The world of video-game design has exploded. The Entertainment Software Association reports an annual growth rate for the industry exceeding 10%, which contributes $4.9billion in GDP to the country, and employs over 100,000 people directly and indirectly (estimates of direct employment of programmers and designers are around 40,000 and growing).
If you're looking to get a piece of that pie—and why wouldn't you, game programmers and designers make an average of $68,000 annually— pay close attention. Our first tip is that you won't make anything near that amount starting out. This job is not “easy money” in exchange for playing games; it is extremely hard work.
But don't take our word for it. Listen to the 38 pieces of advice below from gaming industry veterans about what you NEED TO KNOW before embarking on a career in video game design/development. If you find all the advice below agreeable, which includes things like an insane amount of math, long hours for little pay and being in an industry with little to no job security, you'll know if this career is right for you or not.
- First and foremost, you WON'T get to play video games all day. In fact with the hours you're going to be logging you won't even have a lot of 'downtime' in which to game for fun. This was the most common advice cited by our panel.
- Taking the right courses in school is CRITICAL. Your schedule should include most of the following: programming, assembly-level programming, computer architecture, software engineering, computer graphics, data structures, algorithms, AI and expert systems, communication networks (a MUST if you want to get into multi-player game development), math, physics, algebra, calculus, data structures, network programming, computer security, databases, etc.
- Strong math skills are a huge plus, if not essential, because you're going to be doing a LOT of math for a very long time.
- Despite how important our experts say choosing the right school and courses is, now it’s time to contradict that by saying that education doesn't necessarily mean a thing in this industry. “Having a PhD in UBERGameProgramming is not going to make you a better candidate than some other guy with a high school diploma that wrote a real-time ray tracer in his garage,” Bobby Anguelov very poignantly points out in his tech blog.
- Be ready to move. If you find a job in the industry it won't likely be in your area code. It might not even be in your hemisphere. Here in the good ole UsofA the bulk of jobs are in California, Texas, Washington, New York and Virginia—so you'd better like at least one of em!
- Know your resources, well. These days there are more resources than you could ever sift through, but you need to sift through them and figure out the best ones. Then get to know them like it's your fav level of Call of Duty. Add them to your RSS feed or join their email list.
- Choose a tool and programming language and stick with it. It doesn't really matter which one. C++ is popular. But YOU won't be in demand unless you have expertise in at least one of them.
- Make a name for yourself in the forums. Game developers LOVE forums and hang out in them religiously. They will be your savior in the coming years, offering you “how-to” advice, tips, tricks, may even collaborate with you and will help you keep your sanity during the long hours by geeking out with you. But don't be a vampirical forum user—contribute something or you'll be akin to a leper.
- Get used to being a gaming gopher. Game developers wear a lot of hats—especially at first—so don't be surprised if you're making copies and getting coffee your first year(s) in addition to boring gaming grunt programming tasks. This is called paying your dues; everybody does it. You aren't special.
- Be a storyteller first and foremost.
- Be an intern, AT LEAST once. Pay your dues and work hard; you likely won't get a job in the industry without it.
- Don't work in “Quality Assurance” aka game testing to learn how to create games. CREATE the games, even if you do it badly. "The only way to learn game design is not beating the hell out of a game in test, the only way to learn game design is to make a lot of bad games yourself," says Loot Drop's Brenda Brathwaite.
- Understand the business side of gaming. Even if you are planning on working as a developer and not an entrepreneur. Designing games with a solid understanding of the business will help ensure a position for you later on. It will also help you communicate with your higher ups (read: IMPORTANT!).
- You may NEVER design a popular game. You may not even design a game that ever sees the light of day. If that would break your gaming heart, save yourself the heartache. And this is realistic because there is a 90/10 rule in the industry: 90% of the profits are made by 10% of the games; and 90% of games don't make it.
- You WILL work 10-12-hour days—and won't get paid much (or extra) to do it.
- The industry ISN'T sexy. Game development is primarily engineering, which not even The Big Bang Theory can make sexy. The majority of work being done is problem solving, the rest is computer science.
- There is NO job security. Job stability is pretty much non-existent for programmers, unless/until you earn one of the rare, coveted on-going positions. This is because work often comes in waves, with many studios (with the exception of the few majors) laying off their entire development team after their current, funded, project is finished and the 'well dries up' once again.
