Does attempting to develop some sort of game, even just as a hobby during leisure time provide useful (professional) experience or is it a childish waste of time?
I have pursued small personal game projects on and off throughout my programming career. I've found the (often) strict performance requirements and escalating design complexity have taught me some of my most useful programming lessons.
In these projects to name just a few, I very quickly came face to face with: "Everything is fast for small N". I also discovered the hard way about using basic object oriented design principles to manage complexity.
In a field where many technologies and topics can be quite dry/dull, I think hobby game development is important in motivating new (and not so new) developers to brush up on essential skills while having fun at the same time.
This question talks about hobby projects in general, however here I am more interested in game projects specially and how valuable they are to professional programmers.
Doing game development on the side with your co-workers is a great way to build relationships outside of work while doing something that's fun. It's also a cool thing when you finish another milestone in your game and get to show it to others. Additionally, you can do game jams with people at work.
Yes, a bachelors in game design is worth it for many students. The Bureau of Labor Statistics is projecting an employment growth in computer systems design and related services, specifically 22% in the applications software development industry over the next 10 years.
Are video games a hobby? If you subscribe to the general belief that a hobby is something done for leisure and enjoyment, then yes, video games are certainly a hobby.
You can learn a lot from game development. Game development requires a discipline that you can't find in other programming projects.
Here are just a small set of things game development has taught me:
Because game programmers are forced to use less resources, they become better programmers.
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