How to Start a Career in Game development?

 

Being a game lover you can always look up Game Development as a potential career opportunity. But you need to plan accordingly how you are going to build a career out of it. If you are aiming for a game developer’s role, then your technical skills should be as sound as your creativity. As game developers are considered to be the backbone of the whole game creation process, You need to be a team player. Your involvement is very essential in every stage of the game production which means you need to work with various game designers, lead sound and character artists as well as testers. So, working in a team is one of the characteristics that every profile requires. Here are a few steps that can help you build a successful career in the gaming industry.

  1. Decide between school & self-taught 
  2. Pick your major carefully
  3. Learn the languages
  4. Narrow down your focus
  5. Intern First
  6. Have demos ready

1) Decide between self-taught & school:  If we discussed this a decade ago, you wouldn’t have been suggested to take a degree to get into the Gaming industry.  But, now that this market has grown bigger than ever and there is tough competition among creators from all over the world, we can say that going to school is rather a decent option to start your career in the gaming industry. There are so many colleges in India that provide game development courses. Be it a degree of 4 years or a short-term certification course of 6 months, India is training their youths to be a part of the greatest entertainment industry of today.

Here is the list of some courses that you can go for if you want a stable start into the gaming market: 

For your reference here are some of the game-centric colleges that you can aim for getting a degree:

2) Pick your major Carefully:  Game development is a whole stream in which a lot of branches are involved. So, pick a branch that you think you can master and work on continuously upgrading your skill. If you wish to opt for computer science then it will polish your coding skills. Take the help of your mentor while choosing a specialization skill as industry veterans are the best people to tell the market’s requirements.

3) Learn the languages: Aim to master at least one of the programming languages whether you choose to go to school or not. Here are the top programming languages that a game development course can offer:

  • C
  • C++
  • JAVA
  • C#
  • Python
  • Assembly
  • ActionScript
  • Objective- C

 If you are aiming to get hired, then master C++ as it is the foundation of almost all sorts of games.

4) Narrow Down Your Focus:  When creating a game in a company, always remember that you’ll be put on a specific team that will design a specific part of the game. So try to learn and code in an aspect that can make you an expert in that area.

5) Intern first:  Never aim high when you are going for the Gaming Industry. This is because you can gain comparatively higher experience and knowledge from a strat-up than from an established company. So do internships in start-ups and gain enough knowledge about the market requirements and skill sets the company is looking for. Then upskill as much as you can, and when you think you are ready to take the shot, then go for bigger companies.

6) Have Demos Ready:  Whether it be an internship or a full-time job, you’ll get hired only if you have an impressive portfolio. Being a Game developer you cannot have a static portfolio. Go for short demos of the games that you’ve created either as a school project or a personal project. Your project doesn’t need to be a published one but it can add value to your portfolio.

And when you are all set with the above steps, then it is time to apply for jobs available in the market. Take every possible chance and give your best.

All the Best.

 

 

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