Game Developer vs Software Development, Which is a better pick?

Many in the industry contend that Game development as a job profile has merits over software development profile, and to check how much of it is actually true, we’ll do a small comparison over these two profiles on factors like career opportunities, packages, and growth rate, etc.

To begin this, we’ll talk a little about Indian statistics of the IT industry as well as the biggest entertainment market in the world. In India, the revenue of the IT industry is estimated to be US $93 Billion in 2021 showing 7.3% of YoY growth. The gaming industry is still in a flourishing stage in India with an annual revenue generation of US $1.83 Billion, expecting a dramatic rise of 113% by the end of 2025. What can be the cause of such a difference in their growth rate? The answer is pretty simple, with the rise of online gaming trends, the Gaming industry is setting its foot properly and expected to be full-fledged in the next 5 years.

Both of these industries are a good option to pick from if you have a love for programming languages, but before choosing a path you need to understand the difference between these two profiles. Though both of them involve the use of high-level programming language, the two profiles differ from each other a huge time.

How Game Development Differs from Software Development:

To start with, there is a huge difference between the two: software development includes application creation which can be functional and mostly perform a single task. Whereas game development is pretty diverse, as a single game can have thousands of functionality and needs to perform many tasks as per user’s requirements.

Game development is a creative medium and it has so much metadata in it. Unlike an application, it has many layers of progression coding which makes it pretty complex when compared to app development.

The software used is another factor that varies in terms of game development and software development. Some of the engines used to develop games are Unreal, Unity, Construct 2, Construct 3, Game Salad, G develop, etc. To create an application, although you use the same programming languages like C, C++, JAVA but the software used is a little different.

If you want to create an app for Android then you need to use specific software so that your app can run smoothly on all Android devices. One of the popular software used is Android Studio, similarly, if you want to create an app for iOS then use software like Xcode.

The fun part about game making is that you can use app development software to create a game but vice versa is not possible.

“Here is the catch, all games can be an app but not all apps can be classified as games.”

Because of this, the entire game development becomes a subset of software development.

Not all app developers can create games:

Even if you have a thorough knowledge of programming languages, understanding application development, and game development are two different scenarios.

The pipeline of creating games involves steps like 1) Thinking of an idea 2) Pre-production of the idea 3) Production of the game 4) Also within production there are so many steps involved like the creation of assets 4) environment and stage creation 5) Post-production testing 6) & finally launching the game into the market.

The pipeline of creating an app is a little different than that of a video game: 1) first you work on an idea 2) Then you design a rough structure with pointers for its functionality 3) once you are done developing all the functionality within the app then you just launch it to the market 4) later you can add some new feature and new ideas as an update. Unlike video games where you need to be very precise about little details before launching it to the market.

As Video games are a genre that is totally for entertainment purposes, and entertainment can be quite subjective, the game should be eye-pleasing so that it can hook the user for a long time. So creating a game requires different skills and creativity as compared to software development which means you cannot expect a software developer to easily create a game or vice versa.

Job Prospects:

Software development opportunities are not something that people don’t know. As India is slowly shifting towards privatization, opting for Computer science as your graduation major can be a good option for you. The average salary of a software engineer according to Glassdoor is 6 lakh per annum which can go up to 12 lakh per annum. The IT sector in India is a big hub of opportunities and the number of openings is generous in this field which we assume is known to everyone.

But surprisingly what people don’t know about is the huge number of opportunities available in the Gaming sector of India. This industry is pretty underrated in our country, and that doesn’t stop it from growing tremendously within the past 5 years. The average salary of a game developer also starts from 6 lakh per annum and can go up to 14 lakh per annum. There are plenty of opportunities for all the game lovers in this field, all you have to do is, pick the right path. And your right path can be picking Game development as your major during your graduation.

Backstage Pass: A college for Gaming Aspirants:

Yes, there are so many good colleges in India that you can pick for learning game development. One of such colleges that focuses on Game development exclusively is the Backstage Pass Institute of Gaming & technology. The college is situated in Hyderabad with two of its branches in prime cities of India like Pune and Bangalore. Their strong curriculum and experienced faculties make this a really good option for young gaming aspirants. The college provides placement guidance and counseling sessions which help the students to know about the current market requirements and prepare themselves accordingly.

Overall we can say that Game development is one of the underrated lucrative careers that youngsters can definitely think of as their future career option.All you have to do is work really hard to achieve your dreams like you would have done for any other field.