#Memes
this post was submitted on 27 Nov 2023
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Game Development
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I learned this lesson 10 years ago at my first game dev job. The lead artist called himself a game developer and I said "Well I thought developer was a term reserved for engineering." They gave a long passionate explanation about how it devalues the rest of the industry and that game developer is "one who makes a game". To say that engineering is the only person to make the game is completely wrong. As I could not, as an engineer of 15+ years now, 10 of those in games, could not make a game entirely myself with just my engineering skills.
This comic hits home because anyone claiming that game developer is an engineering-only title has never worked on a team project. Anyone who goes in the credits is a game developer. Including random executives to backend developers on the game.
By that same logic, nobody can be a software developer because in order to develop a software project involving 100 people, one needs HR, managers, QA/testing, SREs, sysadmins, architects, finance, ...
Nobody can be a brick layer either because in order to build the Burj Khalifa one needed architects, engineers, glaziers, plumbers, managers, secretaries, fork-lift drivers, truck drivers, etc.
Every team project has is multi-disciplinary. To claim one discipline doesn't exist because in order to complete the project all disciplines are necessary, is willingful misrepresentation of facts.
some electricians who work on office buildings are ~~kaijus~~ gamedevs
(without them, your in-game lamps wouldn't work.)
No, you've reversed my logic. Everyone you named would be a software developer but there is only one team of software engineers. The entire point is that "game developer" isn't a discipline on the team. It's a member of the team. It'd be like arguing the term medical professional only means doctors.
That makes more sense and I agree with it. The way you wrote it (or the way I interpreted it) was like "we're all doctors because a hospital can't run without the rest of its staff". I still disagree that a level designer can be call themselves a game developer. That'd be like a nurse calling themselves a doctor.
A game developer is anyone on the team which creates the game. A level designer is a game developer. A game engineer is the term you are confusing it with. This is common because of the term Software Developer but the developer part of game developer comes from the creation/construction side. Like a property developer or community developer.
since when? When did the software part of game developer stop being about actual code development and start being more like property or community? That makes literally no sense at all. Developer as it relates to any sort of code means the person actually writing the code. To say otherwise is just ignoring the meaning of words.
It's not ignoring the meaning and even the term software developer doesn't just mean "one who writes code." Software developer also includes software designers, testers, and other facets of creating computer software. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Software_development#Workforce
You misread that.
does not mean software testers are developers, it means that software development includes testing, and a person that does software development might be involved in all of the above.
Notice how the next sentence includes no such title that would be confused with a person that isn't writing code.
I did not misread that. Someone or a company engaged in the software development process is a software developer. If the software development process includes these things then those taking part in the development process are called developers. The next line marks the confusion you see with the term developers. As in "Don't call your engineers developers, call them these things."
That said, the games industry is as such that everyone on the team is a game developer. GDC is a game developers conference yet they hold audio, art, design, and marketing talks. It's a conference for game developers which includes all disciplines of game development. Everyone who goes to GDC is typically a game developer regardless if they work in art, engineering, design, or elsewhere.
Anyways, you are simply wrong, there are tons of articles, twitter threads, reddit posts, and etc that show https://www.reddit.com/r/starcitizen/comments/f71cx4/artists_are_devs_according_to_cig/ https://www.reddit.com/r/gamedesign/comments/wz10zo/the_game_designer_is_not_a_developer/im00wcg/ https://twitter.com/mesetatron/status/1690867527864524800 https://twitter.com/freelancegames
Tons of people call anyone who works on a game a game developer, it's a definition of the term Game Developer. If you can't accept that then it's cool, you simply just move on. You aren't going to change my mind to attempt to alienate my fellow game developers from me.
This is just absolutely false, and I'm sorry, I just don't want to continue to argue this. Good luck.