So, You Want to Be a Video Game Developer?

[neeyik]

You might be one of the millions of people who love playing video games, but what if you want to take it further and become a game developer? Here's our advice on how to do exactly that.

Read the full article here.

https://www.techspot.com/article/2733-how-to-become-a-game-developer/

 

[redgarl]

I am an engineer and a Project Manager. I am working for the state and I have some golden handcuff. I earned about 125K, I have a pension plan, I work from home most of the time and I am working 37.5 hours per week. No way in hell I would go and work as a project manager for a video game company even if I have the qualification to do so.

Just think about it, I will earn maybe more, but I will work way more. In the end, I will earn less per hour than at the moment in my stress free and boring job.

Like this guy is saying, what you really want in your life is a boring job...

 

[nnguy2]

I am an engineer and a Project Manager. I am working for the state and I have some golden handcuff. I earned about 125K, I have a pension plan, I work from home most of the time and I am working 37.5 hours per week. No way in hell I would go and work as a project manager for a video game company even if I have the qualification to do so.

Just think about it, I will earn maybe more, but I will work way more. In the end, I will earn less per hour than at the moment in my stress free and boring job.

Like this guy is saying, what you really want in your life is a boring job...

Gotta have good work life balance.

 

[redgarl]

Gotta have good work life balance.

It is necessary for your mental health and even your physical health. In the long term, you will probably earn more because you might be able to work longer if this is what you really want.

 

[human7]

I took a class in video game development once. Biggest thing I learned is that I don't want to do that. Because you know what you think about when you try to play games? "I should be working on that game right now...". Or something similar. I'm sure many people can enjoy games and develop them just fine, but I think I'd be reminded of work too much in my leisure time (assuming I'd get any, video game development is the sweatshop of the software development world).

 

[pencea]

It's crystal clear people at Quality assurance and testing are not doing their job properly. Countless games have launch in such a huge buggy/messy state now days.

 

[godrilla]

Great article. I personally am sitting on a 15 year game idea. Unfortunately I don't know how to code and have no experiencing developing games. I wished there was a way for a layman game developer to make a game from a passive input initially and scale to full time/over time as the project scales to funding/completion. As a minimum I have to be able to make a demo which I can pitch for funding, but even a simple yet successful slice can be extremely challenging to accomplish. I am often at a crossroad where I would apply my resources, or time spent on tackling first. With my busy schedule as a healthcare processional and family I simply can't go all in on this project even though I am very passionate about it. I would love to back to school for programming and or delve into all the competitive game engines. I feel like my doctorate is holding me back my true potential. I know that sacrifices will have to be made and I willing to give up pc enthusiast level gaming cold turkey to even have a slight chance of success. Unfortunately I can't give up my full time job because I have people who depend on me.
My avatar picture was drawn by myself at my prime via pointillism method. I gave up being a fashion designer and took the road less taken. I have no regrets but my love for art, photography, gaming, graphics and chess keeps me from wanting more.
I have a game idea can scale from simple to a multi layered complexity that can scale with each layer of succession. My dilemma is taking the initial step to execute on this dream. My dream is to make a golden age for gaming lol. Any guidance will me much appreciated. Thank you in advance.

 

[CarmineZ]

Great article. I personally am sitting on a 15 year game idea. Unfortunately I don't know how to code and have no experiencing developing games. I wished there was a way for a layman game developer to make a game from a passive input initially and scale to full time/over time as the project scales to funding/completion. As a minimum I have to be able to make a demo which I can pitch for funding, but even a simple yet successful slice can be extremely challenging to accomplish. I am often at a crossroad where I would apply my resources, or time spent on tackling first. With my busy schedule as a healthcare processional and family I simply can't go all in on this project even though I am very passionate about it. I would love to back to school for programming and or delve into all the competitive game engines. I feel like my doctorate is holding me back my true potential. I know that sacrifices will have to be made and I willing to give up pc enthusiast level gaming cold turkey to even have a slight chance of success. Unfortunately I can't give up my full time job because I have people who depend on me.
My avatar picture was drawn by myself at my prime via pointillism method. I gave up being a fashion designer and took the road less taken. I have no regrets but my love for art, photography, gaming, graphics and chess keeps me from wanting more.
I have a game idea can scale from simple to a multi layered complexity that can scale with each layer of succession. My dilemma is taking the initial step to execute on this dream. My dream is to make a golden age for gaming lol. Any guidance will me much appreciated. Thank you in advance.

I am entering the Indie universe soon, I would gladly bring to life your game if we find a way to cooperate

 

[magisys]

Like this guy is saying, what you really want in your life is a boring job...

very yes, usually, but it really depends on what are your earnings in that boring job... I also work for the state, with a lot of guarantee and public benefit, but I live in a country where the public employee earn well less compared to the "medium" salary in private companies.
so it's a very boring job with only 35 hours a week that falls to only 30 hours in summer, instead of the usual 40 hours/week or more
if the less you earn is justified from less stress and less working time, that is probably ok, but if the "less" is "too less", maybe your quality of life will became less enjoayble too.

boring job is good for a lot of people, but in the end of the day it's also very important where you live and what kind of salary is going to pay that boring job...

 

[Raytrace3D]

I am an engineer and a Project Manager. I am working for the state and I have some golden handcuff. I earned about 125K, I have a pension plan, I work from home most of the time and I am working 37.5 hours per week. No way in hell I would go and work as a project manager for a video game company even if I have the qualification to do so.

Just think about it, I will earn maybe more, but I will work way more. In the end, I will earn less per hour than at the moment in my stress free and boring job.

