What are the coolest jobs in the gaming industry

Have you ever thought about cashing in all those hours you spent playing video games? Wondered if your experience playing various games could translate into some of the jobs in the gaming industry? Or maybe you have, but you are not sure where to start from.

Since it’s the season of giving, we couldn’t think of a better way of giving back to our youngest community than by telling you that – yes, you could actually play video games for a living! After all, the gaming industry is the fastest growing industry nowadays, which is believed that will reach $300 billion by 2025! 

So, read on gaming enthusiasts. Here are some of the coolest jobs in the gaming industry. So cool, your parents won’t mind you playing games anymore!

Game Designer

Ah, just imagine it. You designing the next Fortnite? Or GTA V? Or wait, the next Minecraft?

They say the video game designer is a dream job of many gamers. But becoming a game designer has more to it than just being a video game enthusiast or having more gaming hours under your belt than you’d like to admit. 

So, what does it take to become a game designer and have a fruitful career?

First of all, you need to have a deep understanding of how video games are constructed. Game designers are not artists who draw and animate the characters, nor they are developers with vast coding skills. Instead, as a game designer, you are in charge of developing the game concept. This includes, but is not limited to developing the storyline, creating characters, environment, style, multiple levels or maps and so more. 

Your main role, as a game designer, is to create a video game that is captivating, develop its characteristics, possible outcomes if it is an open-ended game, and make sure that every aspect is well thought through. During the game creation and development, you need to work with game artists, writers, developers, voice actors, and other members of your team in order to make sure that your game concept has been followed through. 

While most game studios break design job into areas such as mission or quest design, level design and overall game design, bigger studios go further into specialisation. They include designers whose roles are dedicated to combat, balancing, pacing etc.

Our advice on how to get started? 

Read, watch, play. In order to create a game, besides having experience playing video games, you need to be well informed, have a hang of cultural references, historical facts, a good understanding of society and so on. In order to acquire those, make sure you read as much as you can – and not only design or gaming books. Devote some time to movies, watch classics to get some cultural references. 

Play as many different games as you can, and make sure to analyse each one of them. If you do so, after a while you’ll notice what works and what doesn’t. What keeps you glued to your seat, and what makes you bored after completing the first three levels of the game. 

Last but not the least – listen to what gamers have to say. What is that they like, what would they like to see changed, what game they wish existed, and so on. And the best way to do that, aside for interviewing them directly is going to the discussion forums and reading the game reviews there. Take their opinions into account when you develop your game concept. 

Game Artist

At last, drawing characters for a video game, and not just playing it! What a dream! We’ll be right in assuming that you have a pile of sketchbooks with hundreds and hundreds of characters drawn across them. Pull them out at once, you’ll need all the practice you can get to become the video game artist.

What does the game artist actually do? Well, they create characters, environments, props, scenery, objects, textures and so more in 2D and 3D. While you can go analogue and continue drawing on paper, this career is more computer graphic orientated, so make sure to choose an art school or a major that will let you explore this specific part of computer graphics. 

Game artist pertains to several roles that have different responsibilities and techniques such as concept artists, 3D modellers, texture artists, effect artists, lightning artists, environment artists.

Our advice on how to get started?

There’s no way around it: portfolio. Create a strong portfolio where you’ll demonstrate a range of styles and understanding of fundamental principles and techniques of game art. Your best bet would be to have an online portfolio that best presents your strong sides.

If you are into a specific type of game art then we’d advise you to further specialise at the chosen niche. And don’t be shy, mix with the community, you’ll learn more than you think! 

Game Programmer

Let’s say you have a knack for coding, and you can make game designers’ ideas and artists’ drawings and animations come to life, a career as a game programmer might suit you just fine. Well, given that you love playing video games, but that’s taken seeing how you ended up here. 

So, what does a game programmer actually do? Well anything from creating code, editing code, incorporating artwork into the game, enabling online access, creating game menus, and like. 

In other words, your job is to make sure that the characters created and animated are playable and controllable, that maps are accessible, and that game functions as predicted. Also, you’ll be tasked with creating AI that will enable the interaction with non-playable characters as realistic as it can possibly be. 

Our advice on how to get started? 

Well, gaining experience in the field. We advise you to start by getting certified in a specific programming language. Currently, the most popular programming languages for video games are C++, Java, HTML5, CSS3, JavaScript, and SQL. 

That might be too overwhelming to begin with. So where to start from? Start with system programming – learn C++, as this is one of the most commonly used languages. Would you believe that games such as Counter-Strike, World of Warcraft, Starcraft and many more are written in C++?

