge new markets such as fitness and health. Our industry needs to embrace innovation that goes beyond traditional interactive boundaries.

Linear versus multi-dimensional - the complexities between film music and music for videogames

The creative process in writing for interactive media can be very liberal. The composer generally has much more time to try things out if he gets involved at an early stage of production.  In contrast, film music usually involves one being brought in at a very late stage in post-production, leaving the composer only a few weeks’ time to finish the score.

When you write music for a film you create a score consisting of numerous cues that serve the picture on a conventional linear narrative from opening to closing credits, whereas music for a videogame is non-linear. Music for a videogame requires the composer to create different cues (little pieces of music for a certain event) that can be layered and combined in a non-linear way, corresponding to scenes/events throughout the game’s storyline.

Mary-Margaret Network's Co-Founder, Robin McShaffry praised the Leadership Forum saying, "I attended the IGDA Leadership Forum last November and came away incredibly energized and enthusiastic about our industry and the bright lights who are coming into leadership roles. We're still maturing as an industry and it is gatherings like these that move that process along. This is an extremely worthwhile forum!"

The Zombie Game Experiment is a community game development project. The public can help design a zombie game with industry professionals and also help a a good cause, specifically TeamFox, the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Research.

It is easy to be involved. A new member will need to donate one dollar or more to the development fund. If a person donates ten dollars or more they will receive the game for free when it is finished and their community username will be placed in the credits.

I met Ron Noble several months ago at Union Night in LA.  He was there with my good friend, Akiko Ashley.  I teased him about stalking me because every time I turned around at the event he seemed to be right next to me.  When I finally sat down with a burger and a drink to talk to Akiko and get to know Ron I was completely floored by his impressive background and laughed at myself for teasing him for stalking me.  Clearly, I should have been stalking him!  Anyone who doesn’t know Ron should.  He’s not only extremely talented, he is also incredibly entertaining and a good friend I will treasure for a long time.  Many of you will find this interview inspirational as well as entertaining as you work to meet your own goals.  Ron has also promised to stalk me whenever I feel lonely.

MM:  How did you get your break in the industry?

Ron: I was living in Seattle in 1997 when I took a Rugrats storyboarding test from Klasky Csupo in Hollywood and they liked it.  So naturally I thought I would begin storyboarding immediately, but it took six months and dozens of phone calls for them to finally give me a chance to board.  My first assignment was boarding on season one of The Wild Thornberrys.  When they sent me my second round of freelance work, I packed up and moved to L.A. figuring they must be ready to hire me, of course.  They weren't ready, of course.  It took about two months of persuading, charming and practically forcing my way into the studio to get hired full-time at Klasky Csupo.  After only nine months of working there, I was promoted to director.  For the next six years I directed dozens of episodes on five different Nickelodeon TV series, including Rugrats.

The Cartoon Network is partnering with Mary-Margaret Network to staff the game development team for their MMO, Fusion Fall.  Our initial open position is a Lead World Builder with the primary objectives of conceiving and directing new 3D environments from start to finish, establishing the pipeline, developing new tools and working with the design team to implement all content.

As we all know, game play fun is critical and World Designers are the foundation for interactive fun in an MMO.  The Lead World Builder will be challenged with managing and working alongside the World Builder team to create maps and ensure the game is aesthetically pleasing and fun.

Richard Brest is a professional geek and a media pioneer.  Working too hard in the games industry, he developed a way to help others improve their quality of life.  We are proud to announce a new partnership with The Rundown, a daily email delivering more fun in less time.  Currently, The Rundown covers the LA scene but soon they will be covering NY as well.  For all of us who work hard and still want quality of life, this is a great resource that was the brainstorm from too many long weeks and demanding projects.  I’m proud to be sharing this with everyone who lives in LA and NY.  I hope to be sharing it with more of you in the near future as The Rundown grows and takes on more and more metropolitan areas across the globe.

MM: What led you from Global Brand Manager at Activision to creating The Rundown?

Rich: I was lucky enough to lead worldwide marketing for Call of Duty, a remarkable, unforgettable experience. For my colleagues and buddies, quality free time was more precious than ever to us as our careers progressed and we worked longer hours – and paradoxically, we were too busy to know what was worth doing around town with this limited time. We were missing out on new restaurants, nightlife and concerts, not to mention date night ideas. So the idea for The Rundown was born: a daily email for busy professionals keeping them plugged into life outside the office. We separate quality from hype, offering field-tested roadmaps to great nights out in fewer than sixty seconds a day.

MM: What technology or media is going to be important in five years?

Performers open doors with headshots, demo reels or press clippings, but eventually they must audition for the gig. And writer auditions? Strange as that sounds, people are sometimes uncomfortable hiring a writer without a skills test. Or so they say. Maybe they want something for nothing. Maybe it just turns out that way despite everyone's best intentions. While I can't offer much empirical data, I can share my experiences of writing auditions.

"Show Me What You Got"

Before I launched my writing career, I worked for someone with an interesting typing test for new office hires. She'd listen to their hands on the keyboard to gauge their relationship to the process as well as checking their work for accuracy. I believe there's a similar principle at the core of writing auditions, even if someone isn't grooving to the rhythm of your keystrokes. Your strong resume, glowing references and drop-dead portfolio simply aren't enough. Some clients' projects or processes are so unique (to them) that they're compelled to test your skills before committing.

Truth be known, I don’t even like Halloween or costume parties or anything haunted.  I’m the biggest chicken there is, and I can’t watch horror movies.  Ghosts scare me and the idea that there may be life after death, or spirits lurking in the night, creeps me out.  My phobia is dolls and as I get older, I’m realizing how anxious confined spaces make me feel.  Basically, I’m a wuss!  So why am I vice president and co-founder of SCARE for a CURE?

