it's insane how these popular job titles are not properly explained almost anywhere. Your videos are important, definitely helped me and I looked for proper ones that explain the specialties and this was so great
THANK YOU! I’m a 1st year game design and production student and it’s difficult to find a comprehensive list/description of the general structure and roles within a game studio, especially within designer/producer roles. Such an informative video! 👏
I'm currently a full stack web developer. I make personal games part time. Even in my full time web dev job I find myself most enjoying tools designing/developing. I've always called it system designing/developing, but I guess I've been calling it by the wrong name.
"Often they don't know what they want to do." I struggled so much with this! I'm a writer/storyteller, a bit of a visual artist, and I am REALLY good at understanding different disciplines, even if it's not my area of expertise, so I'm great for coordinating different mediums. But I feel like there's so much pressure to be a coder and I have to say, programming just doesn't feel right for me. Right off the bat this video is helping me navigate that issue. Great stuff. :)
Writing/Storytelling is a discipline that cannot stand on its own easily in Game Development. That's because of naked text is not very appealing... even for your teammates. There's one sad rule for texts: No one will read them. As a writer you have to amp up your skill set by another task you can accomplish. The discipline that suits the narrative designer the most is coding. But you don't necessarily have to write your own code. There are plenty of dialogue systems you can use without writing a single line of code, but if you want to customize those tools to fit into your project you have to know how the tool works. It sounds hard, but in fact is very quick and easy to learn. If you don't have any experience in code whatsoever, I can recommend the unity-tool ink by inkle. It's basically a simplified coding language and works a little bit like those adventure books from the eighties... and you can even write your own text based Zork-like. I started as writer/storyteller and had the same bad feelings about coding... then I wrote my own text adventure by using ink. It's super easy to understand, very intuitive and gives you a glimpse how actual C-based code works. For me it was my the gateway into coding and I like it a lot now. You get a huge chunk of independence if you learn some basic coding. Game Design is another discipline how you can compliment your writing skills. But it's more or less a pre production task to make sure that the mechanics support the story and vice versa. Coding is important as well, so you can test whether your mechanics are fun at all. For the start: Search TH-cam for interesting code tutorials and build your own mechanics out of it and THEN think of a story that fits into those mechanics. Or to be more general: Work with the tools you find before you start crafting your own unique tools. The first game I coded, was a pixel art platformer with some story narrated through dialogue... because there are plenty of tutorials for insane controllers. I used that one: th-cam.com/video/MbWK8bCAU2w/w-d-xo.html Just open unity and visual studio, watch the series and just mimic the steps he does and you have a finished and working character controller. It's really that easy. I learned how to code a platformer in a weekend, and I started with almost zero knowledge about C#. It IS a very dry task in the beginning, but if you finally understand how you do stuff, you're basically a deity in your own world. That's why I highly recommend to give code a chance. Start small, get addicted... and even if you finally find out that coding is really not your thing you at least know how to better communicate with coders. Game Art/Concept Art is another discipline that can amp up your narrative skills or better it is a work around for the fact, that no-one reads your script... just let your art tell the story. BUT if you want to work in the industry concept artist and writer are rarest jobs you can find. If you don't belong to the Top 100 in the world it's almost impossible to get a job. Those companies that can afford an artist that doesn't do anything else but concept art or a writer that just does writing, can afford the best ppl they can get. If you don't work for a big company you probably will work interdisciplinary. And to get employed by a big company you most often have to have worked on a shipped title. So as long as you don't start your own company, where you take the role of the lead writer and producer... I highly recommend to be prepared to say good bye to your "writing only" attitude. Don't hope to be the unicorn. Take into consideration that you're just a pony that has yet to become a horse. So the easiest and quickest way to become a narrative designer is to learn how to write a few lines of code. Sincerely yours, a guy that once believed to be a unicorn and now hopes to be a horse one day.
@@philippschmitz1787hi, good points. I think now you see alot of indie text/dialogue based games. So I don't think it's impossible. It depends on the audience and whether they like storyline or story-based games that include dialogue. I personally do like reading but I think it depends on personal preference too. Supply and demand.
What caught my attention was the lack of music composers or sound engineers. Music and SFX are easy to buy separately from an artist. Maybe only in Nintendo (and other huge companies) they hire people for sound/music.
There are plenty of companies who employ audio engineers or sound designers but they're often expected to be able to integrate on their own which is rarely the case, if you have a background in both audio engineering and programming, you can basically get a job anywhere you want
Jason, you have audio clipping twice in the video that is pretty rough. Idk if you mic or cable is struggling. One of them was at 32:58. I don't remember where the other one was. Great video! Love your work
Thank you so much Jason, I am currently doing my degree in computer science and major in software engineering. I always had interest in the game industry but I really didn't know how the team works. I had no idea where to place my self, this in-depth guide really saved me after a lot of searching and by the way I am also a fan of programming :) . I am glad i found my place in the game industry. You earned my sub today. Bless!
Great overview. I find it interesting that some games companies split into teams with at least 1 person from each role. This is usually at bigger companies and games.
