Hello,

I'm graduating with a Bachelor's in Game Design and Development in about 3 months. My intent is to go out and find a job with a studio rather than work on small/solo projects. I have not had very much interaction with people actively working in the field, so I feel somewhat in the dark as to what the expectations are for someone like me who is fresh out of school. I've had a very broad introduction to the field, touching on design, art, and programming, but I don't feel as if I have mastered any of them. I'm most interested in Design, but I would be willing to perform just about any role to build experience. Regardless of the specialization, I feel a strong desire to meet the expectations of a potential employer, but I have no idea what the expectations are. Can anyone give me some insight as to what employers are looking for in new hires who have recently graduated? Do the expectations change with each specialization (Design vs. Programming)? Which jobs do I have the best chance of getting as a newbie? I just need a bit of direction from someone more knowledgeable than myself. Any info is greatly appreciated. Thanks for taking the time.

Hammer_Deus said:
touching on design, art, and programming

That's not a job.

Companies hire designers in design disciplines, like level design, character design, and so on. Companies hire various art roles like concept artists, environment artists, modelers and riggers, UI art, animators. Companies hire for programming roles. Companies hire for QA roles. Companies hire for production roles.

Unfortunately the generic “lots of skills related to games” is a path lots of people want and are willing to pay schools to teach them, even though it isn't directly useful in the industry. The schools will happily take the money and teach the curriculum the students asked for, with teachers often knowing it isn't going to lead directly to a job. Most employers I know, and myself personally, prefer schools that focus on a single discipline and then offer exposure to the rest, like a CS degree plus a game development certificate, or a BFA in digital art plus a game development certificate, or similar. But you can't change the past.

Game studios have openings for entry-level design positions, although they're rare relative to other positions. A single designer might be working with 10 programmers, 5 artists, 7 animators, 25 QA, and a few other roles. Some very small studios and startups do want the background you've had, a lot of general topics who can help in multiple areas, so apply there too.

Apply for the jobs you are looking for. If you like the exposure you had to programming and want to do that, look for jobs as an entry level programmer. If you like the exposure you had to art disciplines (not sure if modeling, texturing, animating, UI, or what) go for an art discipline. If you prefer the design tasks you did, look for level design, character design, and associate/assistant game design jobs. If you liked the coordination aspects, look for associate/assistant producer roles.

Hammer_Deus said:
Can anyone give me some insight as to what employers are looking for in new hires who have recently graduated?

Regardless of whatever role you end up in, the expectations at the junior level are the same.

You are seen as a raw beginner in the industry. You will require training and handholding. You're expected to know enough from your schooling and background that you can begin to do the job with some guidance, but that you're still learning the craft.

Do your best. Show up and work hard. Don't break things too much (you're expected to break things occasionally) and try to produce and generate more than the costs you cause. They expect you'll take time and effort for training, and that after a few months you'll start being useful to the project.

Everything frob said is spot on. Seconded.

• Can't rig or animate a fraction as good as someone specialized.
• No math background to program anything substantial.
• But can probably sew together a few frameworks to “design” a game.

Sorry for the pessimism. I always recommend a software degree over a (nearly) liberal arts degree like game design. I'll side with Elon Musk on this one though: college degrees are worthless because everything can be learned online basically for free.

@frob Thanks for the very in depth response, I feel a bit better knowing that most employers will expect me to be the newb I am. Let me first say, I think the title of my impending degree might misrepresent my skillset. My degree is not liberal arts. At SNHU I learned C++, C#, Python, and Java. I also got around 2 years of experience working in Unreal Engine 4 as well as exposure to animation and modeling. I transferred to SNHU from Georgia Tech where I received copious amounts of math, physics, programming, critical thinking, and data analysis training. Hopefully, that sheds a bit of light on my skillset. With that in mind, I'd like to ask two more questions.