Simply put, my passions are giving back to the community, volunteering for good causes and helping others, even if it means facing my fears.  My husband Jarrett, on the other hand LOVES Halloween; it’s his favorite holiday.  Every Halloween for as long as we’ve been married, Jarrett has built some sort of maze in our front yard for the neighborhood kids, or dressed up as the scariest monster on the street.  SCARE seemed like a good compromise for us.  I let him build haunted houses as long as we can charge admittance with net proceeds going to local charities.

On behalf of Women in Games International, we would like to express our appreciation to Mary-Margaret Network’s team and WIGI members for their support of the SMU Guildhall and WIGI mixer at AGDC last month. We had close to 200 attendees from various studios, service providers and organizations in the game development community.  Events like the AGDC Mixers helps WIGI continue to promote the inclusion and advancement of women in the global games industry.

Other than in Night of the Living Dead, in most Zombie films the most clever, skilled, and tough people survive to the exit point or the 'hopeful dawn'.

We are in difficult times that as individuals we feel we can do nothing about personally and directly. Our government has sold off our future over a threat we are only beginning to feel. We are engaged in a hot war with a relentless enemy that springs out of the dark and just wants us dead for reasons that we don't culturally fathom.

Nowadays it seems that everyone loves zombies. They’ve always been popular, of course, but suddenly zombies are an Internet subculture. They’re the reason “ZOMG” is back in fashion. So what’s with the sudden love for the undead?

For starters, they make good pop culture symbols. Just gross enough to be awesome, and just iconic enough to be easily recognizable. Not everyone knows what a furry’s supposed to look like (despite the self-explanatory name). Zombies are a little harder to miss.

The Disappearing Art of Listening

Has someone ever said to you, “Did you hear what I said?”  What they really meant was, “Did you hear the words and listen to their meaning?” Listening skills allow one to make sense of and understand what another person is saying. In other words, listening skills allow you to understand what someone is "talking about." Hearing is a physical ability, listening is a skill.

My children always kid me that I talk to myself. I tell them it’s from having children. How many times do you say something and then mumble, “I might as well be talking to a wall!” Believe me when I tell you they HEAR you, they just aren’t listening.

We at Mary-Margaret Network are big fans of Ben Sawyer and Games for Health, a conference we partner with annually.  Recently, Lisa Gualtieri, Editor-in-Chief of eLearnMag.org, sat down with Ben and asked him Five Questions.  We thought we would share it with you.

Five Questions for Ben Sawyer

Ben Sawyer, co-founder of Digitalmill, organizes the annual Games for Health Conference, which took place in Boston last month. The conference is produced by the Games for Health Project, which is sponsored by the Pioneer Portfolio of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. Leading the project, Ben has single-handedly pulled together a diverse community of people working on video games used in therapeutic practices, to teach health professionals, and for increasing education and adherence in patients with the goal of improving health through games and their associated technologies.

Lisa Gualtieri: What was your motivation is starting Games for Health?

Ben Sawyer: I started the project as an outgrowth of the Serious Games Initiative, which we had put together with the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington D.C.

The 3rd annual NY Games conference will, as always, be a great place for executives to connect with each other and network.  However, this year it will also be an opportunity for critical discussions on the direction of the industry, how to get ahead of the economy and implement strategies for the coming changes.

I have watched the industry closely for almost twenty years.  However, I’m a perpetual optimist so I asked for input from a few individuals that are also watching the trends and have different opinions and perspectives.  I asked about their current thoughts on the industry and what they hope and expect to achieve at the upcoming event.

Fernando Paiz, Executive Producer, Turbine: "The games industry is on the cusp of a huge paradigm shift in how users expect to try, buy, play and pay for games. Everything is going digital and players have more options than ever before. As developers we need to evolve our designs, find new ways to monetize the players and relentlessly push for quality or we risk being left behind."

The MMN team will be out in full force at Austin GDC this September 14-18th.

Robin McShaffry, MMN VP Operations, favors Austin GDC because she lives about a mile from the Austin Convention Center. McShaffry says "I will be down there for the whole event; setting appointments, taking a lot of meetings, and attending parties, especially the IGDA giant Rock Band crazy party. I love having the industry come to my town for this fun conference."

Friday 14th August 2009

Conference

The conference itself was held in the Baron Hall within the Corn Exchange complex (SW of Edinburgh town centre).

To begin Chris Deering, Chairman of Edinburgh Interactive (Chairman of Codemasters and former Chairman and President of Sony Computer Entertainment Europe), gave an introduction and welcomed back delegates from the first day's event. He talked about how today's event is a less-formal day with some interesting sessions.

J-Squared Media, a fast-growing start-up company focused on social communication platforms and emerging technologies, is currently seeking a Senior Flash Graphic Artist/UI Designer with strong traditional art skills to create high-quality compelling user interfaces and graphics for their latest flash-based Virtual World game.

J-Squared Media hit the Facebook market when it was new and HOT.  In 2007 they successfully launched their first product, Sticky Notes, which grew to over 10 million users in a matter of months and quickly became one of the top 25 apps.  They are located in historic Philadelphia and brainstorm regularly in their open floor loft with lots of streetlight.

Social games are an exciting medium and J-Squared Media is passionate about their product.  They are focused on having fun, keeping the consumer excited, and using creativity to drive innovation.

The perfect addition would be local to the team and ready to start immediately but off-site work will also be considered.  Positions may be contract part-time or full-time.

THE ABLEGAMERS FOUNDATION IS NOW A NONPROFIT ORGANZATION

The AbleGamers Foundation, Inc., an organization devoted to improving accessibility options for the disabled is now a 501(c) (3) nonprofit organization.  Individuals and associations who donate to the AbleGamers Foundation, Inc. and AbleGamers.com website and projects may now be eligible to deduct their contributions on their federal taxes.