Milanote is going to be useful for video game producers for sure. I was hoping to hear good advice on breaking in as an artist. Portfolio is pretty much the answer for any art job for good reason. Your drawing reminds me of the stay puff marshmallow guy from Ghostbusters. :) Environment artist and concept artist almost sound like the same thing just a more narrow field.
I took game design at college and university. This allowed me to try out all aspects of making a game. From programming to art. I know how to do every part of the pipeline and how to optimise it all to be game ready. However I am looking to specialise in gameplay programming I think. Or if I find that I change my mind it will likely then be technical art. I am far more technical than artistic but I like being able to understand what goes into the making the art and doing my own for my solo projects. This also gave me a chance to find out what I like by trying it all and finding where my skills lie.
Just want to stress how essential and under appreciated tools programmers are for proprietary tech houses. We had 50 % of our tools team down sized and it was nightmare, leading to crunch on the tech artists.
This did kind of open my eye, thank you for the video. As a full stack developer (unfortunately no c++/c# experience, until now I used only Java for the back ends I wrote), I finally want to continue my career in the gaming industry, although many would say, just pick up c++ or c# since I already am a fully fledged developer and get a developer role as I have a ton of experience with writing software. I feel like I want to go into design, specifically content design and further explore my creative side, maybe QS/QA is indeed a good starting point.
After watching this video I noticed I do more Environmental Art, Level Design, and some Game Design. But I've only ever hear people say my job title is just "Game Design." which is not true. Also like how he talked about different 3D artists. Characters, Environment, VFXs, Items, animations these are all different skills in 3D.
Gameplay Programming - Programming the processes of the game other than graphics. Tools Programming - Building tools that increase efficiency of the team. Network Specialization - Engineer who makes sure online capabilities are functional.
Thank you so much for this! Thos clears up a lot of questions i had about the different roles. Also do you have an info about music composer and narrtive writing for games roles?
I also got started in QA 👌 definitely don’t recommend doing it for career but it’s a great way to get exposure to a lot of the development cycle and the headaches that can come with it.
I've been in programming (Mainly gameplay) for 10 years, never been in a QA role but always been tempted to swap to QA as it seemed like less of a headache though I've heard a lot of bad stories about QA and I know it would be a pay decrease
Hey Jason, I love your videos, great content as always! What about Data Base management, wouldn't that be a role as well? I know it's not on every game, but many multiplayer/online games need to store data about your account. What do you think?
Databases would either be part of tools, systems, or IT, depending on whether you're designing the software to build/use the database, or the one maintaining it.
Thanks so much for making such a detailed video Jason, this brings so much more clarity and helps out a ton! I have a few more questions if you get time to answer them : 1) What is your opinion about writing jobs in the industry, it would seem that Story/dialogue writers are part of the game design group as well. Is there any particularly different way to get into the industry if you want to focus on writing lore and such. 2) Can Modding games lead to getting jobs in the game company? 3) Regarding Solo Game Dev, How difficult is it to switch mindsets if you're the one making the art, coding the game, and then working on design and other aspects as sounds. Are Burnouts and Abandoning Game dev all too common if you follow that route? Thanks so much man!
I can answer some of these: 1 - Narrative design is the job title you're looking for. There are also "writers", who in large teams might be split into character/dialogue vs worldbuilding/lore. Folks I've spoken with seem to mainly build their portfolio as writers first - either in another medium (comics, board/card/tabletop games, literature), or on portfolio projects, similar to other artists. 2 - I've *heard* of a few modders getting jobs, but I'm not sure how much that factored in - seems like the mod itself has to demonstrate a lot of nuts-and-bolts work *and* be very popular in a well-known game community. 3 - Most games never get completed - even in AAA studios, you don't hear about all the ideas that never saw the light of day. I have a day job as a programmer and run my own solo dev company nights/weekends. Going solo means projects take longer to finish/show results, so you might get discouraged or distracted along the way.
Biggest problem with solo dev IMO is that you can't be great at all the necessary ingredients. First task is to identify your own strengths and then figure out what you're gonna do about the rest - whether that's finding a partner, using paid/free assets, or choosing a genre & engine that lets you leverage what you're good at (like a writer making a visual novel with Ren'Py). Once you have a good idea of what you can & can't do yourself, it's a lot easier to focus on the parts that you personally find fun, which helps a lot with the motivation aspect.
I know editing all these clips in can be a pain but I wish you added some clips about the topic you are talking about. For instance a tool example while you are explaining what a tool is would be awesome. Love your content
I’ve wanted to become a game artist for a really long time, I’m good at 2D art but have never been given the opportunity to try 3D art so I don’t know. My issue is that I currently study GCSE computer science and know that I can NOT do any sort of programming , even pseudo code i can’t read it unless it’s stupidly simple, my brain has always been more on the artsy and creative side and when it comes to code I have no clue what I’m doing. My issue is that all game art courses need you to do a section of programming and I’m worried that’s where my downfall will be and because my skills are only really art, it’s not hard to find really good artists who ALSO understand coding. So yes currently rethinking my life decisions and to possibly go into a completely different field of art
Hey Jason, I've been studying audio design for the last few years and have been trying to get into game audio, however, my ultimate goal would be to get into game design. Would you advise getting into game audio first as that is where my demontrable skills are currently and moving over later, or should I put my efforts into developing game design skills and building a portfolio right now? Cheers for the videos by the way, you have so many useful wise words!
