Is There Money in Creating Games?

[CpXi7z1]

A nephew wants to create games for a living, and he plays violent, bloody games every day. What skills and education will he need? How much money do game makers earn per game? Realistically one can't live off the income from creating games. For someone who's passion is gaming, what other careers might suit that person?

 

[GamerPerson]

I don't think he'll have to worry about money. Since gaming is an industry that's not going away any time soon, he'll always have work for himself. Encourage that he follows something that he's passionate instead of trying to dissuade him. After all, if all we worry about is money and how much money a job makes, can you really be happy? It's like telling a person that's passionated about cooking to go for accounting because it makes more money. In the end, the person will be miserable and not pleased with their lot in life.

 

[AFKATafcar]

The gaming industry isn't as lucrative for employees outside of the biggest development studios, however, an individual can still make a great salary in the industry. It would be more than enough to support a decent lifestyle. A degree in graphic design or something similar will be necessary, but there are tons of different positions within the gaming industry. It just depends upon what he wants to do. Level design is one area that comes to mind, and that's the one that requires design skills.

Then again, a person can create their own games through Java or Flash or with the Unity engine. You don't need degrees for that.

 

[Skuttie]

If your game sells well enough and gains momentum (Five Nights At Freddies being an example) it could.

It's not something you should get into to make money tho, programming is hard work. Then you'll need sound design, music, art, advertising, all that fun stuff.

 

[majessticah]

Now more than ever, creating games, getting funding for games, finding people to work and collaborate with, and marketing games is at an all-time high with how easy it is. The internet has opened up endless possibilities, especially with the latest trend in kickstarter funding projects. Steam's greenlight process is a huge platform that allows indie developers the opportunity to showcase their progress and gain funding if people are interested. You can look up tutorials for almost anything nowadays, or post on Reddit and find people to work with. While it takes serious dedication, motivation, hard work and passion -- he can do it if truly wants to. There are so many roles in creating a game, he could be any one of them. At first, he won't make much money at all and maybe will need a side-job, but over time, if he keeps at it, he'll most likely succeed. A 16 year old made a wildly popular game called Unturned all by himself. If he can do it, probably anyone can.

 

[Squigly]

I think it's a really big risk to start your own indie game development company. Personally I think your nephew should stick with his day job first, and spend some weekends coding and seeing if he really enjoys it, and if his product is popular. Steam Greenlight and Kickstarter are great ways to see if the product will ultimately be a success.

 

[Nate5]

It depends on what path he takes. If he wishes to make a game completely by himself, then there's obviously more risk there. It won't get as much exposure, and not to mention the prices will have to compete with other indie games. Coming up with a good idea takes time as well. If he joins a company, he'll probably have more guaranteed success there. Again, it all depends on how he chooses, and how passionate he is to learn.

 

[Tycoonie259]

I'm sorry to say, but there are a lot of young people (guys mainly) who game a lot and want to become a game developer. It's not going to work like 'I like games, let me become developer! ' . No you have to be interested in informatics, and if you're going to start an Indie company (which you shouldn't) you need other talents too. The last years a lot of guys went studying informatics because of gaming, which isn't a good idea because most of them fail. You need to like programming if you're into game development. You could instead become a designer for graphics, and work together with a real programmer to make a game. With an attitude of just wanting to become a game designer because you like playing games, you won't get far.

 

[eMike22]

It all depends on what your nephew is interested in. Does he like coding? Is he good at drawing original characters? Is he into sound design or music-making? I guess these are the main branches of Video Game development. And then there's game testing, of course, but that's not really part of the creative process. If he were to work for a big game developer, such as Rockstar Games or EA, he could potentially earn quite a lot of money, but if he chooses the indie path, he most likely won't be able to live off it unless he makes a really good and popular game (or controversial. Flappy Bird, Anyone? ).

 

[Cereus]

There's a lot that goes into creating a game such as partnerships, money, staff and constantly working on how to improve gameplay. The gaming industry is highly competitive and it's easy to fail because of lack of funding, staff, motivation, ect. In the industry not only is it based on what you know but also on who you know that can make or break your ability to get in. I run a small adoptable browser based game and the start up costs are a lot more than most people anticipate. If you know coding and graphics then you can cut those start up costs but it takes a lot of hours and dedication to keep something going. You can get a jump with mobile app games since those can be done by yourself but the key is whether or not you can make a bestseller of it. Others go for the long haul such as the creator of Minecraft who spent years developing the game on his own before releasing it. What separates those who dream about getting into the industry and those who do is dedication, motivation and networking- even if it means daylighting a normal job until they can make it.