PERPETUAL JOB SEARCH & TRAINING

As a teenager, I learned some useful basics about finding work. My mom told me, "Treat looking for a job as if it were your job." She also said, "Knock on every door and introduce yourself, even if there's no Help Wanted sign." And I actually found my first job by filling in for a vacationing friend, which was a successful case of "who you know."

Flash forward to 1996 and to me seeking a career as a writer for new media, specifically in the gaming industry. "Career" still meant "job" at the time. I expected to build experience and a track record by taking whatever came along until finding the sweet spot and staying there. That was the old model. But at some point, I came to accept a professional life of availability for "paying gigs." And I came to see freelancing as perpetual job training. Here's how.

Hello gamers, and thanks for checking out my new game.  I am looking for feedback in a number of areas including performance, fun factor and difficulty.

For many of us, playing on Facebook, MySpace, StumbleUpon, Digg, LinkedIn, Twitter, etc. is a game all by itself.  Finding old friends, creating groups with professional peers and family albums is just the beginning.  Minutes after entering the social media world, the games begin to create their own attraction.

While attending a conference recently, I made sure that I had my broadband internet connection up and was running my restaurant in Restaurant City.  I didn’t want to lose eight hours of gourmet points and dollars earned for meals served.  I was not sure if I was more interested in surpassing Chris Early or my 15 year old niece on the rankings.  It gave me great pleasure as I blew past person after person in my friends group, friends from high school alongside industry luminaries.  I haven’t actually started playing Mafia Wars but I currently receive more requests related to that game over any other social game.

No, this article is not about how videogames cause violence – a ridiculous idea anyway – but how games can be and are used to teach soldiers, sailors, airmen, and Marines how to do their jobs. The military has always been interested in ways to simulate combat effectively to provide a realistic training experience. At the top of the scale, joint exercise simulations like Unified Quest help keep the Chief of Staff thinking analytically. The Air Force has been using various flight simulators since World War II – the latest versions differ from reality only in safety, cost, and g-forces! The Navy has also been at the forefront of simulation development, particularly since, as with the Air Force, using actual vehicles and weapons can be both dangerous and prohibitively expensive. Ground forces are just starting to catch up.

As ground-based combat systems have become more computerized, the ability to provide simulation-based training in that arena has also increased. Computerized fire control systems and GPS-based tracking systems like Blue Force Tracker naturally lend themselves to simulations for training on those devices. Newer systems, such as “DARWARS Ambush”, the Engagement Skills Trainer (EST) and the Virtual Convoy Operations Trainer (VCOT), teach combat skills and decision-making to junior soldiers. A simulation called “Tactical Iraqi” teaches them rudimentary language skills. Large-scale exercises are held for commanders at all levels with a game called “UrbanSim” using virtual soldiers and covering issues like dealing with civilians, mission planning, terrorism, and logistics. Video games are even used for recruitment, as exemplified by the ever-popular “America’s Army.”

We here at Mary-Margaret Network are always interested in helping the greater global community. Wired has a great article on how Facebook users can get involved without much effort but a lot of impact here: http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2009/08/facebookclimate/.

The right to be heard does not automatically include the right to be taken seriously. – Hubert H. Humphrey

We worry all the time about identity theft. We are warned to protect ourselves. With the global acceptance of the Internet, protection from identity theft has become a major industry. But what happens when our identity is lost on the Internet?

Last Thursday, about one hour before I reached the top level in Restaurant City, Facebook notified me that my account had been disabled. Earlier that day I shared an article on my blog with four Facebook groups to which I belong. For some reason that tipped a scale somewhere and my account was turned off. But it wasn’t just turned off in order to make sure I wasn’t a spammer. It turns out they lost it. Over the weekend I had to rebuild from scratch, my account, all my connections, all my memberships and my restaurant in Restaurant City. I had to ask my husband to tell everyone on Facebook that he wasn’t married to Mary-Margaret Walker but was instead married to Mary-Margaret Walker, (same name, but to Facebook I was a completely different person). While he was doing this he wavered over the relationship selection “It’s Complicated” just to taunt me.

For the last couple of weeks, Andrew and I have been playing Restaurant City in our spare time, thanks to my nieces.  It’s funny that I sent him an IM message telling him I had milk and to go get it.  He thought I was asking him to go to the store and I was telling him to go trade for the ingredient he wanted for a recipe in the game. 

We all get sucked into virtual worlds from time to time – let’s face it we are big dorks.  However, we also have to pay attention to the game of work…. Those of you that are seriously looking or merely peeking should check the new job postings on our job board.  More postings are coming in the next few days and weeks as the momentum builds for the place to find the opportunities that will have you Playing for a Living.

Palm, Inc. is poised for tremendous growth.  Recently, Jon Rubinstein from Apple joined as chairman and the new CEO and has helped turn Palm back into start-up mode.  “The launch of Palm webOS™ and Palm Pre was a major milestone in Palm’s transformation; we have now officially reentered the race,” said Rubinstein. “We have more to accomplish, but the groundwork is laid for a very promising future here at Palm. Our senior management team is capable, motivated and focused on execution; there is large group of developers waiting to build great applications for Palm webOS; and we have a new product pipeline that we think will set a standard for the industry.”

Mary-Margaret Network has partnered exclusively with Palm Inc. to find top-notch graphics engineers to create development tools for the Palm webOS.  Palm has established a new software team to focus on building the best tools and technologies to allow game developers to design and develop innovative gaming applications for Palm's WebOS platform.

Ever wonder about the development of games of chance? We asked Bob Ingold to give us a glimpse into his world of game development and some of the differences between “video games” and “casino gaming.”

Working on real-money casino slot machines isn’t much different than working on  video games  --   except you need a mathematician. Because slots are games of chance, it is up to the math guy to wrangle the exact weighting system of each symbol so that over the life of the machine, the casino is guaranteed a profit. Slots are rated in terms of percentage of return. A 90% slot means that over the life of the machine, the players will get 90% of their money back. That’s the equivalent of about 3 million spins!

