"Discovery" and "invention" can be fuzzy ideas. In the past I've framed this distinction as "science" vs "engineering" since it links directly to a student's classes and possible careers.

Typically I reach for material (or rocket) science and aerospace engineering as my analogy: "Do you want to build rockets or dream up better rocket engines?" What I like most about the analogy is that it gets people thinking about their options without implying that the choice they make today has to define their entire career.

After all, there are plenty of rocket scientists and aerospace engineers working in industry, just as there are plenty of both doing research at universities.

Side note: The super specific "novel game dev" thing is a little weird to me. There is as much invention happening outside of game development as there is regular ass work happening inside game development.