Video Game Engineer: The Insider Breakdown

What is a video game engineer?  What do they do, what is their day like, and how do they do it?  In this article, we’ll discuss one of the most important members of any professional game development team.

In the games industry, engineers are usually people with backgrounds in computer science or electrical engineering; they are the wizards who transform the vague dreams of designers and artists into concrete mathematical representations. The team may come to them with requests, either for a new type of movement system or special effect, or perhaps an AI system for controlling the enemies, and the engineers will be responsible for turning those descriptions into systems that can be used in the game.

Engineers work in a variety of platforms and languages: C, C++, C#, Java®, Adobe® Flash®. They may also use programs such as Microsoft Visual Studio® or Codewarrior®. While the tools of the trade may change, the core concepts of engineering are universal.  Knowing good coding practices, how to think about and organize problems, and how to create systems that interact further with other systems are high level skills that good engineers have mastered.

Furthermore, a video game engineer understands the real world limitations on the game, such as memory management or graphics capabilities of certain systems, and how to build robust and technically effective products anyway.  If the lead designer, art director or executive producer comes to engineering with a specific request, it is up to the engineer to fully realize what that request actually means for the game’s under-the-hood systems.

Types of Engineers

Within this discipline, there is a good deal of specialization.  We can’t possible discuss every type of engineer at every company, but we can cover the main three.  Among different types of video game engineers are gameplay, systems, and tools engineers. WAIT! There is more to read… read on »