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How do I become a game designer?
crazyjah2003
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Registered User regular
Hey guys! I'm a Junior Psychology and French major and Computer science minor at Middlebury college with a pretty good GPA. I dream about being a game designer and my advisers do not have any clue where to direct me.
Does Anyone know a good grad school I could go to after I'm done here in order to be a game "maker". I already excluded stuff like Devry and those other business schools...
Is anyone here attending one...
I ask here because this place seem to be populated by a relatively informed and educated crowd.
Does Anyone know a good grad school I could go to after I'm done here in order to be a game "maker". I already excluded stuff like Devry and those other business schools...
Is anyone here attending one...
I ask here because this place seem to be populated by a relatively informed and educated crowd.
crazyjah2003 on
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Games aren't made by just one guy. There's modelers, level designer, writers, animators, concept artists. All sorts of shit.
Pick a game you like, make a mod. Make an impressive enough mod and you will get picked up somewhere.
Lots of mod makers get hired.
Other than that, specific game design courses at a university or get a low level job in QandA or test. It will be super shitty at first but is an entry point.
Most designers climb up the ladders starting out as programmers or artists, so if you really want to become a game designer I would suggest learning how to make and texture low poly models, or start learning programming languages.
I am 99% certain all of those "Maek gamez for a living!11" fly-by-night degree programs are totally worthless.
As scarab suggested, starting out making stuff with mod teams is a great way to get real world practice with these skillsets, and potential employers will look favorably on it.
With that said most of my coworkers moved over from art/programming. There's a couple people that haven't and it's mostly due to either modding, or networking and knowing the right people to get you an entry level unpaid internship or the like.
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Some games are just made by one guy. Audiosurf, flow, crayon physics.
If you can make a bunch of fun, unique, and pretty games, make a name for yourself, or even just a product that is good enough to instantly gain recognition, there are a wide range of ways you can make a living from making games.
I don't know if that'd what you want to do, but it is a viable alternative to a lot of people.
thing is, nobody's going to help you - and you have to have a lot of natural talent and creativity
In addition to the indie/modding scene, or starting off as a programmer/writer/tester, you can look for entry-level contract positions. The contractor work force in the Seattle area is pretty busy. I have several friends and co-workers that started off as contract testers or PMs (aka Producers), that have gone on to full-time jobs, and even to design work. Or heck, once you've spent some time in the industry, sometimes you realize that your passion is really in area X as opposed to Y. That's what happened to me and many other folks that I work with.
The downside to contract work is that, unfortunately, you can be in the situation that you never end up with full-time status. Hopefully you're smart, bright, talented, and lucky enough not to be in that position.
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As a hiring manager, I've gone through hundreds of resumes for folks seeking positions in games. If you're serious about trying to get in the industry and need someone to proof-read or look over your resume, just PM me. I'll try to help out as best as I can. My focus is on QA and Dev jobs, so I'm probably not the best person to look at design, art, producer, business, or other positions. But I'd be willing to proof-read at least (you would not believe how many people fail to spell/grammar-check their resumes).
And by serious I mean that you're looking for a full-time entry-level position at development or publishing company, such as Microsoft, Nintendo, Sony, EA, Valve, Blizzard, etc. (If you're beyond entry-level, then you probably don't need my help!)
Why am I doing this? Hiring has gotten really bad lately. Sure, the economy may be headed into a recession, but you couldn't tell that by looking at many game companies and their growth. The job pool has gotten really thin, and honestly, I'm getting tired of meeting candidates that don't play games yet they still want a job here. All things equal, I'll take a person who's got a passion for games over someone who doesn't. And I know everyone here is passionate about games.
