Here’s What You Need to Know to Be a Good Game Developer

Video games have come far from being just a pastime enjoyed by children and teenagers. The establishment of e-sports and the massive support and fan-base that march along whole dictates that video games are now considered to be a serious matter. From competitive gaming to the very roots of producing a game, video games are evolving far faster than we can imagine. In concurrence of making games that can contribute to their evolution, game developers hold the very key that can do it. 

In essence and in the public’s eye, being a game developer means that you can in direct contact of the development and production of a game. Be it on the platform of consoles, the PC, or mobile, developing a game is more than just knowing what games are and how they are made. However, in order for you to at least be a good a developer, you need to love games—really, really love games. What is meant by loving games is not just the love to play the games, you also have to understand them. To really look between the lines and through every bush so that you can break down every single aspect of a video game down to its cores. By doing so, you are able to further analyze, decipher, and determine what grade and quality a game truly is. Now, game developers are at the core of making sure games are without flaws and meet all the expectations put forward. 

What it means to be a game developer is to understand that you make and control the strings of games—in which frankly, without game developers, there wouldn’t be any games. This article aims to educate what it means to be a good game developer and how to it. 

Know the Code, Love the Code, Be the Code 

Let’s start things off with talking about the elephant in the room; coding and programming. When talking about the people who develop games, they are not the ones with the ideas—well, mostly. A game developer in an individual with professional specializations in conceiving and delivering games. If ever a game developer does come up with an idea for a game, it would only rack up between 1-5% of whole ordeal. If you are developing your own game as an amateur, you’d likely be thinking that you should start with C++ because it’s what all the pros are using. Well, that’s the thing, isn’t it? The pros use it. When considering a fresh start, have your choice between LUA, Python, and Ruby. Python has a very reliable game development community and it’s the ideal coding and programming language to start with. As you get better with these starters, you can progress to more advanced languages and you’ll be a master game developer in no time for sure! Also, check out the most demanded programming languages that you can learn. 

Furthermore, coding and programming demands more than just the knowledge of a coding language. You need to keep bettering yourself along with making contact with other coders and programmers for tips and shortcuts so that you can always be on top of the game. 

Jack of All Trades, King of All of Them Too 

One of the best advices that be given to game developers is that the more game development roles you can fulfill, the better. Multi-skilled programmers are basically goldmines waiting to be discovered and harnessed for what they’re worth—for being jack of all trades is one thing but the demand of one to be king for all of those trades is too strong to settle being “just good enough” with what you can do as a game developer.  

Here’s a list of all the jobs a game developer can do: 

Here’s the most important task a developer can (must) have. Programmers take all the unrealistic expectations and find leeways in exceeding them. If it weren’t for the existence of programmers, a game can never be made. 

Of course, it’s cool to see all the matrix-style lines of code being typed out on a computer screen but it’s only to an extent. Modern games today fancy both structure and design. As such, if you are also able to animate and design the workarounds of your code lines, then it’d be a great plus. Look at the best-looking modern games to-date. 

At most times, music scores behind everything from movies to video games play a pivotal role in enriching the overall experience. In addition of sound effects and voice-acting, the music and audio enrichment of a game are important, so if a game developer knows how to put together a brilliant music score behind his games, it’d be saving much of the production time. Check out all the best video game soundtracks here. 

A game producer can be broken down in explanation as an overseer of a game’s development—making sure all cranks are turning and doing their jobs. They acquire resources, give orders, and give out paychecks. 

As both the alpha and beta testers, play-testers search and hunt down bugs while fulfilling all points of playability of a game. This can be done by a developer himself to save on both cost and time. 

If you ever see a guy in a suit and blowing cigar smoke into other people’s faces, then that’s the publisher. He’s the kind of guy who tells you that he deserves 90% of the profits because of all the risks he takes. If you ever have the chance to be this guy, don’t be this guy. Be a good publisher. 

Some people work best alone—while others strive on the need of others. Both work differently and similarly in certain aspects. A Lone Wolf may have all the control of his project but won’t have the backup he would need when the time comes and A Wolf Pack go end in disaster if every wolf starts biting each other’s head off. 

The feeling of being able to create life out of basically an idea is absolutely empowering. To sometimes feel godlike in the idea that you are creating a world where everything in it lives and breathes is evident in every individual with a role in the production of a game. Being a game developer means more than just putting lines of codes into a program. You need to have knowledge on history, literature, arts, mathematics, and media studies in order to fully deliver what it means to develop a living, breathing game. The best way to be a good game developer is to start small and make your way into the big leagues by coding and programming mobile and flash games. So, pick your coding and programming language and start working on small projects like these!