My parents complain that I use too much of the comp and play games too much. I only play games for only about 2-3 hrs max per day but I use the comp a lot because I need to use it for not only my college works but also for my future career. So I want to know if for being a game designer, do you need to spend a lot of time in the computer making assets for video games or something? Or better yet, does a game designer really need to spend hours in the computer working?
Do game designers need to use the computer to work?
Yes, being a game designer is a good excuse to spend more time at the "comp", playing video games written by someone else. :)
Hi.
First of all, I will presume you are talking about video game design.
Well, you don't have to design on the computer, you could use pen and paper to write down ideas, concepts and designs etc. There are even some advantages to not use the computer at early stages of design, such as having a more rapid, less constrained design-process.
There is however a time when you will have to start using the computer to prototype and tests these ideas, because it is, after all, the computer (or a concole / hand held device) that is the targeted paltform.
My parents complain that I use too much of the comp and play games too much.
Show them what you're doing. But that still might not stop their complaints. If I had a kid who was always at the computer, I'd complain too. After you move out on your own, you can sit at the computer all you want, and of course they'll still nosily ask, "are you still sitting at the computer all the time? It's not good for you!" They're just being parents.
-- Tom Sloper -- sloperama.com
does a game designer really need to spend hours in the computer
Yes.
-- Tom Sloper -- sloperama.com
My parents complain that I use too much of the comp and play games too much. I only play games for only about 2-3 hrs max per day but I use the comp a lot because I need to use it for not only my college works but also for my future career. So I want to know if for being a game designer, do you need to spend a lot of time in the computer making assets for video games or something? Or better yet, does a game designer really need to spend hours in the computer working?
In a word, yes. Plus side is that as a game designer or programmer you also have to play games, as a designer you have to look at it and see what works and what doesn't (also reading fan sites and seeing what they like and hate about the games helps), as a programmer you have to think of it in a way of 'how did they do that?' and then start trying to imitate it then try ways to add onto it by experimenting with it. Kind of hard to be in games at all without a computer.
Only 2 - 3 hours? Personally that seems like a lot to me (but I don't know what your friends are like...)
If you want to minimize your time at the magic box, try doing more design work on paper.
And if you have a laptop, you might consider doing some work outside, or by a beach or pool...just to minimize the gloomy-ness of working at a screen inside.
Depends on how you use that time for. IMO, a game designer should spend their time dissecting games, not just playing them.
Just show them the productive work you've done and it will help the situtation. I honestly don't think it matters if you spend your leisure time on the computer so long as you've been productive with you day.
Your authority is not recognized in Fort Kick-ass http://www.newvoxel.com
Only 2 - 3 hours? Personally that seems like a lot to me (but I don't know what your friends are like...)
Now that I'm a professional developer in the day job, I try to manage average around 2-3 hours of game a day - I capitalise on the weekends of course, but I still play almost daily. When I was at school, 2-3 hours a day was easy since I'd be getting home at 4pm, rather than 7pm ;)