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I have very little programming skills outside of very basic levels of Java, but I have excellent math and science knowledge. I was wondering what I could offer any potential team if I were to go into video game development? Do people hire people based on their math knowledge alone? I like to do other things such as writing or drawing, but math and science are the only skills in which I really excel in. |
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Here is an analogy that may fit your situation:
That's the situation you're in. You are very good at one of the core concepts required for graphics/physics/AI programming. But you don't know the language (programming). If you don't know the language your audience requires, then you'll never be able to apply your skills to that audience. So, while you might be able to find a job in the games industry, that company would essentially need some interpreters to work with you. Converting your knowledge into workable code. You'd be far more valuable if you spoke the language too. |
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Math is very useful to game developers (programmers developing physics algorithms, designers analyzing stats, etc.) but game companies don't hire mathematicians. |
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Video game is:
If you will be making a game you will be doing math. If you are exceptionally good at math and science, people would need you to implement their physics frameworks, and graphics can become quite complicated mathematically depending on how fancy the desired effect is. So yes you are a desirable asset as a mathematician, but simple high-school math is good enough to solve most problems in games, especially if the team in question is using a 3rd party game engine and doesn't care about the internals. |
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Given the interesting conversations on this thread, I've decided to look a bit further into this topic in order to achieve several things. First off, to answer your original questions and secondly to address what appears to be the underlying subject of your interest to enter into game development. As many people here have stated, 'pure' knowledge of Mathematical concepts at an expert level without any proven software development experience will not prohibit you from getting into the Game Development career track. I would argue that it will significantly limit your options in the process of attempting to get in the door of an exclusive top tier game dev studio. My initial arguments were based on the intent to not deter you from the basis of your original question which was your 'interest' in approaching the field of game dev. So what I would suggest is that you look further into the subject. Here are some examples of what is currently active in the market based on the search criteria "Mathematician games" on Indeed.com: http://www.indeed.com/jobs?q=Mathematician+games&l= Given the time sensitive nature of the link, i've compiled some of the examples below:
Note that this job is filed under "Engineering" and not "Computers/Software" on their site so their company makes a distinction between Software Development and Engineers. In this case, I would argue that your understanding of Java would only be helpful and desirable. Also notice that the role of the position appears to be based on Statistics for casino based games but it supports your original question.
Here we have another position for casino games. Maybe we are starting to see a trend? So what does that mean to you... Well, firstly it might not be exactly what you are looking for. Is your goal to make good money? If yes then it might mean you can be very successful being involved in the process of creating games played by many people based solely on your background in math. Is your interest in working for a top tier game studio creating the next Gears of War? If that's your goal then I would argue that once you start down the path of building games for the Casino industry that you could potentially harm your ability to do anything outside of this area. One potential pitfall that you have to think about is getting 'siloed' into a specific career path that makes it difficult to pivot into another area in the same field. It's a potential issue but nothing i'm stating here is applicable for every situation. Some will argue against my points given their specific experience. All I aim to provide you with is 'my' specific experience in corporate software development for the past 12 years.
Ok, now it's starting to get interesting. Just look at Konami's site. I think everyone here know who they are and what they've published. But wait, the job is for what? "Casino Games"... Here I would argue that last comment regarding the possibility to 'pivot' inside a company. This is a perfect example of "Getting your foot in the door" and would support the idea of developing your skills in software development alongside having a career with a top tier game company during the day. Remember, you can always learn how to become a good software developer on your 'own time'. I basically learned how to write software on my own and you can do so as well. Some other points to remember, this is a huge company and can be very selective on who they hire so they emphasize have previous experience and 'shipped games' but that is boilerplate copy that's used on every job opening they have and is not to say that the hiring manager is looking for someone right out of school who is eager to learn and work hard. Remember that with experience comes other issues that a hiring manager has to worry about that aren't there with a new hire out of school (potentially: Require pay at higher tier than desirable, potential turnover due to reasons not present in someone right out of school, etc..) So if you look at the Indeed job list, many of the Math related jobs are in the Casino Industry but hopefully I've given you some scenarios that help you make a good decision but based on some of my original comments, I said that if you are good at math, in theory you should be able to grasp programming at a competent level. What I would also mention if that with any skill/trade, it takes time to get good but it doesn't mean you can't get into the game industry. You just have to work at it and your background in math will only help you if you decide to. Here are a few more examples of Mathematicians being cited by companies with a gaming/graphics focus:
Another example of Mathematicians being involved in the process of 'implementing game features'.
Here's another good example of getting your foot into the door. High5 says they employ Mathematicians AND they have licensed games to Konami so say you land a job at High5 and work there for 5 years and then apply at Konami for a job as a Game Developer after you get better with your software skills. It would look good that you have experience with a company that Konami has a business relationship with. You could even interface directly with a team at Konami while working at High5. You could also say that you have 'shipped games' @ High5 even if your role was just as a Mathematician.. you had a role in the game being shipped and you can take credit as such. So what should you take away from this research? Well, I can only give you my opinion and from the short amount of time I spent on this, the answer to your original question is YES, companies that create games hire Mathematicians. Is it the type of games you want to create? I don't have those answers for you but one thing I would suggest is to be careful when making a decision. I can only guess that the Casino Industry is a crazy place to work for, even as a Mathematician or Software Developer but from above, you can see some options for eventually working on mainstream games on consoles and handhelds. Don't sell yourself short, I think it's highly possible to end up as a game developer with just a degree in math. It will take work on your part but it's definitely doable. |
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Big game studios don't hire pure mathematicians. Considering the question, people with very advanced math skills are a must for developing new technologies. The very best are actually skilled academic researchers, capable to code and deliver at least decent demo applications of their algorithm. I can only pledge for one thing a game developing company (a big one!) is looking for: a talented and research oriented person that aims to improve and devise new algorithms in these fields: plausible/realistic physics at interactive frame-rates, graphics tricks that introduce a plethora of eye candy effects while making use of less memory and time, excellent knowledge about how things should be communicated on certain network topologies and so on.. Even a state of the art method/algorithm, before it makes it into the gaming industry, it is chopped down a lot, modified for speed and when you look at the actual implementation of that method and compare it with the technical documents/papers/articles it was published in, you will be astonished by how many details are not provided or by what other very complicated tricks are also used. This usually happens a lot. If you have an unique talent for APPLIED mathematics, you can study a field (Game Physics, Rendering) and select a few topics that appeal to you, then go through the state of the art reviews and see how much you understand from those. Knowing what has been done, try to understand the drawbacks and think of, perhaps, ground-breaking, never seen ideas that solve the problem at least 2x better. Then your way is paved, they'll just have to hire a guy to code the algorithms for you. Maybe that's what Havok did (I doubt it, the Havok guys started off as Trinity College Dublin PhD students and had very solid advanced Math skills). |
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