2 answers
Aaron
Student
Joliet, Illinois
4
Questions
Asked
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What are the pros & cons of becoming a video game designer?
I've been into video games and love playing them since I first owned a PlayStation for as long I could remember when I around 7 or 8 years old. I always wanted to design and make a video game or my own console. What are the steps in becoming a video game designer and is it worth it as a career? #video-game-design #computer-games #game-design #video-games #design #Creator
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2 answers
Christy Marx
Writer & Narrative Designer
48
Answers
San Francisco, California
Updated
Christy’s Answer
Being a game designer is complex as there are many different specializations to the field of design. If you love to lay out and design levels, you could become a level designer. If you love math and working out economic gameplay, you could become a systems designer. You could work your way up to being a feature designer where you design the actual mechanics of gameplay. People who write, create story and implement story and characters are called Narrative Designers.
You'll want to go to a school that can teach you computer science, programming, and game design. There are schools that specialize in this, such as DigiPen in Seattle WA, SMU Guildhall in Austin TX, and Full Sail in Florida. But many universities and colleges now have courses in game design.
The plus side is working in an interesting, creative field with potential to earn good money, have good benefits, and be surrounded by great people.
The negative side is that many companies take advantage of young, inexperienced people, try to make you work excessively long hours (you should refuse), and it isn't always a stable job. Game companies can come and go, games frequently get cancelled and it's not unusual for entire teams to be laid off. It's a tough business and it can be extremely difficult to break in.
Here are some suggestions to become more informed:
Buy and read books about game design.
Investigate the courses that universities or colleges offer for game design.
Read articles about game design on gamedeveloper.com. There are tons of them.
Look at job listings for game designers on gamedeveloper.com and see what requirements are listed. This will show you what companies are looking for.
You'll want to go to a school that can teach you computer science, programming, and game design. There are schools that specialize in this, such as DigiPen in Seattle WA, SMU Guildhall in Austin TX, and Full Sail in Florida. But many universities and colleges now have courses in game design.
The plus side is working in an interesting, creative field with potential to earn good money, have good benefits, and be surrounded by great people.
The negative side is that many companies take advantage of young, inexperienced people, try to make you work excessively long hours (you should refuse), and it isn't always a stable job. Game companies can come and go, games frequently get cancelled and it's not unusual for entire teams to be laid off. It's a tough business and it can be extremely difficult to break in.
Here are some suggestions to become more informed:
Christy recommends the following next steps:
Thank You Christy, this answer really helped me. You went into the positive and negative side of being a video game designer. I was really looking for the answer on how the work be and if you go to school or not too but you basically answered that.
Aaron
Rodrigo Maya Padilla
DFS OPS ANALYST
73
Answers
Toluca, State of Mexico, Mexico
Updated
Rodrigo’s Answer
Aaron J.
Hi , there is a career specialized in videogame designing, the first thing you have it, be a big fan, you may also like animation by computer and somo physics stuff, designing videogames requires a lot of creativity and some math stuff, but dont worry, you have to learn those programs that are math motors to be implemented in videogames designing, you may also like to create new characters , they are the heart of the videogame, and take hours and hours of learning software creation videogame, I think is a great career because nowdays this are a very popular field , in the future videogame will still existing, and is very well payed too.
Hi , there is a career specialized in videogame designing, the first thing you have it, be a big fan, you may also like animation by computer and somo physics stuff, designing videogames requires a lot of creativity and some math stuff, but dont worry, you have to learn those programs that are math motors to be implemented in videogames designing, you may also like to create new characters , they are the heart of the videogame, and take hours and hours of learning software creation videogame, I think is a great career because nowdays this are a very popular field , in the future videogame will still existing, and is very well payed too.