Being aware of what''s realistic and what''s not is going to help - designing a game which involves full-scale AI for a city of 100,000 people isn''t going to make you popular with the coding team

It''s partly the thing that if you have coding or artwork experience, then you''ve already worked on a game and have an idea about how the whole thing works, not to mention the actual process of manufacture. Otherwise, they''d get everyone turning up saying ''I''ve got a great idea for a game, give me a couple of coders and artists and I''ll go make it for you.'' Hardly anyone starts off as a designer.

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quote: Original post by Furion
Since I wanted to be a designer in the first place, I was wondering what exactly should I learn? I''m learning C++ now but should I learn a bit about EVERYTHING like artwork, publishing, engineering, etc.?

absolutely, you should have some programming experience but the most important thing are decent illustration skills. And you should also be aware that only very few design positions are hired off the street - most design people started out in art or coding or testing and then moved to the design department later on (experience).

OK, this''s what I wanted to hear. Thanks again for the replys!

quote: absolutely, you should have some programming experience but the most important thing are decent illustration skills. And you should also be aware that only very few design positions are hired off the street - most design people started out in art or coding or testing and then moved to the design department later on (experience).

Illustration skills? Those are often useful, but by no means the most important for many (most?) design jobs. Of course, there are many, many different kinds of "game design" positions. Are you talking about level design, creature design, detail design, macro design -- and for what genre(s)?

The things I look for in designers are an overall broad base of knowledge -- honestly, a good liberal arts degree helps! -- including psychology, art, english (being well-read), possibly theatre, film, anthropology, etc. Coding ability definitely helps, as your ideas must inevitably be reduced to code at some point. OTOH, there are a gazillion people who are ace coders but couldn''t make a game that others find fun to save their lives -- and this isn''t a "designer''s rule!" statement either; just acknowledging that these are different skill sets.

To get a design job, you''re probably going to have to start off as a tester, level designer, programmer, or associate producer (how are your organizational skills?). If you can create your own original, fun game -- come up with the idea and write the program (or get someone else to), and make it available -- this will be a huge leg up over most other candidates. This would be easily the #1 thing I would recommend anyone who wants a design job should do. If nothing else, it''ll give you a good appreciation for how difficult it can be to do!

My own game project is both a resume and a cumulation of everything I''ve learned from a short lifetime of game-playing. While I''m making use of an outside tool(Game Maker by Mark Overmars) to do low-level engine work, all the gameplay structures and coding and resources are being done on my own.

Even if it doesn''t turn out to be as successful/well-known as I would have it be and nobody comes knocking on my door asking for me(as in my wildest dreams of success), I''ll still have a complete game to put on any resume I might submit. The only problem is, will I complete it? I''m finding it to be an incredibly difficult task, especially since I''m still in high school(a fairly tough one, though it''s my senior year now so it''ll slack up towards the end), have college to worry about, and besides that I''m somewhat scared of telling my family of my current ambition(don''t think it''ll change, but you never know).

If you don''t want to try something that hard, I guess getting into a mod team might work, but I''ve found that getting into one that isn''t broken or destined to fail can be a trial in itself.

Making the world furry one post at a time

quote: Original post by archetypist
Illustration skills? Those are often useful, but by no means the most important for many (most?) design jobs. Of course, there are many, many different kinds of "game design" positions. Are you talking about level design, creature design, detail design, macro design -- and for what genre(s)?

Illustration skills come in handy for all of the subcategories you mentioned, without them you have to rely on an artist to put your ideas into pictures, which costs time, money and effort. Of course there are some designers who can´t draw, but their work is not as efficient, especially in the early stages of a project, where you have to get ideas across very quickly. Which is done best by a scribble.

quote: Original post by archetypist
The things I look for in designers are an overall broad base of knowledge -- honestly, a good liberal arts degree helps! -- including psychology, art, english (being well-read), possibly theatre, film, anthropology, etc.

I think these are the absolute musts, with good writing skills and film studies coming first. Some basics of psychology are also a requirement. Coding helps of course, but most designers I know have stopped programming a long time ago, simply because they are occupied otherwise.

quote: Original post by Hase

Illustration skills come in handy for all of the subcategories you mentioned, without them you have to rely on an artist to put your ideas into pictures, which costs time, money and effort. Of course there are some designers who can´t draw, but their work is not as efficient, especially in the early stages of a project, where you have to get ideas across very quickly. Which is done best by a scribble.

Scribbling is fine. You don't need to be an illustrator. In UI design they talk about "low fidelity prototypes" -- mockups made on a whiteboard, with post-it notes, etc. This level of artistic ability is often sufficient for getting an idea across. True, you'll have to have an artist enter the picture at some point, but not until the design ideas are pretty well firmed up.

quote:

Original post by archetypist
The things I look for in designers are an overall broad base of knowledge – honestly, a good liberal arts degree helps! – including psychology, art, english (being well-read), possibly theatre, film, anthropology, etc.

quote: Original post by Hase
I think these are the absolute musts, with good writing skills and film studies coming first. Some basics of psychology are also a requirement. Coding helps of course, but most designers I know have stopped programming a long time ago, simply because they are occupied otherwise.

Well, this may be a matter of taste. If push came to shove i might take someone with solid knowledge of cognitive psychology over someone with film studies knowledge. (OTOH, I can't flog the book "Story" by Robert McKee (see http://www.mckeestory.com) enough. This should be required reading for any designer.) In actuality, I'd be hard pressed to take someone from either extreme; knowledge of both is important.

And I do agree that writing skills are absolutely essential. As for programming, I worked as a software engineer for about ten years before I went into UI design and then game design. I still code some – but only prototypes. Having done serious coding in the past is extremely useful for a designer; if nothing else it helps smooth communication with the technical team.


[edited by - archetypist on August 26, 2002 8:19:26 PM]

Hrm. I am very interested... could I get a brief description of the different jobs you should do (coder, level designer, concept artist, tester, etc) so I can kinda figure out what to do? I have a few years ahead of me before I can seriously consider it but I want to get something going in the mean time.


Also, I am a fair artist but havnt taken any art classes really (still in highschool) currently in art 1 as a sophmore, should I strive for more things along those lines or keep working on core classes so I can be a better coder?

Ignoring what everyone else above me has said...

Design is a process in which one uses in order to find a creative solution to a problem. For example, corporate identity and logo design. The graphic designer must: 1) research the market, the company, and its consumers, 2) sketch a lot of designs and figure out what would work and how it would work, and 3) create the logo in an illustration application, perfect it, and then market and sell it to the client. (BASICS) These aren''t set in stone but the ideal designer or design firm does this and more. There''s plenty of books on design which explain what design is and what design isn''t, but I''ll leave that job to the books.

Now, game design, falls into the same category as graphic design, branding and logo design, web design, etc. It is a process in which one uses in order to find a creative solution to a problem. This is where your objective and mission statements come into play. What goal do you want to accomplish with this game (or design)?

Many fail to recognize that the professional game industry is big business dealing with millions and millions of dollars. Well, the team behind the production and design of the game will not see most of that money, but the publisher will. When you design a game, write your game design document as you would write a business plan. If you don''t know how to write a business plan, I highly recommend you learn. Most colleges offer a Small Business Management or similar course which deals with developing a business plan.

Your knowledge of developing a business plan will have a positive substantial effect on your game design document.

Sorry, I answered the original question and then some... I hope you don''t mind.

Read the GamePro article "Take This Job and Love it". Pretty useful information there. Now if you don''t have GamePro then your not worthy enough to become a designer. Get GamePro!! No really...get it! Come on. Awww...come on.