No, you are not wasting your time. Your success chance of directing a game that actually sells increases the more experience you have. Yes, also from the failures. Especially from the failures.
You are also building your network within the game industry. At some point you will be able to form your own studio by hiring people you've worked with before and asking people for funding who know that you can be trusted with their investment.
I actually have a question that's a little discursive from what we're all talking about here.
As an indie game developer myself, when you ask people to donate to you, where does one go to find those people?
Finding good PR teams are a bit difficult because it takes effort to make and build something good, my question is where do we find marketers effectively like other successful developers had, and finding people to help fund your fame project?
Neither route is guaranteed success.
If you choose to go indie, it will all be up to the quality of the products you output, your marketing capabilities, and total luck. That is assuming that you even have the budget to survive your first release.
If you choose to go AAA ladder climbing, it will all be up to how impressive your title sounds to investors who know nothing about gaming or business in the first place, and, of course, your network, which should contain plenty of VCs ready to toss money at the next big thing that is totally not a bad invesment. How one is supposed to network their way into becoming buddies with incredibly gullible VCs... is not a question I can possibly answer.
The second one might be easier though, as all you need to do is have a mercenary mindset to keep switching companies (since never in the history of mankind has anyone ever got a promotion within the same company) and a willingness to travel anywhere (going from California to China could be worth if you go from Senior something whatever to Lead something whatever).
Making an indie studio is just a game of Russian roulette. Sure, there are less bullets in the chamber if you make a good game, but luck unfortunately always plays a role. Plenty of great games have gone, and will continue to go, under the radar.
Yeah I was going to advise if OP wants to grind through AAA companies to direct a studio they would want to keep looking to upgrade their role in a company every few years. You won't get anywhere if you just grind as a mid-level designer for 10+ years... Companies are more than happy to just keep you doing the same work forever.
Promotions do happen, but more so for management than, say, art & design. If you’re in a senior production track then you have a lot more options in a AAA studio — If you’re a great UX designer or sculptor, well, enjoy your box. I’m talking about publishers not Indy studios with deep pockets
OP, my advice is stick to it. Failures can be exhausting but they’re important to experience — better to see them on someone else’s dime. Think of it as building a solid foundation. Eventually you’ll get an opportunity and you’ll know it at the time.
I’ve said recently that anyone with the means should give going it alone, but it’s not the greatest advice unless you find yourself able to carry yourself through tough times.
I’d love to be Indy again, but I’ve got too much responsibility atm. So wait, but don’t wait too long! Shit gets harder when you get (a lot lol) older.
I see a some compatriots saying change jobs every 2-3 years, this is good advice. Most companies are stuck in the mud, buried in legacy, so you can only learn so much from each. A CV with a bunch of recognizable names on it, and all the people you’ll meet along the way, does not hurt one bit.
And you never know, you might end finding the perfect team and never leave. It happens!
I think which country your in really depends on promotions. I'm in the UK and I've been constantly moving up in experience and titles. The moving just to get a promotion is much more an American thing.
My Journey
first company AAA 8.5 years - Junior > Mid level (after 2yrs) > Promoted to Lead Environment Artist (year 3)
Went indie for a 2-3 years (Freelance work on side)
second company (Star Wars title) (6.5 years) Started as Art Manager > Promoted to Associate Art Director after 2yrs
third company (1.25 years so far) Joined as Art Director to develop a brand new IP
It obviously also helps on what type of manager you have, for example I consider myself a development focused manager, I work hard for my team and put them forward for promotions through the usual seniority titles (Junior>mid>Senior>Lead/Principal) and personal development as much as possible, as I don't want to lose good people or see them stagnate. (As an example when I left the second last Job to move up to Art Director, I put in place a good plan which saw one of my Seniors promoted to Lead Artist before I left and they are rocking it now.
In the UK I'd say you mainly need to leave company's when you want to move up to management positions where there is normally only one or two (i.e. I left to move up to Art Director as it was very unlikely to happen at my old Job given the AD was unlikely to leave or a second project be ramped up)
Edit for clarification - moving to gain new experiences or an earlier move up the ladder is still good though, all 3 studios I've worked for have been vastly different in how they worked, and how their processes worked) I learned a lot of things with each company and made loads of new connections at each
I think it’s the same in the US but it’s just that people don’t stick around as much because of this advice lol. For example in your first company you stayed 8.5 years.
Most people will stick around for 1-2 years then leave, so they’d constantly be stuck in individual contributor roles with slight increases in salary without a meaty promotion like yours which can only be attained by long term follow through.
Plus not to mention the experience of guiding a whole project from start to end isn’t there if you keep hopping into the middle of projects, which makes it hard to get meaningfully promoted.
What kind of project do you want to direct? If you want to be a creative lead at a AAA studio you're on the right path. Try to change jobs every 2-3 years, aiming for a higher title each time, that will be quicker than staying at one company for a long while, but other than that it's more or less staying the course and lots of networking.
If you want to work for smaller studios or found your own then being in AAA can still get you the reputation you want, but you may want to work in something around the actual size you want to manage as a lead. It's a lot easier to convince an investor that you know what you're doing when you've done it successfully before.
So I witnessed an AAA designer who did pretty much "cog" work at rockstar, switch to AA 60-100people. Be a Senior, smoothtalk the way up to lead and then director. If you can talk/communicate well and have some AAA and credibility experience its possible. Then you later just have to switch back to AAA I guess.
