Are you passionate about gaming and would like to build your career in this growing industry?
A career in gaming may have once seemed like a pipe dream but the gaming industry has transformed massively over the last 20 years. There’s now a plethora of jobs in gaming which can offer not only a fun and enjoyable career – but also a financially rewarding one too.
Once considered a niche industry, full of hobbyists or those who didn’t want to “grow up” is now a mainstream multibillion dollar industry with demand for highly skilled and talented professionals. As the industry grows, so does the number of qualified applicants hoping to break in.
So if you want to stand out from the crowd, you must put in the time and dedication to perfect your craft – whether that’s engineering, programming, art, sound or writing.
So, let’s take a look at what jobs are there in the gaming industry? As there are many stages to game development – there are many.
What Careers Can You Get in Gaming?
1. Game Artist
If you have an artistic flair and a passion for games, a career as a games artist could be the perfect fit for you. As a game artist, you will be using your creative skills and imagination to develop all of the visual elements of a game. This could be anything from the characters and the scenery, down to the texture of surfaces. There is a wide variety of disciplines even within the video game artist career path to further specialise within the field. Think 2D artists, 3D artists and concept/storyboard artists to name but a few. (In general careers in digital art is a growing industry)
2. Animator
While the game artist creates the initial designs and concepts; the animator’s role is to breathe life into these objects. Through creating the movements of the characters or other elements within the game -animators add the personality, emotion and realism to the games that we all know and love. The ability to bring video games to life visually with the use of specialist software is a hugely important part of the game development process.
3. Game Developer
As a game developer, it’s your job to turn the game designers’ vision into a fully playable and controllable game. This is the more technical side to game design that often has two areas of speciality: Software Development and Computer Programming. Software developers design the software that allows the game to function as the designer has envisioned. While programmers use programming languages and problem solving skills to write the code which turns the designers concept into instructions which video game systems can read. Both are essential to creating the finished product of the game. And both are highly sought-after roles. This is because the role is both extremely rewarding – especially if you grew up on video games and now you get to spend your career bringing them to life – but also financially lucrative.
4. Game Designer
Are you always coming up with ideas for fun game storylines you wish you could see on your games console? Well then this might be just the job for you! The game designer is responsible for coming up with concepts which will eventually become games. Let’s take for example “The Last of Us”, somewhere along the lines this was simply an idea of a story, and someone was able to think into existence not only the plot but also the characters, the missions, the look and feel and most importantly, the why behind playing it.
This would be a hugely rewarding career path for the storytellers out there – as you get to be a part of the game development process from start to finish. Working alongside talented people in all areas of the industry ultimately bringing your own stories to life – which then get to be played and enjoyed by the world.
5. Audio Engineer
Games are hugely popular because they are an immersive experience. A major part of the game play experience is what you hear and when you hear it. These decisions are all made by the audio engineers that specialise in working in the gaming industry. They decide and create the soundtrack to the game which has a massive impact on the tone and emotion being communicated in each scene. Not only is this in reference to the music being played – whether that includes original music or the latest hits – but also the sound effects from footsteps to gun shots to the weather. The audio engineer works to add layers of sound to the gameplay which makes it a more exciting adding mood, tempo and emotional depth. So if you fancy yourself a bit of a maestro when it comes to communicating emotions through sound – this could be the career for you!
6. Writer
Game Writers work closely with the game developer in turning their game concepts into fully planned out and scripted stories. While the game developer creates the concept of the monster and the artist creates the look of the monster – It’s the game writer that gives the monster its name and its backstory for how it became a monster and why it needs to be defeated. It’s the game writers job to fully develop the rich storyline that the entire game is developed upon and arguably one of the most important elements of a game. After all it is often the characters and the story behind a game that leads it to become a beloved fan favourite and develop a following in the highly competitive industry.
How to Get into the Gaming Industry
Now that we’ve looked at some of the exciting careers within the gaming industry – you may be wondering “what should I study if I like gaming?”. Well as you can see there is wide selection of disciplines that will allow you to work in the gaming industry. Whether you’re a creative type or technical thinker you can find the right path for you. Just remember you need to build up your skills to be able to develop your passion for games into a career.
Here at Pulse College, we have a selection of courses that can help you do just that!
BA (HONS) in Creative Technologies & Digital Art
This is a three-year blended learning programme which develops learners’ competencies with the tools essential to multimedia development. With a focus on studio training and practical work graduates of this programme emerge industry ready and equipped with a portfolio of work to hit the ground running.
Faculty: Games
Duration: 3 Years
Start Date: September 2022
Click Here for More Info or To Apply Now!
Diploma In Game Development
This is a one-year blended learning course that aims to equip students with all the technical skills they may need to develop every aspect of a single player game.
Faculty: Games
Duration: 1 Year
Start Date: September 2022
Click Here for More Info or To Apply Now!
Narrative Design for Video Games
This is a fully online course which will cover the theory and software skills needed to develop your narrative ideas into engaging and branching stories using thew unique characteristics of video games.
Faculty: Games
Duration: 10 Weeks
Click Here for More Info or To Apply Now!
Diploma In Audio & Music Technology
This is a new programme aimed at aspiring producers or audio engineers which provides greater flexibility for learning online. Learn the inner workings of essential audio software as well as the theory behind the concepts.
Faculty: Audio
Duration: 1 Year
Start Date: September 2022
Click Here for More Info or To Apply Now!
Ba Degree in Animation
Taught and developed by practising industry professionals this course covers the full range of topics under this discipline. From 3D modelling to animation for video games. A core aspect of this course is to produce a portfolio of work which will help you in breaking into the highly dynamic animation industry.
Faculty: Animation
Duration: 3 Years
Start Date: September 2022
Click Here for More Info or To Apply Now!
Final Words on Careers in Gaming
It’s safe to say the gaming world is no longer a niche industry that is not to be written off as a hobby. There are many avenues of success you can start working towards today if you want to turn your love for gaming into a career. So don’t hold back and start taking the steps towards your dream career. After all if gaming is your career well then spending your free time gaming is simply market research… so enjoy it care free!
If you are interested in any of our game, audio or animation based courses, then please get in touch with us.