Jack or Master

Today I went to a couple more sessions in the IGDA Education Summit. I like going to these, whilst they are not always directy relevant to what we do at Hull, they are always thought provoking. The keynote, by Ian Bogost, started by making the point that game developers will always need to know how to program. Always good to hear. Then things diverged a bit from my experience. Ian talked about the old days, when only one or two programmers made entire games, and some modern day games, for example Everyday Shooter, which have been produced by one person. Whilst there are one person bands who can do all the audio, graphics and design parts of the game it is definitely the case that when seeking employment a game developer will be employed to write code.

The way I see it, if you have knowledge of the other aspects of game development then this makes you a better game developer. If you are one of the lucky ones who actually can do the whole thing, there is no reason why you shouldn't show off by making a complete game. Whatever happens you should try to make something that will get your name out there.

One point that was made well was that if you want to make a good game you need to recognise that you will need people that are not like you to be successful. Which brought us back to teamwork again.