In the world of game development and the game industry, game developers are the stars of the show. Game developers come up with the main code block and edit the game engine to produce what you see in front of your computer monitor or your television screen if you are playing a console. While the job title may look fun and exciting, like any other jobs, game developers face a lot of pressure, sometimes more than the average job. We take a look at the life and times of a game developer.

In the modern age of game development, the sad truth is only 5% of developed games are profitable. While every game developer dreams of developing their own games, most end up working for big-time publishers/developers such as Electronic Arts and Activision. In the 1980s, where classic games like King Kong, Pacman and Mario Brothers ruled the gaming world, a single programmer could develop an entire game on his own. In current large scale games, development teams are set up to handle every core aspect of the game and the game itself could take up to three years to fully develop.

Game developers in the modern sense are usually used in a general context. In a game development company, teams are set up to handle aspects like level design, artificial intelligence, setting up and optimizing the game engine. These teams usually report to a senior game developer who handles the overall production and whether the game is built up to standard and if there is a time constraint, within the time limit.

Game developers also enjoy a lot of freedom at their work place. It is no secret in the gaming industry that game developers have very flexible working hours and usually start working late in the morning. Their dress code for work is also very forgiving; developers usually work in an environment where t-shirts, jeans and sandals are the norm. These extravagances usually come at a price. Game publishers are famous for expecting working builds of the games within a very short period of time. This phenomenon is called ‘crunch time’. While that term is used in many facets of the working industry, in the game development world, it takes a whole new meaning.

Crunch time means working till the late hours of the night and even working throughout the weekends, working as much as a 100-hour week, just to complete a deadline. While this may sound relatively straightforward, gaming schedules are difficult to work with since in a large scale commercial game, teams have to work with one another efficiently for one block of code to work seamlessly with another. This leads to many game developers getting burnout from excessive stress and pressure. While the job title sounds glamorous, its responsibilities can be monumental at times.

Game developers are usually well-paid employees in the industry. However, the salary scheme has come under fire lately. Due to the really flexible hours and the crunch time periods that the developers go through, some companies, while they offer a substantial basic salary, they do not offer overtime pay, hence, developers end up working more hours than they are paid for. This matter is being looked into amongst the major game development studios and they are dedicating more time towards planning and pre-production to ensure a hectic crunch time period does not occur.

Game developers used to be a unique breed of programmers, most of them taught game programming themselves but due to the booming market in the game industry, universities and colleges are offering programs on game development or classes focused on developing games. Schools like Digipen and MIT have even tied down strategic alliances with major game development studios to provide its students with an opportunity to have a job attachment at these companies and hold a job within the game industry once they have graduated.

While the number of game developers are increasing multiple folds with schools offering game development courses, only a small portion of these graduates end up working in the game industry. Unlike other industries in the business, only the very best gets selected to work in one of the leading studios and even then, candidates are usually put through a stiff competition for selection. So, if you are looking to be a game developer, start reading up about the courses offered in schools and have an undying passion for the industry and I am sure you will definitely succeed!