Gaming & Multimedia

Game development, AR/VR, 3D graphics, animation

The gaming and multimedia discipline has become increasingly broad in recent years, with related roles open in game studios, interactive media companies, advertising technology and broadcast, as well as the growing number of organisations applying real-time 3D and interactive technology to their products.

Game development roles cover a range of specialities: gameplay engineers and generalist developers are expected to be able to work in Unity or Unreal Engine, while graphics programmers focus on rendering pipelines, shaders and performance optimisation. Tools and engine programmers build the internal infrastructure that the rest of a team depends on. All of these roles are likely to require strong C++ or C# skills, as well as hardware-specific knowledge that dictates constraints and performance characteristics.

Augmented reality and virtual reality (AR/VR) development within this field also sits close to XR development, but with a greater emphasis on immersive interaction design, spatial audio and delivering high-quality experiences within the demanding frame rate and latency requirements of consumer headsets.

3D graphics and animation roles cover modelling, rigging, texturing, lighting, and real-time asset optimisation. Applicants are expected to be proficient in tools such as Maya, Blender, ZBrush, and Substance Painter, while for roles focused on real-time pipelines, understanding the constraints of polygon budgets, LOD systems and texture atlasing is as important as artistic ability.
Studios looking to build efficient content pipelines and maintain visual quality at scale are likely to be hiring technical art roles, bridging the gap between art and engineering.