Brick #3: What is Game Development?

This is not a simple nor a complex question. Everyone has been thinking to themselves "I will become a game developer!" up to this point, but to make things simple let's see the meaning here:

Game Developer = Someone who develops games...! That's about it! It's someone doing something little in the game industry but when combined with stuff everybody else does it's becoming huge.

Everyone can support a game with their work whatever that may be. So, in general game development is the act of developing a game from plain nothing to a fully playable experience! Though, you may be wondering:

"Soooo, I'm a game developer, and i contribute to making the game. Woohooo! Alright! But what exactly do i do?" 

The answer to this needs some thought. We have to see the ways in which someone can contribute. I will NOT cover all the roles in the game development industry here, but i will try and share my lights.

Disclaimer: I am NOT currently working in any way in the game indrustry, thus the information i will provide is purely based on my research and only that!

Career paths in the industry:

• Game Design
• Asset Creation
• Programming
• Quality Assurance

These 4 are the core of game development. Of course, there are higher roles, such as Production, Management and Sales..!

All these are paths in the industry, and of course, can be broken down to bits! For Example you can't apply for a plain "Programming" job. You gotta chose if you are going to be a Game Engine Programmer or a Graphics Programmer.

Let's see more carefully:

Game Design:

Possible Roles:

• Game Designer
• Script Writer
• Map Builder
• Storyboard Artist
• GUI Designer
• Object Planner
• Level Designer

The roles in design are by no means need to be confused with art. Design is creating a game from an idea. It's all about creating a world, its' set of rules, the maths behind it, the background of a character, the story of the game, the plot, the twists, the surprises, the emotional triggers, the educational value. Basically it involves creating a parallel universe in your head and applying it somewhere else. A Game designer is no entry-level job as it requires knowledge of the industry, huge creativity, imagination and storytelling skills. You are practically a God, or in simpler terms, just like a director in a movie.

Asset Creation:

Possible Roles:

Can be broken down to 2 subcategories:

Graphical Assets

• Illustrator
• Graphic Designer
• Artist
• Animator
• 3D modeller
• Environment / Level Artist
• Concept Artist
• Texture Artist
• Pixel Artist
• Spritesheet Animator

Sound Assets

• Musician
• Audio Engineer
• Composer
• SFX Designer

And here comes the asset creation team, responsible of creating all the kinds of graphical sounds or assets. They will create all the 2D / 3D graphics for the game, either it is a spritesheet animation of a character through Pixel Art, or a 3D Model rigged in Maya, and Animated by another artist. They integrate the ideas of a game designer and bring them to life. Musicians are also needed in this part, as they compose the scores and official OST of the game, as well as sfx designers need to create all the sound effects for the game such as swords bashing or doors cracking..!

Programming:

Possible Roles:

• Software Engineering
• A.I. Programmer
• Middleware Programmer
• Tools Programmer
• Game Engine Programmer
• Graphics Programmer
• Gameplay Programmer
• Action Programmer
• Platform Programmer
• Database Designer
• Systems Analyst
• Server Architect
• Sockets Programmer
• Physics Programmer
• Sounds Programmer

As you can see there is a ton of jobs for a programmer in the game industry. Their job is to take the ideas of the game designer, meaning the assets of the artists and through lines of code put it all together to create the needed experience of gameplay. Pathfinding, Artificial Intelligence, Colissions, Dialogs, Battle Systems, Maps, Explorations, Quests, everything is being created by them. A Game Engine is their friend, while a custom game engine is their best friend!

Quality Assurance:

Possible Roles:

• Localisation Tester
• QA Technician
• QA Tester
• Alpha Testers (Similar to Beta Testers, though inside the company)

Testers are one of the most entry-level jobs in the industry as most can begin their career in QA. Their responsibility is to test our games written by the programmers and find out bugs, provide feedback to them, in order to make it run correctly. This involves playing levels a lot, going for 100% clearing of the game, in order to find all the possible errors it may have. There can also be bugs in design where an idea may not fit correctly with another concept of the game so that would require redesign, and refactoring in code. Testers need to be game nerds in order to fill out the gaps either in code, story or gameplay in the fastest time possible.

And that sums up the roles of a game developer. All of the above contribute to making a game, and thus are classified as game developers !!! So, game development in general is the contribution of programmers, testers, designers and artists to develop a game. 

You said you were a game developer. What is your path now?