A game developer (Gamedev) is a specialist responsible for creating program code and rendering the game. Usually there is a team involved in game development – project managers, artists, game designers, testers, sound designers, copywriters and many others. A game developer is in charge of programming visual effects and animations, “animating” characters and monsters, making the interface, managing the game’s performance, etc.

A Gamedev, who develops games by himself, should be even more universal and, apart from the basic skills, be able to create a concept and design a game by himself, know the basics of law and understand the procedure for obtaining a patent on the finished project.

The profession of game developer is especially in demand in the sphere of online games and is one of the most gaining popularity on the labor market. Independent game developers make mostly mobile games and small indie projects.

The duties of a game developer usually include:

  • Developing the client part of the game project;
  • development of general game logic and client-server interaction;
  • ordering creatives with subsequent testing and optimization;
  • event architecture development;
  • UI layout using layouts received from designers;
  • creating characters, buildings, and other content for games;
  • database design;
  • evaluating the project performance, performing optimization.
  • What a game developer does

A nice bonus is that developers often have to play games. So if you’re a gamer, you’ll love this industry.

Additional responsibilities may include:

  • Determining the art style of a project;
  • integration of third-party SDKs;
  • attracting users to the game, working with advertising networks and communities;
  • analyzing user behavior, actions to keep people in the game;
  • setting up product analytics tools;
  • running A/B testing;
  • preparing analytical reports;
  • Monitoring and moderation of comments on the App Store and Google Play;
  • Maintaining game profiles in social networks (writing posts, running contests, etc.).

Basic requirements for a game developer:

Knowledge of the game market, experience as a gamer;
Understanding of OOP fundamentals;
Excellent knowledge of HTML5, CSS3, TypeScript and JavaScript ES6;
knowledge of relational databases and SQL;
Experience in game testing (functional and regression testing);
Knowledge of Unity, Jira and Confluence;
ability to test on mobile devices;
skills of working with shaders (programs for running processes on the video card);
knowledge of Git;
good knowledge of mathematics.

Occasionally professionals are required to:

good knowledge of C# language;
ability to develop autotests and knowledge of Selenium/Appium;
An understanding of the principles of social networks and creating games for them;
layout skills for adaptive interfaces in uGUI;
Knowledge of Vue.js framework;
work experience with 3D editors;
Experience of commercial development in Node.js using ES6 standards.

How to become a game developer
You can also become a game developer by independently studying the thematic material on the Internet and using free video tutorials with step-by-step instructions. For example, you can find regular mini-courses on the Internet in the style of “make your first game in Unity. Such mini-courses are an excellent first step and a test of a new business.

To enter the profession you only need to know the engine (in most cases Unity is used) and the ability to write code (in the case of Unity you will need C#). The best option for the newcomer is an internship at a large company with the prospect of growth. Training projects or open source projects are also good for a portfolio. The portfolio can also contain your own projects: it is not the presentation that matters, but the workability. As you gain experience and master related technologies, you can count on further career growth.

Knowledge of the Unity engine and the C# language will allow you to quickly start your career in the game industry.

Career Advancement
As your skills grow, Junior is promoted to Middle, and then to Senior. You can develop vertically (Team Lead, architect) or in more specialized ways (gameplay, engine, animation, DevOps, UI, backend). The game development profession often transforms into a game designer or product manager. Career specialization depends on personal qualities, so the dynamics of growth are individual. It takes 3-5 years to make your way from an intern to a Team/Tech Lead.