Making video games, from coding engines and designing levels to writing stories, building economies, and testing for bugs.
Top pay: highest pay, longest training
Game Engine & Graphics Programmer: Writes the core technology that draws 3D worlds, simulates physics, and makes games run smoothly. Typical pay $140k.
Gameplay Programmer: Codes how a game plays: controls, combat, AI enemies, abilities, and the feel of every jump. Typical pay $112k.
Game Director: Holds the creative vision for a whole game and leads the teams that build it. Typical pay $155k.
Game Economy Designer: Designs the in-game currencies, rewards, and prices so a game stays fun and fair (and makes money). Typical pay $115k.
Multiplayer Network Programmer: Writes the code that keeps online games in sync, so 100 players see the same thing at the same time. Typical pay $135k.
Game AI Programmer: Programs how enemies, allies and creatures in a video game think and react. Typical pay $125k.
Anti-Cheat Engineer: Builds systems that detect and block players who use aimbots, wallhacks and hacked game files in online games. Typical pay $135k.
Mid pay: solid pay, degree or apprenticeship
Technical Artist: Bridges art and programming, building tools, shaders, and pipelines so artists' work looks great in the game engine. Typical pay $105k.
Game Designer: Designs the rules, challenges, and experiences that make a game fun. Typical pay $90k.
Level Designer: Builds the maps, missions, and worlds players explore. Typical pay $82k.
3D Game Artist: Creates the 3D characters, creatures, buildings, and props in games. Typical pay $85k.
Game Animator: Brings game characters to life with movement: running, fighting, and facial expressions. Typical pay $90k.
Game Producer: Keeps game projects on schedule, coordinates teams, and makes sure the game ships. Typical pay $100k.
Narrative Designer: Writes a game's story, characters, dialogue, and the branching choices players make. Typical pay $85k.
Game Audio Designer: Creates the sound effects, ambient audio, and music systems in games. Typical pay $80k.
Real-Time VFX Artist: Creates the explosions, magic spells, fire and smoke effects in video games. Typical pay $85k.
Game Data Analyst: Studies how millions of people play a game to figure out what keeps them having fun and coming back. Typical pay $100k.
Game Porting Engineer: Rebuilds finished games so they run on other machines, like squeezing a big PC game onto a Nintendo Switch or a phone. Typical pay $95k.
Starter: fastest way in
Game QA Tester: Plays unfinished games over and over to find bugs, glitches, and crashes. Typical pay $42k.
Player Support Specialist: Helps players with account problems, bugs, and in-game purchases. Typical pay $40k.
Game Localization Tester: Plays games in another language to check translations, cultural fit, and text that doesn't fit the screen. Typical pay $42k.
User-Generated Game Creator: Builds games and worlds inside platforms like Roblox and Fortnite and earns money from players. Typical pay $10k.
Indie Game Developer: Makes and sells their own video games, often alone or with a tiny team. Typical pay $30k.
Video Game Content Rater: Watches footage of upcoming video games and rates their violence, language and other content so stores and parents know who they're meant for. Typical pay $50k.
Career Universe is an early version. Pay, training and AI-risk figures are estimates to start your own research, not verified facts. The research was written with AI research assistants, checked by validation scripts and spot-checked by hand. Check anything important with schools, employers and official sources. How the numbers work.