Hmm seems like some kind of producer might be best for me. I'd like to have as much control over the vision of the game as possible. What I'm playing in my head is amazing and if I can't bring everything closer to that it would feel like such a waste.
I want to be a game designer, maybe more of a system designer. Do you have any advice on where to start? I live in Ukraine and I suppose that there are not enough courses/conferences/jobs here. So I think I should do it online or maybe if it's important enough and possible I will travel abroad. Also if we are talking about remote work, I think the advice about learning game design while you are working as and transitioning from Producer/QA/CS is less applicable, right? Because of the absence of closeness to other specialists and random encounters with them.
Hi Jason! Question, is it possible to be both a game programmer and game designer? And would having both of those skills(the programming and creative side) result in better pay. Im sure the workload would be doubled too but would it be worth it to be both a game programmer and game designer?
Ty for this video. I have not watched it entirely yet but on the dev side of thing, isnt there also AI programmers ? or is that part of the gameplay programming job
Hey Jason, I have recently been doing research into game design and have found my self rolling through your videos. I had 1 question that I cant seem to find a solid answer on, is a certificate or diploma in game design a good idea (currently looking at CD spectrum) as it is pricey but seems it would give me a ton of knowledge but unsure if it would actually help with finding a job. Thank you :)
Great video! It is really informative for people who are just starting the game dev career. Just one thing, you never mentioned average payment for a junior programmer, just mentioned that it is usually above the other roles. I've got a question also. I've been looking for some positions in big companies and it seems that there aren't many positions for jr. gameplay programmers. Do you think it's a position with less opportunities for inexperienced programmers?
It was a really good and detailed insight to the industry jobs, thank you for sharing it. The Milanote looks promising, I'll definitely give it a try. I've switched to the game development after ten years of other not game related programming/management jobs. When I applying to entry level game dev job, I don't know it's a good or a bad thing, should I highlight that experience or not? What do you think?
Hi, thank you for this quick information of every rol, I have a question for you, I have been programming like eight years as a Front End developer of web and applications and now I feel with a good skills and experience to work in a videogame project, like 2d maybe, I know how to create concept arts and digital illustrations, but I also know how to programming in C# with Unity, so the question is, which of those rols that you explained is the best option to make the transition?
Currently writing this in my first year of university / college studying computer science. I have a while to go but after watching this video I’m certain I want to go into game design. I’ve been learning programming for a while now but I don’t find it entertaining (feel free to disagree, it’s just my preference) however, game design sounds fun. Any advice for people like me to get experience and knowledge in this field?
You don't seem to mention sound or music at all. How are those integrated into the standard game development lifecycle? Or is that generally bought off the shelf by a game designer of some kind?
Music is usually outsourced. In-house composers are pretty much non-existant not just in gamedev but in movie industry and other industries as well. There are composers who specialize in game music and have repeated gigs with some studios but they are usually contracted for a specific job. Voice-over stuff is same. Freelance contractors. Most of audio work is done by sort of jack-of-all-trades sound designers. They source/record/edit/synthesize sfx and may fill in the role of audio engineer, foley artist and implement/script the audio events using the engine or middleware (FMOD, Wwise or some in-house tool). Audio programming jobs are rarer as most teams use off the shelf engines/middleware that cover the basic audio needs. Audio programmers only appear to be in larger teams which roll out their own engines. In large audio is treated as an afterthought. Nobody notices it if it's good, but if it's bad oh boy...
@@一本のうんち ^^ THIS. Confirmed by all the game audio folks I've met or who've given talks. Used to do some sound design as a TV production student. They at least have more appreciation ($$) for the work in TV & movies, so it is definitely worth seeking contracts there as well.
Hey, I am 20 years old trying to get a business degree, but at the same time trying to find what I really want to do. I was curious as to what a creative director does in terms of tasks and responsibilities, are they a part of the creative process of a game, how much influence do they have on a game, and how does one become one.
Another programmer type that a lot of game development companies need is a web developer. That's what I'd go for. And web developer is not just needed for game development companies, but A LOT of non game development companies need web developers too; especially if a person knows SQL, mysql databases. Web development is versatile and I think s GREAT way to get into.the industry. Thus, this is what I would pursue.
Hey Jason, I have 1 question. So...I'm interested in programming and shader development, but I can't decide if I should become a technical artist or graphics programmer. How can I find out which is the right one for me?
what is the best way to learn to specialize in netcode? ive been messing around in unity for a few years now and ive dabbling in photon pun 2 recently but i really want to learn to master netcode but im not sure of any resources or what all id need to learn
Hey, i`ve got a question for anyone, who will be as nice to answer it. So I´ve been creating games for some years now and I´m nearly finished with school. I´ve got very good grades in math and would like to do something with programming, maybe study, because in my country (germany) studying is free. But after that I would really love to create games as a job. I know paying isn´t everything, but on the one hand Jason always tells, that the paying for programmers is good, and on the other, european companies are offering you as far as I have researched it, about 20,000 - 30,000€ a year. And in comparison, a usual programming job pays 50,000-60,000€ at the start. More over it has more free time and no crunch times (as far as I know). Is that correct, or am I missing something here? And are the storys of crunchtimes true, or is that just for a few people in a few companies true? Thank you very much, if you have read this far!