Like this guy is saying, what you really want in your life is a boring job...

I do envy your work/life balance. I haven't worked 37.5 hours a week in 20 years. I'm a developer that has worked in the games industry in the past (when I was young and could work the 100+ hour weeks for months on end). Although I make a bit more than you, I would gladly trade it all to get my life back.

As rewarding as being a developer is, just know it comes at great cost if you're really good at what you do. You make great money, but you are expected to perform and the hours pile up. It's not for everyone and looking back over my career, I look at all the parts of my life that I have missed chasing that all mighty dollar. Sure, you have fantastic job security (or rather, it's easy to get a new job), but is the stress and having to "check out" from your family worth it?

All I can say is, don't be a GREAT developer, just be a good one. I look back at when I was a junior dev and all the free time I had... haha You live and learn I guess...

 

[erickmendes]

It's crystal clear people at Quality assurance and testing are not doing their job properly. Countless games have launch in such a huge buggy/messy state now days.

There have being many reports of quality assurance professionals working for really low wages also overhours, so it's not really a surprise that the quality of their work is not top notch. Game studios want to maximize profit so they save on that phase.

 

[redgarl]

I do envy your work/life balance. I haven't worked 37.5 hours a week in 20 years. I'm a developer that has worked in the games industry in the past (when I was young and could work the 100+ hour weeks for months on end). Although I make a bit more than you, I would gladly trade it all to get my life back.

As rewarding as being a developer is, just know it comes at great cost if you're really good at what you do. You make great money, but you are expected to perform and the hours pile up. It's not for everyone and looking back over my career, I look at all the parts of my life that I have missed chasing that all mighty dollar. Sure, you have fantastic job security (or rather, it's easy to get a new job), but is the stress and having to "check out" from your family worth it?

All I can say is, don't be a GREAT developer, just be a good one. I look back at when I was a junior dev and all the free time I had... haha You live and learn I guess...

Oh, I could earn way more, but I don`t need the money and I don`t think it is worth it for now. I have a niche set of skill that would allow me to audit and rescue project and leave quickly after fixing the requirement documentation.

However, what is the point of earning 3 times more if I needs to put 3 times the effort and time while be taxed at 50% on my additional income (you got to love Canada sometime... especially for that higher tax bracket).

 

[godrilla]

I am entering the Indie universe soon, I would gladly bring to life your game if we find a way to cooperate

That would be great. I have a simple question. How does an independent developer protect their ip though?

 

[CarmineZ]

That would be great. I have a simple question. How does an independent developer protect their ip though?

do you meam the ip of my personal computer? or ips of online servers (eventually neede by a multiplayer game)?

 

[godrilla]

do you meam the ip of my personal computer? or ips of online servers (eventually neede by a multiplayer game)?

My apologies, I meant intellectual property or whatever its called. ( The idea of the game from being stolen or copied). How do independent developers work with others? Like a leep of faith. Is there maybe a free open standard form that both parties sign for a non disclosure agreement? Also at what stage in the development process does one get a patent? I'm new to all this. Please forgive me for any inconvenient questions.

There have being many reports of quality assurance professionals working for really low wages also overhours, so it's not really a surprise that the quality of their work is not top notch. Game studios want to maximize profit so they save on that phase.

I feel like this is a window of opportunity. If I make a game, I would want to create new open standards for optimization a collective set of ideas/ tutorials that will help everyone in the game community. Everything we learn to optimize my game via community will help the game and also everyone. It's not really fair for one crony to enjoy all the profits when everyone is working extremely hard. Imagine a world where we cut out the middle man * (the cronies ). The world and especially the gaming community is ripe with talented individuals that imo get the sh!t end of the stick. While the cronies are attempting to constantly monopolies the gaming community cough Microsoft cough, the gaming community needs a equal force to offset this centralized control of the future of gaming. Or else we will keep on getting bland triple aaa titles that are unoptimized messes that will cost even more than they do now filled with nano transactions and lol in game ads. Together the gaming/ developer/ indi community is bigger than the cronies will ever be.
If we look at the game like Star Citizen, we can clearly see that the gaming community is willing to pay for a game even though it's seems like a pipedream. My approach will be more satisfying for the daily fix and will have a faster execution time. Unfortunately I am.the rate limiting step lol.

 

[CarmineZ]

Intellectual property is important indeed...

One crucial factor is how fast other developers can make a "clone" of your game simply by reverse engineering it or just reimplements the mechanics...

Because anyway someone will try to remake something similar to an existing game, if your title get enough success to become relatively notorious, all the players community will be able to spot fakes published after the original

In my opinion the most effective precaution and protection are the complexity and the authenticity of each part of an indie game:
- Graphics, characters and worlds...
- sounds effects and background music
- gameplay mechanics, interactivity
last but not least
- the story
All of those unveiled gradually through levels or quests during the progress of the in-game experience

This can assure as a natural guarantee that your intellectual property will be without doubts attributed to you

 

[WhoCaresAnymore]

The one thing I noticed is how shitty the monitor setup was for most people. I would want 3 large, slightly curved screens with wide viewing angles. Almost all I saw were flat, misaligned, not big enough to use all day without eye strain.

I would love to see 3 curved monitor setup that would fit on a desk for my job. I'm tired as hell of my setup.

It would need to fit about 56" in length and not wider than 16". No Bezel cured monitors.

 

[monkeylove]

Here's a related point:

 

[toooooot]

I bet it is fun, especially when it is your true passion to make lasting memories in the form of gaming, surrounded by talentless people who do not understand anything about gaming but know everything about western social problems and are very excited to share that "gold" through the games they help create.