Game development is an excellent career to explore if you are a creative-minded person with a passion for gaming. We are talking about money, more than anything. Entry-level game developers earn between $60,000 to $80,000 per year, mid-level developers earn between $80,000 and $120,000, and Senior game developers with extensive experience can earn more than $120,000.
But you have to know what you are doing and what tools are the best to use if you want to be the best of the best.
Below, we will give you five of the best programmes you must get familiar with.
Construct 3 for iGaming
Construct 3 is an excellent game development platform built for HTML5 games, especially for the iGaming sector. It’s likely that the best Bitcoin casino will use Construct 3 to bring players the latest and best games.
The platform has an intuitive user interface that can be used by developers of any ability, thanks to its visual scripting system. That means that even if you do not have deep programming knowledge about creating games, Construct 3 allows you to create one and test it quickly. It was designed this way because, in iGaming, things happen fast, so developers need something that lets them experiment with different ideas within short periods without doing much coding.
Construct 3 also has tons of plugins and behaviours in its library, which makes adding complex features and interactions easy for any developer who might want that kind of thing. And, they ensured their export options worked across many platforms because – one of our favourite features.
Unity
Unity has to be one of the most popular. If you are not using Unity, are you even developing good games? Why is it so popular? It has all-around 2D and 3D game development tools. You can literally find any tool you need.
The interface of Unity is user-friendly, and its asset store is comprehensive, giving developers many ready-made assets that they can use to speed up their projects.
Another thing about Unity is its support for multiple platforms, such as mobile, console, and VR, making it very flexible. No matter what game you want to develop, Unity will let you do it.
Scripting in this engine is mainly done in C#, which is easy compared to other languages – one of the easiest for new programmers.
A personal account is free, a pro account is $2,040 per year, and the industry price is $4,950, with the enterprise being customisable.
Unreal Engine
If you are interested in game development, you will have heard about Unreal Engine.
Another widely used and powerful game development platform in the industry, especially when working on high-end AAA games. Its graphics potential is breathtaking, its real-time rendering capabilities are immense, and it is all-around easy to use. If you want visually stunning games, Unreal Engine is the one for you.
The blueprint system enables developers to create complicated mechanics without writing codes, making this engine accessible even to people without good programming skills. Top tip: if you want to become one of the senior developers on $120,000, you definitely will need to learn how to write code. Do not use Unity because you do not want to code. We are simply mentioning that it is a cool feature.
We also love that so many platforms support Unreal Engine, plus extensive documentation and tutorials, which makes it perfect for both newbies and experienced developers.
Blender
Blender is a free, open-source software essential tool kit. It does not matter if you want models, animations, textures, and more. Blender will be your best friend.
One thing we will say is that it is a steep learning curve – not everyone has an easy time with it. Still, the versatility and features provided by Blender cannot be underestimated. If used correctly, they will greatly contribute towards game development (and better game development than most platforms will give you).
Blender covers the entire 3D pipeline, including modelling, rigging, animation, simulation, rendering, composing, and motion tracking. For beginner game developers, mastering Blender could be a step ahead as they can create custom assets that fit their games better.
Visual Studio
If we were to talk about integrated development environments (IDEs) used by developers to write code and debug applications across different programming languages, Visual Studio from Microsoft would probably come first. And we will talk about it!
Visual Studio has incredible features such as C# support, also the primary scripting language of Unity, and C++, heavily used with the Unreal Engine, make Visual Studio stand out. It is a combination of everything good about the other programmes.
The ability to offer various tools like IntelliSense, which gives suggestions for error checks while typing codes, helps streamline the coding process, saving time during development. And, seamless integration between Git version control systems also enhances collaboration among team members working on the same project, thus leading to efficient management.
It is an all-round good games development programme.
Which programme would you say is your favourite? They all have their pros and cons. If anything, we would say it is simply down to your abilities and which programme you find the best to use.