The Devhouse Agency’s Post

I was hiring for a ‘Game maker’. The board game enthusiast got the job. Here’s why 👇 Studio partner needed a “Game Maker” An idea machine. The hiring manager said: ”Those who have played board games are idea-making machines.” My candidate was a board game fan. We highlighted this in his interview. After being made the offer. The client said this gave them the edge. He was hired. Lesson? Board gamers are better designers. Successful game developers play board games. For example: - Josh Mosqueira-Asheim, Game Director on Diablo III - Sid Meier, the creator of Civilization - Isaac Childres behind Gloomhaven Isaac loved board games growing up. This led to him building Gloomhaven. It's a wildly successful board game. ↳ Which sold millions digitally. Those who understand board games. ↳ Understand games on a deeper level. A deeper level that allows them to excel in game design. ”Game designer” job descriptions may not mention “board games”. But a board game hobby was the trigger point. (a D20 roll) Remember, although not essential.. Your hobbies have a bigger impact than you think. Keep them on your CV. Agree? p.s I'm currently playing Rummikub, has anyone got any recommendations for other board games?

A message to my fellow game devs. A little bit of a rant about the state of the industry, post-layoffs and pre-more layoffs to come. The game development industry is taking a really steep turn away from big studios having employees. I recognise very clearly that I’m very lucky to be working at Voodoo right now as a game developer, but I realise that even within Voodoo there are only so many job opportunities as a game developer. If you look at all these “game developer job” listings, 99% of the jobs are for more management / non-technical positions. There are less and less actual development roles in game companies than any other role. This has a big thing to do with the fact that these companies think they can make games by outsourcing most of their work to cheap countries as well as the rise in AI, as well as the fact that most game studios aren’t even making new games any more, just updating old games as a live service, which requires much less developers and much more data scientists / marketing roles, etc. This in my opinion is bad news for the many many developers out there trying to get work. So what should the majority of us do that aren’t lucky enough to be one of the few actually employed game developers? Well there’s a few options, but it’s very difficult, to say the least. 1. Make Short, Viral Steam games There have been many more breakout indie successes than ever, mainly my solo devs or micro teams of 2-3 people making tight, small scope, highly viral games. This is do-able, but you have to really do your market research, be very quick to make a demo to test your hypothesis, and market like crazy. It’s also not quick money, with the shortest game you could probably make to be profitable is 6 months. Upside is you could make a looot of money if you go viral and do this right. 2. Pivot your career / engine of choice This is sad to say, but I’ve seen much much less Unity development jobs ever since the Hyper Casual bubble popped. However I’ve seen a huge uptick in Unreal positions over the past year. Unfortunately even if you’re a senior Unity developer you will pretty much have to start from scratch, as most companies hiring for Unreal want a developer with 5 years experience using Unreal, which is pretty silly if you ask me especially if people have lots of experience shipping games in Unity. A lot of the skills cross over quite a bit. 3. Make web games (mainly for CrazyGames) If you’re a Unity developer and have made lots of hyper casual games web games are a really natural transition point for you. You can continue making the same types of games, but just for web. They pay out advertising shares and you don’t need publishers. TLDR: Employment opportunities have completely dwindled as most companies that hired are laying off more and more of their staff. I hate to say this, but it’s time to become an entrepreneur. It’s the best time ever to become one as an indie, with many new opportunities

𝐇𝐨𝐰 𝐭𝐨 𝐋𝐚𝐮𝐧𝐜𝐡 𝐚 𝐆𝐚𝐦𝐞 𝐅𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫? 🤔 Developing a game is exciting, but experts' seek can postpone your dream. From the concept's inception to assembling a team of professionals, each step demands a high level of attention and presents unique challenges to overcome. With a highly systematic hiring process, we ensure that you get the best resources in the shortest possible time frame. Whether you need developers, designers, artists, animators, testers, or other experts, our dedicated team is always ready to meet your project needs promptly and effectively. ☕️ Coffee's Brewed, Idea's Flowing! Let Slavna Game Studio Build Your Game! https://lnkd.in/esUd5s-V #ios #gamedev #gamedev #games #iosgames #gameplay #iosgame #gaming #iosgaming #business #startups #gamingcommunity #gamedevelopment #androidgames

