The Career of Games – April 2016

One of the most thriving careers as of today, gaming engineering or gaming programming is sure to pick up vastly in the future

A gaming engineer is a software engineer, programmer, or computer scientist who primarily develops codebases for video games or related software, such as game development tools. Many specialised disciplines fall under the umbrella term of gaming engineer, but a gaming engineer should not be confused with a game designer, who works on the design of the game.
Gaming engineers work with teams of programmers, illustrators and testers to design, develop and create new video games. They can be involved in all the phases of game development, right from formulating the initial concept to testing the product before release.

HOW DID IT ALL START?
Video games came up around the early 1970s to the mid-1980s, which can be considered as the initial days of video games. In those days, a gaming engineer also took on the job of game design and artist. The reason for this was generally because of the limited abilities of the early computers, which made is unnecessary to have specialised personnel for each function. The game concepts back then were also light, and games were meant to be played for only a few minutes at a time. More importantly, even the art content and gameplay variations were also constrained by the limited power of computers.
As specialised arcade hardware and home systems became more powerful, deeper storylines and features like high-resolution and full colour graphics could be integrated into the game. Other features like advanced artificial intelligence and digital sounds had also just become reality and could be incorporated into games.
Nowadays, programmer art has come to be a derogatory term which implies the kind of bright colours and blocky design that were typical of early video games. The desire for adding more depth and assets to games necessitated a division of labour. Initially, art production was relegated to full-time artists. Next game programming became a separate discipline from game design. Despite this division, however, most game developers (artists, engineers and even producers) have some say in the final design of contemporary games.

JOB DESCRIPTION
Gaming engineers are specialized software engineers who design and program video games. Gaming engineers work with teams of developers on the entire process of creating a video game.
Beginning with the concept development and initial prototype development, an engineer will provide knowledge of programming and the realities of game design. They are also responsible for creating coding sequences which create game play, and it is common to require the creation of multiple codes for different gaming devices.

Yashash Agarwal, the 20-year-old co-founder of Gamezop talks to us about his venture and the future of the gaming industry

Smartphone gaming platform Gamezop has closed $350K (Rs. 2.3 crores) in seed funding led by entertainment marketers Kwan. US-based Powerhouse Ventures, an existing investor in Gamezop, also participated. Others in the round include startup analytics firm Tracxn, Germanybased AECAL, and prolific angels Anand Chandrasekaran (Chief Product Officer, Snapdeal), Phanindra Sama (Founder, redBus), and Vinay Menon (MD, Equity Capital Markets, JP Morgan).
The Delhi-based company aggregates short and addictive games from around the world, which can be played on a single app and removes the friction of constantly installing and uninstalling individual games. Although Android only at this point, all of the hundreds of games featured on the Gamezop app are device- and OSagnostic and can be shared as weblinks for play on any smartphone, tablet, PC, or Smart TV. The company is building a product for global markets and is extending features to HTML5 game developers to get them on par with their native counterparts. 20-year old CEO, Yashash Agarwal, says “Content-light platform plays have been most scalable in the digital consumption space. Popular forms of digital entertainment, such as music or videos, already have platforms that serve as onestop destinations. However, in gaming one only hears of individual titles. We are building a platform to make gaming reach the inflection point that the others have already witnessed,” he said.
Gamezop co-founders, Yashash and Gaurav Agarwal, have been selected in Forbes Asia’s 30 Under 30 list.

WHAT INSPIRED YOU TO COME UP WITH GAMEZOP?
Gamezop aggregates short and addictive games from around the world, which can be played on a single app and removes the friction of constantly installing and uninstalling individual games. Content-light platform plays have been most scalable in the digital consumption space. Popular forms of digital entertainment, such as music or videos, already have platforms that serve as one-stop destinations. However, in gaming one only hears of individual titles. We are building a platform to make gaming reach the trigger point that the others have already witnessed.

CAN YOU GIVE US A BRIEF IDEA OF HOW GAMEZOP WORKS AND WHAT IS THE USP?
Gamezop leverages the full potential of browser technology to make downloading individual games redundant. We are building a platform where one can play several games on a single app, just like you can listen to a wide variety of music on a single app. Two of the biggest USPs of Gamezop are offline access (Gamezop is equipped to provided offline access to online games) and platform agnosticism (the same game  can run across devices [smartphones / tablets / PCS] or environments [Android / iOS / Windows]).

WHAT WERE THE MAJOR CHALLENGES YOU FACED WITH GAMEZOP SINCE ITS INCEPTION?
Building this platform has always been an ambitious task for it meant the using state of the art technology and staying ahead of some of the finest global players in casual gaming. The biggest challenge, undoubtedly, was to get the right team in place to spearhead different dimensions of our work. One of the things we have done to attract the finest talent in the market is to be a company with a great culture. We still work out of an apartment and have great times gelling together as a team!

SINCE INDIA IS NOT YET A MATURE GAMING MARKET HOW ARE YOU PLAN TO CREATE AWARENESS AND PROMOTE GAMING?
The main reason why gaming has not seen an inflection point like other forms of content-consumption is because it continues to remain a frictional experience in the eyes of non-gamers. If gaming experience could be made as convenient as, say, picture-sharing over a messenger it would pick up, not just in India but elsewhere as well. This is the core of our thinking.
That said, while it is true that gaming is underserved in India, at 135% CAGR, India is the fastest growing gaming economy in the world. So it is definitely a very interesting time to be associated with gaming in India.

WHAT ADVICE WOULD YOU GIVE TO YOUNGSTERS WHO WISH TO TAKE UP GAMING AS A CAREER, EITHER FROM AN ENTREPRENEURIAL STANDPOINT, OR AS A CREATOR OF GAMES?
While I am not equipped to advise, I just want to bring out the fact that while we love games, many a time
young gaming entrepreneurs do not see the business side that makes gaming so exciting. We meet talented indie developers from across the globe who design excellent content, but sometimes do not care to worry about distribution or monetization. It may help to think about these aspects early on in the business.

 

Volume 5 Issue 10