How to Hire A Game Developer: A Step-By-Step Guide

Hiring a game developer starts with defining your project needs, evaluating skills, and choosing the right hiring model. Whether you’re building a mobile game, a console game, or a VR game, employing the right talent is essential for building a successful project. Fortunately, finding the right game developer for your team can be relatively easy with the right strategies. In this blog, we will take you on a comprehensive journey on how to hire a game developer. We will guide you through the process of selecting and appointing the most qualified game developer for your project. 

How to Hire A Game Developer: A Step-By-Step Guide

Game development requires a dedicated team of innovative and imaginative professionals who can brainstorm ideas and collaborate creatively with other developers. To hire a game developer, start by defining your project requirements, including the type of game, platform, and timeline. Identify the necessary skills and craft a clear job description outlining responsibilities, qualifications, and benefits. Use platforms like Internshala to find candidates. Finally, conduct interviews to assess skills and onboard your chosen candidate.

Here is a step-by-step guide on how to hire a game developer effectively.  

1. Define Project Requirements

Before you start searching for a game developer, you should have a clear understanding of your project’s requirements and goals. Ask yourself:

• What type of game/gaming platform do you want to create? (e.g., mobile, console, iOS, PC, VR/AR)
• What is the genre? (e.g., action, adventure, puzzle, RPG)
• What are the key features, plot, characters, and gaming mechanics? 
• What is the timeline and budget for the project?

By defining these requirements, you’ll better communicate your needs to potential candidates. This will also help you identify the specific skills and expertise required for the role.

2. Identify the Skills and Qualifications Required

Once you have outlined your project requirements, you should identify and enlist the skills and educational qualifications required for the position. The right candidate should have a combination of artistic, creative, technical, and problem-solving skills. Some key skills to look for in your potential candidate include prior experience in game development, the ability to communicate and collaborate with other team members, etc. 

3. Draft a Job Description

When considering how to hire a games developer, you should write a concise and well-crafted job description, communicating your expectations with candidates. A well-crafted job description should outline the key responsibilities, required skills, and qualifications needed for the role. This will help the applicants determine whether their skills and qualifications match the job requirements or not. 

Here are a few components you can include in your game developer’s job description:

• Job Title: Mention the job title you are hiring for, such as ‘Game Developer’ or ‘Head Game Developer’. This will ensure the potential employee is well aware of what position they are applying for.
• Required Skills and Qualifications: Outline the skills and qualifications that are essential to the role. Additionally, clarify the qualifications you’d prefer the candidate to have, such as a bachelor’s in computer science or a postgraduate diploma in game design and development.    
• Key Responsibilities: Provide details about the daily tasks and responsibilities you expect the game developer to perform. For instance, collaborating with other developers, brainstorming game concepts, and coding.
• Location and Office Hours: Specify whether the job location is hybrid, on-site, or remote. Also, mention the expected working hours.
• Compensation and Benefits: Provide details about the salary, perks, and benefits to ensure transparency and trust from the beginning. 

4. Choose the Right Hiring Platform

After creating a concise and detailed job description, your next step is to post the job vacancy. Choosing the right platform to post your job opening can positively impact the quality of applicants. Decide whether you’re looking for a full-time employee, a freelancer, or a contractor, and choose a platform accordingly.

Here are some platforms where you can post the vacancy according to your preference:

• Job Portals: Platforms like Internshala or LinkedIn are great and suitable job portals for finding full-time or part-time candidates. 
• Freelance Platforms: If you are looking for a freelance game developer, consider using platforms like Upwork, or Fiverr. 
• Professional Game Development Studios: Another way of hiring specialized game developers is by directly contacting game development studios. With these studios, you can find and hire highly skilled developers for contract-based work.