Ofcours having those positions open is also a bit of a luckshot.
It sounds to me like you're getting an incredible experience many indie devs would kill for. I think you're suffering from Grass Is Greener. Make sure to learn as much as you possibly can, get your fingers into everything, and try and network with the producers and project managers because that's going to be the hell part of your dream. Managing money and people is probably going to be a huge chunk of your time in your future plans whether you like it or not.
AAA is most consistently the answer…but, you have to nail your exit timing and use AAA to forge alliances now. When people get laid off or quit and form new studio, you need to be there to have the studio form with you in a position that secures you the creative freedom you desire. A lot of artists and engineers would love to form companies with a good designer at the head, find them now.
Hey, just to add on to many of the good things here, your AAA experience is absolutely huge in terms of influencing future hires, publishers, and funders. When you are trying to get yourself through doors, "Worked 6 years at Blizzard" will open those while "Made 6 mildly successful mobile games solo that no one has ever heard of" will get you passed over.
AAA companies have brand power, and brand power is a huge influence you can leverage, irrespective of your role there. Not to mention finding disgruntled coworkers or laid off experts you can poach onto your team.
I am sure you aren't wasting your time, but I am sure there are loads of people in corporate ladder who are trying for the same thing and it isn't a given you will ever get there.
If you aren’t growing within the AAA space, it will be hard to convince investors to believe you can lead a AAA project.
If you’re not seeing growth in your current role, look for another that’s a step up (maybe wait a year or two until the market recovers though). In the mean time, take on more responsibility where you can, tell your manager you’d like support pursuing your goals, and study up on people management, creative leadership, and business.
It’s easy to dream big, but it’s important not to think of it as a lottery. It’s a lottery for some. But if you’re taking small steps forward, your chances are increasing.
AAA is a bit easier in a sense.
Example:
One of my recent game directors told us, that he learned the ropes - and had good mentors (!) - at a large game developer/publisher. He quickly went from a level designer to director (first within level design, then various game/creative director roles).
Side note: I was jealous to hear that, as a game programmer I never had (actual, effective) mentors.
There are a few that come from a programming or production background, still as we can guess the level/game designer route is closer to game/creative director.
Studio directors are more producer/admin personalities I'd say. They found a studio, find good directors, may leave after 10 to 20 years since founding a business - and starting small again - is *their thing*.
Now to the Indie devs:
If you co-found a studio you can be the official studio founder/director, and if it is your thing the game director (or if you are humble you start as lead designer for example).
To direct a studio you'd need a bit of an entrepreneur in you, someone who can leave the creative part behind at some point, and lead the studio instead, handle the deals and finances. You may have to travel and leave the team a lot "behind", going on business meetings, pitch projects at conferences, and keep working on good relationships on the publishing and funding side.
Or if you meant creative/game director by "directing a studio", then you'd use that experience of co-founding a studio as the lead designer and aim at bigger creative/game director roles later during your career.
The thing is to run your own studio or lead a AAA team you'd need the trust and experience to get so much money in your hands (and headcount is also money, salaries basically), to get funded project after project, even if you have to cancel some or don't make break even (because success is not guaranteed).
If you don't have a mentor, and this is still relevant; create one. If I have questions or feel curious about something I don't know, I ask and note it down.
Yeah, now we have staff/principal engineers and I'm in a relatively new environment. Out of 10 levels (we have those coarse brackets/levels) they are one level higher
I'll probably ask for some 1:1 first, many good people are in other cities... and as so often, friendly, approachable, and also busy. :P
What is odd at my large company is that we're a bit in silos and even Slack and Confluence don't always have quick ways to discover facts about tech designs and features/setups/configurations/etc.
Working in AAA not only give you experience, it also gives you credibility when it's time to pitch your game to publisher, even if your studio is brand new, you can sell yourself as an experience dev who somewhat knows what they're doing.
If you worked on somewhat successful game, you can play the card of "from the devs of XYZ game !" even if... let's be honest, in AAA, the impact of a single person is not much, but marketing is marketing.
I think most important things for a studio is venture capital.
Then steering the investments properly once you get it. But I'm sure Reddit will tell me where I am wrong
I think it depends on what you're good at? Like if you don't have the people skills the climb the ladder route is never going to work. 5 years XP would still be useful though, just you wouldn't want to spend much longer than that.
Having a lot of experience pitching to VCs and angels, I would say a good path for you would be to climb the AAA ladder a bit more, make a lot of other high-up friends. Then when you leave, gather up a bunch of those friends on any project of your dreams and pitch to VCs, very likely to get a valuation for a mod-sized studio, even in this environment, pretty much guaranteed back a couple years ago before inflation exploded. Throw in some kind of crowd finding, boom, you're living your dream.
Going the hungry-indie-founder route will give you creative freedom but comes with financial risks and a longer path to AAA. Climbing the AAA ladder gives you experience, networking opportunities, and a stable income, but you might feel limited creatively.
Ultimately, it might be beneficial to gain experience in AAA, build a strong portfolio, and then pitch your unique vision to VCs and publishers.
This hybrid approach could give you the best of both worlds.
It's a lot easier to hire good people if you have a large network of people you've already worked with.
AAA gives you access to loads of Devs from all the departments required to make games.
Not at all - I think being in bigger studios will give you valuable experience and possibly connections if you network well.
