Does AR give failed game developers the opportunity to work for mainstream IT?

News & General Discussion
1

So your dream was to be a game developer and make fun games and do well off the income?

The reality is it’s a crowded highly skilled business market with moving and advancing technology platforms and changing flowing marketplace demands. Combined with a race to the bottom pricing model where companies have to pay to get players to play, then hook them in with virtual currencies, progress time bars, loot boxes and hats to get them to part with their cash.

  • Are you left stranded with game programming and 3d modelling skills that no body really needs or will the rise of Augmented Reality allow you to take those skills and earn a living?
  • Is the AR marketplace going to be big enough?
  • Will the work pay better than game development?
  • Will it be fun and interesting enough?

What other ways could you take your game development skill set and earn a living?

2

Well done, well marketed games do not fail a large percentage of the time. If the game isn’t good enough, putting players’ faces in it won’t help a bit.

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3

The main thing is building "AR platforms "-- essentially level editors that allow customers or businesses to build other apps bypassing xcode, and the appstore, etc. Right now these things are raising absurd amounts of money. If you can join a startup and get some equity + salary it might payoff in a huge way – the business guys have insanely big plans and if it pan out… I wont have to worry about money again.

4

No, I think it would be harder to specialise in AR, than it is to do a game, where game is a typical 2D simple platformer with placeholder assets that is within reach of most people.

I had to define what game was, because it’s pretty open ended.

5

AR is actually a very limited subset of game development. Sure some game developers who have worked with AR will be picked up by non game companies wanting to do VR. But its not going to make much of a significant change to either industry.

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6

Edit: I just finished typing nearly the same thing. :wink:

I would add that if you struggle to make it in games, you’ll be in the same boat with ar. As noted above, it’s a subset, not a new market/area.

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7

Yeah also what IS AR developer in this context? Some guy doing depth buffer tricks and spatial reconstruction or some guy playing with Unity? I can’t really get it.

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