Is it possible to be a programmer and a designer/artist? I want to go into a field that allows me to create, and since I love art and design AND computer sciences, I wanted to know if that would be possible? Can anyone help me understand?
Looks to me that companies nowadays only look for "Senior game programmers, with +3 years in game dev"... I mean Im in programming since 5+ years now, but not in game developement. Seems hard to get in.
People who want to be designers need to know that you are not an "idea guy", just coming up with ideas. There is a lot of really grueling work in design. I was working on creating a text-based multiplayer RPG (a MUD) and I can tell you that I would much, much rather be creating core system code than sitting down in front of a blank Excel document to try to create, name, stat and write descriptions for 400 different swords. Maybe that will excite some people, but I realized pretty quickly game design was not for me. I like coming up with *ideas*. We all do. But that is not really game design.
Bruh. I have almost 4 years of personal Unity experience and only made and published 1 mobile game. Got any tips because you're obviously way above my progress. :( I've been learning a lot of other tech specializations like Web dev instead. (because they kinda pay better after all)
That's quite demotivating to hear... I've started studding Game Development about a year ago and I need to find a job asap. Do you apply for a lot of jobs?
Right now it's hard for anyone entry-level, b/c there are a lot of experienced folks seeking work. But my observation of the game-dev market in general seems to be that they want to know what games you've worked on / teams you've worked with. If you only have personal projects, try making a TH-cam reel of your games, and add that to your LinkedIn and personal site. And bring your game on a laptop or tablet/phone to any interviews - doing that is how I got my current non-game programming job. My would-be boss could literally see a finished app/game that I coded, rather than just scanning over a page of code samples.
start building a few 3d games, get used to the pipeline and tooling around the 3d side of the engine. you can be SR without doing 3d.. as a sr 2d game dev, but you'd really want to broaden your skillset a bit, try 3d, networked, and more a bit too
@@Unity3dCollege Thanks! I'll try to make something simple in 3D. But I've never released a game on my own. On which platform is it better to release a 3D game? I've always created games for the Android / iOS stores.
it's insane how these popular job titles are not properly explained almost anywhere. Your videos are important, definitely helped me and I looked for proper ones that explain the specialties and this was so great
I've been programming for 10 years and still waiting for a computer to do what i tell it to do
I've been programming for nearly 25 years, and I still get excited when the code compiles
i’ve been programming for exactly 47 years and i dont know what unity is
I am already programming for 70 years and still get excited too
I'm eda Lovelace and don't know what programming is 😂
I like how credit start rolling when you start talking about I.T. role XD It is like who give a f about them :D Man that was harsh
His beard is glorious.
THANK YOU! I’m a 1st year game design and production student and it’s difficult to find a comprehensive list/description of the general structure and roles within a game studio, especially within designer/producer roles. Such an informative video! 👏
I'm currently a full stack web developer. I make personal games part time. Even in my full time web dev job I find myself most enjoying tools designing/developing. I've always called it system designing/developing, but I guess I've been calling it by the wrong name.
As always, amazing videos. You make me feel like there is hope out there.
"Often they don't know what they want to do."
I struggled so much with this! I'm a writer/storyteller, a bit of a visual artist, and I am REALLY good at understanding different disciplines, even if it's not my area of expertise, so I'm great for coordinating different mediums. But I feel like there's so much pressure to be a coder and I have to say, programming just doesn't feel right for me. Right off the bat this video is helping me navigate that issue. Great stuff. :)
Writing/Storytelling is a discipline that cannot stand on its own easily in Game Development. That's because of naked text is not very appealing... even for your teammates. There's one sad rule for texts: No one will read them.
As a writer you have to amp up your skill set by another task you can accomplish. The discipline that suits the narrative designer the most is coding. But you don't necessarily have to write your own code. There are plenty of dialogue systems you can use without writing a single line of code, but if you want to customize those tools to fit into your project you have to know how the tool works. It sounds hard, but in fact is very quick and easy to learn.
If you don't have any experience in code whatsoever, I can recommend the unity-tool ink by inkle. It's basically a simplified coding language and works a little bit like those adventure books from the eighties... and you can even write your own text based Zork-like. I started as writer/storyteller and had the same bad feelings about coding... then I wrote my own text adventure by using ink. It's super easy to understand, very intuitive and gives you a glimpse how actual C-based code works. For me it was my the gateway into coding and I like it a lot now. You get a huge chunk of independence if you learn some basic coding.
