What is a Unity Developer and What Skills are Required?

A Unity Developer brings their software expertise to tasks involving the Unity engine. The Unity engine is a run-time environment that developers mainly use for games. Since 2005, the Unity engine has been enormously popular, and has adapted to a variety of gaming platforms. The work of its developers is on display in games on PCs, consoles, mobile devices and web browsers. From simple browser creations to cutting-edge VR projects, the Unity engine has uses everywhere, both inside and outside of gaming. But what exactly do these developers do, and what skills do they need to succeed?

The Responsibilities of a Unity Developer

At the broadest level, a Unity Developer is responsible for building games within the Unity framework. This means communicating with designers and implementing their features into the game. The developer takes the design specification and turns it into an in-engine reality with Unity. The goal is to realise the project scope to the best of its potential.

Developers in Unity will communicate with the wider team to help establish an effective pipeline. By writing and maintaining reliable and reusable code, they will contribute in their own way to the smooth flow of projects. They will also bring their ability to identify bugs and bottlenecks to every unexpected hitch, and develop novel solutions to these problems.

Of course, there’s also a lot of variation in the particular focus of different developers in Unity. For some developers, the emphasis will be on broader design work, whilst others may focus exclusively on coding. Some developers may cover many bases at once. As with the wider world of games industry jobs, there’s a great deal of variation in every unique developer’s role and skills.

Share Your Unity Skills with OPM Jobs

Firstly, to be prepared for any project, a Unity Developer needs an excellent understanding of the Unity engine itself. This ranges from experience with scripting, to work on visual elements and the UI. To create scripts, hirers will look for solid C# programming skills. As part of the bigger picture, familiarity with level design will also help, as will knowledge of game physics and particle systems.

More broadly, any experience with game development outside of the Unity engine itself can also help, across any of the many platforms that run Unity. As well as this, experience with memory optimisation, 3D and 2D development, and VR or AR experiences are also very desirable skills.

Outside of gaming, the uses of Unity are continuing to grow. There’s never been a better time to put your knowledge of Unity development to use. If you’re interested in becoming a Unity Developer, or discovering more roles in the games industry, you’ve come to the right place. Find your next job in games with OPM Jobs!