SUMMARY
This document provides tips for preparing for an interview with a games studio, including researching the company and role, estimating salary and cost of living, using your network, presenting yourself, and preparing questions to ask during the interview. The document also includes example questions related to personal skills, portfolio, and technical knowledge, as well as advice for asking questions yourself during the interview.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Now that you have the bigger overview of each individual sections of the interview itself, you can tell that questions both from your side and from their side is a big part of the interview, so before we dive into some specific examples, let's dive into the thing that has most people stressed.
First of all, Don't panic! This is totally normal. There are two options here, if you know the answer, but can't think of it just at this moment then ask if you can answer that question at the end of the interview because you need some time to think about this. If you don't know the answer, don't lie. Just tell them that you don't know and be honest with your interviewers, this will always look better because you are showing that you are not afraid to open up about that either.
Now, let's dive into some questions that you can expect during the interview.
Let’s split this up into a couple of different sections so that it’s easier to filter through all of them.
<aside> 1️⃣ PERSONAL QUESTIONS
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<aside> 2️⃣ PORTFOLIO QUESTIONS
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<aside> 3️⃣ TECHNICAL QUESTIONS
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Questions that revolve around you as a person. These can include why you chose a certain style, how you achieved it, your personal workflow, etc…
Some questions could be:
<aside> ❕ Tell us on (or three) good and bad things about yourself
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<aside> ❕ What made you come to us instead of others?
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<aside> ❕ Where do you see yourself in 5 years?
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<aside> ❕ What do other people say about you in three words?
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<aside> ❕ If you go through stressful situation X, how do you tackle that situation?
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<aside> ❕ What games have you recently played that you didn't enjoy? What do you like about that game? What are some of the game's flaws? How would you fix them?
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<aside> ❕ Why are you thinking about leaving your current position?
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<aside> ❕ How would you describe your personality?
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<aside> ❕ How would you define success?
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<aside> ❕ What are you looking to get out of this studio?
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<aside> ❕ What are some common hurdles you struggle with as an artist?
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<aside> ❕ If you got the job today, why did you get it? If you didn't get the job then why didn't you?
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<aside> ❕ What does a good day look like to you at work? What does a bad day at work look like?
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<aside> ❕ When have you had to change a major component of your project due to new information being presented?
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<aside> ❕ Tell us about a time when you were particularly effective on prioritizing tasks and completing a project on schedule.
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<aside> ❕ Tell me about a time when you took the initiative to improve work related procedures.
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Questions that revolve around your portfolio. These can include why you chose a certain style, how you achieved it, your personal workflow, etc…
Some questions could be:
<aside> ❕ If we're looking at this piece, what is one thing you would improve and one thing you like?
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<aside> ❕ How did you approach this part of this project?
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<aside> ❕ If we look at your entire portfolio and you had the pick you favourite and least favourite project? And why?
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<aside> ❕ What on your demo reel/portfolio are you most/least proud of, and why?
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<aside> ❕ Why did you take down the pieces you mentioned in your resume out of your portfolio?
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Questions that revolve around your technical knowledge. These can include, pipelines, technical terms, workflow examples, etc…
Some questions could be:
<aside> ❕ Explain his part of your workflow?
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<aside> ❕ How would you tackle ADD PROGRAM HERE
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<aside> ❕ What are your experiences with ADD PROGRAM HERE
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<aside> ❕ Show your pieces and explain how the process of creating them.
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<aside> ❕ How do you build assets?
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<aside> ❕ What do you like about lighting?
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So this one will round of some of the preparations you can do, but it's also one of the more tricky ones, especially when you are just getting into the industry and you don't really know what to expect from your first job in the industry, but I'm pretty sure by now that you have read some of the bigger articles mentioning some of the rougher working conditions such as crunch.
Use these as a source of finding out more how the company stand against these things.
SOME QUESTIONS COULD BE:
<aside> ❕ What are my daily responsibilities on the job?
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<aside> ❕ What is the companies stance against crunch?
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<aside> ❕ What are my opportunities for growth?
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<aside> ❕ How does the team deal with work life balance?
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<aside> ❕ Are there any active DnD groups in the company?
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It's so important to get to the core of the business as quick as possible, so ask away, there are literally no wrong questions here. These questions could spend the range of what the company can offer you to what other people inside of the company are like and what they do in their free time.