As we all know, there’s major science and brainpower required to come up with the concept of a game and develop it from start to finish. It isn’t just a simple easy way to make money. There’s plenty of complex and challenging aspects to starting your career in gaming and a lot of them involve a pretty good understanding of coding and fixing bugs.
Getting yourself prepared for a career in gaming takes a lot of work and study, as well as a lot of patience. We’ve listed a few tips that might help you kick-start your career in game development below.
Developing Games Is Legit
If you’re in high school or have graduated and are thinking of a career in game development, you might feel like its too good to be true. You might have parents and friends who think that a career in game development isn’t even a real thing. Then you might be having some second thoughts, but don’t worry! A career in gaming and game development is certainly legitimate. Who else do you think makes all the games that keep the gaming industry running?
Around the world, a career in gaming is becoming more and more real and common. More than 150 million Americans play video games.
Build Your Industry Knowledge
Now with the legitimacy of game development out of the way, there are a few things you should do to build your knowledge of the industry and understand how each role works. This will ensure you know what you’ll be doing and whether you’ll be good at it or not.
If you’re still in high school then you’re likely to have a lot of free time after school and on weekends if you don’t have a part-time job. So, using this time to tinker around on the computer and having some fun developing your own games is certainly recommended. This way, you’ll learn whether you’re good at the process or not and if you like doing it.
Start As A Hobby
Unlike a lot of other industries, in game development, it’s fine to be self-taught. Most game development teams behind some of the biggest games available were self-taught, and that’s great news for those looking to start their careers in game development.
Enrolling yourself in online programs or just learning from scratch on your own are both great ways to show you’ve taken the initiative to learn to code and develop games, and it also means you’ll have some industry knowledge and experience to showcase to a future employer, making you more likely to be accepted into an entry-level position or internship.
Try For An Internship
If you’ve developed your skill set, you’re ready to start moving forward with your career in game development. Looking for an internship or part-time job is a great place to start.
If you have spent time in honing your natural skills and want to develop them further, then a studio is far more likely to give you a chance to help move their business forward. Now, this could be with a part-time or an intern position. Don’t turn down the opportunity if it’s an unpaid internship, as these will offer you a great experience which you won’t be able to get elsewhere.
Finally, the most important part of getting to your dream career in game development – you have to be willing to compromise your time to learn a lot of information in the beginning. Coding and other software-based careers are difficult in the beginning because you have to get the basics down. But once you’ve done that, you’ll be far better off and ready to move forward in the industry.