![\"Game-development-101-Exploring-a-career-in-the-gaming-industry\"](\"https:\/\/internshala.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/Game-development-101-Exploring-a-career-in-the-gaming-industry-661x372.jpg\")
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Imagine you\u2019re surrounded by\u00a0Spartans<\/em> and warthogs<\/em>, leading them to a brutal war against an enemy that threatens an entire galaxy. You wander through danger\u00a0canyons and death islands to thwart Prometheans<\/em> from making Earth their next conquest.\u00a0Thrilling, isn\u2019t it? But do you know what\u2019s more electrifying than having a combat night with your friends? Making your own Halo<\/em> (or Mario<\/em> – let\u2019s not get too ambitious already!)<\/span><\/p>\n What is game development?<\/strong><\/span> To join the force, you must speak the language of the clan! And Lara Croft<\/em> herself has come to your rescue! She has enlisted some of the common terms used in her gaming castle!<\/span> Wondering what this game engine is? Well, it\u2019s the architecture that developers use to run their game. It enables them to add scripting, sound, physics engine, artificial intelligence, location support, graphics, etc. To put it simply, a game engine is a framework that facilitates different tasks required to write a game. These tasks include drawing menus and text on the screen, <\/span>organising the sprites – images displayed on the screen, using elements of physics to show collision or gravitational pulls, etc.<\/span><\/p>\n Here are some of the most commonly used game development engines –<\/span> 2. Unity<\/strong> – While Unreal is more popular with\u00a0<\/span>console and PC games, Unity has an edge in mobile games. With games like Pokemon GO, Super Mario Run, Angry Birds 2, and Ghost of a tale under its belt, it is at the forefront of the virtual reality market.<\/span><\/p>\n 3. Cocos2d-x<\/strong> – It is an open source game framework written in C++, with Lua and JavaScript bindings included. Widely used to make apps and other cross-platform GUI based interactive programs, the spotlight falls on Cocos2d-x\u2019s ability to create games that can be deployed across various platforms like Android, iOS, Windows, Mac, Linux, etc.<\/span><\/p>\n Do I need to be a coder to make games?<\/strong><\/span> Which programming languages should I learn?<\/strong><\/span> 1. C#<\/strong> – C# is widely used to create games using Unity. When we talk about game dev, it is of utmost importance to consider game response in real time, and C# provides much faster compilation than other languages. Owing to its XNA framework, C# is particularly suitable for games on Xbox and Windows.<\/span><\/p>\n 2. C++<\/strong> – Fun fact: Grand Theft Auto, Dark Souls, and Snake Eater were designed using C++.<\/em><\/span> 3. Java<\/strong> – Java supports multithreading and sockets which make it a good choice for game development. Multithreading allows less memory usage while sockets enable building multiplayer games. Java also runs on a virtual machine which makes it easier to distribute the game.<\/span><\/p>\n 4. Python<\/strong> – Played EVE Online and Pirates of the Caribbean? Guess what was used to build them? Yes, the new-favorite Python! Python allows you to make awesome games owing to PyGame, Pyglet, and PyOgre. It has an open source module called PyGame library especially for developing games. PyGame is highly portable and it is claimed that even kids can make games with PyGame – it\u2019s that easy! Also, Python games are faster than the ones designed in JavaScript because they\u2019re compiled to bytecode.<\/span><\/p>\n Oh, I forgot to ask, why should I go for game development anyway?<\/strong><\/span> The career prospects can be better understood once you know the stages that are involved in game development. The stages are broadly <\/span>categorised into four parts.<\/span> And once you become a game developer – you could always make the unique game no one has\u00a0ever\u00a0thought of building!<\/span><\/p>\n Are there any professional courses in game development?<\/strong><\/span> How to get started?<\/strong><\/span> 1. A gamer forever<\/strong> – Don\u2019t worry, you don\u2019t need to be a pro at hundreds of games. All you need to do is play a lot of them! An exposure to <\/span>various web, mobile, and console games would be your window to <\/span>analyse different gaming environments and <\/span>realise the improvements that can be made in a game.<\/span><\/p>\n 2. Exploring the isles<\/strong> – To quote Neil Gaiman, \u201cMost of us find our own voices only after we have sounded like a lot of other people.<\/em>\u201d So, pick a game that\u2019s easy and small like Flappy Bird and recreate it with the help of tutorials. Throughout this trajectory, you\u2019ll discover new components of game dev, learn your way around a particular editor, and pick up a few coding skills too. Quick tip<\/em> – try your hand at games made in different editors!<\/span><\/p>\n 3.\u00a0Evolution of dark souls<\/strong>– Once you\u2019ve developed a few simple games, you are all set to make one on your own (without any help from those tutorials). Pick a game of your choice and develop it – your console, your code!<\/span><\/p>\n 4. Assassins crave the hunt<\/strong> – Take up a job! Do a freelancing project or an internship. Destroy the obstacle called lack of skills with a range of hands-on experiences and real-time projects.<\/span><\/p>\n If you’re already familiar with the technicalities of game development and have got your hands dirty on some editors, you can apply to these<\/span> game development internships<\/a> and create some art.<\/span><\/p>\n Picture credits: Autodesk, pinterest.com<\/em><\/p>\n <\/p>\n