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So I switched my major to UT's RTF program - radio, television, and film. The name is a bit misleading, it's actually UT's multimedia studies program, where you learn how to artistically work in media. UT is in the process of adding a game design program (although it's been slow to come) and the majority of game design classes are apart of the RTF program. For example, I'm taking a class where we explore the Science Fiction gaming genre next semester, and several of my classes have had guest lecturers from people from Midway, Bioware, Id, etc. I figure if I know how to craft a great narrative in Radio, Television, and Film, and I learn how the relationship between visual medium and emotional response works, then I'd have an advantage when it comes to creating games. I already know how to program, so I concentrated on the artistic side of things.
I dunno if my plan will be successful, but it's the best advice I can offer right now.
I want a job as a game developer on the art side, which I decided on just a couple months ago. I'm attending NYU as a Film/Television major with minors in CS and studio art. Since artists' portfolios are more important than their resumes, I'm going the modding route. The first is Shotgun Sunrise, actually, and the guys running the show there definitely know what the hell they're doing. I also got picked up (again, www.game-artist.net) by Blackened Interactive, who are made of Valve and Bizarre employees among others.
If you go the modding route, I strongly suggest you are very selective on who you work with. Make sure it's a project that's actually going to be released. Since you want to design, you may want to start your own mod. START SMALL-- you probably have great ideas for a TC, but it's not gonna happen until you have experience and a team.
The latest Game Developer Magazine's design article says this (and I'm paraphrasing) "Most of your ideas suck. But it's okay, because most ideas suck in general. Don't spend your time thinking of the one perfect idea-- brainstorm a thousand others, and you'll eventually have a say in how a game is played."
No offense meant to you but design degrees aren't worth the paper they are written on.
Even people with a Digipen programming degree generally generally get hired because of their portfolio. If you want to get straight into design from outside mods(portfolio) or an inside contact are bascially the only route.
lol ok, that goes against what I've heard directly from Bioware developers who spoke to my class, but whatever.
"Yeah, class sucks! You're better off not going through it! Sorry teacher, fuck you"
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I've had professors tell me that stuff is useless before, why would it be a big stretch that a bioware developer, specifically talking about how to get into game design, wouldn't advise students in the same way?
I just thought it was a funny mental image.
Everything i've heard, from articles, to recruiters and others actually in the industry, is that going through school is pretty much useless, at least for art. Might be a different case for other positions.
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It's not useless, the act of having a degree is empowering. Look at the top game designers in the world today - men like Yu Suzuki, Tonomobu Itagaki, Hideo Kojima... they all have degrees. Without a college degree, you have about as much of a chance of reaching a high profile position as you winning the lottery. It's not impossible, but it's a thousand times harder.
I agree, you don't necessarily learn enough, but the degree is absolutely important.
Its the exact opposite. Go to school if you need the experience and the training, but the degree is a piece of paper. Your portfolio matters a hundred fold more. Exact quote I heard from a hiring person? "We consider schooling as no previous experience".
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Only half of the people in the game industry even hold a degree, and that includes design(source, design figures are in the actual mag at 49%).
When I say portfolio and who you know is everything to getting hired I think I know what I'm talking about. I've interviewed Digipen grads who were supposedly at the top of their class that couldn't even do simple byte masking and pointer arithmetic. A degree might help you learn the skills you need but anyone telling you a piece of paper is going to make a substantial difference is trying to make money off of your ignorance.
I think one of the takeaways here is: the interactive entertainment industry is extremely competitive, and there are surprisingly few people working in the field. From what I've been able to learn, successful professional game designers aren't cut from a common mold, they are unique brews, fermented and distilled from a mysterious and secret (and random!) recipe of life experiences and personality traits and learning styles.
So on the surface my advice will sound trite and canned, but bear with me: study hard, believe in yourself, and be true to yourself, and you will grow yourself into a successful something. Maybe you'll find that something is game designer, maybe it's something you didn't expect but you find you enjoy it and you're awesome at it.
Study hard? You'll need a competitive advantage of some kind, and you don't get that by following what other people have done. Drink up all the diverse unrelated kinds of learning you can. If something fascinates you, don't worry about "this is not consistent with my mental model of a game designer's career path" -- just explore it. Even as you play games -- and you must play a lot of games to want to do this -- see what you can learn from games as you play them. If things are fun or frustrating, why? Play bad games as well as good games.
