Developing videogames is all fun and games

[ganeshbala]

Developing videogames is all fun and games

Whoever said playing videogames is a waste of time and energy has probably never met Aditya Gaikwad, a 23-year-old from Pune who makes a living designing and testing videogames.

Aditya Gaikwad has nursed a life time ambition to beat the pulp out of Jean Claude van Damme — not possible in the real world but absolutely doable in the virtual one.

So Aditya is in the process of developing a video game where a sumo wrestler, who looks remarkably like himself, is pitted against the great van Damme.

"That's the basic idea. I get van Damme and myself into the game and start defeating him. This is the basic idea of videogaming. It is the ultimate thing. It's like a virtual you," he says.

One of the advantages of being a gamer is that you can always be the hero of your own game. But as virtual as it may sound, it is a real job — one that involves creating characters and designing crazy games around them.

So what do you do to become a professional gamer?

"One needs qualifications like having a gaming background. One has to be a gamer. You need to have a good hand in drawing if you need to be a conceptualiser. You have to be good at imagination and have software knowledge," says Aditya.

And if you are lazy and only interested in playing games rather than designing them, you could become a game tester.

If you want to be involved in the creative part of game making — game designing and character formation — you need a Bachelors degree in fine arts or applied arts. Certification in Maya, 2D and 3D animation can be an added advantage.

And for the game development part you'll need to be certified in C, C++, Java, or better still have a degree in software engineering.

Here's a list of institutes you could look at:

Iffindor Institute of Digital Media

Chennai Dsk International Institute of Industrial Design Animation and Gaming

Pune Academy of Animation and Gaming

Srishti School of Art Design and Technology, Banglore

Sumeru Academy of Digital Arts, Pune


The upside of the job is that you get paid well, anywhere between Rs 15,000 to Rs 80,000. The down side? According to Aditya, it's bad for your eyes and figure.