5. Interview Potential Candidates

Interviews are the most crucial part of the hiring process as they allow you to assess the potential candidate’s skill, expertise, and fit for your company. Here are some steps you should take while screening and interviewing your potential candidate: 

• Shortlisting the Candidates: Start by reviewing the received applications. Shortlist the candidates whose skills, experience, qualifications, cover letter, and portfolio are most suitable as per the requirements of your project. 
• Video or Physical Interview: Invite shortlisted candidates for a more detailed interview, either in person or via video call. This stage allows you to assess their personality, cultural fit, and how well they align with your team’s values. It’s also an opportunity to dive deeper into their technical expertise and problem-solving abilities.
• Technical Ability Interview Tasks: Whether you are hiring a fresher or a highly experienced game developer, it’s essential to verify their technical proficiency. Below we have provided a few examples of technical assessment tasks for game developers: 
• System Design Challenges: Ask them to design a game level, create a data storage solution, or develop a database structure for a game.
• Coding Challenges: Test their ability to implement a basic collision detection system, object pooling, or build a fundamental game loop.  

6. Appointment and Onboarding of the New Game Developer

The last step of your game developer hiring process is appointing and onboarding the candidate you have selected. You should ensure a smooth employee onboarding process to help your newly hired game developer settle into their role comfortably and efficiently. Below are some tips to ensure a smooth employee onboarding process:

• Concise and Detailed Appointment Letter: A well-crafted appointment letter ensures a transparent communication of employee expectations from your end. You must include the role, responsibilities, compensation and benefits, and expected office work hours in this letter. 
• Orientation: Schedule an orientation to welcome new employees and introduce them to colleagues, fellow developers, artists, and designers. Additionally, familiarize them with the tools your studio uses, such as game engines and programming languages.
• Introduce Communication Channels: Inform them about the preferred mode of communication within the organization, whether it’s email, video calls, or messaging. Additionally, inform them about any regular meetings, such as weekly progress updates or team check-ins, to keep them aligned with project goals and timelines.

What Skills Should You Look for in a Game Developer?

When hiring a game developer, it’s essential to understand the technical and creative skills needed for a successful project. Ideally, game development requires creativity and hard and soft skills. If you’re wondering how to hire a game developer, here are some key skills to look for: 

• Artistry and Creativity: Fundamental art skills like sketching, modeling, and drawing with a strong artistic vision to develop unique and creative ideas and concepts. 
• Virtual and Augmented Reality: Expertise in building immersive game environments by leveraging VR and AR technologies and tools such as Unity, Vossle, Scope AR, and Hololink.
• Game Engine and Programming Languages: Proficiency in programming languages such as C++, Lua, Python, C#, and JavaScript. Also, they should understand game engines such as Unreal, Unity, Defold, or Godot.  
• Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence: Familiarity with AI algorithms to create adaptive and vibrant gaming systems. Also, the ability to use AI and ML to build unpredictable gaming environments for enhanced player experience.
• Physics and Mathematics Knowledge: Expertise in mathematics and physics principles and rules for developing reality-inspired game environments and mechanics.
• Graphics and VFX Effects: Proficiency in creating visually appealing and realistic game graphics and VFX effects to enhance player engagement and bring game characters to life.
• Agile Methodologies: In-depth knowledge of agile methodologies like Kanban or Scrum, to enable the game developer to produce incremental value during the project.
• Teamwork and Collaboration: The ability to effectively work with designers, artists, fellow developers, producers, and stakeholders to ensure the smooth development of the game.
• Time and Project Management: The ability to schedule, plan, budget, and execute the game deliverables within the timeline of game development and practice resilience under high-pressure situations.  
• Narrative and Storytelling: Proficiency in creating engaging, interactive, and captivating dialogues, game storylines, and narratives to ensure a memorable player experience.  

Conclusion

In this blog, we have provided a step-by-step guide on how to hire a game developer for your team. We have also highlighted the essential hard and soft skills to look for in a game developer. By following this structured guide,  from crafting a job description to onboarding the selected candidate, you will increase your chances of hiring the right candidate. 

If you are looking to hire a freelance game developer, then check out our blog on the best platforms to hire freelancers.

FAQs