Game Development - Video Game Programming
Game development can produce virtually any type of game, but is mainly concerned today with creating video games.
Developers can be individuals, small groups of specialists or large companies. Company teams who specialize in computer or console games create large-scale commercial games such as PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and Wii. Team members include producers who oversee production, one or more game designers, artists, programmers, level designers sound engineers and testers. A new game can cost anywhere from $1-million to $20-million or more to complete. Funding is normally provided by a publisher, and a major game can take up to three years to develop. Game development is a fast-growing, dynamic field that offers very-significant profit potential.
Game development is fertile territory for outsourcers and freelance providers
In order to control overhead, many game development publishers elect to buy the talent and expertise they need from freelance providers. The providers can be highly experienced individuals or small teams (called Indie developers for ‘independent’) that have come together in business to offer a full-range of game development services and expertise. Indie teams have been known to develop a complete game on their own and then offer it as a finished product to publishers. There are websites today where outsource buyers can post game development projects and providers can bid on them. The buyers can post a project for the complete development process, but generally request just a part or two at a time because different talents are required for different areas of development.
What are game development assets?
Game development assets are the things that are necessary for the game. Typically this includes artwork, textures & 3-D models; sound effects and music; dialogue, text and virtually anything else that goes to the user. Developing these assets requires better-than-average expertise in graphic design, copywriting, programming, etc. Some games assets are available in finished form such as Gamebryo and RenderWare middleware game engines which would take a great deal of time to develop from scratch. The more assets a new game requires, the longer the total production process takes.
How are computer games programmed?
Game programming involves vectors, collision detection, mathematics and an endless supply of strong coffee or tea. It is a time-consuming activity that is often frustrating. Programmers, however, insist that it is fun above all else. Basically, game programming combines your school studies with a working knowledge of programming languages such as C/C++, 3-D mathematics plus artificial intelligence and some physics skills. It is not for the faint hearted. This is one reason why experienced game programmers will find a good amount of well-paying programming projects from outsource buyers of programming services.
Game development is a volatile field
The field of game development is volatile and unpredictable from an employment perspective. This is in part due to the fact that only about 5% of all the games developed ever make any real money. Be this as it may, there are always new publishers who hope that the next big success will be theirs. Keep your eyes on the Internet websites where these projects are placed for bids because they are not anywhere near as common as projects for copywriters and proofreaders.