\nBefore we discover what game development is, let’s clear a common confusion already – game design is different from game development; in fact, it is just a part (though an important one) of game development. Game design involves envisioning the overall design of a game – its characters, levels, rules, environment, etc. whereas game development is putting forth an awe-inspiring sketch and layouts and converting the ideas and visions into an actual game, i.e. developing a game from conception and design to coding and public release!<\/span><\/p>\n
\n1. Assets<\/strong> – Models, sound effects, animations – anything that is created in an external software like Photoshop, 3D Max, etc. is an asset.<\/span>
\n2. Optimization<\/strong> – Optimization refers to the process of reducing memory usage of your assets.<\/span>
\n3. Middleware<\/strong> – Most of the console programming and game programming is done against third-party tools called middleware. It is a software that adds features and functionalities to make game development easier.<\/span>
\n4.\u00a0HUD<\/strong> – The Heads Up Display is what is displayed on the screen when you\u2019re playing a game. For instance, in Grand Theft Auto, you see a map and a radar, ammo, money, wanted level, weapon and player stats – all these elements constitute HUD.<\/span>
\n5. Viewport<\/strong> – Viewports are where you design and arrange gaming environments. These are your windows into the worlds you create in a game engine.<\/span><\/p>\n
\n1. Unreal<\/strong> – Powering some of the most stunning games like Gears of War and Batman: Arkham Asylum in existence, Unreal is extremely popular\u00a0for developing\u00a0high-end triple-A titles, which means that it is one of the best engines if you\u2019re working on a large game and you need a strong 3D game engine.<\/span><\/p>\n
\nYes and no! Game development requires much more than just coding. At the risk of sounding cheesy, I would say developing a game is nothing short of an art! More than just hogging a few programming languages, an artistic bent of mind is what the industry asks for. The title of a game developer is a broad term which includes various specializations in itself. These include game designers, engineers, game artists, game programmers, editors, and quality assurance testers. Game development is a strikingly competitive field and thus, to stay ahead of the game, you\u2019ll need a sound knowledge of designing, programming, fine arts, software development, and framing.<\/span><\/p>\n
\nWith the emergence of Python as an open source software, leaving behind the snakeskin of long codes, the newbie charmers may believe that it\u2019s the only language for designing games. However, to spill antivenom on your thoughts, here is a list of other languages that are also commonly used for game dev.<\/span><\/p>\n
\nAre you also shocked?\u00a0Well, C++ is still the preferred choice for game developers for a variety of reasons\u00a0like\u00a0its object-oriented nature and portability, that is you can roll out a game written in C++ on multiple platforms. C++ enables shorter development times with easy debugging and compiles to a binary executable file. It also allows more direct control over hardware and graphical processes.<\/span><\/p>\n
\nWell, why shouldn\u2019t you? You spend half of your time playing Call of Duty and other half playing FIFA anyway. If you still need more incentives, it is one of the highest paying career opportunities. A Google – KPMG report states that the online gaming industry in India will grow from $360 Million to $1 Billion by 2021. You will have a variety of career prospects to choose from, viz. game developers, designers, artists, programmers, network programmer, game writers, sound engineers, game testers, and many more.<\/span><\/p>\n
\n1. Conceptualisation<\/strong> – The first step is to envision what the game is going to be – its UI, characters, levels, ammunition, etc.<\/span>
\n2. Art<\/strong> – The next step would be to put your vision into a picture – creating assets and user interface for a game is what game artists do.<\/span>
\n3. Coding<\/strong> – Let\u2019s call it bringing the game to life. The tech folks write codes to determine how a player interacts with a game.<\/span>
\n4. Testing<\/strong> – This is where your QAs and beta testers test a creation to see what works and what doesn\u2019t. They hunt the bugs and make recommendations based on the analyses.<\/span>
\n5. Distribution<\/strong> – Now that the game is ready to set the world on fire, we need to get it out to the gamers.<\/span><\/p>\n![\"Game-development-101-Exploring-a-career-in-the-gaming-industry-game-process\"](\"https:\/\/internshala.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/Game-development-101-Exploring-a-career-in-the-gaming-industry-game-process.jpg\")
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\nOf course, yes!<\/span>
\n1.<\/span> Asian Institute of Gaming and Animation,<\/a>\u00a0Global Institute of Gaming and Animation<\/a>,\u00a0Eden Animation & Gaming Academy<\/a>,\u00a0IIFA Multimedia (Institute for Interior Fashion and Animation)<\/a>, and<\/span>\u00a0DSK Supinfogame<\/a>\u00a0offer professional courses in gaming.\u00a0<\/span>
\n2. Learn to build<\/span> 2D and 3D games using Unity<\/a> via online tutorials.<\/span>
\n3. Internshala Trainings provide an online training in<\/span> Python programming<\/a> wherein you learn to build a fantasy cricket game.<\/span><\/p>\n
\nSo you are in college and you wish to adapt to the unfamiliar Norse lands? Well, I am no Thor but I can strike out that lightning bolt and take you to the Asgard where\u00a0gamers\u00a0rule!<\/span><\/p>\n