Game Design is another discipline how you can compliment your writing skills. But it's more or less a pre production task to make sure that the mechanics support the story and vice versa. Coding is important as well, so you can test whether your mechanics are fun at all. For the start: Search TH-cam for interesting code tutorials and build your own mechanics out of it and THEN think of a story that fits into those mechanics. Or to be more general: Work with the tools you find before you start crafting your own unique tools.
The first game I coded, was a pixel art platformer with some story narrated through dialogue... because there are plenty of tutorials for insane controllers.
I used that one: th-cam.com/video/MbWK8bCAU2w/w-d-xo.html
Just open unity and visual studio, watch the series and just mimic the steps he does and you have a finished and working character controller. It's really that easy. I learned how to code a platformer in a weekend, and I started with almost zero knowledge about C#.
It IS a very dry task in the beginning, but if you finally understand how you do stuff, you're basically a deity in your own world.
That's why I highly recommend to give code a chance. Start small, get addicted... and even if you finally find out that coding is really not your thing you at least know how to better communicate with coders.
Game Art/Concept Art is another discipline that can amp up your narrative skills or better it is a work around for the fact, that no-one reads your script... just let your art tell the story. BUT if you want to work in the industry concept artist and writer are rarest jobs you can find. If you don't belong to the Top 100 in the world it's almost impossible to get a job. Those companies that can afford an artist that doesn't do anything else but concept art or a writer that just does writing, can afford the best ppl they can get.
If you don't work for a big company you probably will work interdisciplinary. And to get employed by a big company you most often have to have worked on a shipped title. So as long as you don't start your own company, where you take the role of the lead writer and producer... I highly recommend to be prepared to say good bye to your "writing only" attitude. Don't hope to be the unicorn. Take into consideration that you're just a pony that has yet to become a horse.
So the easiest and quickest way to become a narrative designer is to learn how to write a few lines of code.
Sincerely yours, a guy that once believed to be a unicorn and now hopes to be a horse one day.
You can be a project manager producer then. Cross functional support.
This described me exactly - I’m looking into going into product design in general but the developer role is definitely a lot of pressure on all fronts
@@philippschmitz1787hi, good points. I think now you see alot of indie text/dialogue based games. So I don't think it's impossible. It depends on the audience and whether they like storyline or story-based games that include dialogue. I personally do like reading but I think it depends on personal preference too. Supply and demand.
@@philippschmitz1787thank you
What caught my attention was the lack of music composers or sound engineers.
Music and SFX are easy to buy separately from an artist.
Maybe only in Nintendo (and other huge companies) they hire people for sound/music.
There are plenty of companies who employ audio engineers or sound designers but they're often expected to be able to integrate on their own which is rarely the case, if you have a background in both audio engineering and programming, you can basically get a job anywhere you want
Jason, you have audio clipping twice in the video that is pretty rough. Idk if you mic or cable is struggling. One of them was at 32:58. I don't remember where the other one was. Great video! Love your work
Thank you so much Jason, I am currently doing my degree in computer science and major in software engineering. I always had interest in the game industry but I really didn't know how the team works. I had no idea where to place my self, this in-depth guide really saved me after a lot of searching and by the way I am also a fan of programming :) . I am glad i found my place in the game industry. You earned my sub today. Bless!
Great overview. I find it interesting that some games companies split into teams with at least 1 person from each role. This is usually at bigger companies and games.
Milanote is going to be useful for video game producers for sure. I was hoping to hear good advice on breaking in as an artist. Portfolio is pretty much the answer for any art job for good reason. Your drawing reminds me of the stay puff marshmallow guy from Ghostbusters. :) Environment artist and concept artist almost sound like the same thing just a more narrow field.
Will be starting my college for game design soon , information from this video will be a lot helpful thanks !
I took game design at college and university. This allowed me to try out all aspects of making a game. From programming to art. I know how to do every part of the pipeline and how to optimise it all to be game ready.
However I am looking to specialise in gameplay programming I think. Or if I find that I change my mind it will likely then be technical art. I am far more technical than artistic but I like being able to understand what goes into the making the art and doing my own for my solo projects.
This also gave me a chance to find out what I like by trying it all and finding where my skills lie.
Do you work at a company now??
@@shieru01 No. I finish Uni this year. Then I will hopefully
Great breakdown of game dev industry. By the way, your art skills are better than mine.
Just want to stress how essential and under appreciated tools programmers are for proprietary tech houses. We had 50 % of our tools team down sized and it was nightmare, leading to crunch on the tech artists.
hope you only turn those lights on for recording the content! I can't imagine the waste of electricity/cost of bills otherwise XD
This did kind of open my eye, thank you for the video.
As a full stack developer (unfortunately no c++/c# experience, until now I used only Java for the back ends I wrote), I finally want to continue my career in the gaming industry, although many would say, just pick up c++ or c# since I already am a fully fledged developer and get a developer role as I have a ton of experience with writing software. I feel like I want to go into design, specifically content design and further explore my creative side, maybe QS/QA is indeed a good starting point.
After watching this video I noticed I do more Environmental Art, Level Design, and some Game Design.
But I've only ever hear people say my job title is just "Game Design." which is not true.
