How to find the best game dev team for your first project

The global gaming market was valued at USD 162.32 billion in 2020 and is expected to reach a value of USD 295.63 billion by 2026, registering a CAGR of 10.5% over the forecast period (2021 – 2026).

Source: Mordorintelligence

Video games have mushroomed over the time and have become popular in the global market making the video game development process also quite prevalent. The competition is hot on the heels and the gaming industry is working hard towards giving the gamers an engaging and immersive gaming experience by making sure they have an extraordinary game development team and by introducing potential projects for the audience. This speaks volumes of the importance of mindfully hiring people that are a right fit for your team and who understand your vision well to get you where you want.

It all begins with an idea and implementation of that idea is what makes a great application and that requires a strong team that takes over tasks like programming, design, sound, project management, and business development. 

Every game project starts with mindful planning and hiring professional game app developers that bring your game idea to life. And, the hiring process is not easy when it comes to looking for a passionate and skillful team. So, further we will share with you a few points to look into when considering a game dev team.

The technological expertise

Plan the technologies that you would want to use in your game and accordingly hire game designers and developers with those technological expertise. The developers must have their strong knowledge about different game engines (Unity or Unreal) and relevant programming languages (C#, C++, JavaScript, Python) along with competencies related to graphics. Other than that, you need to know the requirements of your game. Depending upon how complex the game is, the size of the team will be determined. Apart from the game designers and programmers, the producers, artists, content, and creators are who develop and support a video game.

The global augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR), and mixed reality (MR) market is forecast to reach 30.7 billion U.S. dollars in 2021, rising to close to 300 billion U.S. dollars by 2024.

Source: Statista

There are several technologies that have evolved over the years and made a place of their own in the gaming market. And, in the talk of evolution, video games are not behind. Needless to say, the emerging technologies have had a lashing impact on the gaming industry and have made the games more immersive, interactive and difficult for gamers to draw the line between fantasy and reality. Augmented reality, virtual reality, wearable gaming, facial recognition, voice recognition, and gesture control are changing the way games are played and perceived. It is the various tools that go into the making of these games that play a pivotal role in the whole game development process. Modelling, sound, video, and animation make use of such tools and a suitable game engine that controls the characters movement and interaction in the game.

In other respects, Artificial Intelligence has contributed to changing the gaming experience of the players with NPCs and solo-gaming. MMORPG (Massively Multiplayer Online Role-playing Games) have given the gamers a platform to connect with millions of gamers online and play games with them, ever-changing the idea of gaming. 3D-rendered characters and better graphics have made the look and feel of games extraordinary and life-like. Introduction of portable gaming systems was another breakthrough innovation that took gaming to another level by giving the players the comfort of playing from anywhere, at any time, and with anyone they wished.  

The importance of these innovations have made clear the importance of the expertise that one has to have to create a mind-bending game. 

The game production team

The design, sound department, technical department, programming department, project management, and business development together plan, design, and produce a video game. They plan game projects, create content, design games, write code, and test and debug games to integrate the features and functionality into the game. All of this involves the team members to be creative, artistic, and hold technical skills to develop interesting games that look great and are fun.      

Every member of the team holds expertise of their own in their individual skill-sets. There has to be a balance of skills in the team. One of the skills is effective verbal communication between the team members so that there is a flow of ideas and concepts between the people of the team.

Find the best in game designing, coding, art, animation, narrative design, sound design, production, quality analyst, product management, and marketing to produce a game that’s does great in the market. The qualities that one has to look for are subject to what one is aspiring to build but in all other respects, there are certain attributes that might work in the favour of the game plan. Just to begin with, a game design document must be ready which has anything to everything from the UI and controls, the planned perspective, genre of the game, game mechanics, the type of game, the storyline of the game, initial artwork, a brief, etc.

Going forward, Game designers create the structure of the game that involves the mechanics, systems, and the game play. They in particular frame the initial vision of what the game is about to look like. A designer that has that sort of vision from the very start and works with the same aspiration till the very end is what you should be looking for. Also, for the designers to give high-quality work, it is crucial for all - junior, senior designers, and the entire team to be on the same page.

The blueprint is then put into execution by the Game Programmers keeping in mind the specifications that are set. Hence, one must have the expertise to code every function and feature into the game. Along with that, they should have the knack to build channels for the game artists and animators to incorporate their content into the game. Developers with the capability to write their own engine are considered highly skilled.   

Video game art involves creating the game characters, other visuals, and the game environment in 2D, 3D, or both. Artists or animators use specialized softwares like Maya or 3DSMax for 3D art and model creation. While 2D and Ui artists use software like Photoshop to produce content for the game. Therefore, the artist’s qualifications, experience, creativity, and proficiency with the softwares is what one should be considering. And, to get a hold of that, their previous work or portfolio can speak a lot about their practical knowledge in the field.

The content or the script in the game is what the players read and so the narrative designer or content creators needs to have a good understanding of the game so that the player gets a good understanding too through the narration. Thus, the writer’s previous work and creativity with words is what one has to look into.

The audio aspect of the game is so important to make a video game engaging. There are composers and sound designers involved who create original sound and music and use softwares like WWise and FMOD to implement their work into the game. There are audio engineers who are qualified with a degree and have pragmatic knowledge with the relevant tools and those are the people that you need in your game development team.

And, finally the producers that work on the other business and marketing aspects of the game like the budget management, mediating the contracts, the schedule of the tasks, game scope in the market, and takes care of the everyday management of the development process. A video game producer plays a major part in the project and is the main man. He/she should have the qualities of team management and flexibility to ensure that the project is completed on time and a quality product is delivered. A person who has the capability to think ahead of time, plan accordingly and sees to it that the project is completed successfully by overcoming all hurdles.

Having said that, the video gaming industry has matured over the times and so has the game development process. Likewise, the way a game development team functions has also changed to keep up with the developments in gaming business. One such game development company is Logic Simplified which is based in Dehradun and has a team of game app developers that are the right fit for all the qualities one looks for in a game development team. They know how to work with a team efficiently so produce quality work and within deadlines.