Ask HN: Thinking about Applying for a Gamedev Job, Any Tips about My Portfolio?

Be aware that on average the people interviewing you will look at your portfolio for ~60 seconds. Show off the stuff you're proud of and think is interesting.

Show your games in action: use gifs. It'll make people more likely to try the actual games. They still almost certainly won't, but that's not a strike on you, it's just that there's literally no time.

Tell us why the project is cool. "Random terrain generation in ShaderGraph!..A unique twist on Sokoban with procedural puzzle generation! An Excel add-on that visualizes energy market futures using realtime data!"

If this is used instead of a CV, I'd want to know what languages and tech are involved with each project too.

List the relevant companies for the playtesting experience. Knowing which QA operation you were in is more important than the specific game.

Finally, I'd encourage you to do a little bit more styling of the webpage. Let's get some margins to center up the content. Use complete sentences with correct grammar, but keep things as brief as possible. Let the gifs and screenshots speak for themselves when they can.

As someone who has watched TLO play, that's pretty awesome.

I think your portfolio looks pretty good! I think the trick is really a good cover letter or way to get attention before they look at your portfolio. If you say why you're a good fit, and how you would like to work for them, and why, and how you can help them with your skills, then they look at your portfolio, I think you'll have a better chance. I personally think the hardest step is the first one, because if a company has a lot of people applying, the manager might only look over your resume/portfolio for a minute or two, and might not even be fully paying attention when they do.

Building something and showing it off is still way ahead of most people, even if you are a bit embarrassed about a lack of polish. That's what the artists are for! Good luck!