Table of Contents
1. Repeat Clients
This is very simple. Do your best, and treat every client like they are Vlambeer or Asher Vollmer. Also this is another reason to “Pick your winners.” Because someone you believe is wildly talented is more likely to succeed and make more games in the future. Thusly they are likely to hire you if you did your best for them.
- Out of my last three jobs one of them was and from an existing relationship with someone I had previously worked with.
2. From in person friendships or relationships.
Here is where you battle social anxiety and realize that everyone you meet is feeling as weird as you are :p
This one is actually simple: Just go to events and be a nice person to talk to. Help people out if the chance arises, and don’t act like a used car salesman looking for audio work.
Here are some great places to meet developers, artists, and other audio professionals.
Meetup.com Search for developer meetups, audio, VR or even film if you are interested.
- I have gotten one gig from attending local meetups, but more importantly I have made many friends. Also I have had a lot of success getting work working to other types of meetups that are media or art based.
Gamedevmap.com Find out what studios are in your area. Check out their website and find out if there are any events or conventions that you could attend. Or just be aware of their presence and what they have developed.
- I got one job at a pre-release/testing party at a local studio.
Indiegamejams.com is a good resource for Game Jams. The two most popular are Global Game Jam and Ludum Dare. Game jams are an awesome place to meet and work with developers! One, because you get to work with them throughout the process and help conceptualize the game. Two, because there aren’t always a lot of audio people there so you will probably be able to help out a few teams.
From all of the audio people I talk to Game Jams are heralded as one of the best ways to meet developers. It’s best if you can go in person, but there are plenty of opportunities to work remotely on a game jam.
- No jobs were gotten at the game jam I helped with, but I had so much fun doing it.
GDC
This is the biggie convention that I have been told is the one to go to. I went for the first time last year and had a great time! I was extremely nervous and felt like a fish out of water but I got to meet so many interesting people and had many great conversations.
From what I gather going to GDC year after year is all about building friendships. Also it’s like saying “Working in games is important to me and I am serious enough to pay for the large cost and take the time to attend” So it seems like a legitimizer to me.
There is a debate on how important this is, but all of the talented audio people I follow (and podcasts I listen to) have said its important to go so I did.
- I did not get work from this. But I did meet a ton of audio people who I only knew online. I also met clients that I’d worked for but had never met in person. I plan to attend GDC again.
Here are some other conventions that are game related. I have not had the chance to attend these yet.
PAX
E3
Game Sound Con
Comic Cons 
- I did attend our local Comic Con in Denver this year and it wasn’t great for meeting devs and I probably will skip next year. But I assume some state’s/country’s/city’s Comic Cons have more game representation.
If anyone has any other good resources let me know.
