Monday, April 29, 2002		Article

Making a career out of games
Sumesh Raizada

While moving around in a fast food joint, fun park or a casino, one might notice children or people sitting across large display monitors with controls keys in their hand. They are mostly engaged in playing games like motorcar racing, boxing or even gambling. In fact, all these are computer-based games, created by innovative software professionals.

Much before the Internet wave and concept of online games was introduced; professionals were already involved in creating computer games and entertainment programs. These games were meant to operate on video and CD players, PCs or on special playing devices having large digital display and microprocessor-controlled keys. Firms like Microsoft provide games along with its operating systems that get loaded automatically in the hard disk drive. This opens up an exciting career opportunity for innovative, artistic and imaginative programming professionals to create and develop the computer-based games.

While most of the IT careers are highly rewarding in terms of remuneration and perks, games programming are among very few careers, which not only give job satisfaction but also provide ample scope for displaying a person’s creative abilities. Thus a hobby of painting, music, story writing, etc. can be utilised or combined together to create a whole new creative product. A single successful game can make its developer not only popular in the industry but can also bring in enormous wealth. Due to this, many software professionals are now focusing their attention to fulltime games programming job rather then taking it up as a part time.

Games programmer need not be highly qualified say engineers or MCA, but should possess sufficient creative abilities, as the task involve story writing, graphic designing, sound effects, etc. Graduate in discipline like fine arts with programming skills can also make a successful career in this field. Most of the jobs that are offered in the game designing are by the publisher of game CDs / video-cassettes or by the manufacturers of video and computer games hardware devices. There are also many software firms that are specialised in developing game software for different age groups and for varied applications say entertainment or education. These firms also employ games professionals in different functional applications.

Those going in for a career in any of the categories of game developing should pick up a job to suit their personality and capabilities. Based on their strengths, a person can opt for career as game designer, editor, writer, graphic designer, computer programmer, business developer, qa tester, art director, etc. Those opting for a job of editor writer or producer, may not be themselves expert in programming skills, but have to be skilled in strategic planning, story writing, art layout, etc. Programmers are those who write programs based on a particular story and must possess innovative and creative skills. Game companies employ programmers to make Websites, game installers and other related software besides preparing a game.

A designer job requires lot of research and study on the part of an individual, who has to be conversant with facts about nature, science and history. They are required to interact with people from other functional groups and disciplines to generate ideas and get a feedback. The lead designers are those having experience of few years in relevant field and possess required managerial skills. The producers are individuals who manage the process of game designing. They create and maintain the production schedules, finance budget and coordinate functions like licensing, marketing, etc. A director on the other hand is involved in the actual production of a game and manages the creative team. Professionals involved in the graphics are required to develop graphics for games, promotional packages and Websites. Then there are sound professionals who create and record background effects, music and voices to suit a particular game. They work in close coordination with games programmer and delivers sound effects as desired.

Creating game is not sufficient unless it sells and put to commercial utilisation. The role of marketing personnel therefore is quite critical in the computer game industry. They are involved in publicity, sales promotion, advertisement and brand image building of a product. Hardware engineer design and build prototypes for the devices to suit a particular game for the manufacturing companies. They also undertake repairs and maintenance of the equipment that are under operation. Those responsible for voice dialogue and on-screen script needs to possess sufficient creative writing skills. These people also prepare writing instruction manuals and the copy for advertisement of a particular game.

There are number of software developing firms that make software under contract for publishers. These firms do not make investment on distribution or marketing of a game. Software publishers on the other hand, make heavy investment on buying or developing a Game and then marketing it to the prospective customers. The game professionals therefore have sufficient scope for these professionals. Hardware manufacturers of console games as well as arcade games also provide job potential for the game professionals. Some of the companies where one can find ample scope are Sony, Nintendo, Microsoft etc.

Further, hardware manufacturers of gambling machines, toy manufacturers or video game devices offers employment opportunity for the professionals not only in the development, but also maintenance of the system. Programmers, graphic designers and hardware engineers all have sufficient scope in these firms. Hardware manufacturers of handheld computer and video games employ chip designers and programmer for developing games on their devices. Developers and inventors also work as freelancers or consultants and provide services related to graphics, QA testing, programming, etc.

Game designer working for the game publishing companies are responsible for designing multimedia video games. The task may include creating storyboards and product specifications, developing and implementing QA testing methods, etc. Game Testers are required to perform quality assurance testing of a game and thus play an extremely vital role in its success. They have to be computer literate and must be able to handle and install joysticks, drivers and operating systems. They have to be excellent communicators as their task is to find possible errors in the game code and to explain the same to programmers.

Salaries earned by game professionals vary widely depending upon the task performed. In Western countries an entry-level game designer may start at around $ 20,000 per annum while experienced designers may earn around $ 60,000. Besides, they may also earn royalties from the game publishers.

As technology and medium are changing, more sophisticated games are being developed. The role and demand for skilled game designers to suit the technology is also growing accordingly. However, the basic attributes that are essentially required for any designing job are, imagination to create and write dramatically besides computer programming skills. Proficiency in C or C++ is must for games programming. In addition a person should be adept in Adobe Illustrator, Photoshop, 3D Studio Max, Window games programming, etc.

Unlike earlier days when game designers were mostly software professionals, now a person from any disciple of education with knowledge of programming can try his destiny in game designing career. They may be trained in science, history, drawing, music, writing, literature, acting, sports, etc. This is useful as game designers while creating a virtual playground or battlefields must be thoroughly aware of rules or facts about the game.

Nowadays with the growth in IT sector, a number of hardware as well as software for varied game applications are being developed. Also, there are several Websites that offer online games or provide link to them. The games industry is therefore turning out to be among the fastest growing industries and offers numerous career options to game professionals.