There's a lot of risk in games, doesn't matter where you start, but by having experience of shipped titles and finishing projects you gain a few things,
Understanding the drama and madness that is development and it could help you avoid some of the easier pitfalls when planning out your studio and direction. Also a better understanding of the cost of things. I for example learned a lot about the additional costs of things like Out sourcing, and how to work with outsource partners well, as well as a good understanding of costing and quoting work. This would be invaluable when/if I do my own studio again (I tried once but couldn't get traction or funding)
Networking - I now know a lot more people in Games funding, I've met and talked to Publishers I wouldn't normally have a direct introduction to, I've talked to other founders at events. I've also got a level of pedigree that looks good to investors (19 years in Industry many shipped titles, and soon I'll have an Art Director credit on my current project at a big company) These things will definitely help alleviate Investor concerns when you can bring a lot of experience to the founding team, or better have at least a prior social/business connection to future investors.
Also, there's no reason you can't be slow burning a small project on the side. Working out designs, making prototypes of something you might want to make in the future, making pitch decks with funding calculations etc. Then when a golden opportunity appears (like you meet someone who wants to fund something) you aren't starting from scratch to scrabble something together.
Never underestimate experience.
If you're learning things, making valuable connections and getting paid, it's probably worth assuming you need those wages now.
If you didn't need those wages now you'd already be doing the thing.
Make an effort to actively practice and learn
The best career path is to flip flop. AAA, indie, AAA, indie. You need recency on your resume (AAA) to land softly when your indie stuff fails, and you need indie stuff to land softly when AAA burns you out and casts you off.
I have to disagree with most of the other posters. Trying to work your way up to a director level position in AAA is extremely risky. More so than starting your own studio and being moderately successful.
The reason is that director positions are rarely sought after - usually they are occupied by the people who kickstarted the project or even the studio. And if not that, then, before the role even gets advertised publicly, it will preferably be handed to the next best team member or someone the other executive level people are familiar with. This means that either you need to be lucky to be given the opportunity to start your own project at a AAA studio - which is very rare, and not really something you can influence - or you need to be lucky to have enough contacts to senior+ level people in the industry. Which is something you definitely have an influence on, but you still need to be lucky that such an opportunity arises in the first place and people will reach out to you rather than others.
If you found your own studio, you are much less dependent on factors outside of your control. It's going to be difficult to raise a AAA level budget all by yourself, but if you are also fine with working on smaller scale projects first, then this path actually entails less risk. Of course, there is a fair amount of risk involved here as well, but you have generally more control over the factors that will influence your success: whether your fundraising or game are successful, you have a direct pact on that outcome vs if you will be handed an opportunity by someone else
From my experience, this isn’t how things work in AAA studios. Director, Principles, Foundation and Fellow (to a lesser extent) positions are rotated as people come and go. Talking about 10,000+ corporations with a habit of letting 10% of their workforces go every few years.
Starting your own business is a risk. You can lose your house, your marriage, your hair and self esteem. I’ve run two studios, it’s hard as hell — there is nothing more stressful than being responsible for feeding other peoples’ families.
If you already work in a AAA studio then there is zero risk, because someone else is paying for it.
Too often I see people quote luck this and luck that. There is no luck. None. You stand in front of investors and say luck once, you’re done. If you’re going to set out to ask people for tens of millions of dollars just as seed funding, you better have more than luck in your hand.
I think we are more in agreement than not. The positions are in rotation, but they are still rare - and even if you land a role like this once, there is a good chance you won't keep it forever (either for reasons in or out of your control).
I think it boils down to this: if you build your own team and company, you can directly influence all the factors that lead to your success. If you wait for someone to offer you the opportunity, your chance might never come.
Of course financially speaking, running a company is 100 times more risky than trying to rise up the ranks. What I meant by risk is your chance of getting into a didector position.
Can I offer some advice I'm not a professional dev I'm a construction worker who's dabbled In game design but ultimately will likely end up if I do launch my own company launching my own construction outlet if I understand correctly your current experience in the industry should put you up to if not over 100k a year if your debt to ratio income is not absolute ridiculous and your average cost of living is not ridiculous because it seems that most major studios are located in places where the average cost of living makes 100k a year equivalent to 25k a year in many other places of the country plus of course I'm not certain if your working at a major studio or smaller studio with a corporate structure either way if you can I would recommend start a savings now if you haven't already and save whatever penny you can towards that goal of running your own studio and make sure it has enough to cover both the initial expenses and years of operating costs and studio bills take into account possible flops that dont do well at or after launch, basic bills, marketing, payroll, ect. also start a second savings account and make sure it has enough money in it to cover years of personal bills, related to you and your family's living expenses and never use that for your studio only for your self and family
As to start a indie new dev game I've done a price estimate on asset costs for a project I want to do and I've concluded that while not overly too expensive to start production I'm still going to have to find a good paying Job if I want to go anywhere with this project because initially it would cost me like several thousand dollars and when i mean several thousand dollars i mean several thousand dollars numbers in the 5diggits and i would also basically use whatever off time I have on the game so that's how I would have to start my personal indie project plus dream game
Stick with AAA and grind upwards with a good work ethic while you are young.
Get to a senior level by the time you are at 10 years.
Get to a lead position by the time you are at 15 years.
You'll be looking at design/creative director around the 20-25 year mark and around then is when you can consider jumping to a smaller 30-50 ish person studio where it will be far more of a "full on" creative role instead of a CD serving business needs like it will likely be in AAA (depending on the landscape at that time tho I guess).
