How do I get into the game industry

Here's a summary of the themes expressed in the Hacker News discussion:

The "College" Ambiguity and Privilege

A portion of the discussion revolves around the interpretation of "college" in the context of Garry's original statement. It becomes clear that "college" in British English often refers to a pre-university institution, akin to high school or a sixth-form college, rather than a university. This leads to a broader conversation about the privilege required to even access education and be in a position to consider a career path.

"So at least some privilege?" (wccrawford)
"In British English, 'college' does not refer to University / higher education, it's closer to high-school." (tiniuclx)
"To be more precise they are called '6th Form College', and take 2 years to complete. At the end you take A-Level exams* which determines which type of university you can apply for." (Flere-Imsaho)

The Changing Landscape of Game Development and "De-professionalization"

Several users discuss how the ease of access to game development tools, similar to the music industry's "democratization" with affordable recording equipment, has led to a massive increase in the number of amateur creators. This has resulted in a crowded marketplace where it's incredibly difficult for new talent to stand out, and success is heavily skewed towards established studios or rare outliers.

"Times have changed a lot since Garry broke through with the infamous Garry's Mod. That's where I got my first taste of programming - writing a PID controller for a tank turret so I could point the tank's gun using my mouse." (tiniuclx)
"Today, it's easier than ever to get started making games (even I can do it! [0]) but standing out in a crowded marketplace is very difficult. The music industry saw a very similar trend about 10-15 years ago, with the release of consumer recording equipment. In both cases it lead to a 'de-professionalization' of the industry, where most participants are amateurs but most of the success still goes to established studios - barring one-in-a-million outliers such as Garry's Mod, or other indie darlings like Hollow Knight, Balatro, Stardew Valley." (tiniuclx)
"Just like in the music industry, people still believe they can be the outlier. Flappy Bird, more so than your examples built by skilled individuals, showed that 'anyone could do it'." (glimshe)
"Having a hit game and being an industry programmer/artist might as well be two completely different skills. Sticking with the music analogy, it is the difference between programming your own DAW vs being the audio engineer/writer/producer/singer of your own rap album." (chickenzzzzu)
">> 'de-professionalization' I'm a dinosaur who's supposed to hate the music kids listen to these days, but the quality seems as good or better, and the quanity magnitudes higher, so maybe it was a professionalization of amateurs?" (skeeter2020)
"On the other hand, ~50 brand new games release on Steam every day and a lot of them are gonna be first-time releases from amateurs for whom the level of quality & polish achievable with a small team & publisher support is just out of reach." (tiniuclx)
"I'd wager a lot of them are money grabs from someone who followed a tutorial on how to make a certain type of game in Unity, swapped a few assets, and put it out there hoping to make a few dollars?" (Sohcahtoa82)

Advice for Aspiring Game Developers and Career Paths

Several users offer practical advice for those looking to break into game development or the broader software industry. This includes focusing on core programming skills, building demonstrable projects, understanding industry credentialism, and even exploring alternative niches like small IT services.

"1) Yes, learn to program. 2) Yes, learn 3d art. 3) Enthusiastically do those things almost every day of your life. 4) Don't follow too many tutorials, just enough to unblock you. 5) Let the debugger/screen punch you in the face. Learn to love being told when you are wrong. 6) Keep your expenses low, but probably you still need to go to a relatively good college. 7) Why? That's because a large part of our world is based on needless credentialism." (chickenzzzzu)
"8) Build tools that people literally use. This is how you know you're ready for interviewing." (chickenzzzzu)
"9) Grind leetcode and brain teasers and common interview gotchas for your language/domain of choice, but only an hour a day max. That's basically what it takes to get a real and good job in the industry now. No magic bullets, just hard work and acceptance of some arbitrary BS." (chickenzzzzu)
"My takeaway is that while the AA/AAA environment may have never been more challenging, if you can ship small focused games, you the evolution of devtools (eg free and/or functionally free engines for teams earning under $1m) means that making a living shipping small games is doable. You just have to ship small games, not try to compete with studios spending $150m on the low end." (x0x0)
"Monolith platforms right now are more unpopular than perhaps they've ever been. Businesses in your area would LOVE to not be saddled to the monstrous site-builders and corporate-focused clouds that don't fit their businesses. If you want to make a good living, get out there and network with folks who run businesses in your community. I make a solid side-income doing IT for businesses in my area, just easy stuff like setting up WiFi services that they can rely on, managing on-site POS systems, printer ink, that sort of shit." (ToucanLoucan)
"The article highlights how to get into the modding industry. While that is part of the games industry, it is a small fraction of the larger game production business. I've hired many game programmers and the key to getting into the industry is demonstrating a few critical skills: 1. Sufficient technical skill in whatever your field is. 2. Curiosity applied to problem solving. How can we make this work? 3. An ability to finish what you start. Get it done." (JanSolo)
"If you're a new programmer looking to start out on this journey, I recommend picking an engine and just start making stuff. Participate in as many Gamejams, Mods or minigame productions as possible. Ship things; Finish them." (JanSolo)
"If you want to get hired at a company as a programmer, make really really small things, like tiny games. I am talking start with hangman, then sudoku in the console. Then move on to minesweeper and tetris. If confident do space invaders. At this point maybe get started with 3D? Maybe Unity and Unreal?" (lentil_soup)
"If I am interviewing you and see some solid and polished small games and we can talk about stuff you found cool you're already punching way above most entry level coders." (lentil_soup)
"If you can't make a small game, you can't make a big game. So make the small game first; it should take much less time than the big game, so if you are afraid that doing the small game would waste too much of your time, you are definitely not ready for the big game." (Viliam1234)
"One esoteric route would be to try and specialize in an area where talent is scarce. There's a lot of gameplay programmers, few engine programmers, fewer graphics programmers, and very few physics programmers (in my experience at least)." (manas96)

The Impact of Generative AI and the Future of Creation

A significant portion of the discussion grapples with the potential disruptive impact of generative AI on the creative industries, including game development. Users debate whether AI will truly "solve" creativity, the role of Intellectual Property (IP) in an AI-generated world, and how user-generated content platforms might evolve.

