Mediamates: SKILLS AHEAD: Special Story

SKILLS AHEAD> SPECIAL STORY

Play Stationed!
The gaming world has succeeded in creating magnetic magic tempting potential contenders to explore the professions put on offer by this billion-dollar industry.

By Divyadarshini Patel
Ever since evolution spread its wings on earth, humans have been constantly seeking new forms of entertainment for themselves. In the pre-historic times, it started with dancing and hunting while the medieval ages saw gladiators showing off their fighting skills in an arena studded with dignitaries. Modern age entertainment was however kick started with the advent of television and radio. Discussing the digital age we live in today, people can not only indulge themselves in the leisure of all the past ages but also the future. I am not talking about any time machine taking you on exhilarating rides across eras. I am talking about the wondrous, exciting, thrilling and fully awesome world of gaming.

The abundance of prospects that the game development industry has to offer should be explored to the fullest. Here are some words of wisdom shared by Priyadarshi Chowdhary, Founder-CEO, School of Advanced Graphics and Engineering (S.A.G.E.), New Delhi, who has already spent 10 long years in the industry.

How does a game development process start?
Game development process starts with Pre-Production or Design phase. This phase focuses on the idea and concept development as well as production of initial design documents. Documents included are Pitch, Concept, and Game Design Document. Once these documents are approved, the development cycle of the projects start.

How many teams are generally involved in developing a full-fledged game?
Around 6 teams are involved in developing a full-fledged game, in most projects. Depending upon the size of the project, number of developers may vary. A development team includes the following:

Designers - They design the game play, rules and structure of the game; they are responsible for creating the ‘experience’ of a particular game.

Artists - They create the video game art; it can include game characters, objects, vehicles and even the menus.

Programmers - ‘Game Informer’ magazine mentions that video game programmers are the “heart and soul” of the industry. They are the ones responsible for creating the codes necessary for getting video games to function. And contrary to popular belief, their job is not easy at all.
It often involves creating complex functions and algorithms that are often more challenging than programs created in software development.

Level Designers - Their role is to create the levels of the games based on the game design document.

Sound Engineers - They create a gaming environment by providing background music, sound effects and sound positioning.

Testers - People who get paid for playing video games are called testers. Video game testing is a good place to start for young people who want to “break into the industry”.

A person looking for a career in game programming can choose between the various task options mentioned above, depending upon his skill-sets and interest.

Including pre-production, production and post-production, how much time does a single game require for it to be developed and launched in the market?
Time frame of a game depends upon the complexity and platform of the game. An online casual game can take around 2-3 months of development. And on the other side AAA title games like Half-life 2 took 5 years of development time. On an average, developing a game is a 2-3 years cycle.

What are the tools used for game programming?
Different tools are available for every language and platform in game programming.

To develop online games a developer can use Adobe Flash or Microsoft Silverlight technology. To develop games for mobiles/cell phones, Eclipse is the right choice as it supports most of the java based SDKs as well as Google Android. Microsoft Visual Studio is the best tool available for developing games for PC and XBOX360 as it supports all the high level programming languages like C++ and C#
And XCode is the only tool available to the game programmers for making games run smoothly on Macintosh based devices like iMac, iPhone and iPad.

Why is testing a necessary part of the production phase?
Testing is a process for quality control of video games. The primary function of game testing is the discovery and documentation of software defects or bugs, which necessarily need to be eliminated before releasing the final product.

What skills, qualifications are required to get into game programming?
The primary requirement to enter video game industry is that one should be a hard core gamer and should understand how a game moves and works.

Gaming industry is a talent-based industry. The only things required to enter this industry are some technical skills and a show reel to demonstrate those skills. To become a game artist one should learn to work with tools like Adobe Photoshop, 3ds Max, Maya or Softimage. If one wants to be a game programmer, besides good programming skills s/he also needs to learn the logic and algorithms behind programming a good video game. A background in mathematics and physics is also deemed necessary. But to get into the game-testing job, being a hard core gamer, who can keep playing for long hours, does the trick.

Being a pioneer in game development & progrramming in Norther India, S.A.G.E. provides training and consulting solutions in the areas of game programming and 3D to both individuals as well as corporate clients. It aims at creating a community of game development professionals and setting up a game development studio to produce mobile, PC and console-based games. The courses here are designed to teach hands-on game programming skills leading each student to actually build his/her own game engine. It became the first institute in India to launch the XBOX 360 and Unreal Engine game development courses. At School of Advanced Graphics and Engineering (S.A.G.E.), companies like RZ2Games, Aurona Technologies and Trine Entertainment Ltd. are among the top recruiters during the placement season. The interview with Priyadarshi Chowdhary, Founder-CEO, School of Advanced Graphics and Engineering (S.A.G.E.), New Delhi, aims at giving you an insightful picture about the gaming industry. Computer games, console games, video games and arcade games have managed to provide a brand new façade to the entertainment sector. Games of this eon have certainly redefined the art of entertainment. These games can take the players right to the evolution of the first bacterial life on earth in a game like Electronic Art’s Spore to the highly futuristic racing simulation like Wipeout. But what does it take to build a game that will grasp the human imagination and who does that? The answer is - a clan of immensely creative and tremendously talented game developers and graphics and animation masters who put in all their might to achieve one singular goal – a game which will enthrall the audience.

Game development in our country, provisions many career paths for the creative Indian minds. People with a mad passion to play any game at hand can become great game testers; they will keep doing their favourite activity even while at work and will be paid handsomely for doing so. There are varied options available and each one of them is equally interesting in nature. The gaming world does not restrict itself to mere entertainment of the audience; it also creates career opportunities promising huge returns to those who have a knack for doing something unique. But it is a team game where you will be successful only if your team succeeds as one single unit.

A game design and development team is a convergence of many different squads, which come together to revive a creation from a solitary idea. The creative team initiates the design for the game. It decides upon the concept, format and other basis for the game. After the initial idea is put on board, the design team starts working on it. It builds up the characters, game environment and other graphical details. The game developers step in at this point of time. They put the static caricatures visualised by the creative team and drawn by the design team into motion. This requires great skills and knowledge and therefore, the professionals positioned here are the highest paid employees in the team. Thereafter, the level designers create the game levels with the sound engineers providing the music and sound effects. Once the game has been developed, testers subject the game to an intense round of trials to ensure that the product to be delivered by them is bug free. Their job, ultimately, is to ensure that the people who play the game should do so without any glitches. Ready for market release, the complex yet fascinating processes that the game goes through usually remain unknown to the consumer.

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