The Scope of the Game Programming

Have you ever dreamed of living a life in which you can win a street race, take out entire armies, and save damsels in distress? While real-life has its restrictions, video games do not. You can do just about anything in games and experience the life of your dreams. The only limits here are the ones in the game’s source code.

If you’ve ever played a game and thought that you can improve it, or add more features to it, you might actually be right. This is because there are a ton of exciting careers you can get into that correlate with game development. The gaming industry has an approximate of 2.34 billion users across the globe, which opens an enormous market for young professionals who wish to join the industry and contribute to making amazing games. Even the Indian gaming industry has already reached a whopping $890 million a day.

Due to this rise in gamers, there is a high demand in the market for people who are enthusiastic about games and have the skills to develop them. The list of roles seems nearly endless; however, we’ve taken the best out of them and put them in this easy to understand article for you. Here are some of the best careers in gaming:

Game Designer

The game designer is the architect of every game. Their role is to plan and define the elements of the game such as the rules, the settings, environment, story flow, levels, characters, vehicles, weapons, etc. They visualize the entire game and give their draft to the team for development.

Apart from this, they also conduct market research prior to drafting as this ensures that people would enjoy the game they are designing. They also supervise the team to ensure that the game lives up to the draft as much as possible.

Qualifications: Bachelor’s in Game Development, or a BTech in CS

Narrative Designer

One of the most important parts of a game these days is its story. The story is to game as a rudder is to a boat – without it, there would be no sense of direction. A narrative designer works with the game designer to ensure that the game has a meaningful story that people would actually enjoy. They also work to add context to the game designer’s draft to ensure there are no blot holes.

However, their major role is to design the game in a way that is appealing to the players. The actions of each character, the way they react to situations, their motivations, various decisions a player may need to make, etc. This makes a big difference to the gameplay experience players will have and makes them enjoy the game more,

Qualifications: Bachelor’s in English Literature, or Diploma in Creative Writing.

Game Artist

The most important parts of the game are its graphics. The way a game looks tells a lot about how much players would wish to play it. There are many examples of beautiful games that put real life to shame such as Skyrim, Witcher III, and even Prey and the Assassin’s Creed Series. These are all designed by the game artist. The role of the artist is to work to make sure that everything is incredibly appealing to look at. The roles of the artist range from Texture Artist, 3D Modeler, VFX Artist, Ray Tracing Artist, etc.

The artist needs to draw out each scene of the game along with every movement the player can have. With modern RTX graphics, they also need to develop the way the light will move throughout the scene.

Qualifications: Bachelor’s in Animation & Computer Graphics/ Illustrations

Sound Designer

If you enjoy games a lot, then you probably remember all the sounds of games like when the Dragonborn shouts Fus Roh Dah, or when Raiden goes Ripper Mode. All these sounds are specifically engineered to perfection by audio engineers. The main role of the sound designer is to work to ensure that all the sounds of the game are appealing and most consistent with reality.

Each game is unique with its plot, and sound designers ensure that the sound of the game is consistent with every scene. They use these sounds to drive the narrative forward and to drive the emotions of the player for total game immersion.

Qualifications: Bachelor’s in Audio Engineering

Game Developer

This is one of the most important roles in game development since the programmers are the ones in charge of making the game work. They write code for all actions in the game and work in coordination with the team to ensure that the code is in sync with all other elements of the game.

Apart from this, they also modify the game mechanics on the review of the game tester and fix bugs and glitches.

Qualifications: Bachelor’s in Game Programming or BTech in CS

Game Tester

Playing games for a living is every gamer’s dream. The role of the game tester is similar, however a lot more intense. They are meant to play and test the game in a systematic order to analyze the game’s mechanics, find glitches and bugs, and suggest changes to the team. Moreover, they are required to do this within a quick deadline.

Most of the time, game testers have to replay the same level over and over, until they are absolutely certain that it is free of bugs. Their work ensures that the players who buy the game after release don’t get their experience ruined by a few bugs.

Qualifications: BTech in CS and an ISTQB Certified Tester Certification.

DevOps Engineer

As many games are becoming more and more online-focused, DevOps Engineers are required to create and maintain the networks and servers of the game. For most online multiplayer games, the individual player is connected to the game locally and plays it while the local game is connected to the internet and connects all other players in the same way. DevOps Engineers are meant to ensure smooth functioning and zero lag in the server.

It is a mid-role between the development and the operations team since they have to be present round the clock to ensure the network runs as it should.

Qualifications: BTech in CS

Game Critic

Critics are a key factor in the success of any game. They provide reviews and critiques for buyers which further motivates them for the game. As you know, you cannot judge a book by the cover, and therefore it is the role of the critic to read it till the last page and write a review on it. They are gamers with exceptional writing skills and a knack for finding out what’s good or bad with a game.

Qualifications: Bachelor’s in Journalism or Mass Communication

The gaming industry is booming worldwide and is gathering folk to round up for their favorite games in conventions such as E3 (Electronic Entertainment Expo), and even causes hype for gaming accessories such as RGB.

The future of the Indian Gaming Industry is the same as many have already adopted the gamer lifestyle. This means there are a lot of opportunities for game development enthusiasts to make a career from this.