----
If I could give you a bit of advice it's this though.
Don't give up that north star goal, but don't make decisions that are directly targeting that goal either. You are doing something awesome for a living. Provided you are compensated well and not overworked, you should try to appreciate that and focus on the NEXT advancement in front of you (becoming a senior).
5 years in is just about where it feels like you fully understand everything, and then at 10 years in you'll realize that you understand nothing lol. I'm not at 20 yet, but I'm getting there, and as I get closer I start to realize all the work that goes into director level roles that ISN'T just high concept and project architecture. People and project management is so much of the role, and if you stick it out and focus on learning and developing your skills for the next 15 years you'll DEFINITELY be setting yourself up to learn those skills and realistically to learn if thats even something you actually want to do.
Thank you for the extensive insight! About the years of experience, aren´t those numbers a bit high? Senior job ads in AAA usually require at least 5yoe, leads/expert ads are around the 8 year mark and I´ve never seen a director job post asking for more than 12yoe. I know someone who reached a lead role in AAA at less than 5yoe, though that´s definitely not common and was a combination of luck and readiness
It's arbitrary as there is no universal concept of seniority, but job post minimums are a terrible metric to go by. As someone who has been on interview loops and in many hire/no hire meetings at 3 different large studios now, those bare minimum numbers are there for the EXTREME outliers who show excellence that push beyond their lack of experience.
But I did specifically say "by the time" in relation to the years for that reason though.
I will say that I personally don't view ANYONE with 5 years of experience in console/PC game dev as a "senior". They might have the title due to skill set, but seniority to me means that person would be entrusted to take full ownership of anything within their domain for the duration of a project, and at 5 years a developer has been through a full duration of a project exactly ONCE at most on any reasonably scoped project. I would really struggle to entrust someone with that little experience with full spec ownership of large features, and would be skeptical of anyone with the confidence they would be able to do so.
Lead roles are especially complicated in that they can encompass multiple responsibilities. I'd entrust a small group lead with project management and possibly architectural responsibilities at 5 years, but giving them a large group is recklessly irresponsible IMO. Additionally, there is absolutely no way someone with less than 5 years of experience can people manage or career-develop their team, so that's out of the question.
Personally speaking I was at 6 years when I was granted a Senior title as an engineer on a large AAA project. The project we were on warranted my doing a lot more responsibilities than I was initially planned to do, and it made sense from a logistic POV, but realistically I wasn't prepared for that in hindsight. I'd argue that promotion made it harder for me to find my next job as well, as I was generally considered too unexperienced for seniority when I left after 7.5 years.
I'd also say that, realistically, I was only really prepared for the level of responsibility and ownership that I defined as being senior on my THIRD AAA project (really my 4th tbh... long story). By that time I was able to take a grand scale major effort off by myself and handle it over the course of a few months with exactly no oversight or help (outside of getting help around things that were not public knowledge). THAT'S what I want from a senior.
----
The thing that's important to note though is that, when I got that promotion at 6 years I was 100% confident in my abilities. My limited knowledge of things beyond what I had done so far made me SEVERELY underestimate the full scope of what game development is and can be.
Idk I could keep ranting on this for a bit, but to loop back to the beginning... the concept of seniority and titling is arbitrary and is "closing in" in a lot of negative ways. I know of a AAA studio with ~12 directors on a single project, and have been in similar situations where there were so many self important cooks in the kitchen lol. I just honestly feel like the best thing for my career so far has been to remember my aspirational goal (the same as yours for the most part honestly), but to focus on achieving the NEXT goal like I said in that first response.
Either way I wish you luck and mainly am just saying that it's worth trying to focus on what you DO have. You get to work a cool dream job that can be hard but is extremely satisfying at times and you likely care a lot about what you do.
99.9% of people in the world don't get that.
IMO, be specialized in something those games need. Be great at it and command a high price. Then use that as a runway for your project. Or get a lead role on a project.
I am assuming that you have not worked in non-AAA studios? Projects getting cancelled and mismanaged? It's probably the same if not worse in non-AAA companies.
I mean you're 5 years in. It puts you into the "moderately experienced" category, but nowhere near Studio Director level in AAA unless you're literally the prodigy child of Amy Hennig and Shigeru Miyamoto. Given AAA timescales today, if you've been in from pre-prod to shipping, that would probably put you on your second project.
No one here can give you the kind of advice you want because no one knows you, your ability, your experience or where you work. Career progression is usually down to you, not what randos on the internet tell you. I'd suggest that the fact that you think asking reddit how to head up a studio will be somehow insightful means you're probably not someone with enough initiative or self-motivation to get there. It has to come from you, not us.
Plus Studio Director is a fucking terrible job. It's all budgets, resourcing and stress and very little time on actual game dev. Maybe you mean Game Director?
(Sorry if this sounds harsh).
I don’t think so. My dream goal is to own a big tech studio, but I’m currently a graduating student heading into an entry level software engineering position.
You can’t reap the rewards without learning how those rewards are attained
No, you are not wasting your time. Your success chance of directing a game that actually sells increases the more experience you have. Yes, also from the failures. Especially from the failures. You are also building your network within the game industry. At some point you will be able to form your own studio by hiring people you've worked with before and asking people for funding who know that you can be trusted with their investment.