Aaron Allston is a popular writer of bestselling Star Wars novels, but he is also a veteran game developer and our long-time friend from way back in the day at Origin. We recently learned he has been having medical issues and needs our help. Mary-Margaret Network always wants to spread the word about people and groups in need, so please forward, link through, re-tweet, and pass the word along to everyone you know.

Back in April, while on a book tour promoting his latest novel, Aaron suffered a major heart attack and required bypass surgery. He has come through the surgery and rehab extremely well.  You can follow his progress on his blogs, http://aaron-allston.livejournal.com/ and http://www.aaronallston.com/. As a freelance novelist, and like many writers and artists in the US, Aaron does not carry any medical insurance. His bills are staggering. In response, his friends, fans and family have set up the Aaron Allston Donation Fund.

Considering I started writing for online sites only close to a year ago, the dramatic increase of this alternative revenue model is staggering. The creation of different revenue streams, in the form of downloadable content, and the addition of the microtransaction model are quickly becoming the smarter and more cost effective way to create revenue. Only the widespread acceptance from the consumer will propel this model past the retail environment.

The mainstream media constantly reports that the video game industry is growing at the speed of a virus. The revenue number that continuously repeats itself is “billions.” Two obvious questions arise: Are these media outlets looking specifically at retail/online sales of products? Are they taking into account the huge used game market that cuts out the publishers and developers? GameStop increasingly reports larger profits with each quarter, but most gamers should realize that the used game market’s profit margin against the new releases is huge.

Larry Goldberg, a renaissance man, left the corporate legal world to join Activision. While there, he and several other key players catapulted Activision into a world-wide leader in interactive entertainment. As President and CEO of Morrison Pearl, Larry has positively impacted numerous companies including E-Line Ventures, Emergent Game Technologies, The Rundown and Waddajuice as senior advisor, investor and hands-on executive manager.

For me, Larry is a great recent addition to my network, a good friend and treasured colleague. In the time I have spent with Larry, I have soaked in his years of knowledge and life experiences that are always shared with enthusiasm and humor. He balances his zen lifestyle with business development in cutting edge technology and will continue to build important and valuable companies and organizations.

MM: If you didn't go into games, what would you be doing?

LARRY: I’d probably be working in some other area of digital entertainment or media. I’m fascinated by how technology coupled with business innovation has affected the ways in which we consume and create content.

MM: Do you consider yourself a geek?

LARRY: No, I’m more of a biz guy. I love coming up with concepts and strategies, and then executing them. Oh, I’m a deal junkie too.

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There has been a lot of churn during the first half of 2009. However, here at Mary-Margaret Network we are seeing increased hiring and signs of new development on the rise and growing on our job board daily.  The game industry and the entertainment industry in general have been touted as recession proof; still many companies felt the pinch and scaled back a bit in recent months.  It seems that a big enough recession touches everyone.  Perhaps new growth is an indication that earlier layoffs were part of the regular cycle in this sector, where shelf lives are short as new and exciting technology is developed and the next big games are promised. It is also true that with the recession, many companies took the opportunity to cut back and rebuild their strategies.

Close on the heels of major announcements at this year’s E3, Microsoft recently posted 24 new openings on our job board. The Austin, TX game community, hit hard by several closings and layoffs earlier this year, is now growing as well. Bioware Austin just posted 10 new jobs in community, quality assurance, and game design.  Check out both Microsoft and Bioware job postings as well as others below in this newsletter and on our job board.

The gaming-to-dotcom shift

After spending a few too many years operating someone else's small business, I was hungry for a change. Having established that I could manage many details while keeping multiple balls in the air, I now sought a fulfilling professional use for my creative skills. It was late 1995, and I was finally Mac-literate, with a strong sense of the computer as a writer's medium as well as a writing tool. I saw how the electronic gaming world had changed since I dabbled with the all-text format in 1982.  I did some self-applied career counseling via What Color is Your Parachute?, confirming what I already knew: I was ready to seek my fortune in the brave new world of gaming.

A shift was happening.  Christmas 1995 was a disastrous season for game developers when actual sales failed to match over-leveraged expectations. As the industry circled its wagons and licked its wounds (and showed little interest in hiring untested writers), the Worldwide Web was at that moment turning from a hi-tech plaything into a cash cow. The public was ready to enter a different kind of brave new world -- the virtual one they could access from the comfort of their home computers. Investors were shoveling money right and left, and the angel-funded startup was the latest business model.

At first I felt like a kid in a candy store, because every other company name included the word "interactive." Yes! That meant they all had to be online game developers, right? They all used branching storylines and needed a fiction writer to fill in the blanks, provide captions and develop characters -- didn't they? Um... no. It's easy to laugh about it now, but I clearly remember my two big disappointments of early 1996.

Jon Nelson most recently was the Director of Online Marketing and Strategy at Disney Interactive Studios and held similar positions at J2 Global Communications, Princess Cruise Lines and Atari, Inc.  Prior to his four years at Atari, he managed various global brands at many Los Angeles based interactive agencies including Direct Partners, Rare Medium and Magnet Interactive.  In addition to his online experience, he also brings with him nine years of traditional agency experience from DMB&B Advertising where he was the Senior Producer on such major brands as General Motors, Budweiser, Baskin Robbins and Blue Cross.  A rare California native, Jon earned his BA in Liberal Arts/Computer Science at California State University, Northridge.

VP of Executive Recruiting and Client Services Norma Crippen caught up with Nelson to discuss his career breakthroughs, current projects and navigating the online market.

Norma: How did you get your break in the video game industry?

Jon: I was fortunate enough to be working at a company that was laying employees off and one of those employees was an Account Director that asked me to come over to a French-based company known as Infogrames as they just purchased the rights to a small video game brand known as Atari.