"The endgame being pushed, and looking increasingly technically viable over a decade or so, is the user, holodeck style, describes what they want and it is assembled in front of them. There is a lot of cope in the games industry about this ever happening because of how disruptive it would be." (fidotron)
"I think people have their head in the sand about how disruptive generative AI will have, not just to the game industry, but all entertainment industries. It has started with music, 2D and 3D art, text to voice (voice actors no longer needed)." (Flere-Imsaho)
"The valuable part is a talent for creating gameplay systems, which is not in any way related to low level programming or rendering algorithms, then you stand at least a small chance, but due to how crowded the market is the returns on this get smaller every day." (fidotron)
"To anyone wanting to make a living from the games industry I would advise simply going outside and doing something else." (fidotron)
"What's the point of IP if the conjecture is that creativity is solved? Why not just generate different IP?" (jayd16)
"Because the value of IP is stored in cultural zeitgeist. People don't want to go to 'A mouses fantasy location' they want to go to Disneyland." (ehnto)
"Creativity absolutely has not been solved. Theft, however, has been solved." (pharrington)
"Maybe this is just more cope but I think its important to remember that anyone who can write will still read books written by others. AI will be disruptive but art is ultimately about sharing and receiving what someone else is trying to share." (jayd16)
"I really don't think this is what most gamers want - and I think they'd like it even less if they tried it, for the reason you highlight 2 sentences later... The valuable part is a talent for creating gameplay systems." (squigz)
"Also players don’t know what they want. Good games aren’t just a result of a good idea that’s then implemented - they come from untold hours of iteration, tinkering, figuring out what’s fun, what isn’t, and why. That’s the hard part, and I have a hard time believing that hypothetical holodeck could ever do it." (ileonichwiesz)
"What I want is to have interesting novel experiences crafted by talented people. I have no interest in playing a randomly-generated composite of a bunch of existing games. What would be the point?" (joshwcomeau)
"Think of human DJs vs TikTok algorithms. In general, people prefer algorithmic DJs. The AI game dev may watch thousands of metrics - pupil dilation, linger time, interaction - then generate personalized games on the fly." (sandspar)

The Nature of Game Development Programming Challenges

A recurring theme is the unique and often difficult nature of programming for games. Users highlight the extreme optimization requirements, the interplay between low-level details and high-level design, and the broad skill set needed beyond just writing code.

"Game coding makes you have to think about thinks that a lot of web devs don't have to (or merely don't bother to) consider. Optimization is paramount. To maintain 60 fps, you need to calculate your game state and render graphics in under 1/60th of a second." (Sohcahtoa82)
"It is like an arms race that doesn’t even need to be played. Whatever is released gamers have shown they are fine with if the mechanics are great. Crysis tried to stand out back in the day as the greatest graphical experience and about all it was good for was a benchmarking tool." (kjkjadksj)
"He has an interest in getting good devs hyped on S&box, but he's being pretty open ended and honest here. Want to be a game dev? Make a game and ship it..." (hnuser123456)
"It's so different, convoluted, mostly relying on tricks, clean code will slow you down, nothing works as you expected, and you have to learn so many things around coding (the engine itself, physics, texturing, modeling, lighting, etc.)" (h1fra)
"A really good book I read recently was Game Programming Patterns by Robert Nystrom - I think it has helped me, as a more traditional software engineer, to dip my toes into game development in a way that doesn't feel like a spaghetti plate full of hacks and tricks." (kamranjon)
"But it's definitely the hardest software domain I have ever tackled, and if only it were just software! Game dev is realy 6 other disciplines in a trenchcoat." (ehnto)
"Normal maps are a good example of tricks in games, why make a watery surface millions of triangles when you can just fake how light reflects off of it and trick people into thinking its got millions of triangles" (mclau157)
"Hard disagree. In fact, learning how to apply clean code and architectural patterns in game dev has kept projects manageable and on track and done nothing but level up my general software ability." (wallstop)

The Power of Modding and User-Generated Content Platforms

Garry's Mod's legacy as a modding platform is a significant touchstone in the discussion. Users reflect on how this fostered their early programming skills and how platforms like Roblox, Fortnite (with UEFN), and Steam Workshop continue to be hubs for user-generated content and potential career starting points.

"Garry's Mod is probably the reason I have a career in programming now. That, and Minecraft redstone!" (tiniuclx)
"I was an admin on a huge wire mod server as a teen and it changed my life :)." (drchickensalad)
"roblox is a good suggestion. i know it's often criticised, especially for its profit margins, but developers get a massive potential audience, free unlimited multiplayer hosting, and many monetisation streams with little setup." (bstsb)
"Anyway....it looks pretty neat. I feel like the industry as gone from a time of mods, through an era of AAA unmoddable games, and now we're landing on 'all games will be mods.'. I guess we're chasing Minecraft and Roblox and Fortnite models now." (jayd16)
"And yeah, the steam workshop was way ahead of its time, and feels like a new, higher tier of sandbox game. I don't think there's any other game that came out around the same time as gmod (2006) that has had comparable momentum and staying power." (hnuser123456)
"They have a special build of the Unreal Engine for Fortnite maps called UEFN. They have a similar pay for user playtime kind of payout model. They're trying very hard to be the the omni-game engine of choice." (jayd16)