Final Four: How to Become a Game Developer
Working in the games industry is a dream for many people – it certainly was, and still is, for us. Even though we are at the beginning of our careers, we wanted to share how we ended up here. We hope that describing our paths could be helpful for some of you with similar curiosity or ambitions.
For all of us, gaming has been a big part of our lives since childhood. While some of us saw our future careers with games from miles away, it was a surprise for some of us to end up where we are now. One of our programmers described her passion for creating games like this:
“I remember playing games like Ape Escape and Super Mario with my dad. Gaming is a hobby that has carried on with me ever since, eventually becoming an integral part of my career.”
She went on to study programming, which in turn led her to the Level Up -program. One of our artists had a similar experience. She has loved gaming, drawing, and creating art since she was a kid. She knew from a very young age that she wanted to become an artist, but not necessarily a game artist. At last, it was a school project that ignited her interest in creating games.
“I got a chance to create a small game with Flash as a school project years ago. It ignited a spark inside me, and later on, I went to work in a small indie studio where I created 2D art. Alongside work, I also kept studying 3D graphics, and eventually, I ended up here in the Level Up -program. With the experience I have gathered so far, I feel like creating environmental art is what I enjoy the most!”
Our other artist found out that working in the game industry would give him a way to combine his passion for video games, drawing, and character creation at the same time. Most of all, he has always loved multiplayer games, and an important part of his gaming hobby has been drawing his favorite characters. In his mind, passion has to be combined with sheer effort to get the best results:
“After I studied 2D animation and drawing cartoons as a teenager, I found out that I could study 3D animation and visualization at one of the universities of applied sciences in Finland. It took me a few years and a lot of effort to get in, but the work was totally worth it. The studies, combined with the experience I have gained from Level Up, other work, and my hobby projects have proven to me that this is my dream job and something that I really love to do!”
However, not all of us have always known what we want to do when we grow up. After high school, our programmer studied graphic design and 3D modeling, and was on his track to becoming an artist.
Studying the technical wirings of 3D art brought our soon-to-be programmer to the facinating world of coding and got hooked. A similar thing happened to our other programmer, as she initially wanted to work on art as well but found herself enjoying coding even more.
Together, our programmers agree that having an understanding of both art and code is beneficial, and none of the work that has gone towards learning art has gone to waste. This actually seems quite common even among the more senior developers at Supercell, as many people have gravitated from one field to another.
Our common goal is to create the best possible games and aid each other with our own skills and talents. One of our programmers summarized well why creating games is so rewarding, and, based on our experiences so far, all of us in the Level Up programme agree:
“As a gamer, you can be whoever you want. An architect, a Jedi, a farmer, a dragon, or anything else. You can create your own stories and experience others’ stories. As a game developer, you can create even more of these kinds of experiences for others to enjoy – to give others a moment to live up to their fantasies. “
The Level Up team