RP Staff on May 15, 2022, 5:11 am

What Is The Difference Between Web And Game Developers?

Web and game developers might seem like the job title of people who perform a similar type of work. For example, you may consider a YouTube content creator to be doing the same type of work as someone who creates content for Facebook. Although it may sound similar, but there’s a lot going on there.

Just as the content creators on different platforms work for different types of audiences, web and app developers do too. However, the developers also have to work with unique tools and different coding software depending on the application (web or game). For instance, the platform Node.js is widely popular in web development, while game developers use game development engines such as Unity or Unreal Engine.

You might say that all types of developers are coders. Right? Well, that’s true but it is quite an oversimplification. Let’s see ahead what web and game developers do and what is the difference between the two fields.

What Does a Web Developer Do?

To put it simply, a Web Developer is responsible for creating websites and related content on the internet, for the internet. They design, maintain, and fix websites that range from simple blogging websites to complex social media platforms such as Facebook.

With the advancement of technology, making websites has gotten fairly easier than before. While it would have taken weeks to code a simple blogging website, can now be accomplished within hours with WordPress. But of course, if you need more detailed websites with multiplex functionalities, you will employ the use of sophisticated software such as Node.js. This is where websites such as Netflix, Uber, PayPal, and many more hire Node js developers for their websites.

To create a website, a Web Designer (aka Web Developer), would focus on tasks such as website aesthetics, theme, integration of images, etc. The designer would be responsible for creating a vision of the website. While the developer will use their coding expertise to bring that vision to life. Usually, there are three types of Web Developers:

Front-End Developers
They utilize the languages such as HTML, CSS, JavaScript, etc. to design the look of a website, and how it appears to the visitors.
Back-End Developers
They write code that is responsible for all the functionalities of the website. This includes writing the core logic – grabbing information, making calculations on it, and then sending it back to the front end. Node js developers are usually back-end developers.
Full-Stack Developers
These developers are experienced in both types of developments as discussed above. They can plan, design, and execute the functionality in every step of website creation.

What Does a Game Developer Do?

Game Developers are simply the creator of games, but there’s a lot more involved here in contrast to website development. Conceptualizing, designing, coding, releasing games, etc. are some of the tasks included in game development.

As a game developer, you may be responsible to complete one (or several) complex components that go into creating a game, such as:

Art
Characters
Models
Sounds
Physics
Environment
Logic
AI

As you can see, there are many tasks – and quite complicated too – necessary to create even the simplest of games today. This is why higher learning or education is needed to become a game developer. On the other hand, you can begin your web development career by successfully completing short courses.

The Real World

With game development being the more skilled job, one might consider it to be higher paying. However, that’s not true. In the U.S., a Game Developer makes around $60,000 per year while a Web Developer can make around $70,000 per year (source). And to make matters worse for Game Developers, they face poorer job security.

See the thing is, game development is viewed as a cool job, especially by the youngsters in the school. They see it as a means to work in their dream company such as Activision or Ubisoft and create games like their childhood favorites such as Call Of Duty or Need For Speed. As a result, the competition becomes quite fierce.

Furthermore, developing games is very complicated and it can take an entire day to fix a bug. So, in a task-oriented setting instead of hour-oriented work, game developers are practically forced to work unreal hours.

Adding fuel to fire, most game development studios depend on external publishers. This means releasing games is “A” product, not “THE” product. Hence, the publishers are known to cancel month-long projects without proper notice. Leaving the game developers with a high probability of getting fired, through no fault of their own!

Putting job security aside, both Web Development and Game Development are quite lucrative fields. Where a career in Web Development might be less stressful and more easily available, one might be able to earn more in Game Development – but of course with time and a senior-level position.

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