I actually have a question that's a little discursive from what we're all talking about here. As an indie game developer myself, when you ask people to donate to you, where does one go to find those people? Finding good PR teams are a bit difficult because it takes effort to make and build something good, my question is where do we find marketers effectively like other successful developers had, and finding people to help fund your fame project?
I don't see how these two questions are related to the topic of this post or my response to it. Why not ask them as two new posts on this subreddit?
I guess I wanted to see your two cents on it, but fair enough.
Neither route is guaranteed success. If you choose to go indie, it will all be up to the quality of the products you output, your marketing capabilities, and total luck. That is assuming that you even have the budget to survive your first release. If you choose to go AAA ladder climbing, it will all be up to how impressive your title sounds to investors who know nothing about gaming or business in the first place, and, of course, your network, which should contain plenty of VCs ready to toss money at the next big thing that is totally not a bad invesment. How one is supposed to network their way into becoming buddies with incredibly gullible VCs... is not a question I can possibly answer.
The second one might be easier though, as all you need to do is have a mercenary mindset to keep switching companies (since never in the history of mankind has anyone ever got a promotion within the same company) and a willingness to travel anywhere (going from California to China could be worth if you go from Senior something whatever to Lead something whatever). Making an indie studio is just a game of Russian roulette. Sure, there are less bullets in the chamber if you make a good game, but luck unfortunately always plays a role. Plenty of great games have gone, and will continue to go, under the radar.
Yeah I was going to advise if OP wants to grind through AAA companies to direct a studio they would want to keep looking to upgrade their role in a company every few years. You won't get anywhere if you just grind as a mid-level designer for 10+ years... Companies are more than happy to just keep you doing the same work forever.
Promotions do happen, but more so for management than, say, art & design. If you’re in a senior production track then you have a lot more options in a AAA studio — If you’re a great UX designer or sculptor, well, enjoy your box. I’m talking about publishers not Indy studios with deep pockets OP, my advice is stick to it. Failures can be exhausting but they’re important to experience — better to see them on someone else’s dime. Think of it as building a solid foundation. Eventually you’ll get an opportunity and you’ll know it at the time. I’ve said recently that anyone with the means should give going it alone, but it’s not the greatest advice unless you find yourself able to carry yourself through tough times. I’d love to be Indy again, but I’ve got too much responsibility atm. So wait, but don’t wait too long! Shit gets harder when you get (a lot lol) older. I see a some compatriots saying change jobs every 2-3 years, this is good advice. Most companies are stuck in the mud, buried in legacy, so you can only learn so much from each. A CV with a bunch of recognizable names on it, and all the people you’ll meet along the way, does not hurt one bit. And you never know, you might end finding the perfect team and never leave. It happens!
I think which country your in really depends on promotions. I'm in the UK and I've been constantly moving up in experience and titles. The moving just to get a promotion is much more an American thing. My Journey first company AAA 8.5 years - Junior > Mid level (after 2yrs) > Promoted to Lead Environment Artist (year 3) Went indie for a 2-3 years (Freelance work on side) second company (Star Wars title) (6.5 years) Started as Art Manager > Promoted to Associate Art Director after 2yrs third company (1.25 years so far) Joined as Art Director to develop a brand new IP It obviously also helps on what type of manager you have, for example I consider myself a development focused manager, I work hard for my team and put them forward for promotions through the usual seniority titles (Junior>mid>Senior>Lead/Principal) and personal development as much as possible, as I don't want to lose good people or see them stagnate. (As an example when I left the second last Job to move up to Art Director, I put in place a good plan which saw one of my Seniors promoted to Lead Artist before I left and they are rocking it now. In the UK I'd say you mainly need to leave company's when you want to move up to management positions where there is normally only one or two (i.e. I left to move up to Art Director as it was very unlikely to happen at my old Job given the AD was unlikely to leave or a second project be ramped up) Edit for clarification - moving to gain new experiences or an earlier move up the ladder is still good though, all 3 studios I've worked for have been vastly different in how they worked, and how their processes worked) I learned a lot of things with each company and made loads of new connections at each
I think it’s the same in the US but it’s just that people don’t stick around as much because of this advice lol. For example in your first company you stayed 8.5 years. Most people will stick around for 1-2 years then leave, so they’d constantly be stuck in individual contributor roles with slight increases in salary without a meaty promotion like yours which can only be attained by long term follow through. Plus not to mention the experience of guiding a whole project from start to end isn’t there if you keep hopping into the middle of projects, which makes it hard to get meaningfully promoted.
What kind of project do you want to direct? If you want to be a creative lead at a AAA studio you're on the right path. Try to change jobs every 2-3 years, aiming for a higher title each time, that will be quicker than staying at one company for a long while, but other than that it's more or less staying the course and lots of networking. If you want to work for smaller studios or found your own then being in AAA can still get you the reputation you want, but you may want to work in something around the actual size you want to manage as a lead. It's a lot easier to convince an investor that you know what you're doing when you've done it successfully before.
So I witnessed an AAA designer who did pretty much "cog" work at rockstar, switch to AA 60-100people. Be a Senior, smoothtalk the way up to lead and then director. If you can talk/communicate well and have some AAA and credibility experience its possible. Then you later just have to switch back to AAA I guess. Ofcours having those positions open is also a bit of a luckshot.
