Video Game Programmer
Get a job making games! Sounds too good to be true? Check this out !
If there is one thing that all of us would want to do more than play video games, it would be to get paid to make video games as a living. But is the video game life all we make it out to be? author of the “William’s Almanac: Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Video Games” will bring you an inside look at various positions in the industry. Everything from 3D modelers to marketing positions, including interviews with some of the biggest names in the industry.
A brand new economic sector
According to an April 2001 study by the IDSA the American economy generated 220,000 jobs linked to the video game industry. That meant 9 billion in salaries. The growth rate was 14.9%, twice as fast as the overall economy. Salaries had gone up 17.4% and job offers 10.1%. Another record year went by. From small companies to multinational firms, there seems to be no end to the upswing, and that translates into interesting jobs for aspiring game artists, game programmers and game designers.
IDSA’s Economic Impact Study : www.idsa.com/releases/EIS2001.pdf
In the beginning video games weren’t the sort of activity you could turn into a career. Passion was the key. Entrepreneurs and programmers worked in their basement, in their bedrooms or in their garages. Of course, some of the products weren’t exactly professional. There were bugs here and there and quality was uneven. But the cream of the crop was able to generate a lot of money and the industry was able to grow very quickly.
In 1982 Trip Hawkins created Electronic Arts with the clear intention of rationalizing the creation process. He set up a number of design studios and coordinated them all. For the first time there was a company with a business plan and the means to meet a well-defined end.
Over the next decade the industry became a very appealing business proposition, and it is still expanding today. Publishers got organized and the administrative process of writing contracts, protecting legal rights and fighting piracy started rolling.
New ideas and new blood will always be welcome. The best concepts are quite often generated at the bottom of the corporate ladder, or by small, fast-foot-ed companies. Half-Life was created by diminutive Valve Inc., not by Havas Inc. the giant! Lara Croft was invented by Toby Gard, not by top management at Eidos.
Companies all want to scout the next Peter Molyneux, the next Sid Meier and the next Miyamoto. Creativity being the essence of the market, stagnation is the most frightening foe.
Here’s a list and a description of the major kinds of jobs available in the industry. Salaries may vary a lot from one company to another, or from on position to another. But if money is the primary cause for your interest in this new industrial sector, you’re probably looking out the wrong window.
IGDA recently published a salary survey. Download it at: www.igda.org/Endeavors/Research/Salary/salary.htm
Game Programmer / Software engineer
Computer code is the backbone of all video games. Everything depends on the software architecture and everything eventually boils down to lines of code: the 3-D engine, the real-time physics engine, the AI and whatever is needed to bring players to a game’s logical conclusion. The mission of a good software engineer is to make sure all the software components work together at the best possible speed, using the best available tools. Balancing complexity and efficiency is a very demanding task. The industry is always looking for new bright minds.
A good knowledge of C and C++ is essential. As soon as PS2 appeared on the market, programming at Assembler level became very much in demand. A good knowledge of the Windows environment and of Direct X is also part of the deal. You must be good at math and physics, and if you know expert systems and 3-D engines, you are right on track. Remember to develop your debugging skills. Debugging is what you may end up doing in your first job as a junior.
You will move up to more gratifying tasks such as AI programming and rule-based physic engines. And after you have delivered a few games on time, you may become lead programmer or senior program mer. Some programmers will become project managers then producers, and as such, they will have to oversee all aspects of game development. If you want to try your hand at it, here is a good opportunity: the developers of No one lives for ever, a big hit with critics of the PC video game market, have decided to make the source code available to the community at large.
|
Home
