I'm a 2nd year college student pursuing a BA in Game Art & Development degree (having fun so far) and I've been thinking about what gaming career I should choose after I graduate. The amount I get paid isn't much of a concern to me and it's more of finding a job position that fits my criteria. There's two job positions I have in mind and they are “Game Developer” and “Game Artist”.

Could anyone break down for me what each job position is responsible for and what skills are recommended? This might help me better in deciding because right now I'm stuck.

“Game developer” is an umbrella term for anyone involved in the development of games. If you are both technical and artistic, you can pursue a career as a technical artist or level designer. Get whichever degree interests you most. You can get an art degree with a minor in programming, or a CS degree with a minor in art. Doesn't matter to anyone but you which way you go.

This website has descriptions of various job titles:

https://www.prospects.ac.uk/job-profiles/game-developer​

https://www.prospects.ac.uk/job-profiles/game-artist​

Thank you, karlmar. I needed that.

@Tom Sloper What do you mean by “umbrella term”?

jenna_kim said:
@Tom Sloper What do you mean by “umbrella term”?

Just look it up. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/umbrella_term​ https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=umbrella%20term

both terms are umbrella terms, which means they are general categories of jobs not specific job titles in most cases.

There are a wide variety of game developer jobs just as there are a wide variety of game art jobs. You should try and figure out if you want to do 2d or 3d art, what programming skills you have. And figure out what kind of company you want to work for.

Best thing i can tell you right now, is to get involved in hobby projects. You can do some learning and get involved, usually people want to get paid up front once they have their degree, and it's reasonable, but they have no experience.

Games is not an industry that you can step out of a 4 year degree into a salaried position at a AAA game company.

You will need to build up your portfolio, and work around your classes.

It may be fun now when your learning, but it may be grinding once your expected to do the job with little supervision for hours.

Are you willing to spend at least 5 hours a day to get one single asset working?

Are you willing to work on games during the night, and go to school during the day? or have a day job and work around it?

Colleges like to sell a games degree as a golden ticket into the industry, and that is not the case.

A degree is just to get you started.

This world prefers specialists to generalists, so figure out what specific job you want and try to do things that move you forward in that career.

Being a one man army can be helpful in the beginning, but you will eventually need to specialize if you want to get a job at a company. If on the other hand you wan to start your own company, being a generalist does help.