How to Become a Video Game Developer

The video game industry has seen phenomenal growth over the years due to the growing popularity of high quality video games. More and more video games are being introduced by companies to get a bigger market share, and out do their competitors.

If you enjoy playing these video games, then you should really give credit for the entertainment to the video game developers who work hard for months and years to come up with interesting products that would ensure highest degree of customer satisfaction.

The efforts for becoming a game developer should start before you apply for a degree, by taking interest in subjects like mathematics, computers and programming. Here are some tips on becoming a video game developer.

For all those who wish to know how to become a game developer, the first step is to improve your math and logical thinking skills. For that, you should take active part in knowledge quizzes, computer programming contests and puzzle solving games.

With such activities, you will see an improvement in your thinking and analyzing ability and learn to solve problems successfully. Along with programmers, artists are an important part of the game development process and at many places, these artists are also called animators.

The game development process cannot be complete without the musicians who create the sound effects and the game designers who also act as producers and oversee the game development. The presence of game testers is a must for delivering quality products to the users.

Video game development requires excellent programming skills. For this, he should be aware of the programming languages which are particularly needed for game programming. In today's age of advanced technology, C++ is many people's most favorite language for game programming which you should have expertise in.

Apart from C++, Java and C programming languages are also widely used, but they are not suitable for all kinds of projects. However, since C is the basic and most important programming language, budding video game developers should take efforts in learning it thoroughly.

The Lua and Python programming languages are also helpful in game development. A degree with courses like information technology, computer science or software development or even software engineering can prove to be the best launch pad for aspirants in this field.

The next step is to take active interest in video games by playing them yourself. It is only after this practical exposure that you will understand exactly how a game is to be developed and marketed. Also, a game developer needs to be extremely creative and hence you should try to come up with new ideas to ensure maximum user satisfaction.

Team leading abilities, good communication skills, interpersonal skills and people management skills are a must to become a game developer. Video game development is certainly not a one person show. It requires hard and consistent work by a large team in the video game company to come up with the product.

The company does have set targets as of when a particular video game should be launched and hence game developers should be able to work in a competitive environment having strict deadlines.

Doing some projects yourself using your programming skills can go a long way in gaining experience and building confidence. Most companies hiring game developers generally want to hire people who have worked on a project previously. So, you can try to create a game yourself to get good employment.

You should be able to write at least 10,000 lines of C++ code when you are working alone on the project. With this experience, you can become a part of the team which writes around 100,000 lines of C++ code to introduce video games into the market.

Internship in a video game development company can work wonders for you in this career. At the end of the internship program, you can get an experience certificate from the company which will prove to be very useful while searching for jobs.

Last but not the least is the actual job search. My suggestion here, would be to upload your detailed resume on job sites and keep reading employment ads in the newspapers. Whenever you see an opportunity that matches with your profile, apply immediately. Being an extremely competitive industry, you should not get disheartened with initial rejections from companies.

Experienced video game developers can get a very impressive salary which can range between $55,000 to $95,000 per year which may vary as per their level of experience. As a video game developer, you should be ready to work for long hours and learn new technologies that can make game development process simpler.

This career is one of the best for programming experts who have an interest in the gaming industry. So, make the most of your abilities and emerge as a winner. Good luck!