Video Game Developer Salary in 2024

Video Game

What is a Game Developer?

Game developer is the process of creations of the video game. There are a lot of different people involved that work together to come up with the games people play on their screen. The Game Developer is in a way a software developer and applies tech abilities to the creation of video games.

In fact, if there is one word to describe the reality of who is working on such a game, and all that Game Developers do while working, it would be ‘many’. For instance, some Game Developers work to conceptualise what the game should be. Others create such assets as graphics and sound. Some write code that gets executed – ‘runs’ – the game. Others focus on improving the user experience in some small but valuable way for a person who plays. Still others are testing the game with real people (known as ‘QA’ or ‘quality assurance’). And so on.

What does a Game Developer actually do?

A Game Developer does not only program (although much of their work is coding!). In fact, they can be an active participant in many different phases of game development and design as well as production and have a hand in the process of literally creating the entire game. Depending on the size of an organisation, an individual Game Developer could be involved in any or all of the following steps.

Design

Here, the Game Developer or Designer rolls up their sleeves and comes up with the rudimentary concept, characters and narrative premise for a new game and outlines its general shape: a puzzle to solve, a set of obstacles to overcome, enemies to kill, and so forth.

The mood (or ‘feel’) of the game, its targeted audience, and market strategy are doublessed out at this stage, so the intent for what it’s meant to do is clear, and progresses well as development strides ahead.

In the Introduction to Game Development class, you become familiar with how to form the structure and goals of the game. How to define what rules or constraints the game has. And how to choose the right platform. You learn how a Game Developer might design a player’s goals and objectives based on the player’s motivations, emotions and challenges.

Programming

Having an idea and how it will look is one thing, but actually getting a computer to understand that code and wire the concept into a tangible experience is a whole different ballgame. There are multiple programming languages and logic requirements, as well as performance tweaks and technical requirements that come into play when someone decides to game design. In Introduction to Game Development, you will receive a crash course in the most used programming languages in the industry as well as the most utilised game engines or gaming-specific code bases that are used in today’s game development.

Asset creation

An asset, in games development, then, is any of the art that goes into making the game look and sound the way it does. For instance, the different appearances of the characters, the class of the level visuals and sets, the sounds that get made, and the music that gets played. (You’ll learn more about how character assets and environmental assets are made and used in Introduction to Game Development.)

These are the modern-day assets of a game, big and realistic, sometimes so life-like it will blow your damn mind. You will find a team mostly comprised of Game Developers, 3D Artists, Environment Artists, Audio Engineers, Composers, Character Artists and many more working very hard to refine games into these few factors that will make them unforgettable.

Game Developer requirements

Some of the job descriptions for Game Developer seekers mention that you have to graduate in Computer Science to apply — this is not always the case. Many Game Developers are hired if they have a lot of experience in gaming, one or more rock-solid portfolios, and a great resume.

4 essential skills you need to become a Game Developer

Next to creativity, imagination and passion for gaming, what other skills do you need to be a Game Developer?

• The ability to code. The programming languages at the heart of game development include C, C++, C#, but also Python, JavaScript, TypeScript and HTML5.
• Familiarity with one or more gaming engine(s). So, a gaming engine is the canvas you paint your (video) game on. It’s also variously referred to as ‘game framework’ or ‘game architecture’. You might have heard or read about Unity and Unreal, along with other, less obvious ones.
• Math, physics and problem-solving. A good background in math and physics will help you turn creative ideas into games. For example, if you are working on a game, you may well need maths to develop algorithms for some of the code in the game. Many employers do interviews to evaluate experience beyond mere coding. They want to see your problem-solving skills, too.
• Good communication/documentation skills. Although, to be clear, I’m not talking about docs as Frazier discusses but simply generating proper use of adverbs. Any pitch (as a freelancer) or bottom-up idea from within your chosen firm will live or die from the combination of good communication and documentation.