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Tech advancements drive the industry

Gaming has evolved beyond consoles to social platforms, online gaming and smart devices. Experiences are now tech-driven including virtual and altered reality. More than ever, Montreal-based , one of North America’s biggest independent gaming company, needs talent with a spectrum of technological skills in their workforce.

Developers of the award-winning Dead by Daylight series, Behaviour Interactive hires more than 850 team members, several of which have strong technical skills. “When developing games, we need programmers and developers,” says Fadi Beyrouti, head of technology at Behaviour Interactive.

“We need talent that are capable of solving complex problems, computing a lot of math and software development that leads to more advanced features. In terms of specialties, knowledge of programming languages like C++, C# are a big plus,” adds Beyrouti.

For Vancouver-based , creators of Waveform, the gaming industry is an interesting mix of culture and technology on multiple platforms. Founder Ryan Vandendyck (BMath’08) entered the industry as a co-op student. “I came from a background of math and computer science, which is the backbone and foundation of games – programming,” he says.

There is a spot for many technical skills in game development. “There's artificial intelligence (AI), advancement of rendering technology and VR development. Networking involves communicating with machines across the world,” Vandendyck says. “If you love optimizing, memory management, the efficiency of algorithms or building tools to support the artists— there’s a spot for you.”

Gen Z brings passion to game development

Passion is what the industry is looking for in talent. For Vandendyck generation Z bring a new hunger to the industry.

“The successful person is passionate about gaming, they want to eat, sleep and breathe it,” he adds. “Co-op students are great because they are hungry, they want to learn, apply their skills and do something cool.”

At Behaviour Interactive, co-op students are treated like full-time staff and inject enthusiasm into each project. “They help us develop great games and in many cases their names are in the credits of the game, which shows how much we value them,” Beyrouti adds.

As a project-based business, hiring co-op students makes sense for studios who don’t need full-time talent every day like Eden Industries. “The industry is cyclical, we have a big project, often on a time crunch, complete it and wait on the next big thing,” Vandendyck says. “Having students come on brings down the cost as they can contribute to the bulk of the game and then return to school.”