Dear fellow game developers, I am working in Ghana as an ICT teacher and will go back to Germany on the 1. August. Currently I am thinking about what to study when I get back. I only know one thing: I want to become a Game Designer/ Art Director/ Producer, you know I want to overview the whole process, push the artists to the limit and give some ideas on the tone and style of the game. However, I think a Game Designer - especially a Junior Game Designers - needs to have a field of experty. 3d-modeling, for instance, or programming. They start as a Graphic Artist or Programmer and later some eventually become a Game Designer, am I right? So, now I am pondering about which field would be wiser to chose. My background: I started 3d-modeling in Cinema 4d and zBrush about 5 years ago and changed to 2d 2 years ago - since 4 month I am now learning to program some simple games in c++ with the allegro or sdl library. I have heard that in game recruitment, there are many applications for the graphic jobs but only few for the programming jobs. This is why I decided to switch to programming - however, I am now nearly 21 years old and wondering if thats too late to start, since you read about game programmers having started coding when they were kids. I would have 5 years time to really work hard learning programing while studying information technology. So in conclusion I have 2 questions for you: 1. Can you affirm that there are much more graphic artists than programmers searching for a game job? 2. Would you recommend me to keep on learning c++ and study hard - or go back to 3d modeling? (and a third, just coming to my mind) Do you think it is possible to make a living as a sculptor in clay? Or even get a job in the game/movie business? If you are wondering about my skill level, here is 1 model for a Halflife 2 mod made some years ago and my concept drawing for that. http://img3.imageshack.us/img3/4444/83134938.jpg And one 2d concept. (I do not think I ever unlocked the secrets of 2d - never got that good I wanted to get, compared to the guys over at conceptart.org - also a reason I switched to programing because you can simply learn that! :)) http://img518.imageshack.us/img518/6528/23045163.jpg So hey guys I really hope to get some responds here - drop a comment, I would be very happy about nearly everything! :) Greetings from Africa!

Do whatever you like the most. People do say theres alot more 3D/2D Artist than programmers but I dunno about that, since I know about 20-30 people from my graduating class taking Computer Science and wanting to go into a programming job. It also depends, what is easier for you to learn. I, myself have been doing 3D since a young age, I also branched out into drawing.

I have also taught myself programming, nothing too advanced just simple OpenGL 3D Games in C++ and some shader coding with GLSL. I rather do 3D/2D as my job because Im not too good at math which gives me a weakspot/disadvantage in programming. And I enjoy 3D/2D more, so if you ask me do a combination of what your better at and like more.

Most 3D/2D artists are obessesed they constantly draw and strengthen their skills, they hire 3D/2D artists by the quality of their portfolio, you can have all the schooling in the world but if your 3D/2D isnt up to par with the others, then you probably won't get the job. As for programming yes, projects you have done are usefull, but they also look at your degrees.etc a Computer Science degree can get you into quite a range of jobs.

However, keep in mind, that if you become a 3D/2D artist. You will mostly never have a super secure job, yes there are some. But mostly in the game and movie industry you won't find that.

Anyways good luck!.

Well I have been programming since I was 11 but to be honest a majority of my time I spent messing about with games rather than the more important aspects that you realise as you grow older such as project management and finishing what you complete even if at some point you feel intimidated that you want to stop.

I think its really difficult to pin-point game design skills to either programming or game design. Knowledge of either is definitely helpful to build up ideas based on feasibility but a lot of it will no doubt be based on techniques that you learn from neither of them.

If you want my opinion, if you have a talent in 3d or 2d art then focus on that. I think the whole statistics about programming/art is misleading as it may just be that there are not enough skilled programmers for use in specialist areas of development. The problem is that such paths are probably hard enough to cause a few programmers to skip such areas.

Edit: Also note that games these days are highly content driven, hence more artists may be hired.

You should really be tracking industry related jobs at a site like GamaSutra. You'll see that most jobs are art related. This makes sense; today's market is full of nextgen titles which require a massive amount of assets to be required which in turn leads to large teams of artists to create all that stuff to insert into the games.

Programming jobs show up quite a bit. Not nearly as much as art though. I think even if there are lots of people studying computer science, only a handful think about making games. Researching programming jobs on a site like Craig's List leads me to believe you can actually make more money programming business applications than games. Sad!

From your post it sounds like you might want to consider a job like Technical Artist. From a few panels I've sat in on the best asset you can have when looking for an art department job is a strong portfolio. That could mean a number of things: having a strong gallery of 2D images or 3D renders, having playable game demo with your models inside, having a good technical article on how you created a model and got it to plug into a game engine, etc.

The point is that just having a degree doesn't show you can do the work, so where you go to school and what you study isn't nearly as impressive to a potential employer as being able to demonstrate you have the skills they want in an employee. I'm not saying you should skip out on formal education, not at all, but you should always keep in mind that school itself is no guarantee to getting into the industry. So as you try and decide what to focus on in school, keep in mind the types of jobs you want to do once you graduate. Maybe you could look into interning to get a feel for which jobs actually appeal to you and nothing would be better for that than seeing what people actually do at the game studios....

And having said all that, it would be very hard to break into the industry as a game designer unless you had a portfolio full of games you had designed! Check out the industry related employment sites and read the descriptions for game designers; almost all of them want someone who has been in the industry for several years and already has a proven track record of success. That's much harder to produce than artwork!!!

Not to be pessimistic about it, just realistic. It's easier to make images than it would be to create several nextgen 3D games for your portfolio! But by all means, I'm not trying to discourage anyone, go ahead and make it happen! Good game design isn't about cutting edge technology, it's about making the best game possible within the given parameters. Any given platform, some games stand out, most don't.

If you wish to be a game designer (not an art director or modeler), it really helps to be a moderately skilled programmer. C++ is not a requirement, but most studios are looking for designer applicants with proficiency in some higher-level language (Python, Lua, UnrealScript, etc). It has been my experience that there is an abundance of entry-level 3D modelers out there, but good designers are few and far between. My recommendation would be to continue your study of programming, and keep making games!

http://www.erasmatazz.com/library/Game%20Design/The_Education_of_a_Game_Designer.html