Also like how he talked about different 3D artists. Characters, Environment, VFXs, Items, animations these are all different skills in 3D.
Gameplay Programming - Programming the processes of the game other than graphics.
Tools Programming - Building tools that increase efficiency of the team.
Network Specialization - Engineer who makes sure online capabilities are functional.
"8 game dev jobs to choose from - which is right for you?"
Me: Yes.
Thank you so much for this! Thos clears up a lot of questions i had about the different roles. Also do you have an info about music composer and narrtive writing for games roles?
Will you do something like an overview on how to use Milanote or HackNPlan? Or how you are planning your projects with those tools?
Good idea!
Yes !
I also got started in QA 👌 definitely don’t recommend doing it for career but it’s a great way to get exposure to a lot of the development cycle and the headaches that can come with it.
@Owen Cooper did you end up moving into a development position?
I've been in programming (Mainly gameplay) for 10 years, never been in a QA role but always been tempted to swap to QA as it seemed like less of a headache though I've heard a lot of bad stories about QA and I know it would be a pay decrease
I currently work in QA and I'm looking to make the move into programming or design.
Great video Jason, its nice to hear some insight with regards to particular roles within game studios. Appreciate your videos, keep it up!
May i ask how youre not at 1 mil ? Your channel is amazing.
Man this helped me figure out what I actually wanted to do in game development THANKY YOU SO MUCH!!
I love your pfp, that dude is hilarious
Jason can you make a video on how someone should be preparing himself for a Tools developer position.
Hey Jason, I love your videos, great content as always! What about Data Base management, wouldn't that be a role as well? I know it's not on every game, but many multiplayer/online games need to store data about your account. What do you think?
Databases would either be part of tools, systems, or IT, depending on whether you're designing the software to build/use the database, or the one maintaining it.
Thanks so much for making such a detailed video Jason, this brings so much more clarity and helps out a ton!
I have a few more questions if you get time to answer them :
1) What is your opinion about writing jobs in the industry, it would seem that Story/dialogue writers are part of the game design group as well. Is there any particularly different way to get into the industry if you want to focus on writing lore and such.
2) Can Modding games lead to getting jobs in the game company?
3) Regarding Solo Game Dev, How difficult is it to switch mindsets if you're the one making the art, coding the game, and then working on design and other aspects as sounds. Are Burnouts and Abandoning Game dev all too common if you follow that route?
Thanks so much man!
I can answer some of these:
1 - Narrative design is the job title you're looking for. There are also "writers", who in large teams might be split into character/dialogue vs worldbuilding/lore. Folks I've spoken with seem to mainly build their portfolio as writers first - either in another medium (comics, board/card/tabletop games, literature), or on portfolio projects, similar to other artists.
2 - I've *heard* of a few modders getting jobs, but I'm not sure how much that factored in - seems like the mod itself has to demonstrate a lot of nuts-and-bolts work *and* be very popular in a well-known game community.
3 - Most games never get completed - even in AAA studios, you don't hear about all the ideas that never saw the light of day. I have a day job as a programmer and run my own solo dev company nights/weekends. Going solo means projects take longer to finish/show results, so you might get discouraged or distracted along the way.
Biggest problem with solo dev IMO is that you can't be great at all the necessary ingredients. First task is to identify your own strengths and then figure out what you're gonna do about the rest - whether that's finding a partner, using paid/free assets, or choosing a genre & engine that lets you leverage what you're good at (like a writer making a visual novel with Ren'Py).
Once you have a good idea of what you can & can't do yourself, it's a lot easier to focus on the parts that you personally find fun, which helps a lot with the motivation aspect.
I know editing all these clips in can be a pain but I wish you added some clips about the topic you are talking about. For instance a tool example while you are explaining what a tool is would be awesome. Love your content
Working on doing that more in New videos
Good detailed video :)
Glad you liked it!
Sad sound designer noise.
Hahaha, good video ! :)
I’ve wanted to become a game artist for a really long time, I’m good at 2D art but have never been given the opportunity to try 3D art so I don’t know. My issue is that I currently study GCSE computer science and know that I can NOT do any sort of programming , even pseudo code i can’t read it unless it’s stupidly simple, my brain has always been more on the artsy and creative side and when it comes to code I have no clue what I’m doing. My issue is that all game art courses need you to do a section of programming and I’m worried that’s where my downfall will be and because my skills are only really art, it’s not hard to find really good artists who ALSO understand coding. So yes currently rethinking my life decisions and to possibly go into a completely different field of art
You can do it! Learn the basics or focus on becoming the BEST artist ever
Tech art whoot whoot!
Hey Jason, I've been studying audio design for the last few years and have been trying to get into game audio, however, my ultimate goal would be to get into game design. Would you advise getting into game audio first as that is where my demontrable skills are currently and moving over later, or should I put my efforts into developing game design skills and building a portfolio right now?
Cheers for the videos by the way, you have so many useful wise words!
Yeah, he totally forgot game audio / sound design / sound engineering. That's a viable field in and of itself.