Writer

Ever wondered whose job is to write those dialogues in video games? Writer’s is the most obvious and true answer. The duty of writers is as complex as any other job on this list. In fact, without the outstanding story, multiple possible outcomes, would games such as Fallout series or Elder Scrolls be as truly amazing as they are? 

It is the writer’s job to add the missing touch once the characters are created. Making characters, engaging, vibrant, and compelling is a must, but the same characters have to react uniquely in diverse situations while staying true to their personalities and the designers’ vision of them. This might seem an easy task at first, but just think about the endless conversations, inputs, messages, and so on that can occur during a game such as Skyrim.

Our advice on how to get started? 

We are inclined to say you need to be a writer in your soul, but for this job, you need to be a gamer through and through. A gamer with a talent for writing. By being an avid gamer, you’ll have a better understanding of gameplay, how interactions work, what’s good and what’s not. 

Also, read as much as you can. Practice writing dialogues, interactive texts and scripts. But don’t refrain from reading other video game scripts, or analysing the same. Seeing what works and what doesn’t will put you at a greater advantage than just being a great writer and game enthusiast. 

Audio Engineer

First question, and we admit, we might be biased on this one. Have you ever played Witcher? If you have, you’ll immediately think of its great soundtrack. That is, if you are into music, incredible sound effects and a prospective career as an audio engineer. 

So what does the audio engineer do? Their job is to deal with the mechanical and technical aspects of sound. That includes anything from recording, mixing, manipulating, or reproducing. Their task is to make sure the ambience is just right. Kinda like when you are strolling through the desert in Fallout: New Vegas and you play the radio to keep you company. Or quite perhaps those amazing tunes in GTA. But the role of the audio engineer is not only limited to the radio, rather, to every sound character makes when running, jumping, opening a can and so on. 

Our advice on how to get started?

We really hope you are into sounds. Not only great music but the sounds we usually don’t even notice – quiet footsteps, creaky floors, gush of the wind and many more. Where to start? Analyse the video games you love playing and those you don’t. What sounds make you feel as if you were part of the game, those you barely even notices, and which sounds called you back to ‘reality’? 

Game Play Tester

First things first, being a game tester might not be as fun as you think. Being a game tester means that you are tasked with the job of taking the notes as you move along the environment. You ought to stop and markdown every glitch in the system that you find. In simpler terms, it means that you need to test what will happen if you deny the very first quest for example, or let’s say if you start beating down the wall with an axe.

So instead of being privileged and be the first one to play the game, you need to be meticulous and note down everything that might seem odd, every glitch and everything that doesn’t work quite right. Are you ready for it?

Our advice on how to get started?

Make sure that you understand basic skills and vocabulary of game testing. Having great analytical skills is a must if you are willing to go down this career path. Learn to how glitch reports are written and how to fix and reproduce bugs. Besides training yourself to be detail orientated, make sure you develop communication skills. 

Professional Gamer

We know you are aware of this dream job, but let’s dive into it nevertheless. Being a professional gamer means playing video games in competitions or for an audience. You’ll either earn money through contracts, sponsorships, live streams through platforms or your own merchandise.

It seems fun, yes, but be aware that you need to practice every day long hours in order to acquire notable gaming skills. Now, we know you are saying ‘yeah, and so what?’ but think about it – playing the same game over and over again? And when we say the same game, we mean the one that audiences prefer. Although we can’t deny it, some games are timeless and quite entertaining. 

We are keeping fingers crossed for you to become the next Coldzera who plays CS:GO or Ninja who plays Fortnite, or quite possibly Doctor Disrespect!

Our advice on how to get started?

Follow these simple or not so simple steps. First things first – choose a game and stick to it. Practice. And by practice we mean be persistent, do the long hours and stay motivated. Choose your gear carefully – it is best advised that the gear should suit you and not the latest trends. Join a community and find a team – this is a must. Finally, enter competitions.

Our parting words

So how about cashing in all those hours you spent playing video games? Recognize how your experience playing games could translate into one of these careers? As we already said, the gaming industry is the fastest growing industry at the moment. Jobs that didn’t exist 10, 15 years ago, now do and are in the process of further specialisation. The possibilities of this industry are endless, therefore, if you can’t imagine spending a day without playing a video game and have affinities towards any of the careers listed above, it’s about time you do something about it.

Whatever you should choose, make sure you enjoy every step of the way. Whether it is your first steps when beginning your career or if you are already half-way through making it happen for you. Be diligent, patient and remember that one of the most competitive but also the fastest growing industry of today is the gaming industry. 

We hope we helped you at least a bit in choosing the coolest job in the gaming industry.