Maybe some of you may know. What annual salaries can I take into account when I'm working as a Junior Game Designer at Vancouver, Canada? It will be a next-gen mmorpg game. I did some research and from Games Dev Magazine Salaries Survey it's 61.000$ average? I want to propose 51.000. Is it ok? Too much? What do you think? To Canadians: suppose I'll get 41.000$/year. It's ok to live in Vancouver as a single, 1-room apartment? I'd really appreciate your help!

Well, I'm working in Vancouver as an engineer (games). I started two years ago at $48,000. Currently new hires seem to be getting around $50,000 (as of last year at least). Although depending on the company you'll get raises quickly once you prove your competence (I'm making much more than $48,000 now).

Oh and as for living. Vancouver is pretty expensive, but there are affordable 1-bedrooms if you take the time to look (there are cheap ones but they tend to be pretty gross).

Totally depends on the company, not sure for designers. For engineers in vancouver a startup will usually be between 25-35k. A reputable game company usually starts there engineers around 50k.

As far as living in vancouver goes, depends on how much you want to commute. You can live out in the burbs in a decent sized basement suite for as low as 600-700 but you're going to be commuting an hour a day on skytrain. Apartments closer to downtown are going to be more in the 1000-1200 range.

Thanks guys for such a quick answer. It really helps me a lot. So You think that I can for sure start and try to propose 51.000$? And then eventually I'll bid down.

Here is a quick trick to know the cost of life differential between two cities, or at least a pretty darn approximation of it. It's called the Big Mac Index ( clicky ). You take a Big Mac trio at both cities and the bills' ratio gives you a ponderation factor. That's because - according to the theory - MacDonalds is using local products, has local outlets, and need to pay local electricity and gas, etc, and that McDonalds has a fixed % markup on its prices based on costs. So for two equal purchases at two cities, the ratio will take into account housing costs, gazoline, groceries, etc, all the things that make up a person's normal living expenses.

-cb

Great thread ! I`d like to ask what is the salary range, in Vancouver, for a gfx/engine/gameplay programmer with 6 years experience in DirectX/C++ and about 3 finished titles ?
Thanks

Realize that the Game Developer's Annual Survery reports numbers that are a bit higher than a starting out salary and doesn't take things such as health insurance and whatnot into account. An entry level game designer makes fairly significantly less than someone with three years experience and possibly multiple shipped titles under their belt. Location drastically affects things as well.

For instance, I just started as an entry level designer for a 3rd party Nintendo developer in Springfield, MO, which has an extremely low cost of living. I started at 30k, but I'll have really, really nice insurance when my probationary period ends. Asking 51k in Vancouver to work on a big title is certainly reasonable, but don't be surprised if they don't offer that. Look at other benefits they offer as well. Benefits are extremely expensive.

Quote: joe1024
I`d like to ask what is the salary range, in Vancouver, for a gfx/engine/gameplay programmer with 6 years experience in DirectX/C++ and about 3 finished titles

What do you mean by "about finished"? What kinds of project are these?

Is this 6 years of experience programming for a company? When you say 3 finished titles, do you mean shipped titles? What kind of games were they?

Quote: Original post by zer0wolf
Realize that the Game Developer's Annual Survery reports numbers that are a bit higher than a starting out salary and doesn't take things such as health insurance and whatnot into account.

I`m not aware of GD`s Annual Salary Survey to cover other areas than U.S. specifically. Sure, there were summary numbers for "Europe" and such, but considering that Europe consists of dozen states (with gamedev at reasonable level), costs of living are drastically different, thus the number is irrelevant and incomparable to anything else.

Quote: Original post by zer0wolf
An entry level game designer makes fairly significantly less than someone with three years experience and possibly multiple shipped titles under their belt.

That`s obvious, I just don`t understand the part with "multiple titles within 3 yrs experience". Sounds like someone hopping from company to company and never finishing any title. 3 yrs is enough to enter one company at about half of the cycle, finish the title and possibly start another title.

Quote: Original post by zer0wolf
Location drastically affects things as well.

You forgot the timing, which is probably even more important (though it may not seem so obvious at first, I admit). Especially considering we`re talking about Vancouver. I`ve been watching the costs of living in Vancouver during last few years and recently prices of houses have risen quite a lot. Seems some areas doubled in the price during last few years.
And i`m pretty sure that wages have risen just few percents (please confirm, I`m wrong here), so a salary of $50k doesn`t seem like a salary on which I could feed my family and pay all the bills.

Quote: Original post by zer0wolf
Benefits are extremely expensive.

Especially if the company pays for the medical insurance for whole family. Though, I`ve seen that only few times. What is the "norm" in Vancouver area in this regard ?

Quote: Original post by zer0wolf
What do you mean by "about finished"? What kinds of project are these?

Two titles went into distribution (PC budget), third one still doesn`t have the publisher/distributor.

Quote: Original post by iKid
Is this 6 years of experience programming for a company? When you say 3 finished titles, do you mean shipped titles? What kind of games were they?

Is your company looking for programmers :-) ? I could send you my portfolio link ;-)