Hmm seems like some kind of producer might be best for me. I'd like to have as much control over the vision of the game as possible. What I'm playing in my head is amazing and if I can't bring everything closer to that it would feel like such a waste.
Thanks a lot ❤
milanote would be better if you can add descriptions to things like trello. other than that, it's great!
I want to be a game designer, maybe more of a system designer. Do you have any advice on where to start? I live in Ukraine and I suppose that there are not enough courses/conferences/jobs here. So I think I should do it online or maybe if it's important enough and possible I will travel abroad.
Also if we are talking about remote work, I think the advice about learning game design while you are working as and transitioning from Producer/QA/CS is less applicable, right? Because of the absence of closeness to other specialists and random encounters with them.
Hi Jason! Question, is it possible to be both a game programmer and game designer? And would having both of those skills(the programming and creative side) result in better pay. Im sure the workload would be doubled too but would it be worth it to be both a game programmer and game designer?
Good question! I would like to know as well!
I've been trying to get to the Producer role, but I don't have experience, despíte the training. It seems impossible to break into. Any help?
Shame nothing was mentioned about the audio portion of game development, or does that fall under artist?
Ty for this video. I have not watched it entirely yet but on the dev side of thing, isnt there also AI programmers ? or is that part of the gameplay programming job
Hey Jason, I have recently been doing research into game design and have found my self rolling through your videos. I had 1 question that I cant seem to find a solid answer on, is a certificate or diploma in game design a good idea (currently looking at CD spectrum) as it is pricey but seems it would give me a ton of knowledge but unsure if it would actually help with finding a job.
Thank you :)
Ye dud ikr, i got the same issue. I am in my final year of school and have no idea whats next...
What about musicians and sound designers?
Great video! It is really informative for people who are just starting the game dev career. Just one thing, you never mentioned average payment for a junior programmer, just mentioned that it is usually above the other roles. I've got a question also. I've been looking for some positions in big companies and it seems that there aren't many positions for jr. gameplay programmers. Do you think it's a position with less opportunities for inexperienced programmers?
It was a really good and detailed insight to the industry jobs, thank you for sharing it. The Milanote looks promising, I'll definitely give it a try.
I've switched to the game development after ten years of other not game related programming/management jobs. When I applying to entry level game dev job, I don't know it's a good or a bad thing, should I highlight that experience or not? What do you think?
Is there a significant/consistent difference in payscale between the engineering specialties you listed?
Great video, thanks!
im gonna become a back end server network programmer i think i have good knowledge of socket programming and operating systems
Hi, thank you for this quick information of every rol, I have a question for you, I have been programming like eight years as a Front End developer of web and applications and now I feel with a good skills and experience to work in a videogame project, like 2d maybe, I know how to create concept arts and digital illustrations, but I also know how to programming in C# with Unity, so the question is, which of those rols that you explained is the best option to make the transition?
ha, watched this yesterday. it's a good video!
likewise, lol :)
Glad you enjoyed it!
Hope it was better the 2nd time! :)
this was so helpfull thx sm!!!
psychology behind theaddictive game please explain
Thank you so much for these videos :)
Currently writing this in my first year of university / college studying computer science. I have a while to go but after watching this video I’m certain I want to go into game design. I’ve been learning programming for a while now but I don’t find it entertaining (feel free to disagree, it’s just my preference) however, game design sounds fun. Any advice for people like me to get experience and knowledge in this field?
Soo
Tools programming is sth similar to rpa(robotic process automation) developer in a non game focussed firm?
If your company doesn't have a graphics programmer then the technical artist is It :)
You don't seem to mention sound or music at all. How are those integrated into the standard game development lifecycle? Or is that generally bought off the shelf by a game designer of some kind?
Music is usually outsourced. In-house composers are pretty much non-existant not just in gamedev but in movie industry and other industries as well. There are composers who specialize in game music and have repeated gigs with some studios but they are usually contracted for a specific job.
Voice-over stuff is same. Freelance contractors.
Most of audio work is done by sort of jack-of-all-trades sound designers. They source/record/edit/synthesize sfx and may fill in the role of audio engineer, foley artist and implement/script the audio events using the engine or middleware (FMOD, Wwise or some in-house tool).
Audio programming jobs are rarer as most teams use off the shelf engines/middleware that cover the basic audio needs. Audio programmers only appear to be in larger teams which roll out their own engines.
In large audio is treated as an afterthought. Nobody notices it if it's good, but if it's bad oh boy...
@@一本のうんち ^^ THIS. Confirmed by all the game audio folks I've met or who've given talks. Used to do some sound design as a TV production student. They at least have more appreciation ($$) for the work in TV & movies, so it is definitely worth seeking contracts there as well.
Hey, I am 20 years old trying to get a business degree, but at the same time trying to find what I really want to do. I was curious as to what a creative director does in terms of tasks and responsibilities, are they a part of the creative process of a game, how much influence do they have on a game, and how does one become one.
Sadly, most companies require formal relevant education, ex: BS in CS, or SE.
Wouldn't environmental artist be a good way to switch to level designer since there so closely related? There is very little designing happening.
