Following on our series to help aspiring game developers develop the appropriate skills to get to where they want to get to, we'll cover some of the essential skills that one would need to be developing games. Keep in mind that all of these are what I believe are essential skills and are fairly subjective so if you ask different people you will most likely get different answers. Getting different answers doesn't mean that one person has to be wrong, it simply means that different people value different things and that would probably make a lot of sense if you were to look at their games. There are many variables that may impact what skill will be more prominent in one's game as opposed to another.
In general, game developers all need this... Because there are so many types of games, they all require different types of skills, but there are skills that no matter what game you make, you'll need in order to simply make something that people will enjoy. One thing you'll definitely need is patience. That applies to a lot of things in life and game development is no different. Making a game can take a lot of time. From gathering the needed resources (money or staff) to getting the game to a level that is of your satisfaction can take anywhere from a few months to a couple of years. It all depends on your expectations, your staff, your skills, and how much time you're willing to put into it. Understanding that the first version of the game will most likely not get the result you expected is also key and is part of being patient. Keep working on your game over and over again, tweak it, share it on platforms like here to get other people's feedback on it, and enjoy the process of doing it!
Then, you also need dedication. This goes hand to hand with patience because dedication will basically help you get that patience. I'm not a very patient person myself but because I'm dedicated to the projects I work on and to the people I work with, it gives me the patience necessary to go to the end of the project. If you don't have the dedication, you most likely won't end any project and that's one of the biggest problems with game developers: Starting another game without having finished the previous one.
The ultimate game development skill Last but not least skill that we will cover today is one that we believe is one of the most important ones, if not the most important. Actually, it's one we think is so important, that we named our company after that skill. Yes, you've guessed it: creativity. We can also put imagination with it because it's very similar and encompasses everything that is related to thinking outside of the box. That's what we believe will really give you an edge over your competition. What you're able to think of, in the details you're thinking of, you're the only one who can think of it that way and you should take pride in that. That creates an opportunity for you to share with the rest of the world what's happening in your head and let the people live what is inside your head. Once you can make people live in another reality where they feel like it's completely different than the one they're in, you've most likely won them over. Then, it's only a matter of making the experience smooth for the user.
There are many skills you need as a game developer Obviously, this is only the tip of the iceberg as there are so many skills needed to make a good game, but unfortunately, we wouldn't want you to have to read through 5 hours of text so we took the more abstract skills and broke it down for you. If you can think of anything else that you think is more important, I'd be curious to hear about them!