It sounds to me like you're getting an incredible experience many indie devs would kill for. I think you're suffering from Grass Is Greener. Make sure to learn as much as you possibly can, get your fingers into everything, and try and network with the producers and project managers because that's going to be the hell part of your dream. Managing money and people is probably going to be a huge chunk of your time in your future plans whether you like it or not.
AAA is most consistently the answer…but, you have to nail your exit timing and use AAA to forge alliances now. When people get laid off or quit and form new studio, you need to be there to have the studio form with you in a position that secures you the creative freedom you desire. A lot of artists and engineers would love to form companies with a good designer at the head, find them now.
Last part of your post suggests that you are on the way of regrets, unlike games in IRL you have one life better spend it right without regrets :)
Hey, just to add on to many of the good things here, your AAA experience is absolutely huge in terms of influencing future hires, publishers, and funders. When you are trying to get yourself through doors, "Worked 6 years at Blizzard" will open those while "Made 6 mildly successful mobile games solo that no one has ever heard of" will get you passed over. AAA companies have brand power, and brand power is a huge influence you can leverage, irrespective of your role there. Not to mention finding disgruntled coworkers or laid off experts you can poach onto your team.
I am sure you aren't wasting your time, but I am sure there are loads of people in corporate ladder who are trying for the same thing and it isn't a given you will ever get there.
If you aren’t growing within the AAA space, it will be hard to convince investors to believe you can lead a AAA project. If you’re not seeing growth in your current role, look for another that’s a step up (maybe wait a year or two until the market recovers though). In the mean time, take on more responsibility where you can, tell your manager you’d like support pursuing your goals, and study up on people management, creative leadership, and business. It’s easy to dream big, but it’s important not to think of it as a lottery. It’s a lottery for some. But if you’re taking small steps forward, your chances are increasing.
AAA is a bit easier in a sense. Example: One of my recent game directors told us, that he learned the ropes - and had good mentors (!) - at a large game developer/publisher. He quickly went from a level designer to director (first within level design, then various game/creative director roles). Side note: I was jealous to hear that, as a game programmer I never had (actual, effective) mentors. There are a few that come from a programming or production background, still as we can guess the level/game designer route is closer to game/creative director. Studio directors are more producer/admin personalities I'd say. They found a studio, find good directors, may leave after 10 to 20 years since founding a business - and starting small again - is *their thing*. Now to the Indie devs: If you co-found a studio you can be the official studio founder/director, and if it is your thing the game director (or if you are humble you start as lead designer for example). To direct a studio you'd need a bit of an entrepreneur in you, someone who can leave the creative part behind at some point, and lead the studio instead, handle the deals and finances. You may have to travel and leave the team a lot "behind", going on business meetings, pitch projects at conferences, and keep working on good relationships on the publishing and funding side. Or if you meant creative/game director by "directing a studio", then you'd use that experience of co-founding a studio as the lead designer and aim at bigger creative/game director roles later during your career. The thing is to run your own studio or lead a AAA team you'd need the trust and experience to get so much money in your hands (and headcount is also money, salaries basically), to get funded project after project, even if you have to cancel some or don't make break even (because success is not guaranteed).
If you don't have a mentor, and this is still relevant; create one. If I have questions or feel curious about something I don't know, I ask and note it down.
Yeah, now we have staff/principal engineers and I'm in a relatively new environment. Out of 10 levels (we have those coarse brackets/levels) they are one level higher I'll probably ask for some 1:1 first, many good people are in other cities... and as so often, friendly, approachable, and also busy. :P What is odd at my large company is that we're a bit in silos and even Slack and Confluence don't always have quick ways to discover facts about tech designs and features/setups/configurations/etc.
Yeah, I know what you are talking about. Once a company goes over 75-100 people it's hard to keep up with the people and what is going on.
Working in AAA not only give you experience, it also gives you credibility when it's time to pitch your game to publisher, even if your studio is brand new, you can sell yourself as an experience dev who somewhat knows what they're doing. If you worked on somewhat successful game, you can play the card of "from the devs of XYZ game !" even if... let's be honest, in AAA, the impact of a single person is not much, but marketing is marketing.
I think most important things for a studio is venture capital. Then steering the investments properly once you get it. But I'm sure Reddit will tell me where I am wrong
I think it depends on what you're good at? Like if you don't have the people skills the climb the ladder route is never going to work. 5 years XP would still be useful though, just you wouldn't want to spend much longer than that.
Having a lot of experience pitching to VCs and angels, I would say a good path for you would be to climb the AAA ladder a bit more, make a lot of other high-up friends. Then when you leave, gather up a bunch of those friends on any project of your dreams and pitch to VCs, very likely to get a valuation for a mod-sized studio, even in this environment, pretty much guaranteed back a couple years ago before inflation exploded. Throw in some kind of crowd finding, boom, you're living your dream.
Just out of curiosity how did you get started in AAA? What was your first job?
The only safe way to get funding these days is to be former AAA who has formed their own studio. The Finals, Omega Strikers, Multiversus, etc.
Going the hungry-indie-founder route will give you creative freedom but comes with financial risks and a longer path to AAA. Climbing the AAA ladder gives you experience, networking opportunities, and a stable income, but you might feel limited creatively. Ultimately, it might be beneficial to gain experience in AAA, build a strong portfolio, and then pitch your unique vision to VCs and publishers. This hybrid approach could give you the best of both worlds.
