I’m a software developer and can do pretty much nothing without an artist
Give https://opengameart.org a quick browse if you need some quick art.
All I get from this is that the comic artist is definately a gamedev
I say “developer” is only for code, “designer” can be any system, level, or character designer (ooh they use spreadsheets!), “artist” is only for drawing things. Marketing douchebags are “marketing douchebags”. And since I’m indie, I’m all of those.
But some studios just don’t care and have stupid titles; as long as thy get paid it doesn’t matter to them. WTF cares what some idiot screaming in a forum says?
Is this a real controversy?? Why
Because gatekeeping.
I didn’t know job titles were gatekeeping. Do you think that a fry cook at your restaurant is also a gamedev because they happen to feed the person making the games? It has nothing to do with gatekeeping, it has to do with “words have meanings”. You don’t just get to decide you’re a gamedev because you want to be, that doesn’t make sense.
I don’t even know how to answer you because your argument is so fucking stupid. No, I don’t think a fry cook is a gamedev, and I have literally never in my life heard a fry cook identify as such.
It’s your argument taken to its logical conclusion. If you can’t figure out the logic there then that explains why you think job titles are gatekeeing.
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What a bunch of elitist horseshit.
As a senior engine developer at a games company, this is how I see it:
- Your shitty flappy bird clone is worth less than the cheeto stain on your t-shirt as a cultural artifact
- I have met countless programmers who have never finished a single game, because they can’t design for shit
- I have met countless artists and level designers who have made commercially successful games after learning how to use 10% of a single scripting language
- The word “developer” predates software engineering and has nothing to with tech. We changed the meaning and now 14 year olds on reddit have changed it back. It doesn’t matter.
- If you were really some hot shit solo developer you would not need to look for validation in your job title. Seeing thousands of people enjoy something you designed every day would be enough.
I get it! Me, developing a game, but it’s just not interactive in any way
I mean sure anybody in a team can have input in what makes a ‘game’ in a basic sense. But I think there’s a difference between I contribute to this process and I do the thing. If programming is muscle/nerves, level design is bones (especially with puzzles) and concept art is skin (or spine when it pertains to the story).
Also IMO solo-game-dev stuff should be elevated even for the simple stuff. It means you got all the keys, even if it takes you a while to find the right ones. (note I’m not even really comfortable with programming so I wouldn’t call it a bias, though if I could I most likely would stay solo so maybe it is)
At some point, it become fashionable for programmers to be called “developers” and then everyone wanted the cool title, so it applies to anyone even remotely involved now. There’s never a way to turn back the clock and make words more precise again after people have blown them up, so there’s not a lot of point in trying to change public sentiment. I’ve seen this happen to a lot of technical words over the last 30+ years, and I’ve basically decided that there’s no point in trying to fight it. It’s not worth the cost, especially since I’m unlikely to win.
I should say that I could see someone who does a decent amount of in-engine work (nodes and their attributes, scenes, importing, handling some technical setup, basic layout/UI stuff, testing, particles/shaders etc) being called a developer/designer even if they aren’t a programmer. Though I also think someone like that probably can at least do some very simple code, at least pasting enough together to get something like movement/projectiles/signals etc.
Again, said as someone who is closer to an artist (and hasn’t made a game) who has tinkered with some stuff like that.
Yeah but “words evolve” and “language changes!” You can’t just go around asking whether they’re good changes!
Your analogy is a little weird.
I’d say that game dev is the organism and the rest is the clothing, or the shelter, or the food…