Two years after launching All Games Network and the world's first daily talk show about games, he was invited to join forces with webcasting pioneer Pseudo Programs in NYC. At Pseudo, Rubin was Vice President of games and sports programming. In that capacity, he was responsible for all marketing and production of All Games Network and the NFL QB Club Channel amounting to more than 12 hours of live and on-demand programming each week.

In 2000, Rubin was lured to Hollywood (as a consultant for Comcast) to develop the video game TV channel G4 where he served as VP of Program Development, Internet and IT before finally settling in as the VP of Editorial. In 2002, he created and hosted a weekly interactive talk show and various specials. As G4 shifted away from gaming in 2005, Rubin left to re-launch All Games Productions. Since then, he has provided consulting and production services to GameSpot, Shiny Entertainment, CFP Productions, Crisp Branding, E For All Expo, Hewlett Packard, The Viral Factory, Wilshire Communications and others. Rubin was executive producer for the television pilot "Hollywood and Games" in HD as well as the documentary "As Real As Your Life."

Are you knee deep in a long term project? Thinking only about your next deal, milestone, or effort? What will you do when you reach your next goal? You’ll probably come out of your hole and look around at what the rest of the world has been up to while you were working, Right? Wrong. Don’t let four or five years pass you by. You can enjoy the project you are working on and stay in touch, keep your work relevant, and be on top of the latest trends.

Top companies consider the best candidates to be the ones who have the most experience, so why limit yourself to the experience you are getting in your current job? Here are our tips:

We just had to tell you about this really cool company we’re working with.  You MUST be a kid at heart to work at Spin Master.  Strict requirement, we know, but how else can you make cool games that target kids? Spin Master came to us for help. They knew we could find those kids at heart to join their growing Los Angeles games studio.

We're podcasting an interview with the hiring manager, and we want you to contribute! Send any questions you have for the Spin Master MMO hiring manager to Norma Crippen ASAP and we will get them on the air.

I recently went to a game conference in Seattle called LOGIN. Although it seems like there are game conferences every month of the year, this is one of my favorites. It's a place where plans are made and knowledge is shared.

But wait - isn't that GDC?

Sure, everybody knows about GDC. Everybody goes to GDC. And really, that's half the problem. There's a sea of humanity, most of them wearing black t-shirts. There are several huge expo floors with a maze of booths. If you know who you need to talk to, you spend the whole week in meeting after meeting because everybody is there. If you don't know who you need to talk to, you spend the week shaking a lot of hands and hoping to get lucky.

Getting laid off can be a traumatic experience. You’ll go through several levels of emotion – first shock, anger and then fear of where you go from here. For some people fear of the unknown can be unbearable. Allow yourself to go through these emotions. Take time to grieve for a few days -- it is natural and the first step in the healing process. But, don’t stay there for long.

Find the positive in this situation. On the bright side, you now have time. Time to reflect, time to polish your resume, time for change.

Here are a few tips I hope will help get you through this hiccup…because that’s all it is, a hiccup.

What I did after being laid off

I worked as an art manager and 3D modeler for a prominent Fortune 500 homebuilding company and I was laid off in November for economic reasons. Knowing how bad the market was, I decided to shift my focus to other fields. I attended the Video Game Exposition in Philadelphia, where I was able to meet a number of working professionals and gain valuable information and insight into the industry. One suggestion I recieved included taking my digital camera on walks and trips for photos to be used in texture maps and artistic reference. It was a very helpful piece of advice. Most importantly, I learned what type of artist the industry sought.

I spent the next month learning HTML, and by January I had created and launched my own website to showcase my portfolio. That month I had also purchased a brand new computer, a WACOM tablet with Corel Painter X, Adobe Photoshop CS4.  I downloaded the 30-day free trial of After Effects to train myself, as well as attended weekly drawing workshops to scrape off the rust and update my portfolio (and I continue to update it). By spring, I noticed I was receiving more inquiries from recruiters, and wound up not only landing a short-term contract job doing 3D modeling near my hometown, but also a freelance art job to create a CD cover.

MMN asked Alan Lipton to tell us about his entry into the game industry, to illustrate how writers can follow in his path.

What kid doesn't dream about rewriting reality when things aren't going his way? As a young escapist, I was always reading stories, watching movies and losing myself in immersive play. Then I got my first taste of branching story lines while visiting the Czech Pavilion at Expo 67 in Montreal. It was "Kino-Automat: The World's First Interactive Movie" by Raduz Cincera. During this film, the action stopped five times, and someone would come out and ask the audience to choose between two possible outcomes, voting with the red or green buttons in the arms of our chairs. I vaguely recall a story involving a towel-clad woman locked out of her apartment, but the really important part, the sense of storytelling possibility, stayed with me over the years.

Mary-Margaret Network recruiters reveal their secrets

Recent travels found me presenting marketing best practices to conference attendees at the inaugural Triangle Game Developers Conference in Raleigh, North Carolina.   I had a lot of fun participating at this conference and it was also exciting to be able to support an industry event on the east coast; based on the great turnout we can look forward to Triangle 2010!

Folks from the North Carolina development community came out in full force including employees from Insomniac, Epic and Atomic Games as well as Red Storm, Vicious Cycle, IBM and The Escapist with session topics across multiple disciplines including Game Technology and Programming, Game Design and Production, Games and Media, Serious Games and the Business of Gaming.

Noah Falstein, one of the first ten employees at Lucasfilm Games/LucasArts, The 3DO Company, Dreamworks Interactive and the first elected chairman of the IGDA, has cemented his place as an icon of the industry.  He has created games in many genres, including Sinistar, Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis, and Hungry Red Planet.  Noah went free-lance in 1996, establishing a solid reputation as a design guru.  His recent design credits include the Mata Hari game from DTP, and the Cisco Mind Share Game, a Serious Game for training network engineers under his design. 

