How can you evaluate if game development is the right career path for you?

I used to hide my love for gaming at work. My old routine was: ? Meeting with big clients, ? At a major software firm, ? Often wearing CUFFLINKS. I value those experiences. BUT, I always felt something was missing. ?? Back then, I kept my gaming hobby a secret. People thought gaming was just for kids or slackers. ?? Now, I game freely during my day. Live your passion out loud!

Well, it's kind of a crap industry, in many ways. I'm remembering a quote from Harlan Ellison: The only people who should become writers are those who feel compelled to do so. I've been doing this for decades, and don't want to be doing anything else, but I wouldn't actually recommend it to anyone who doesn't actually need to be doing it.

A lot of people want to be in the game industry but not a lot of them are driven by passion to be there. Its okay to "want" or "dream" but if there isn't a drive or a pure enjoyment then it isnt something you'll likely want to do long term. If struggle makes you reconsider then it isnt driven by a passion to make games. Passion is unwavering and will always be there even through struggle.

A common place folks go wrong is mistaking a passion for playing video games with a passion for making them. Making them is nothing like playing them and little of your player knowledge will translate. Making games is a very drawn out and diffused form of group performance. Imagine an orchestra that has to spend 3 years in private practice, working out the tiniest of details, to get ready to perform a single song that hopefully makes an audience happy. Do you have a passion for that?

Although game development is wonderfully creative, challenging, and rewarding, it can be excruciatingly difficult at times. If you can imagine yourself happy doing something else, you should probably do that thing. Otherwise, you're liable to give up when things get hard (and they will). If, however, you can't imagine any other career being fulfilling and no amount of hardship can dissuade you, game development is probably a good fit for you!

There's multiple ways that you can go about pinpointing your strengths in game development. The two ways that immediately come to mind are: ? Reviewing your work history and seeing what skills you enjoy the most/have gotten the most success in ? Getting right into game dev with a few game jams to see what you're best fit for The latter option is always going to be the best for a variety of reasons, but the most important is that you'll grow into a game developer exponentially faster by just taking the plunge. It's not east at first, so don't be alarmed! The growing pains are there, but once you're comfortable and in the swing of things, you'll realize your true potential better and faster than any other way! ??

If you are looking to be hired into your first role, then it is vanishingly unlikely that a prospective employer is looking for a jack-of-all-trades. They are looking to hire a coder, or artist, or designer or sound engineer or . . . you get the point. Some Game Dev courses kick out graduates with a grounding in all of these things rather than a focus on one. If that's your course, put time and effort into developing your skills in one area - ideally the one you most enjoy or have an aptitude for - and you'll vastly increase your chances of employment. Knowledge of every discipline is a good thing. An ability to do one well is crucial.

There's nothing better than doing. Do some game development tasks, see where the spark is. Even if you find some aspects very difficult to achieve, if you lose track of time while doing them, that's probably a spark. Where most students fail to develop in a certain discipline is when they give up trying. Talent is just the starting point.

While it's good to overcome weakness, it's not necessarily a prerequisite. You should definitely assess yourself, find your strengths, and play towards them. But you shouldn't feel trapped by your weaknesses. The West of Loathing has "bad art". Undertale has "bad code". Both of these games have sold many copies and are very popular. Just make your game and put it out into the world.

Game development involves various roles that require different skills. Some of the skills that are typically valued in game development include: 1. Programming and coding 2. Game design and mechanics 3. Art and animation 4. Sound design and music 5. Writing and storytelling 6. Project management and team coordination Identifying your strengths in these areas can help you determine which role in game development might be the best fit for you.

I personally got my very first game development job (AAA) because I launched my own game on PlayStation a couple years back with my indie studio. Consider all options when trying to break in or when you are thinking about game development as a career. A lot of times AAA is glamorized as the place to start, but a lot of people have gone indie first for years and then ended up ultimately at thier goal of being at a AAA. Consider all lanes!

A successful game is a contribution and coordination of multiple teams. It's ok not to be an expert in every aspect of the game development but whatever you choose you need dedication. Be an expert in one or two but have knowledge of complete development. This way you can explore new options which may interest you and will expand your expertise.

