Wednesday, March 30, 2011

The Stressful Environment of Game Development

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Most of the time, the only thing you hear about game development is how amazing it would be to land a job with a big time game producer or how well compensated they are when they have a hit game on their hands. However, while game development is for sure an amazing field with a lot of opportunities for anyone who has the drive to move their way up, it can also be a very stressful environment.

Expectations of a Game Developer

It doesn’t just include programmers and producers; everyone working at a game development studio will feel the pressure when a deadline starts to loom. For the most part, games are produced on schedules that have very little to do with the needs of the development team. The producer and its shareholders have certain demands of your team and that means you need to have a sell-able product ready by a certain time.
Some developers are afforded as much time as they need, especially once they’ve found success with an existing game. However, others are far less flexible and must meet deadlines as they arise without sacrificing quality in the game.

So, while the early months of development will generally move by briskly with a normal 40 hour per week schedule, the closer you get to those final deadlines, the more hours you’ll work and the more pressure will build on you.

Compensation and Advancement

While there is quite a bit of stress in the final two or three stages of development, especially after beta testing starts, most developers will reward their workers if they do a good job. A good game that makes a lot of money will usually result in bonuses, not the least of which is job security when a sequel is ordered.

Team members on a successful game production are gold in this industry – your stock immediately rises based solely on having been a part of something that made someone a lot of money. For those in entry level positions such as game testing, you’ll quickly find that a successful developer will need more people in more roles quickly after those initial weeks or months of success.

Overall, while game development is a very stressful field at times, it also rewards those who work hardest with tremendous rewards, not to mention the fact that you get to play with video games all day.

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