Another programmer type that a lot of game development companies need is a web developer. That's what I'd go for. And web developer is not just needed for game development companies, but A LOT of non game development companies need web developers too; especially if a person knows SQL, mysql databases. Web development is versatile and I think s GREAT way to get into.the industry. Thus, this is what I would pursue.
Website development & maintenance falls under IT, assuming they don't just contract someone for the initial setup and then use a CMS.
Hey Jason, I have 1 question. So...I'm interested in programming and shader development, but I can't decide if I should become a technical artist or graphics programmer. How can I find out which is the right one for me?
what is the best way to learn to specialize in netcode? ive been messing around in unity for a few years now and ive dabbling in photon pun 2 recently but i really want to learn to master netcode but im not sure of any resources or what all id need to learn
We are hiring across all disciplines
Production (Associate Producers)
Product (Product Managers)
Engineering (SRE, Software Engineers, Staff Engineer)
Marketing (Product Marketing, Community, Brand, Social Media)
Creative (Creative Direction, Technical Artist)
Design (Economy Design)
helpful
What do you say your expertise is when your portfolio has a few games that you made everything for, art/sound/code ect.?
Thank you boss
Hey, i`ve got a question for anyone, who will be as nice to answer it. So I´ve been creating games for some years now and I´m nearly finished with school. I´ve got very good grades in math and would like to do something with programming, maybe study, because in my country (germany) studying is free. But after that I would really love to create games as a job. I know paying isn´t everything, but on the one hand Jason always tells, that the paying for programmers is good, and on the other, european companies are offering you as far as I have researched it, about 20,000 - 30,000€ a year. And in comparison, a usual programming job pays 50,000-60,000€ at the start. More over it has more free time and no crunch times (as far as I know). Is that correct, or am I missing something here? And are the storys of crunchtimes true, or is that just for a few people in a few companies true? Thank you very much, if you have read this far!
Is it possible to be a programmer and a designer/artist? I want to go into a field that allows me to create, and since I love art and design AND computer sciences, I wanted to know if that would be possible? Can anyone help me understand?
It's possible but only in small indie studios. If you want to work for a big game studio you have to specialize in one of these subfields.
Looks to me that companies nowadays only look for "Senior game programmers, with +3 years in game dev"... I mean Im in programming since 5+ years now, but not in game developement. Seems hard to get in.
Any tips on that?
just apply anyways, what companies put for these things are just wish lists
Where does level design fall under?
Content
he said, enviormental artist & level builder
i don't know why but every male veteran unity dev looks exactly like this guy.
Nothing on writers?
Where would I find and hire freelancers?
People who want to be designers need to know that you are not an "idea guy", just coming up with ideas. There is a lot of really grueling work in design. I was working on creating a text-based multiplayer RPG (a MUD) and I can tell you that I would much, much rather be creating core system code than sitting down in front of a blank Excel document to try to create, name, stat and write descriptions for 400 different swords. Maybe that will excite some people, but I realized pretty quickly game design was not for me. I like coming up with *ideas*. We all do. But that is not really game design.
Can't get a job as a Unity programmer with 4 years of personal Unity experience and about 9-10 finished games.
Bruh. I have almost 4 years of personal Unity experience and only made and published 1 mobile game. Got any tips because you're obviously way above my progress. :(
I've been learning a lot of other tech specializations like Web dev instead. (because they kinda pay better after all)
That's quite demotivating to hear... I've started studding Game Development about a year ago and I need to find a job asap. Do you apply for a lot of jobs?
Right now it's hard for anyone entry-level, b/c there are a lot of experienced folks seeking work. But my observation of the game-dev market in general seems to be that they want to know what games you've worked on / teams you've worked with. If you only have personal projects, try making a TH-cam reel of your games, and add that to your LinkedIn and personal site.
And bring your game on a laptop or tablet/phone to any interviews - doing that is how I got my current non-game programming job. My would-be boss could literally see a finished app/game that I coded, rather than just scanning over a page of code samples.
too bad that there is no option to buy Milanote just once, like Clip Studio Paint, etc.
Hey @jason I had a question. Would i be able to learn how to mine cryptocurrency on my computer?
20-year experience in 40 minutes.
why is "unity3D" on the title...
Programming in general: what do I learn first in order to make money online freelancing? What's the quickest route to minimum wage?
I am unity developer for 5 years. I made only 2D games. What should i know to be a senior?
start building a few 3d games, get used to the pipeline and tooling around the 3d side of the engine. you can be SR without doing 3d.. as a sr 2d game dev, but you'd really want to broaden your skillset a bit, try 3d, networked, and more a bit too
@@Unity3dCollege Thanks! I'll try to make something simple in 3D. But I've never released a game on my own. On which platform is it better to release a 3D game? I've always created games for the Android / iOS stores.
@@plexoid You could always release on itch.io for free your 3D games. It's what I have done, although my 3D games are not very good lol
test
Who is this old man trying to teach me stuff?
Ive been programming in unity for 5 days now and Mathf.Atan2; is a vibe
i am stuck between programming and 3d modelling which one is better? I cant try them out as i dont have a strong enough pc