Digital Careers
What Does a Games Developer Actually Do?
Welcome to the first post in our new Digital Careers & STEM spotlight series! Throughout this term, weโll be exploring the incredible, fast-moving world of technology and the brilliant careers waiting for you when you grow up.
Whether you are a student wondering how your favourite apps are made, or a teacher looking for real-world STEM inspiration for the classroom, this series is for you.
To kick things off, we are diving into an industry almost everyone knows and loves: Video Games!
๐ฎ The Role: Video Games Developer
When you play a game like Minecraft, Roblox, or EA Sports FC, it feels like magic. But behind that magic is a team of brilliant STEM professionals called Games Developers.
Game developers are architects and builders of the digital world. They write the code that tells characters how to move, design the physics of how a ball bounces, and solve complex problems to make sure the game runs smoothly without crashing.
๐ง How does this link to what you learn in school?
Computing & ICT: Every time you practice block coding (like Scratch/Pictoblox) or text-based coding (like Python) in school, you are learning the exact fundamental logic games developers use every day.
Maths: Games rely heavily on coordinates, angles, and geometry to place objects and move characters around a screen.
Art & Design: Creating the look of a game, from the main character to the background scenery, requires incredible digital art skills.
๐ Primary School Spotlight: Try it yourself!
You don’t have to wait until you are an adult to start making games. You can practice critical thinking and sequencing now.
The Challenge: Try creating a simple “Catch” game in Scratch where a character has to catch falling objects to score points.
Top Tip: Think about the algorithm (the step-by-step instructions) your game needs. What if the object touches the character?
๐ Secondary School Spotlight: Next Steps
If you’re in secondary school and thinking about your future GCSEs, BTECs, or future career paths, games development is a massive industry in the UK (with huge hubs in places like London, Dundee, and Leamington Spa!).
Key Skills to Build: Logic, teamwork, resilience (because code will break, and finding the bugs is half the job!).
What to look into: Check out free engines like Unity or Unreal Engine, which have fantastic free tutorials for beginners.
Teachers’ Corner ๐
Want to bring this into your lesson this week? Use this post as a 5-minute morning starter discussion. Ask your students: “If you could design any video game to help people learn a school subject, what would it be and how would it work?”