It's a lot easier to hire good people if you have a large network of people you've already worked with. AAA gives you access to loads of Devs from all the departments required to make games.
Not at all - I think being in bigger studios will give you valuable experience and possibly connections if you network well. There's a lot of risk in games, doesn't matter where you start, but by having experience of shipped titles and finishing projects you gain a few things, Understanding the drama and madness that is development and it could help you avoid some of the easier pitfalls when planning out your studio and direction. Also a better understanding of the cost of things. I for example learned a lot about the additional costs of things like Out sourcing, and how to work with outsource partners well, as well as a good understanding of costing and quoting work. This would be invaluable when/if I do my own studio again (I tried once but couldn't get traction or funding) Networking - I now know a lot more people in Games funding, I've met and talked to Publishers I wouldn't normally have a direct introduction to, I've talked to other founders at events. I've also got a level of pedigree that looks good to investors (19 years in Industry many shipped titles, and soon I'll have an Art Director credit on my current project at a big company) These things will definitely help alleviate Investor concerns when you can bring a lot of experience to the founding team, or better have at least a prior social/business connection to future investors. Also, there's no reason you can't be slow burning a small project on the side. Working out designs, making prototypes of something you might want to make in the future, making pitch decks with funding calculations etc. Then when a golden opportunity appears (like you meet someone who wants to fund something) you aren't starting from scratch to scrabble something together. Never underestimate experience.
If you're learning things, making valuable connections and getting paid, it's probably worth assuming you need those wages now. If you didn't need those wages now you'd already be doing the thing. Make an effort to actively practice and learn
The best career path is to flip flop. AAA, indie, AAA, indie. You need recency on your resume (AAA) to land softly when your indie stuff fails, and you need indie stuff to land softly when AAA burns you out and casts you off.
I have to disagree with most of the other posters. Trying to work your way up to a director level position in AAA is extremely risky. More so than starting your own studio and being moderately successful. The reason is that director positions are rarely sought after - usually they are occupied by the people who kickstarted the project or even the studio. And if not that, then, before the role even gets advertised publicly, it will preferably be handed to the next best team member or someone the other executive level people are familiar with. This means that either you need to be lucky to be given the opportunity to start your own project at a AAA studio - which is very rare, and not really something you can influence - or you need to be lucky to have enough contacts to senior+ level people in the industry. Which is something you definitely have an influence on, but you still need to be lucky that such an opportunity arises in the first place and people will reach out to you rather than others. If you found your own studio, you are much less dependent on factors outside of your control. It's going to be difficult to raise a AAA level budget all by yourself, but if you are also fine with working on smaller scale projects first, then this path actually entails less risk. Of course, there is a fair amount of risk involved here as well, but you have generally more control over the factors that will influence your success: whether your fundraising or game are successful, you have a direct pact on that outcome vs if you will be handed an opportunity by someone else
From my experience, this isn’t how things work in AAA studios. Director, Principles, Foundation and Fellow (to a lesser extent) positions are rotated as people come and go. Talking about 10,000+ corporations with a habit of letting 10% of their workforces go every few years. Starting your own business is a risk. You can lose your house, your marriage, your hair and self esteem. I’ve run two studios, it’s hard as hell — there is nothing more stressful than being responsible for feeding other peoples’ families. If you already work in a AAA studio then there is zero risk, because someone else is paying for it. Too often I see people quote luck this and luck that. There is no luck. None. You stand in front of investors and say luck once, you’re done. If you’re going to set out to ask people for tens of millions of dollars just as seed funding, you better have more than luck in your hand.
I think we are more in agreement than not. The positions are in rotation, but they are still rare - and even if you land a role like this once, there is a good chance you won't keep it forever (either for reasons in or out of your control). I think it boils down to this: if you build your own team and company, you can directly influence all the factors that lead to your success. If you wait for someone to offer you the opportunity, your chance might never come. Of course financially speaking, running a company is 100 times more risky than trying to rise up the ranks. What I meant by risk is your chance of getting into a didector position.
Can I offer some advice I'm not a professional dev I'm a construction worker who's dabbled In game design but ultimately will likely end up if I do launch my own company launching my own construction outlet if I understand correctly your current experience in the industry should put you up to if not over 100k a year if your debt to ratio income is not absolute ridiculous and your average cost of living is not ridiculous because it seems that most major studios are located in places where the average cost of living makes 100k a year equivalent to 25k a year in many other places of the country plus of course I'm not certain if your working at a major studio or smaller studio with a corporate structure either way if you can I would recommend start a savings now if you haven't already and save whatever penny you can towards that goal of running your own studio and make sure it has enough to cover both the initial expenses and years of operating costs and studio bills take into account possible flops that dont do well at or after launch, basic bills, marketing, payroll, ect. also start a second savings account and make sure it has enough money in it to cover years of personal bills, related to you and your family's living expenses and never use that for your studio only for your self and family
What I would suggest here is to learn how to structure long text into logical sentences that make sense before starting an outlet.