To know what roles actually exist in this industry, there is some logic in looking at the jobs page of some of your favorite studios to see what they are recruiting for. Unfortunately, some game jobs are seldom advertised - even when they are highly sought after! If you dig into why that is, you realize that some roles are hard to recruit for because they involve an even more specialized skill set than normal, and perhaps there's low staff turnover in this role. In these situations studios will outsource that recruitment task to a 3rd party company that then looks for a list of applicants in secret. My advise then is to engage with recruitment companies that specialize in games, and find out from them what's really in demand.

Surely, you've noticed how competitive this industry is, but that shouldn't stop you from trying. Sometimes, a simple "hey, I don't know much, but I'm eager to learn" can open doors for you. If that doesn't work, engage in your own project; this way, you'll have something to add to your portfolio and demonstrate to others that you're capable.

Knowing what I know now about the game development market, that there are innumerable kinds of roles to find a home in, I'd say a core question to ask oneself is how secure they need their career to be. It's often a surprise to folks entering the industry that game development is full of stories of companies rising and falling and roles coming and going. So one must be willing and able to endure such an environment, in addition to being focused on continual professional and personal development or broadening of ones skills to quickly recover from those set backs. In short, you'll need more than a love of games and the right skills, you'll need perseverance, grit, and determination to always be focused on growth and development.

Portfolio isn’t something you do once you graduate or complete some course it’s an all time thing. I believe the best approach is to continue every year, every month if possible to complete projects. This way you continue to find your style and improve your workflows which intern makes you improve faster and you become happier. It’s not quantity but creating quality pieces you learn from and enjoy. Imagine you’re working on Spider-Man and you’re responsible for creating the lead character for a AAA title. It’s a great way to fill out the portfolio and find your strengths and weaknesses. Keep growing the portfolio in an authentic way that is personal to you.

As a programmer straight out of university, try to make prototypes of smaller games such as tic tac toe, puzzle games, match 3 games, space invaders, Tetris etc. These games sound simple and boring but you need good problem solving skills to make these. Just focus on the functionality and upload these to your GitHub profile. These will help you for sure in various aspects of job hunting and letting the hiring managers know about your skills.

Building your portfolio doesn't need to be about shipped games. It can be clips from every project or practice you've worked on. Every time you work on a little concept, even to just test something out, try to spend a few minutes polishing it up for a gif/video or snapshot. Save these with a few notes about it on a portfolio site. In my first year of professional game development, I had over 25 different topics. With this in mind you should also look into lighting, shaders, design... things to help make your work look better. This collection will grow quickly and give you a strong portfolio. This is a very visual industry.

A portfolio is one of the most important artifacts at your disposal, if not the most important. I highly recommend maintaining and updating it regularly, but you should know that updating the portfolio is not just about adding content to it but also about removing content. It might seem illogical to remove things from your portfolio, but the rule is that if something is not adding value to your portfolio, it's subtracting from it. When someone looks at your portfolio, they build an idea about you that is the average of all your accomplishments, which means that having lower-quality content would lower your average.

I’d suggest beginning with learning. To build a portfolio you should know what and for whoom you are building it. 1) create the list of studio you’d like to work in 2) analyze their projects 3) find out technical, visual and other requirements to do the job you’d like to do for this companies 4) find courses that could teach you the same things RIGHT and Fast 5) create something similar after getting the knowledge how to Sometimes it looks like self-learning is the way, but it’s a long way with wrong moves that postpones your start of the dream job Good luck While self-learning seems tempting, it can be a lengthy journey with potential missteps, delaying your pursuit of the dream job.

Networking is not only how about 80% of game industry jobs get filled (literally 80% of roles are filled by referral) but it is also a phenomenal tool for upskilling yourself on a regular basis. Immerse yourself in the game dev world. Go to events, online and in person. Join classes, listen to podcasts, and don't be scared to cold call cool people online. LinkedIn is great for this. Be humble and grateful, but don't be scared to ask for advice. Most people love giving back, especially when those asking are eager to learn and employ what they are taught. So network! However you can.

When I was getting into games, there weren't any classes on making games, or an internet community who made games. You are living in a golden era. I guarantee that if you reach out and say "I want to make a game, who wants to help?" you will find someone. If you find the "right" someone - someone who will work as hard as you, has the passion and maybe even the talent to make something great; treat that person like gold. They are worth hanging onto for dear life, because those people are rare. Those relationships are even rarer. I say this whenever I teach a game dev class: "Take a look around you. You are in a room full of potential partners. Everyone here wants to make a game. Team up and make a game!"

