I was wondering if it's unusual for people within a game company to focus on multiple areas of game development? For example, one person might be both a programmer and an artist. Or another might be a designer and a programmer, etc. I would imagine this is more common in indie game companies, but what about the big ones?

Basically, what I'm trying to find out is if it's a good idea to focus on more than just one area of game development. The main area I'm trying to get into is programming, but I also enjoy art design and general game design. Should I focus on one area or would it be a good idea to improve my skills in all 3?

Thanks.

The only dual-roles that I've seen in professional companies is QA + junior programmer/artist. i.e. someone took a low-level QA job to get their foot in the door, and they're in the process of being promoted into a low-level code/art job.

If you submitted a resume for a company, asking to be employed as an artist and/or a programmer and/or a designer, they'd probably just throw it in the bin assuming that you're not serious about any of them. Or they'll suggest that you apply for a QA position.

There are some 'cross-over' roles though. For example, a tech-artist knows how to use art tools, but also does tools or graphical programming to some degree -- it's expected that their art/programming skills will be lower than a dedicated artist or programmer, but their technical knowledge of the art pipeline is something that escapes a general programmer or a general artist.

I was wondering if it's unusual for people within a game company to focus on multiple areas of game development?

If you are on a very small team with two or three individuals, a person MIGHT help contribute in more than one area but focus on just one for most of the project, the contribution will be minor. This is normal in the hobby / homebrew arena, but atypical in a professional setting.

If you are on a team of any significant size or working in a corporate environment you will have only one role.

Moving to Breaking In.

I was wondering if it's unusual for people within a game company to focus on multiple areas of game development?

No. Almost all developers will want someone who is focused on one area. Game development requires a high level of skill and it is difficult to attain that level of expertise if your focus is split across multiple jobs/skills. From an efficiency point of view it is also bad to swap between roles. Research shows it takes time to get back up to speed when we swap from one job to another so it is better to have a programmer focused on programming and an artist focused on doing the art.

Its worth noting that there are some folks who *transition* from one job into another -- for example, and artist or programmer might one day work into a dedicated design role, but generally a professional game developer in a studio setting will not fulfill distinct job requirements simultaneously.

The exceptions, as have been said, are generally limited to small studios, indie developers, and a few cross-over roles like technical artists and production engineers (who might administer the network, keep the build farm chugging, and write the odd tool now and then). You might also find folks who serve some function on the business side of things, in addition to their development role, but this is once again atypical of anything but very small or indie studios.