 

[cyberpinoy]

A nephew wants to create games for a living, and he plays violent, bloody games every day. What skills and education will he need? How much money do game makers earn per game? Realistically one can't live off the income from creating games. For someone who's passion is gaming, what other careers might suit that person?

Gaming is a multi billion dollar industry. There is so much money involved in creating games your bank could not hold all the money by could make if you were a great game creator. Especially if you could create the whole game yourself, Host them on your own sites, and tie them in with facebook and other social media outlets. Your earning potential for game creation is limitless.

However to be able to create a game from concept to completion usually involves a handful of people, a lot of time and a good bit of start up capitol. But once accomplished the income potential of a good game is astounding. Sometimes you could create a game and make a one time sale of it to a company like Sony, or Blizzard. But if you want long term income Make it and keep it all to yourself.

 

[Kitouski]

There's a million ways you can get into game development work, and rarely is a game made by one person. You can be a graphic artist, musician, programmer, advertiser, producer, manager, the list goes on and on. These are all just as valid careers alone or within any industry as it is with game development and rarely you're asking, "how much do I make when the film is done." so much as how much was I commissioned to do this or how much am I paid per hour. Because of this, education can be anything from a highschool drop out to a PHD.

I definitely wouldn't dissuade him from going into the gaming industry if that's what he wants to do so long as he understands that an idea does not equal profit. Negative reinforcement on people's desires is just a way to make someone unhappy thinking what they want is "wrong" or just set them back farther when they decide push away and do so anyways, so long as what they're trying to do isn't crazy. Almost no one in this world gets paid simply for ideas but just like any art medium there's a ton of work to be involved for every part of the process. Few people write, direct, act, record, edit, pitch, market, produce and sell a film in the same way few people do the art, music, programming, marketing, beta testing, producing and selling of a video game. It's a very serious industry. While I work a more typical 9 to 5 job, my wife is a freelance artist and programmer who prefers doing work with video game development and it definitely brings in good money doing so. As far as I can tell she's quite happy with her job and money hasn't ever been a problem, but I have no personal experience actually working within game development directly.

 

[Greenwelch]

Gaming industry is an extremely hard industry, and I would recommend against it unless you or your nephew has an award-winning plan. Many teenagers have the same mindset as your nephew. They become engrossed in playing games that they want to continue and create games for other people. The influx of people who want to pursue game development definitely makes the market bigger and harder.

As for skills needed, you need the basic ones such as working in a group efficiently, have a good idea of art design, awareness of different genres, and being a good storyteller. The most important part of being a game developer is knowledge of programming. Your nephew needs to at least have good knowledge on a specific language, be it Java, C++, or Python. He needs to practice and be fluent with it. If he is serious on pursuing this path, definitely get him started on a language.

 

[Muthoni]

If he is creative and able to generate interesting games, then he won’t go to bed hungry. Working for self is difficult to start with before establishing a target market. I agree with most users who have said that if he works hard and is dedicated, then he will do very well for himself following his passion.

 

[Azrile]

Download Unity for free. Download Gimp for free Download Blender for free. Learn C# programming ( very easy). You can go a long way towards making a real game for free. But you MUST learn skills... nobody is going to hire an ´idea´ guy. You either need to learn how to model (Blender) or else programming. With free tools, you can easily make Plants vs Zombies or Angry Birds type games.

 

[Jafool]

Oh yes. Especially nowadays with this early access stuff and indie games being wildly popular.

However, if he's still very young and has little experience it's going to take a while until he can release a good enough product. Don't let that discourage him though!
A perfect example is the creator of Unturned. It's one kid who did it all by himself and I think he was like 14-16 years old or something like that. Simply amazing.

He might be a good role model for your nephew.

 

[Goldie]

The video game industry is as big and profitable as ever and I've heard it even now equals or even has surpassed the movie industry in profits. I think it should be alright to chase this dream as long as he sees it realistically. There are a lot of schools now focused on video game development and I suspect they will only get much better by the time he is going to college.