If might seem like a waste of time sometimes, but you should at least discover the kinds of people you might end up working with. Be a familiar face - it's human nature to trust the familiar, which might work in your favor when someone that goes to the same events is hiring. Be humble. Don't dominate the conversation. And above all, listen.

Networking is really underestimated in the game industry. But it can be useful in different fields. ?? Job search: a lot of vacancies are hidden (not published) cause they are filled in with the people the recruiter knows directly; same about a referral program. ?? Self-improvement: you can learn more from different people in your industry or just broaden your mind. Network can be done offline and online. Game conferences and workshops can help with it. Afraid of networking? Make your first step by sending me a small note about your favorite game ??

Networking is key. When I was starting out I made sure everyone knew what I wanted to do. What my passions were. What my skills were. And as a result one day at work my supervisor walked by and noticed me researching computer game companies. I just happened to be reading up on a local company one of his friends worked at. And his friend was looking for someone to join the audio team. My supervisor introduced me and I hit it off with his friend. Interviewed for the job. Landed it and have been making video games since 1995. Networking is that important!

Being emotionally resilient to feedback is probably the most important skill you will learn the hard way in a long career in video games. Being focused on a goal and achieving that goal is super important, and if that means your work needs to be redone, or take a few hits from the feedback machine, then that's what needs to be done. A lot of game development is PLAY. You play with your tools to try and make an idea, most ideas suck. You'll muck around, you'll find out and that's how the best games are made. The main thing to note that when taking feedback is that the more it stings, that means the more you tried to convince yourself it was good while denying what you know is bad. It's okay to realise this, it happens to me all the time.

Game industry is vast and has a lot of variety to it, therefore there is no a "one size fit all" career or game path - what one may like you might not. But don't get me wrong! Feedback is crucial in the game industry as what we do is we create experiences for others to enjoy. And while you might want to take the feedback with a pinch of salt, be sure to listen what people do and do not like about your games. There is one main takeaway in terms of feedback I'd like to share with you and which I've heard a while back: "While players are great at pointing out flaws of your game, they are not too good in identifying the solutions" So, listen to the feedback to see your game from a different perspective and then go back and fix it your way.

Feedback is just as important as making the game itself. It’s daunting the first time you put your game out for feedback, not knowing what they are going to say. There are going to be people that like/dislike your game just because of its genre so some feedback isn’t as valid, but if you have a large pool of people playing you should get some constructive and consistent feedback that will really help. The best way to look at it is, the feedback is only going to make the game better.

While this point looks good on paper, it is not a very practical piece of advice. Finding feedback on your career path in game development can be one of the most frustrating things about this industry.

I always like to hear feedbacks from everyone, however it is important to know which opinion really is positive for the project an filter those who really help to make a better product

The thing about the gaming industry is that it’s a very competitive space, where work hours are usually very long and pay is much below averages for engineering. You must choose this industry if you are very passionate about what you do and truly it is fun for you. You have to find pride in your work to fuel your passion. There are regular studio closures and layoffs but the community is one of the most supportive and well networked. Weigh the pros and cons and see what works for you.

Doing free work to the extent one can afford is one way of increasing luck surface area. Useful to understand both what it is you want to do and improve your chances of getting work you enjoy. If you are a student, consider doing unpaid internships, volunteering at events, and working with communities. Good way to learn and progress.

I bullshitted my way into my first game industry job leveraging my limited software testing experience. There wasn't a degree program in game development when I started in 91. I was just a techie nerd, writer and artist wannabe who loved games. So much is learned on the job anyway. That said, your first job may not be at your dream company or in your dream position, but it will be great experience. If you join a small team or startup and you have passion and willingness to learn, you will get plenty of opportunities to grow and wear another hat. I had 4 business cards at my first 2 year gig - Lead Tester, Producer, QA Manager, Project Leader and I was never issued one for the level design work I did. Its there I learned where I belonged.

Consider that there are potentially thousands of people like you wanting the same job. How do you compare? Do you stand out? Try to find the way that’s authentic to you, it’s important to learn the ground basics and create a strong workflow and core. But on top of that find yourself, don’t change yourself to become a carbon copy of Artstation or any other platform. Find what speaks to you on an individual level and embrace your style and your way. I believe this way you will stand out more and have a more magnetic profile. Think about how your first millisecond impression lasts and try to strengthen that.