Game Development Career Advice
Hi,
I'm curious if anyone in this group has achieved success in game development, whether that's carving out a career or earning any amount of income from it.
I'm currently working as a software developer, but my passion lies in game development. I'm all too aware that achieving any measure of success in this field is next to impossible. Hence, I'm reaching out here, hoping to gather insights and advice from those who have walked this path in the past, or those who are currently walking alongside/behind me.
One of my specific questions is about the types of games I should focus on creating. Specifically, I've heard differing opinions on whether it's more advantageous to develop a series of small games with advertisements for mobile platforms or to invest in larger, premium games for platforms like Steam. Can anyone share their insights or experiences regarding this dilemma? Is there a clear advantage to one approach over the other?
Currently I am using godot to make a larger scale game, but I am considering switching to defold and making smaller scale games with ads.
I saw some folks here discuss making games for the playdate. How much should one consider targeting niche platforms like this? Some of the users I saw discuss this seem to have had good success.
Some general questions: How did you break into game dev? What were you doing before? Do you see game dev as a viable career, only as a source of side income, or is it just a hobby?
Any guidance or experiences you can share would be greatly appreciated.
I was previously an embedded software engineer who had some experience in IoT devices and the server stack supporting them.
I had switched jobs to a place closer to family that didn't want me coming in at 5:30 AM just to do stand-ups with the overseas team. They were just starting an IoT project I was eager to get my hands on, but COVID hit that particular industry hard and killed the very project. I was stuck on some automation that was starting to get real mature and no new features in sight, and one day I had idly scrolled to the bottom of my favorite game's site and noticed their jobs ad.
I applied, and to my surprise, I got a phone interview, then to my surprise the panel interview, then to my surprise, the job. I had been fully fooled into thinking all game dev jobs were impossibly competitive, but that is absolutely false for engineering. Even now when the big companies are shedding people in layoffs (to my disgust), engineering is still in demand. So if you want to pick up some experience in the industry and build up your savings before trying solo game dev, the door is far from closed on getting in as a software engineer - it will just be a pay cut from many other industries.
What part of development are you working on specifically, if you don't mind me asking? I know there are different roles you could take on like gameplay/physics/systems/UI/etc programming. I'm a senior full stack dev working in the webdev space, and do games as a hobby. My assumption was my "normal" software development experience doesn't really do much for me in the game space.
I am a hiring manager for a game engineering team and I will say that I'll generally pass on someone who's only experience is full stack work unless they explain in their cover letter that they are passionate about games (particularly the type of game project that they're applying for), or have some relevant game-related stuff in their extra curriculars section. Basically, if all I see is a resume filled with full stack experience, and a generic "I think I would be a good fit for your company!" cover letter, then I'll pass or put it on the very bottom of the list.
Full stack work isn't necessarily a bad thing, though. Any years in an engineering capacity demonstrate an ability to think critically, which is the primary key for a game programming role.
Yeah I figured as much, I was just suprised to see Vira say they got a role at a studio with their experience, but per their comment below, sounds like they just happened to find a role that was a perfect for their skillset already.
My interest is more geared towards gameplay/systems, which is outside my current professional skillset, so I'm building up a portfolio of smaller games that show off my actual game-deving, because yeah, I wouldn't want to apply for a role without showing I have actually developed games haha thank you for the info!!
I'm working on the server end of a massively multiplayer game, so my experience with embedded devices having strict resource constraints, networking and message protocols ended up fitting fairly well. Probably my biggest advantage, however, was being intimately familiar with the game already - it's a huge monstrosity and already having a lot of experience with the player side helped me understand the inner workings much better. Like kru says in this thread already, if you're actually interested in the game itself and the player experience, interviewers will pick up on that.
Sounds like PlanetSide 2...or Destiny 2 (except Bungie just killed themselves)
Thanks for sharing your experience.
I am surprised to hear that this isn't true.
Honestly, I worry that taking a job like this would change game dev from my passion to just my job... Did you experience this at all?
I'm still very passionate about my job a few years in, but like any job I think it depends on the workplace. I like my work, and my fellow engineers, designers and QA that I work with. I also have the benefit of my work being very different from hobby development. While personally I don't hobby dev a ton, my occasional side projects get to stretch different muscles, so to speak, and there's still some crossover lessons. The same goes for the game, which I still enjoy greatly, if it isn't my biggest focus right now with all the great games that have released lately. I got lucky in many ways, but it's nowhere near as difficult career-wise as the design, art or other game dev paths, from what I've seen.
It depends on a lot of factors. If you're willing to relocate across the country, or even world, you can find something eventually, even in these downturns. More experiences simply open more doors, and in this day and age getting through the resume black hole is the most limiting part. Also rejection for a variety of contradictory reasons (not enough experienced, overqualified, didn't have some specific niche bullet point that you'd never actually use on the job, didn't pass the technical test despite being praised in a previous round. Or simply ghosted) are inevitable unless you get really lucky. Accept every rejection as a step towards your eventual offer.
But if you're stuck in a non-major hub/country and either need remote work or are limited to staying in a drievable distance, your options shrink rapidly.
kind of sort of? I still am very much compelled to make my own game one day, but seeing the sausage does take out a lot of the magic (the sausage is that there isn't much magic, just a lot of office politics trying to cobble together something to ship).