For me, Noah is the guy who hired me into my second job in the industry at 3DO in 1992.  It has been an honor for me to have him in my life as a long-time friend and mentor.  His brilliance, geekiness and eagerness to inspire continue to affect the industry worldwide.

MM: How did you break into the game industry?

NOAH: When I got my break, it wasn't an industry yet. I just got a job fresh out of college at Milton Bradley, originally programming the gameplay software for a little voice-controlled robot companion they never released.

MM: What's your claim to fame?

When Jim Cochrun talks about getting employers on the right TRaC, it's something he's intimately familiar with. Together with some colleagues, he invented the Targeted Research and Candidate Generation (TRaC) program in 2001 while working as an external recruiter during the "dot-com" bust.

"I knew companies weren't hiring ‘en masse', but there was still a need for key talent and lack of capability to identify and hire those people in growing companies," said Cochrun, vice president of Mary-Margaret Network. "The TRaC program freed up a company's internal recruiters to be true business partners."

Every year, quite a few eager students or recent graduates email me trying to find an internship.  This year I have already been approached personally by a couple of great kids looking for a summer gig, I’ve responded to a post on our LinkedIn group and received a few Tweets requesting information on available internships.

It is free to post internships on Mary-Margaret Network’s Job Board.  It always has been.  Companies have the opportunity to advertise internship postings for free.  Additionally, organizations can also post positions on Mary-Margaret Network’s Job Board.

April showers typically bring May flowers... but, for several lucky winners, a simple stop to the Mary-Margaret Network website also brought valuable prizes and smiles all around!

To build excitement leading up to GDC '09, Mary-Margaret Network staff produced a weekly blog segment to prep attendees on how to maximize their conference experience. One lucky individual won a Resume Overhaul, one-page Power Resume and sample Cover Letter valued at 0.

The Resume Overhaul package was won by Dave Block (right) of Seattle, Washington, and it couldn't have come at a better time: he's currently in the process of changing career directions.

When Mary-Margaret Walker, CEO and founder of Mary-Margaret Network, was asked to speak at GameIS ‘09, she refused to let scheduling conflicts stand in the way. Turning to technology, Walker created this video--describing how she stumbled upon the game industry--which was aired between sessions at the conference in Tel Aviv March 2.

"I knew I wanted to be a part of something that was going to change the world," said Walker of her foray into the industry. In addition, she offered insight to those wishing to break into the game industry or move up the ladder, and imparted advice to guide employers on their critical search for talent.

"A lot of people stopped throughout the day to watch the [Mary-Margaret] video," said Guy Bendov, head of distribution for Shidonni and chairman of GameIS. "I think it worked very well and was an excellent addition to the program."

Israel has always been known for its innovation and development capabilities, but the casual flair of GameIs provides a unique platform to learn about market innovation and grab opportunities while they are young.

Every spring and fall I am offered the opportunity to speak with college classes about the game industry: specifically about what new graduates need to know to get a foot in the door. This spring, I was honored to speak, via  teleconference, with a student group at Rochester Institute of Technology and in person with students in game development classes at The University of Texas at Austin.

In my last talk at UT-Austin I had an opportunity to make the distinction for the students between "game designer" and "game developer." Many students view the entire industry as being about "game design." When in reality, game design is only one department of many: art is another, programming another and so on.

" What late bloomers receive as compensation for their wait is 'savor.' When life puts blossoms in our open hands, we know how to carry them without crushing them." - Author Unknown

The emails below are from my mother, Annice. Email allows my mom to send me really great stuff easily. I just love it! So, this blog has two layers of pleasure for me: the beauty of a late bloomer, and the beauty of technology bringing my mom's dry humor into the room with me.

 

As a veteran conference-goer, both as an exhibitor and attendee of countless recruiting, industry or technology-centric events, I approached my first GDC conference with mixed emotions of excitement and dread.

It's probably important to note: despite nearly two decades of recruiting software engineers, architects, marketing professionals and executives for the technology industry, my exposure to gaming was limited to some work done for Origin Systems in the early 90s, and as a gamer playing Sims, Ghost Recon, VietCong and Texas Hold'em.

For those who've been exhibitors of products or services at conferences, you know that being in the booth is akin to being on stage. Every person who walks up is a new audience, equating to thousands of "first impression" opportunities over two to three days. Frankly, it's exhausting work (not the "boondoggle" as described by some detractors).

I recently had the opportunity to represent the Mary-Margaret Network team in a different kind of speaking engagement.

Usually I find myself on a panel in front of industry professionals who have "been there and done that." This time, however, I was sitting in front of a group of University of Southern California (USC) students looking to land their first internship or possibly a real job.

"Easy," you say... "A no brainer."

Part 5 of 5:

A reverse chronological update of the latest travels of Mary-Margaret Walker

I drove home yesterday from San Francisco after attending the MI6 conference at the Grand Hyatt. It was a beautiful day for a drive. Winding down the 101 towards LA, listening to the Eagles I thought: I get to stay home for a whole month! If you haven't enjoyed listening to The Last Resort while driving past the Pacific Ocean then you need to add that to your list of things to do before you die. A word of caution, however, there were innumerable people receiving tickets and even more cops stationed to catch their next prey. With the State of California going broke, I'm guessing that is another source of revenue.

Making money and increasing your audience through strong marketing (brand, viral, social, etc.), PR and advertising was a major focus of MI6.  The day started out with the innovation and marketing power of Nicholas Negroponte.  He gave an incredible keynote on his program One Laptop Per Child.  You can visit their website and donate any amount of money or you can arrange for your company to set up a matching fund program.

Attending this conference afforded me the opportunity to meet some fantastic new people and catch up with some great old friends who are normally incredibly busy at other events because they are doing their job.  But at MI6, we all got to sit back, relax, learn, network and eat French fries from a snack buffet table at 4 p.m.

GameDaily recently reported that Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believing” would appear on the next installment of Harmonix and MTV Games’ Rock Band Music Store. The power ballad debuted on Journey’s 1981 album “Escape” and is a classic 80s throwback to the days of big hairdos, acid-wash jeans, MTV’s pop and hair-metal bands smashing the music charts and the heyday of arcade video games.

So, it got me wondering: what were some of the favorite 80s video games of the Mary-Margaret Network team?

My own foray into video games began in a cramped 3’x4’ closet-sized area in the back of a 7-Eleven convenience store where I watched my middle school man-crush, Bill S., play hour after hour of Galaga. I never really mastered the nuances of the game, but I remember sucking down Slurpees and being amazed at his prowess, while the oddly familiar scent of Old Spice and Doritos wafts back into memory.

You all know it, you go through it every day: the fans just don’t understand what we do. They whine, complain and claim that without any of the equipment, skill set, tools or know-how, they could do a better job.

As a volunteer scoutmaster and First Lego League coach, I work with youth a lot in my spare time. A surprising amount of that work involves educating them about just what we, the game developers, are actually doing all day at our incredibly radical jobs.

Video games are an art form, plain and simple. I don’t believe it is pretentious to place video games on the same shelf as some of the great paintings or sculptures of the world; just like books, movies, and to a degree some TV shows belong on that same shelf. We’re seeing this shift in the industry where ever since at least E3 2005, there has been the ‘art of video games’ show-case as a traveling display.

On Wednesday, April 1, 2009  the first edition of "Who Wants To Be A Superhero: The Defuser"  was released.  The Defuser signed copies of the comics to help raise money for Scare for a Cure at Austin Books.

Remember the board game LIFE? In the very beginning, if you landed on business school, you knew there was little hope of beating your lucky opponent who landed on med school and instantly scored a fabulous salary--many times your puny income. The outcome of the game was pretty much determined in the first round.

I propose the game needs a new space.  Spice it up a bit, give everyone a fighting chance to change course and retire a millionaire. About half way down the path, it would be awesome if you could connect with someone who could change the course of your career: take you from business school grad to big-corner-office executive.

As the 2009 Game Developers Conference (GDC) wraps in San Francisco today, thousands of attendees are returning home armed with job interviewing tips, skills and enthusiasm about the game industry. Though the weeklong conference hosted sessions on succeeding in an unstable economy, attendance rivaled last year’s at the world’s largest, professionals-only, annual event.

“There’s a ton of people here,” said Mary-Margaret Walker, CEO of Mary-Margaret Network: The destination for recruitment, staffing and career services in the global interactive entertainment industry.

In November 2005, I wrote about reactions to Governor Schwarzenegger’s A.B. 1179, making it illegal for the sale of “violent video game(s)” to anyone under the age of 18. The Video Software Dealers Association (VSDA) and the Entertainment Software Association (ESA) had filed suit to seek judicial determination that the statute was unconstitutional.

In 2007, Judge Ronald Whyte issued a preliminary injunction against enforcement upon determination that the statute was unconstitutional, which was appealed by the Governor’s office. As of last month, the 9th Circuit rejected the state’s appeal.

For background, AB 1179 defined a “violent video game” as a video game in which the range of options available to a player includes killing, maiming, dismembering, or sexually assaulting the image of a human being, if those acts are either depicted: (A) in a manner which is especially heinous, cruel or depraved in that it involves torture or serious physical abuse, or (B) falls within one of three standards: (1) a reasonable person considering the game as a whole would find the acts appeal to the deviant or morbid interest of minors; (2) is patently offensive to the prevailing standards of the community as to what is suitable for minors; or (3) it causes the game, as a whole, to lose its literary, scientific, artistic or political value.

It appears game developers are back in the news again as the hell-spawned corruptors of America's youth. The same youth who would otherwise be flawless citizens, always ready to help little old ladies across the street, if not for the presence of Halo, Grand Theft Auto and any other violence-centric video games that were hurled from of the sky, Erich Von Daniken-like, to impact and direct a culture that would otherwise not have produced these works for themselves. Which brings me to probably the biggest fallacy that the hysterical blame-layers have conveniently forgotten to acknowledge:

Neither art nor commerce is created in a vacuum.

Part IV of IV:  Your Online Identity

Choosing an email address name or domain name for your online portfolio is an important task in helping you define your image. These names are, essentially, the center of your online identity; your brand. Properly choosing your name can build your identity and give you credibility and a sense of professionalism, boosting your branding. Choosing poorly could leave your recipient with a negative impression of you. In extreme cases, it could possibly knock you out of contention for a job interview.

The most important first step is to understand who your audience is. You are presenting yourself to potential employers. Your email name and URL need to reflect a certain amount of professionalism. However, we are lucky to be a part of such a fun, creative industry because “professional” doesn’t have to mean boring!

More details here on our GDC 09 resume overhaul or banner drawing!

 

Mary-Margaret Network celebrates Women in Games International!

This organization belongs to and advocates for all of us and it is our responsibility to keep it strong!

We are putting our "money where our mouth is"...

Make a small (or large) donation to further the activities, mixers and events of Women in Games International around the world. Every USD you donate enters you in a drawing to win a USD0 gift card from the gadget store of your choice in your country, provided by Mary-Margaret Network. We know that all of our international members and friends cannot possibly all have the same cool gadget shops near them, so we're solving that issue by letting you decide!*

Mary-Margaret Walker, co-founder and CEO of Mary-Margaret Network, joins the advisory board of IGDA's Women in Games Special Interest Group (SIG).

IGDA is the leading non-profit trade organization within the game industry, with nearly 15,000 members and growing.  The mission of IGDA is to advance the careers and enhance the lives of game developers by connecting members with their peers, promoting professional development, and advocating on issues that affect the developer community.

