SA Gaming: Best Resources for Professional Gamers

The professional South African gaming scene is booming right now, and whether you’re a professional gamer yourself or only hoping to watch some of the action now is the right time to delve head-first into the industry.

 

We’ve put together some of the best resources for professional gamers in South Africa, from getting hired as a game designer through to where you can watch e-sports or discuss what’s happening in pro gaming right now.

 

Here’s our collection of resources for professional gamers – click here to find out how FibreTiger can help your fibre connection keep up to speed.

 

Watching E-Sports

Watching e-sports is almost as big as e-sports itself right now, and you can tune into several different channels online to see what’s happening as we speak.

 

Twitch.tv is one of the largest streaming networks for live gaming, and it includes everything from the most popular in professional e-sports through to live broadcasts of professional card games. If you want to stream through Twitch, just set up an account and you’re live.

 

MLG and Esports Charts are two of the other largest streaming networks where you can either watch or broadcast.

 

If you’re looking for strategy tips after the live games, remember that YouTube remains a popular resource for professional gaming content, too.

 

South African Game Studios

Think South Africa doesn’t produce games? Think again: There are several great South African game studios out there including Thoopid (based in Cape Town and producing mobile games), Celestial Games (creators of the great Toxic Bunny PC game) and Maxxor, who specializes in creating online multiplayer games for the South African market.

 

Another local company, Nyamakop, has managed to get their app Semblance noticed on the international market, too. Go over to the Play Store and check it out to see more of what SA gaming professionals have to offer when it comes to programming – and why it could pay to study game design.

 

Courses, Degrees and Education

If someone told you they wanted to study game design in South Africa a few decades ago, the notion would have been almost impossible, but not today. Now, there are many great options available through leading universities – and you can always opt for a course instead if you don’t want to go for a full-on degree.

 

Wits University

https://www.wits.ac.za/wsoa/digital-arts/undergraduate/game-design-/

Wits University now offers an undergraduate degree in game design, covering everything that you’ll need to know from code through to coming up with a successful game concept.

 

Learn3D: Unity and C# Courses

https://learn3D.co.za/game

Unity and C are two of the most widely used programming languages for game programming right now, and Learn3D offers a range of different courses for South Africans who want to develop a strong foundation in these languages.

 

Mastergrade IT: Unity Course

http://www.mastergradeit.co.za/courses/programming/game-programming

Mastergrade IT offers several different courses applicable to programming, including a game programming course that’ll give you the background you need in programming with Unity. Their other courses include HTML5 game development courses. Short, but can give you an essential background in a new language.

 

Emendy

https://emendy.co.za/index.php/courses/game-app-development

Emendy offers several games development courses, including a comprehensive one-year course in games development – or other background languages such as HTML.

 

Game Design Course

https://www.openwindow.co.za/gamedesign/

Open Window is one of the most popular South African design institutions, and they cover more than just visual arts – they also have a course for anyone who would like to learn more about the essential factors for game design.

 

Vega School

https://www.vegaschool.com/full-time/bachelor-of-computer-and-information-science-in-game-design-and-development-degree

If you’re looking for something longer than a course, take a closer look at what Vega School has to offer. They offer a BCIS degree in Game Design and Development (three years) and have campuses based in both Johannesburg and Durban.

 

Game Programming And Related Jobs

Want to get hired or check out the game developer market? Here’s where to find some of the best listings for game developer jobs in South Africa.

 

Indeed

https://www.indeed.co.za/Game-Developer-jobs

Check out Indeed for job listings for a range of different careers in every single direction you could imagine, including possible jobs as a game developer.

 

CareerJet

https://www.careerjet.co.za/game-developer-jobs.html

Almost like Indeed, CareerJet is used for posting job openings – and they have a relevant section for game developer jobs that gets updated regularly.

 

LinkedIn

https://za.linkedin.com/jobs/game-developer-jobs

https://za.linkedin.com/jobs/game-design-jobs

If you’re willing to deal with the amount of spam LinkedIn sends out for a while, they can be a great source of job openings. Check out both sections for Game Developer Jobs and Game Design Jobs.

 

Make Games SA

https://makegamessa.com/categories/jobs-and-portfolios

Make Games SA is a proudly South African community of game developers. Here’s their section for posting portfolios and job offers, most of which are local ones.

 

Pixelsmith Studios ( Love the name !)

https://pixelsmithstudios.com/for-game-developers

Pixelsmith Studios is a huge developer community, and here you’ll find both job openings and great advice on how to advance your career in games development.