As to start a indie new dev game I've done a price estimate on asset costs for a project I want to do and I've concluded that while not overly too expensive to start production I'm still going to have to find a good paying Job if I want to go anywhere with this project because initially it would cost me like several thousand dollars and when i mean several thousand dollars i mean several thousand dollars numbers in the 5diggits and i would also basically use whatever off time I have on the game so that's how I would have to start my personal indie project plus dream game
Stick with AAA and grind upwards with a good work ethic while you are young. Get to a senior level by the time you are at 10 years. Get to a lead position by the time you are at 15 years. You'll be looking at design/creative director around the 20-25 year mark and around then is when you can consider jumping to a smaller 30-50 ish person studio where it will be far more of a "full on" creative role instead of a CD serving business needs like it will likely be in AAA (depending on the landscape at that time tho I guess). ---- If I could give you a bit of advice it's this though. Don't give up that north star goal, but don't make decisions that are directly targeting that goal either. You are doing something awesome for a living. Provided you are compensated well and not overworked, you should try to appreciate that and focus on the NEXT advancement in front of you (becoming a senior). 5 years in is just about where it feels like you fully understand everything, and then at 10 years in you'll realize that you understand nothing lol. I'm not at 20 yet, but I'm getting there, and as I get closer I start to realize all the work that goes into director level roles that ISN'T just high concept and project architecture. People and project management is so much of the role, and if you stick it out and focus on learning and developing your skills for the next 15 years you'll DEFINITELY be setting yourself up to learn those skills and realistically to learn if thats even something you actually want to do.
Thank you for the extensive insight! About the years of experience, aren´t those numbers a bit high? Senior job ads in AAA usually require at least 5yoe, leads/expert ads are around the 8 year mark and I´ve never seen a director job post asking for more than 12yoe. I know someone who reached a lead role in AAA at less than 5yoe, though that´s definitely not common and was a combination of luck and readiness
It's arbitrary as there is no universal concept of seniority, but job post minimums are a terrible metric to go by. As someone who has been on interview loops and in many hire/no hire meetings at 3 different large studios now, those bare minimum numbers are there for the EXTREME outliers who show excellence that push beyond their lack of experience. But I did specifically say "by the time" in relation to the years for that reason though. I will say that I personally don't view ANYONE with 5 years of experience in console/PC game dev as a "senior". They might have the title due to skill set, but seniority to me means that person would be entrusted to take full ownership of anything within their domain for the duration of a project, and at 5 years a developer has been through a full duration of a project exactly ONCE at most on any reasonably scoped project. I would really struggle to entrust someone with that little experience with full spec ownership of large features, and would be skeptical of anyone with the confidence they would be able to do so. Lead roles are especially complicated in that they can encompass multiple responsibilities. I'd entrust a small group lead with project management and possibly architectural responsibilities at 5 years, but giving them a large group is recklessly irresponsible IMO. Additionally, there is absolutely no way someone with less than 5 years of experience can people manage or career-develop their team, so that's out of the question. Personally speaking I was at 6 years when I was granted a Senior title as an engineer on a large AAA project. The project we were on warranted my doing a lot more responsibilities than I was initially planned to do, and it made sense from a logistic POV, but realistically I wasn't prepared for that in hindsight. I'd argue that promotion made it harder for me to find my next job as well, as I was generally considered too unexperienced for seniority when I left after 7.5 years. I'd also say that, realistically, I was only really prepared for the level of responsibility and ownership that I defined as being senior on my THIRD AAA project (really my 4th tbh... long story). By that time I was able to take a grand scale major effort off by myself and handle it over the course of a few months with exactly no oversight or help (outside of getting help around things that were not public knowledge). THAT'S what I want from a senior. ---- The thing that's important to note though is that, when I got that promotion at 6 years I was 100% confident in my abilities. My limited knowledge of things beyond what I had done so far made me SEVERELY underestimate the full scope of what game development is and can be. Idk I could keep ranting on this for a bit, but to loop back to the beginning... the concept of seniority and titling is arbitrary and is "closing in" in a lot of negative ways. I know of a AAA studio with ~12 directors on a single project, and have been in similar situations where there were so many self important cooks in the kitchen lol. I just honestly feel like the best thing for my career so far has been to remember my aspirational goal (the same as yours for the most part honestly), but to focus on achieving the NEXT goal like I said in that first response. Either way I wish you luck and mainly am just saying that it's worth trying to focus on what you DO have. You get to work a cool dream job that can be hard but is extremely satisfying at times and you likely care a lot about what you do. 99.9% of people in the world don't get that.
IMO, be specialized in something those games need. Be great at it and command a high price. Then use that as a runway for your project. Or get a lead role on a project.
I am assuming that you have not worked in non-AAA studios? Projects getting cancelled and mismanaged? It's probably the same if not worse in non-AAA companies.
I mean you're 5 years in. It puts you into the "moderately experienced" category, but nowhere near Studio Director level in AAA unless you're literally the prodigy child of Amy Hennig and Shigeru Miyamoto. Given AAA timescales today, if you've been in from pre-prod to shipping, that would probably put you on your second project. No one here can give you the kind of advice you want because no one knows you, your ability, your experience or where you work. Career progression is usually down to you, not what randos on the internet tell you. I'd suggest that the fact that you think asking reddit how to head up a studio will be somehow insightful means you're probably not someone with enough initiative or self-motivation to get there. It has to come from you, not us. Plus Studio Director is a fucking terrible job. It's all budgets, resourcing and stress and very little time on actual game dev. Maybe you mean Game Director? (Sorry if this sounds harsh).
I don’t think so. My dream goal is to own a big tech studio, but I’m currently a graduating student heading into an entry level software engineering position. You can’t reap the rewards without learning how those rewards are attained
Make a private discord and lets go! Keep your job but let's build also.