I don't really have a "dream studio" like I did back in college anymore; I just want to secure enough experience, network, and finances to try and make it on my own and get away from the dysfunction (and instability, but it's not like 99.99% of indie dev is any more secure there).
I’ve worked on the production and publishing sides (current) with small and huge companies. You need to define better exactly what you want to do. There are very few gamedev jobs that are as fun as building your own stuff where you have complete creative freedom. In general, learning Unreal Engine or Unity is going to help you with small to mid-size studios. Huge companies tend to have proprietary internal engines because they see it as a competitive advantage.
You need to show that you know how to work with a team and that you know the tooling associated with commercial game dev. This includes stuff like Trello/Jira, Perforce, etc. If you’re going to develop tools, then you’ll likely need to show C++ proficiency and have an example of a tool you developed to help your own game dev process. An SDET needs different skills, graphics programming can be a totally different beast. Are you both OO and ECS proficient? Rust is increasingly used for tools and engines, etc. AI programming is yet another beast.
There’s no single “game developer” job, unless you are solo. Most companies would rather have somebody with demonstrated depth in one of the specialties than a jack of all trades with no specific expertise. Go browse the career listings at Epic, EA, Nintendo, and Ubisoft (or similar) and look at the various disciplines, then try to narrow down to what you WANT to do, not necessarily what will get you in the door fastest. The wrong role in commercial game dev can be as mind-numbing as writing compliance code in COBOL for a bank that still uses a 1970s mainframe… except you going expecting it to be so fun, so the reality check is far more of a slap in the face, especially when you consider you could 3x your salary doing the same thing in another industry. Many of the happiest game devs I know have left the industry and just do it as a hobby while they make more money and have better lifestyles working in another industry.
I'm in a very simliar position as you, although I'm more at the point of "wow that would be neat if i could make it happen" rather than seriously considering it, because I'm worried about a major paycut. That being said, from what I've seen, a lot of people put together a 3-5 minute video portfolio of small games they have made that show off unique mechanics / systems they've built.
I don't think it has as much to do with the "type" of games you make as much as it is just releasing products that showcase your abilities as a developer, in the space you want to get into. "Game Development" is sort of a nebulous term, and I think you need to decide exactly what aspect of development you want to focus on. Game designer != game programmer, etc.
The main advice I see is "Just make games", which has become my personal goal. You can't really be a game developer if you don't make games haha
Hello fellow dreamer!
This is really the stage I'm at too. I am not seriously considering quitting my day job at the moment and probably will never be at that stage, but man it sure would be cool.
This is an interesting point. Currently I do everything except the artwork...
This is really true and advice I should probably focus on. Just create for the sake of creating.
I used to do a podcast with game developers talking about how they got into their fields and what they wish they knew before they started. If you have the time and interest I recommend finding an episode that seems to pertain to the discipline you're interested in and giving it a listen.
Below is a link to the playlist of episodes (earlier episodes are rough production-wise as they're several years old and I wasn't as skilled of a producer, but still good content) From your post, this may be an episode you're interested in.
Dev Dive #031: Nicholas Zaharias (Gameplay Programmer, Baldur's Gate 3)
That's awesome! Thanks for sharing. I will check it out.
I am no game developer, but I do have experience with getting lost in details and failing to start projects. If you have no experience, you are trapped in a situation of not knowing what you don't know.
You may be able to get everything perfect on your first attempt and have a hit game, but you really won't know what works until you try.
Just start making a game. Don't worry about monetization, just focus on taking a vision in your head and making it reality. Take copious notes of what you learn and use them to make something better on your second attempt.
Learning is iterative, so don't get discouraged if you don't like your initial result. You will get better faster than you think.
I can appreciate that advice! I am not sure it is super relevant to me because I feel like I am a decent developer. I have been making games for about 4 years now. Working on my current project for ~8 months. So no issues actually making games. On the other hand... I do feel like I have completely failed at the business side of things as none of my games have been successful :*(.
One thing that I've seen help some indie devs promote their games is creating dev diaries. YouTube videos that show your progress towards making a game can be fun for normal people to watch and a decent thing to add to a resume if you every apply to a game dev position.
Also, pitching your games to indie publishers can help. They may take a cut of the income, but if you get no income because you can't promote your game it may be a better option.
If your games are good, it may just be an advertising problem.
Have you looked into articles like this?
Popular Genres On Steam in 2022
It's from 2022 so you may want to look for more updated stats. Nice deep dive on game genres on Steam :) You can check which genres have the most sales and the least competition. There's probably info like this for mobile games as well.
If you can find a type of game that you enjoy making + has a viable market, that'd be ideal!
Personally I'm leaning towards small-to-medium sized games as I enjoy both making and playing them. I like the business model of sokpop collective, as a group of 4 devs they are able to release 1 small high-quality game per month, priced under $5.
You could also look into licensing games to platforms like bigfishgames, I know a dev who's done really well doing this. I've licensed to another platform, coolmathgames.
Thank you for all of this.
This is really interesting because the game I am working on, I plan to price around $4.99. Though I am not sure if the game is considered "small" at this point since I have been working on it for a rather long time...
I never knew this was an option. How does this work? You just agree to let them have your game?
Yeah, $4.99 is a great price point! I kinda hate the .99 pricing trick but it totally works, and it works on me too even if I know about it 😂
Licensing terms vary and are negotiable, but yeah it can be pretty much anything you and the other party agree on re: