Don't get me wrong, I love game development. I grew up wanting to be a gamedev: The technology is cool, the end-product is cool and the industry is passionate. However, I feel that the market is saturated with games. I don't feel that the world needs another game developer and I'm keen to put my skills to use in a field where my contribution will make some tangible difference. At the end of this year I'll have 3 years of 3d simulation experience under my belt at which point I'm hoping to move to Canada. So, what alternatives can you suggest for a developer specializing in math, systems programming, computer graphics, physics simulation, etc? I also love various other tech: Parsers, CUDA/OpenCL, functional programming, compilers, ray tracing etc, and I don't mind doing things like educational games and flash. (Btw. Also please let me know if you are aware of interesting companies in British Columbia, esp. around the Vancouver area, whether they're currently hiring or not) [Edited by - errantkid on January 11, 2010 2:21:00 AM]

You know, I've worked both on large game dev teams working on AAA titles, and I've worked on small game dev teams too (Sorry if you've already been down this path too)

Working on the small teams actually kinda feels more rewarding in a way.

You get a more diverse set of responsibilities, it's a lot easier to get your ideas made since there is less financial risk, etc.

Heck, I got a game idea of mine made, and some of my friends actually got to work on their own games at this smaller company, which ended up getting made for the iphone (and other non main stream gaming platforms).

The downside i guess is that less people see/play those games than say games like halo and mass effect and GTA but would that be more rewarding to you having more of a stake in a game? getting to be more involved in the main planning and creative side?

Or how about getting into making educational games for kids, would that tickle your fancy?

I also know the military hires people w/ backgrounds in game development to create simulators and things.

You could also try to get a job at a middleware company maybe, writing libraries that game devs use to make the games?

Just tossin some ideas out there...

Do you think it's possible you just havent worked on games that interested you? Or maybe the companies you worked at, the people didnt really have it together, or didn't really care about the quality of the end product?

There's some other sectors that have a lot of overlap with games:
* Graphics Research (Academia/R&D)
* Visualisation (Science/Industry)
* Training simulations (Mining, Military, Medical, Business, ...)
* Gambling (A.K.A. "Gaming")
* Film/TV Computer Graphics

Some of these guys even work with game-engines and game-middleware because it suits their needs ;)

Thanks, yes I like your ideas! I haven't actually worked at a game company yet, but I'm currently working for a simulator company which I enjoy quite a lot.
While the idea of making games appeals to me I just feel I want to do something "more" with my life if you know what I mean.

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Working on the small teams actually kinda feels more rewarding in a way

I also prefer working in a smaller team, so full agreement here!

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Or how about getting into making educational games for kids, would that tickle your fancy?

Educational games is something I'm interested but I'm not sure how to break into that and whether there's a big market for it?

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I also know the military hires people w/ backgrounds in game development to create simulators and things.

I'm not that keen on the military in general I'm afraid :)

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You could also try to get a job at a middleware company maybe, writing libraries that game devs use to make the games?

This is something I've considered since that kind of technical thing tickles me, but I'm struggling to find any suitable companies...

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* Graphics Research (Academia/R&D) * Visualisation (Science/Industry) * Training simulations (Mining, Military, Medical, Business, ...) * Gambling (A.K.A. "Gaming") * Film/TV Computer Graphics

All good ideas, thanks! (except the "gambling" one :P)

Can anyone expand on visualisation? What opportunities are there in science and industry for visualization/simulation?

"What opportunities are there in science and industry for visualization/simulation?"

Well, for example. I've just started working at a games technology company which is founding a new team to use games tech as part of network visualisation.

These days a lot of companies have *huge* databases of information which they need to render in ways so that people can try and make sense of them. There's also more clearly defined renderings such as 3D displays for CAD, medical imaging, microscopy. Computational biochemistry is just about turning into a feasible field; people are going to need immersive molecular displays.

All these things have similar requirements to games; real-time rendering, user interfaces etc.

I found (by accident) a nearby company which specialises in making software for lawyers to use to build interactive demonstrations for use in courtrooms. They in turn are buying technology from middleware companies that are producing animation systems and tools... there's a market that I had no idea existed.

Very interesting, thanks!

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Computational biochemistry is just about turning into a feasible field; people are going to need immersive molecular displays.

THIS sounds very cool! I would love to do something useful in the medical field. Unfortunately I have no biogology / medical background knowledge but I can certainly do things like GPGPU programming and point-cloud / voxel rendering...

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I found (by accident) a nearby company which specialises in making software for lawyers to use to build interactive demonstrations for use in courtrooms. They in turn are buying technology from middleware companies that are producing animation systems and tools... there's a market that I had no idea existed.

Do you mean nearby Vancouver? I would like to take a look at them if they are.

I meant nearby me -- my point is that there's actually a lot of small companies tucked away doing interesting stuff. You have to go looking for them though, because they'll never get mentioned in the press.

"Unfortunately I have no biogology / medical background knowledge"

You don't need them -- no-one's expecting engineers to show up with both a compsci AND biomed background. Science researchers are deep experts in their fields. They *know* they don't much about computing. That's exactly why they hire people who do...