- Despite your 12-hour day you still need to make room for passion projects. They will keep your portfolio up-to-date and impressive, and they will give you the passion you need to make it through another day without burning out at the end of the day/year. “Work on your own projects constantly. We will not hire any new graduate who comes to us only with student assignments. In this day, with the resources available there is no excuse for a lack of completed projects to show,” says Gary Thomas of Crush.
- If you think college is tough, forget about 'making it in the industry'. Game development education is hard; but it still doesn't compare to the hard work you need to do everyday in the industry.
- If you wouldn't do it for shits-n-giggles, don't make it your career.
- Marry for money. The average salary for a game developer/game designer is $68,000, while game development degrees can cost up to $100K.
- Be prepared to spend at LEAST 3 or 4 years learning how to become a basic developer/designer, and then an additional decade perfecting your skills. Never stop learning and never let your britches get so big you can't take advice from others.
- Network like your life depends on it—because it does. You will need to leverage all your contacts to get into the industry, and this includes game development classmates, professors, friends in the industry, people in your local IGDA and people you meet at game development conferences. Use social networks and forums as well to meet others in the industry—especially LinkedIn, which is a more professional network with 6-degrees-of-Kevin-Bacon level contacts. Networking is key. Find out where [industry hirers] hang out and buy them beer," offers up Kathy Rocchio of Slap Happy Cartoons.
- When looking for a job, make an impression. Getting into this industry is hard and simply sending a resume to a company's HR department won't cut it. Leverage all your contacts, internet research and social networks to determine who the Art Director, Head of Programming, or department head is and get in touch with them personally. “Typically HR departments receive an overwhelming amount of resumes and most of the time they don’t have a complete understanding of the specific skills required or what skill sets to look for within the resume. Your best bet is to connect directly with your potential boss or manager so they can see your true value,” says Brian Andrews, Career Coach at GameRecruiter.
- Get a broad education, but then quickly choose a specialty. This goes doubly so if you plan on working for one of the majors, because majors need specialists not generalists.
- Join associations and attend conferences. Do it even before you start an education in the industry because talking to people currently in the industry will help you stay focused on the right areas. The IGDA is one of the big ones, as is the GDC. Even if you can't make it to the game developer conference, join their community and follow their news.
- Take constructive criticism wherever and whenever you can get it. You're gonna need it.
- Understand the importance of mobile gaming and what it means for the industry—especially if you're planning on being an entrepreneur.
- You need to choose your school extremely CAREFULLY. Game Design, Development and Animation programs have popped up all over the country, and they are flooding the industry with grads who are unprepared to work in the industry—and it's hard enough to get into the industry with a top-notch education under your belt. If you are planning on being a programmer, for which there are a lot of jobs, you need a computer science-related degree that specializes in programming.
- Know that no one outside of the industry will ever understand your job, especially how hard it is. You'll want to punch people in the face when they comment that you “play games all day”.
- You won't get credit for your hard work. So don't get into the industry for the acclaim.
- Recognize how much teamwork and collaboration it takes to succeed.
- Jobs are increasing, but so is your competition. “Demand for developers is definitely increasing, but so is the supply...you've got the casual games revolution, which turned middle-aged housewives into PC gamers, and senior citizens into Wii/DS addicts. Even so, there are far more developers around now than there were in the 90s. The result is lots of demand for developers...but lots of competition too,” points out Glenn Barnes of Big Sandwich Games.
- One of the reasons there is a steady demand for developers, sadly, is that people burn out quickly—with an industry and career that wasn't what they thought. Invisible Entertainment's Mark Cappello says it best, “the reason I believe the demand is constant is I’ve seen countless 2, 3, and 4 year vets step out of the industry into something much more stable. There seems to be a point where they reflect on their career and decide to leave the flaky field in order to work in another career.”
- Mark phrased another need-to-know aspect of the industry perfectly when he said, “most graduates have a very rose-colored view of the industry and they tend to become bitter quickly when they are faced with the sometimes seasonal nature, the job insecurity, and the pedestrian pay rates.” He went on to express another relevant point succinctly, “it can be a shock to someone who spent a lot of money for training with instructors telling them they will make hundreds of thousands of dollars.”
- Eat, breathe and eat games. Oh and play them, despite how little free time you'll have.
- Being a designer or programmer requires nothing less than a total commitment to the art form.
- Believe it is an art form.
WHEWW. Still want to be a game developer/designer? Great. If you want to know more about a-day-in-the-life check out our Interview Series with some of the top game development and animation execs and companies in the country. If you're already ready to go, click "find a school" to start looking into our country's diverse animation programs.