Believe in yourself? You will be forging your own path, a path designed by your interests and intuitions; a path that works only for people exactly like you, designed to lead people exactly like you to an interesting career. As above, this means don't second-guess your interests because (to your naive perception, or mine, or anybody else's) they seem like dead-end amusements that won't help you become a game designer. In fact what they'll do is give you more unique and interesting life experiences faster, so embrace them. (For example, yes board game design and video game design are related in interesting ways, but if you didn't know that, you might stomp on your natural interest in board game design because it doesn't feel like something a game designer would study. You'd be wrong to deny yourself something that interests you, and who are you to say what makes a game designer anyway? Believe in yourself.)
Be true to yourself? Right now the idea of becoming a professional game designer appeals to you. That idea isn't what gets you there, though. In your pursuit of things that interest you, you may find your path has led to a career you didn't expect. Don't fear that, though. Don't let fear of not becoming a game designer stop you from pursuing things you love.
Video game design is a master's profession, and when you become really good at it you'll find you use various random tools you've learned over a lifetime. Don't worry about the size of the goal though: you will enjoy all of the little things you learn along the way, and as your skills grow you'll be able to use them incrementally. This is apparently a profession that's fun to learn and dabble in as a complete amateur, and gets better and more rewarding the more you learn.
Unfortunately you'll have trouble getting paid for it until you're REALLY good. Don't focus so hard on that imaginary "going pro" line in the sand way off in the distance that you fail to enjoy the journey -- focus first on doing things you enjoy.
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Yeah, this is huge also. Very few people last more than 3 years in the industry and if you want out and have no way to land a job somewhere else your pretty much screwed.
Yes, you speak the truth.
Just because you go to a high profile school, whether it be MIT or DigiPen, doesn't mean you're a genius and have an automatic in wherever you apply. It's the skills that companies are looking for. Now, chances are, if you're at the top of your class in a good school, you're probably pretty smart too. But, unfortunately, that isn't always the case. I've also interviewed quite a few people that claim awesome grades, but I'm always shocked at how little they actually know (come on people, BSTs are not rocket science). Conversely, I've met (and hired!) many brilliant folks that skipped out and went directly to work in the industry.
That said, I still recommend that people to go to school, because it's usually the easiest way to acquire knowledge in the first place. But it's not the only way. If you're a great self-starter and have managed to learn a good deal in whatever your passion is (whether it be programming, art, etc.), then you may not need a degree at all. Your portfolio and talents will speak for yourself. But if you're like most people (myself included) and need the structure that schools provide, that works too. Also, I think one of the most undervalued things that colleges provide is networking. Things like career fairs can be very helpful, as well as having connections with classmates and friends that go on to get jobs in the industry, and then can recommend you as well. Again, I know countless people that have acquired jobs this way too.
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Less debatably: advice from an industry artist may not apply so well for a wannabe game programmer (like myself); likewise a working programmer's advice may not work well for a wannabe game designer.
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Depending on what we learn in the next few semesters and how confident I am in my animating, I may or may not be going back for the 1 year animation course. I'm really excited about the fact that we've got a mocap system, and I'm hoping to get a lot of experience with it (that'll look good on my resume, right?)
I'm kind of rambling now, I don't even really know where I'm going with this. Basically I know 100% that I want to work with games, modeling and/or animating characters (I don't know how closely these are tied together but I figure it's best to develop experience with both), I just don't even know where to start when it comes to looking for my placement, networking with people, etc.
Do... Re... Mi... So... Fa.... Do... Re.... Do...
Forget it...
I can't give specific advice for an animator or modeler, but I do have one piece of general advice. Why not aim high? There's nothing wrong with submitting an application with a company that you might deem "too high". What's the worse thing that can happen? They don't respond or say no. So what? The best thing that could happen is a call back saying they're interested.
