I was just updating my Résumé/CV based on the last 3 years of writing casual games and I initially came up with a rather dry, factual chronological list of what I’ve been doing. Then Helen, my super-skilled Science writer/editor partner, took a look at it and made some great suggestions about how to “big myself up” by demonstrating what skills I’ve used/learned as part of my job. Here’s the two versions, see if you can spot the difference…

First

“After writing several free downloadable games as “practice pieces” I produced my first commercial casual game, Xmas Bonus (a match-3 puzzle), and launched it at the end of 2005. Since then I have written four more commercial games: Easter Bonus, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, Holiday Bonus and Fairway Solitaire. I was contracted to write the Oz game for Injoy Games, and I was contracted to write Fairway Solitaire (a downloadable conversion of an online game) for Big Fish Games. Fairway Solitaire is currently the #1 card game on BFG, and even achieved #1 on apple.com – I’m very proud of this game. At present I’m writing my sixth game as a contractor for BFG.”

Second

“I honed my game development skills by writing several free downloadable games as “practice pieces” before producing my first commercial casual game, Xmas Bonus (a match-3 puzzle). I then built and managed a small team to develop Easter Bonus. My Grey Alien Game Framework has achieved international success and has powered not only my own games but also those of numerous other developers. One example is The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, which I programmed for Injoy Games. I then produced Holiday Bonus, another highly polished match-3 game, just in time for Christmas. Now gaining recognition for my tight game programming and polished style, I was happy to be approached by Big Fish Games (BFG) to develop Fairway Solitaire (a downloadable conversion of an online game). I am proud that Fairway Solitaire is currently the #1 card game on BFG, and even achieved #1 on apple.com. At present I’m writing my sixth game, for BFG, and co-producing a time management game as a hobby.”

Note the skills that I’ve dropped into the 2nd version. I’ve mentioned that I can “produce” my own games, build teams, develop powerful engines, do contract work, meet tight deadlines, be head hunted for my quality, convert online games, and that I live and breathe games so much that I’m even making one in my spare time 😉

So in conclusion, sell yourself with your CV. It’s basically self-marketing, not a dry list making exercise…

This entry was posted on Friday, June 6th, 2008 at 11:32 am and is filed under Musings. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.