Hi LinkedIn network! tl;dr: I wrote up a technical breakdown of the side project game I'm working on for potential hiring managers to get a better idea of the depth and range of my technical knowledge and experience. Help me extend my reach by reacting, commenting, reposting, and sending to people you think may be interested or giving it a read and sharing some feedback. Contact me directly if you'd like a look at the source code on GitHub. Link: https://lnkd.in/g_rxvpfr Slightly longer: As some of you may know, I am one of the individuals affected by layoffs within the gaming industry and am still seeking a new opportunity for employment as a Gameplay Engineer. One of the unique challenges I face is that although I most recently fulfilled the role of Senior Gameplay Engineer at Certain Affinity, I don't have the years of experience in AAA development that is typically associated with the role. I've found I'm getting screened out based on this metric, in spite of the fact that I have already demonstrated the skills and capabilities expected of a Senior Gameplay Engineer working on AAA games. As much as the team at Certain Affinity and I would have loved to continue working together, some unfortunate business realities coupled with CA's responsibility to care for and retain their more tenured employees resulted in me and over 20 other highly skilled individuals getting laid off. My old coworkers and managers have repeatedly expressed a desire to provide recommendations (for which I am extremely grateful for), but the size of the applicant pool at this point makes it unrealistic for recruiters to follow up on these references to give me a shot when they already have other applicants that meet their required metrics. As much as I want to lean into my network and my professional community, I believe that the reality of the hiring landscape is that the best thing I can do is to make my skill, drive, and self-motivation as visible as possible. As such I'm, starting a blog series of technical breakdowns of my UE5 side project game complete with code samples and self-critiques as I continue to implement new features. The content of the posts is generally targeted towards Senior/Lead/Principal Gameplay Engineers who will be most likely be involved in the hiring process, so I don't expect everyone to read it. The two things that will help me the most will be for you to react, comment, respost, and send this post to others and if you are a more technical individual, to provide feedback on the techniques I've covered in the post. I'm one of those weirdos that actually likes code reviews, and I miss the learning opportunities that code reviews have given me. The link to the blog post is above, and I'm very grateful to everyone who is able to provide some assistance. Of course, if there is any way for me to reciprocate this support, I genuinely want all members of my network to know that all they have to do is ask. :) Thanks!

If you are a game designer, artist, producer, or tester impacted by the recent layoffs or know someone who was, this post is for you. We are offering a 100% scholarship chance to learn game programming from top industry game programmers, and here is why - Surely, you entered this industry with a vision, and it must be hard to keep faith in that vision, seeing the frequent layoffs in the industry. And it would be a shame if that vision—the very thing you started this journey for, gets lost in oblivion. So, what if you could gain an edge in your game development skills and turn your vision into a reality without ever relying on a game programmer or studio again? Our way of helping is simple: We give you everything you need to build the game of your dreams. We’ll help you acquire the skills you need in return for a chance to see your crazy ideas on a screen. Our goal is to help you become the best version of yourself so you never lose to the gaming industry’s volatile market changes. Maybe you will become an apex indie developer who can design, draw, and code a video game all on their own. Who knows? Find out now: https://lnkd.in/gJyb5vxc *** #layoffsupport #gamedeveloper #gameprogramming #cpp #csharp #gamingindustry

I’m excited to announce my first video game I’ve been working on as a solo Game Developer! Grave Realms is now available on Steam! https://lnkd.in/eWu_ncNN This is one of those personal goals I’ve had on my list for a long time. My career has been in the software development industry for 30 years now and as a passionate gamer, I always wondered what my corporate software development meetings would have looked like if we were designing games instead of customer applications. What would the coding and architecture challenges look like? What if we were trying to design game logic for a epic final boss battle vs designing code modules to say…retrieve customer account data for a banking app? How those conversations would be very different, but the underlying coding principles could apply to both. I always knew I ‘could’ create a game, I just needed to sit down and do it! This game isn’t overly complex, it’s a arcade style, 3D isometric twinstick shooter that has unique gameplay mechanics that pushes the player to top their own high score and move up the leaderboard! My goals in creating this game were to learn how to create reusable game systems that would help me understand how different game engines and their supporting code works, and possibly use my game systems for future games. I feel pretty confident I was able to achieve those goals! The many things I learned while developing my own game was how much more math I was using to calculate 3D environment positioning and impact physics. There was many long nights of coding, mainly trying to make my brain remember all those college courses in mathematics that I was sure ‘I’d never use’. One thing I’ve learned to respect about game development is how much focus on design iteration and testing you need to do to make sure you have an engaging AND performant game. It was rewarding with each iteration to see my game evolve! In the end this journey was a fun challenge that was so rewarding and satisfying. Really a great experience! Now I can always be proud to say ‘I created a video game, learned a ton in the process, and now my game is available on Steam!’ If you get chance, go check it out on Steam and spread fhe word! https://lnkd.in/eRDzUPvN #gaming #gamedevelopment Xbox Game Studios Publishing Blizzard Entertainment Bethesda Game Studios

How to Hire Game Developers | A Complete Guide

How to Hire Game Developers | A Complete Guide

How to Hire Game Developers | A Complete Guide

How to Hire Game Developers | A Complete Guide