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Honestly, I wouldn't get too stuck on character art. From what I've been told(multiple years by blizzard, for example), everyone and their mother wants to do characters. I'm not saying go for it, but be sure to have a solid foundation in environmental art as well, etc.
Anyways, on the whole college thing, I am a bit biased. I've been teaching myself 3d art since I was 14, and going to a gaming college just never seemed to be worth it to me, based on what I would learn versus the money spent. So I probably keep my ear open a bit more to the anti-college sentiment.
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Once you've gotten in and made some contacts and maybe a name for yourself, then you can try to be more specific about what you intend to do at a company. Until then I don't think it'd be smart to be picky.
Edit: I think this is it, if it is they greatly changed the website: http://guildhall.smu.edu/
The best way to get into the industry is to make a mod using a game engine already available today. And not just any mod, a total conversion, and a good one. Which means you'll have to assemble a team of programmers, graphics artists, writers, and designers, and work a few years on putting one together.
This is what this school will do for you, check out the student work section.
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this is wrong... like VERY wrong. People don't want generalist unless you're generally AWESOME at everything. People hire you for what you're good at, not what you're okay at. If you can master modeling, people will believe you can master animating if you choose to and visa versa.
There's a lot of wrong info in this thread, but I'm too tired to point all of it out, but this one is glaringly wrong.
As for being a designer in the gaming industry, like some other's said, the road is much easier through being a programmer/artist first. If you aren't good at any of those, you should learn to script really well in some kind of popular editor (I suggest the latest editor that comes with UT3). Learn the sc ripting languag, make an awesome level or mod that pushes their technology and use it in a way that isn't normal. Look at it from all angles from graphics to physics to sound cues.
I won't lie though, chances of getting hired as a designer from no where is not likely to happen. Also, they ask some tough questions during those interviews and most people have no clue how to even design a game. Saying, "I have a great idea!" isn't designing a game.
EDIT - also check out FIEA. It's a school designed especially for videogame dev teaching from programmers to artist to producers/designers. I'm going to this school right now and the employment rate is 90%+ if you go to that school. Most companies like EA and such count that 16 month Masters program as being in the industry for like 2 years because all you do in the program is make games and fuck is it not easy or 100% fun all the time. Here's the site...
http://www.fiea.ucf.edu/shield/showpage.php?page_id=1
Just so you know this isn't a bullshit school either. I'm under contract with 3 other students developing a game for a real company you've heard of. Can't say more than that, but this school isn't the bullshit you see in commercials.
Finally, we have a motion capturing room where commercials with star athletes such as Tiger Woods, Derek Jeter, Roger Federer, and ect. are filmed.
http://gamecareerguide.com/features/491/designer_advice_a_beginners_.php
Second, just do it. Learn some rudimentary programming/modding skills & art skills and start making things today. Sure, your first project or two probably won't be anything to brag about, but through it you'll gain valuable experience which will make your next project that much better.
Third, be persistent. Making a quality game takes a lot of time. It's not unusual for a game to take a couple years to make and that's completely ignoring all the time that it took for the designer/team to gain the skills necessary to do the project.
Fourth, have fun. Unless you're a full time programmer/artist, don't worry about making money off of game development right off the bat. Have fun, mess around with different ideas, and eventually you'll make something worthy of getting paid for.
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You have to be high ranked in an online ladder, to show you actually understand the theorycraft. I think this is a good method, everyone claims that they understand how a game works and what needs to be changed to balance things. But by asking for high ranked players you cut out the people who really dont understand as much as they like to think they do.
http://www.itchy-animation.co.uk/tutorials/light01.htm
http://itchstudios.com/psg/art_tut.htm
http://alexhays.com/loomis/
http://video.google.co.uk/videoplay?docid=2273017122992832167&q=Drawing+The+Human+Figure+From+Your+Mind+-+Video+Lesson+1