How to Become a Game Developer
How to Become a Game Developer
A game developer is responsible for designing and developing computer games. To gaming fanatics, this sounds like the perfect career but to be successful in the game development industry requires both a technical skill set and hard work. This article will provide an informative guide of everything you need to know about how to become a game developer from the necessary skills and experience required to ways to advance your career within the field.
What Qualifications Do You Need to Be a Game Developer?
It is necessary to be extremely proficient in IT and have meticulous software skills, generally demonstrated through the completion of a bachelor’s degree in a field such as a computer science or software engineering. Having a degree in computer science will prepare you for many aspects of the technical side of game development, particularly computer programming.
The specific qualifications that you need will depend upon the area of game development that you wish to go into. For example, a programmer will need to be proficient in computer coding languages, whereas an animator will be expected to have training or experience in animation.
As a Beginner, Where Should I Start in Game Development?
As a beginner wishing to pursue a career in video game development, it is essential to ensure that you have a robust set of qualifications and ideally a bachelor’s degree in a computer science discipline. As well as having academic qualifications, it is also essential to ensure that you have experience with game development and game programming so that your skills are up to date within the video game industry.
Start a Gaming Blog
A gaming blog is an excellent way to showcase your simple games and join/interact within the gaming community. From discussing gameplay to Xbox, a blog will allow you to meet like-minded people and gain inspiration for designing games.
Build Your Games
Making your indie games and publishing them online is an excellent way of seeking recognition from others within the industry and improving your skill set. There are many free game development tools available which goes to show how cost-efficient it is to build your games from the comfort of your room!
Intern at a Game Development Studio
Pursuing an internship is a smart move, building your contacts base and gaining hands-on experience while receiving the support of professionals. You may even end up securing a position within the studio that you intern at!
Get a Job at a Gaming Studio
Working in a gaming studio even in a retail position is excellent for your CV as it shows that you are familiar with working within a gaming environment.
Skill Set Required for a Game Developer
The following technical skills and transferable skill-sets are needed to be successful as a game developer:
Excellent technical skills
Knowledge of programming languages
Good time-management skills
The ability to work as part of a team
Problem-solving skills
Creativity and passion for gaming
What Does a Game Developer Do?
A game developer is a software developer/engineer who is responsible for creating video games. Game developers build and design computer games; however, because of the different aspects of the games creation game designers, game programmers and animators are required to produce a high-quality game.
Typical Duties for a Game Developer
Specific duties of a game developer may involve:
Popular Career Pathways for Game Developers
There are many career pathways within the games industry and opportunities for game developers to further their skill sets. Enroling in certifications such as Java and Maya Scripting Language demonstrates to employers that you have up-to-date skills and have received recognition for this.
Related careers for game developers include working as a computer games tester or as a video game designer.
With the necessary experience, it is possible to secure a senior-level position as a technical director, developer, producer or team manager.
Many game developers opt to go freelance and establish their own business, or even try a career change by upskilling and moving into something like a machine learning engineer or app development.