Part III of IV: Go Green at GDC!

Effectively presenting yourself at a game conference is of the utmost importance to obtain the job of your dreams. To put your best foot forward, you will need business cards, a resume, and a portfolio. Everyone knows that the information contained on these materials is very important. But, have you ever thought about the materials themselves? These days, the manner in which you present your information says a lot about you too.

Protecting our environment has become a priority for everyone. Paper, ink, CDs, discs and portfolios are all items that the typical job seeker uses daily in his/her job hunt. Using these items freely and abundantly, however, increases our carbon footprint, sends material to landfills and hurts our environment. Governments, large corporations and businesses of all sizes are stepping up to do their part to protect and save our climate and environment. Are you doing everything that you can?

Below are some tips to go green this year at GDC and save your mother Earth!

SXSW Interactive (SXSWi) kicks off Friday, March 13 in Austin, Texas. In the last few years, the game industry has become more of a focus for this festival featuring panels, lectures, exhibits and parties all centered around interactive entertainment.

For many years, SXSWi coincided with GDC, making it hard for developers, publishers and interested parties to participate in both. Though both conferences are still in March, the week's separation between events allows attendees to catch their breath and regroup to take full advantage of both opportunities!

I have attended and spoken at several SXSWi conferences, and I have enjoyed building my network through the diverse groups in attendance. Being in the know, from being on multiple mailing lists-and more importantly party lists-I'm happy to share the inside scoop with everyone in the blogosphere.

A How-To Guide for Game Producers and Developers (Part I)

A game producer or lead developer has at least 12 irons in the fire at all times. He or she needs to be experienced in project management, coding version control, raising and spending money, signing off on artistic and writing decisions, and, of course, structuring the audio for the game. And audio is one of the most mysterious components for many game producers. It can be very hard to communicate your desires and goals to your game audio people, and oftentimes, it feels like you and your audio team might be speaking different languages!

Because of this, I put together this multipart article series discussing what makes great game music; how it is its own unique form; and (for all you producers and developers out there) how to find and communicate effectively with great game music people to get the great game audio your project needs!

Part II of IV: The Power Resume - Take aim and hit your job target

The one-page Power Resume is critical to your arsenal of career and job-hunting techniques. The Power Resume is a "must have" for executives, career changers and anyone with an extensive repertoire in a single field or across multiple disciplines.

More succinct than a full curriculum vitae and providing more depth than a business card, the Power Resume is the perfect tool for effectively presenting your skills at conferences and job fairs and serves as a handy reference of who you are, and exactly what it is you do.

The Power Resume uses smart styling and brevity to communicate your key hiring skills quickly so that potential employers can assess your worth with a glance. The easy-to-read, one-page format serves as an encapsulated snapshot of your career highlights.

Read on for more tips on crafting your Power Resume and setting your best foot forward at GDC:

 

Mary-Margaret Network Launches Industry's Most Expertly Targeted Job Board

Trust Mary-Margaret Network to reach the audience you need to fill your jobs. Our network spans far and wide into all interactive entertainment professions.

CEO Mary-Margaret Walker is in Phoenix this week to speak at the graduation of the DeVry Game & Simulation Program. In addition to speaking about the game industry with DeVry students at all stages of their education, she also had the privilege of speaking at the Her World extravaganza for high school students, an event held regularly at DeVry campuses nationwide.

Walker met with a room full of students Wednesday evening, February 25, inquiring about their career aspirations in the game industry. She then turned the Q&A around, and spent more than two hours answering questions and providing tips and feedback to help prepare them for a strong career.

Part I of IV: The Business Card

If you think people don't pay attention to business cards, check out this video and think again!

When it comes to being an effective networker, presenting a well-developed personal set of business cards means serious business. Your business card is your opportunity to market yourself to new contacts, effectively communicating who you are, what you do, and how, all in a bite-sized 3.5" x 2" of real estate.

Think of your business card as the key to establishing your personal brand: one that makes a strong and lasting first impression. Like people, there is no one-size-fits-all: each business card should be unique to the individual.

Following are some universal truths that you should consider when developing your own cards:

Dear Friends and Family of the Mary-Margaret Network,


Greetings from the road! I spent the month of January in Austin, Texas, where I celebrated the twentieth wedding anniversary of my dear friend and colleague Robin McShaffry and her husband Mike; if the weekend festivities are any indication of 2009, it’s going to be a terrific year.

Before I share some of my goals for Mary-Margaret Network in 2009, I’d like to take a step back and reflect on our many accomplishments of the prior year.

One of the odd offshoots of the rise of the internet was the creation of an entirely new profession: the Community Manager. And while still in its infancy, Community Managers do something that's likely critical to your game's success: they work with your community of players.

They're there every day (and often nights), connecting people, putting out the messages that will help your game thrive, helping to nourish a positive supplementary game experience, and bringing back all of the info they gather to your dev and marketing and CS and QA teams. They're doing their best to grow a huge asset for your game: the community.

Most everyone in the video game industry has or has heard a story that begins with "I got into video games by a lucky break," but most of these stories don't paint a complete picture of how the person in question was prepared to seize the opportunity with which they were presented. Volunteering in the video game fan community is an excellent way to create a path to that lucky break in getting into the game industry, and to prepare to make the most of that break. My own entry into the video game industry came after many years as a video game player, with several years of varied experience in the online video game fan community.

The original "The Sims" game and its online fan community helped me get my start in the video game industry. Even before I had acquired my own copy of "The Sims," I was aware of the game's substantial following on the Web, and I also discovered that "The Sims" allowed for user-made content to be integrated into a computer game on a scale not seen before.  Both of these features interested me immensely.

D.I.C.E. Summit - Las Vegas, Nevada

February 18-20, 2009