July Professional Development Workshop Recap

August 27, 2021

Jonathan Tick contributed to this post.

On July 10th, we were joined by Mike Wikan who explained to us his “Journey as a Professional Game Developer.”  So far in his time as a game developer, Mike has worked on a number of well-known series such as the Metroid Prime trilogy Doom 2016, and has noted the kinds of changes he’s seen so far in his time in the game development industry.

Journey

Before he was a game developer, Mike started out as a classically trained artist, who during that time managed to get his art pieces into the Smithsonian museums.  After that, Mike learned during his entry into the game development industry that building a game beyond the initial concept into more of a tangible proof of concept with basic mechanics thought out was a valuable process to go through before showing it off.

Mike spoke further about his interactions with the gaming industry, including his time working with Nintendo during the aforementioned period with the Metroid Prime trilogy, citing that his experience with the Japanese consumer electronics and video game company had been a rather positive experience while developing their intellectual properties.  

The Industry

Mike went into further detail about how the industry has changed and exploded since its nearly fifty years of progression and development.  Between 1985 and 2000, the market favored high quality games designed on consoles that had higher processing power and higher storage capacity. This shift effectively created an arms race of higher fidelity in order to capture wary buyers and revive the video game market.

Since the original console days, video games have moved to both mobile and online platforms, sporting both high quality games that have both one price options as well as free-to-play games with monthly subscriptions and in-app purchases as potential options for players if they desire further rewards.  All of which are qualities that have helped the video game industry become the multi-billion dollar industry that Mike says that it’s become.  

It’s because of this fast growth that ‘crunch’ exists in the game industry. Mike mentions from his own experience that a certain degree of ‘crunch,’ the term used to express a form of unpaid overtime where the staff must work long hours in order to get a project finished by a certain date, is necessary for video game development. But he also explains that overworking these professional artists and programmers in order to meet a deadline will undoubtedly have negative effects on the industry in the long term.

Inspiration and Advice

For some, completing a memorable game is enough to put them on the path to become a game developer so they can create the kind of engaging entertainment that inspired them.  This passion is something that Mike expressed could be the spark needed to send someone on a lifelong career, but warned of the great distinction between playing a game and making a game citing specifically that it takes a lot of work in order to build a game from the ground up in comparison to playing and finishing the game’s main campaign.

With that being said, Mike recommended using and downloading the free versions of the Unity and Epic games’ development software should one want to get some experience with software and game development.  He then ended his presentation with a few more words of advice, citing the need for personal initiative in making the game, as well as good problem solving skills as valuable traits to have when one is developing a project. 

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