1. You mentioned that companies hire for positions that are well defined; Level Design, Character Design, etc. What I really enjoy about game development is the game theory, development of gameplay loops and mechanics, as well as some level design. What job title should I be looking for to focus on the designing of gameplay loops and mechanics?
2. Are those roles separate from programming roles or do the programmers design the gameplay mechanics as well?

Programming is one of my strongest skills, but I don't want to go into it if it excludes me from designing gameplay mechanics. I'm just trying to work out the division of labor and determine where I should focus my job search. Again, thanks for your time.

Hammer_Deus said:
1. You mentioned that companies hire for positions that are well defined; Level Design, Character Design, etc. What I really enjoy about game development is the game theory, development of gameplay loops and mechanics, as well as some level design. What job title should I be looking for to focus on the designing of gameplay loops and mechanics?

2. Are those roles separate from programming roles or do the programmers design the gameplay mechanics as well?

1. That job title is “game designer.” Re-read what frob said about:

frob said:
If you prefer the design tasks you did, look for level design, character design, and associate/assistant game design jobs.

2. Yes, the roles frob listed here are separate from programming roles. SOME programmers may also design gameplay mechanics, especially in small companies where team members perform numerous roles.

Programmers implement the designs. Understanding the big picture helps make better implementations.

The actual “Game Designer” is generally a fairly experienced person with creative control over a 5M−15M budget. “Senior Game Designer” may have creative control over a 30M, 50M, or even larger projects. This is NOT an entry level position.

Level design, character design, and titles like “Associate Designer” are more common at the entry level. Positions are fairly rare as described above because a large team only needs a few in the role. Many designers are pulled from other positions in the company, but a few are hired directly from the outside.

Playing a pure numbers game, getting a job as a programmer is safer, far more programmers are hired for a project than designers.

At some studios programmers have very little design control, especially at the junior level. At most studios programmers give feedback on designs, making suggestions based on what is easiest to implement, faster, or can be adapted from the rest of the game. Once the programmer is doing the work, the programmers make thousands of implementation decisions that build the feeling of the game.

With experience programmers are given wide latitude in implementing systems. As an example, the vague description might be to take some control points and generate walls or buildings out of it, and the programmer is expected to find a solution. The game designer wants a comprehensive system to allow building dynamic structures to help with gameplay. The programmer might pull from an asset pool to make wall segments, or turn spline paths into meshes that are textured automatically, or build some other system that fits the needs. The programmer makes a lot of design decisions, but it is generally not game design because it does not introduce mechanics or story, it is not level design because they are not building up the world and balancing choke points, flow, and emotional feel, but it is certainly a system that impacts the game, how the teams can build the world, and the framework that the story is draped around.

The design discipline figures out broad mechanics, figures out how to leverage them in maps and levels and puzzles and combos and crafting and whatever. The art disciplines create the resources and representation, with animation giving them life. Effects and audio enhance them. The programmers bind those ideas with the resources to make systems, and the design folks treat the systems as building blocks, iterating between the various groups to build up their game.

All are important disciplines. Knowledge of the other components helps, which is why I wrote I prefer to see someone dedicated to a specific field with exposure to others rather than exposure to a lot of fields with no real depth. The person needs to know their primary role in as much depth as possible.

If you find one discipline more compelling to you than another, go for it.

These responses have been very helpful. So it seems like “Game Designer” is definitely the long term goal for me. It definitely sounds like I need to focus on one area of expertise, however…

frob said:

a pure numbers game, getting a job as a programmer is safer, far more programmers are hired for a project than designers.

It seems to me that starting out as a programmer to build experience and applying for a Game Designer position when I have the experience is the path to victory. Is it unheard of for someone to be promoted to Game Designer after being a programmer for a number of years, or do level designers, character designers, etc. get those positions more often? It would make the most sense for design positions to be promoted to Game Designer, but if the design positions are exceedingly rare, I may not have that option. I live in South Carolina and there are virtually no studios near me. One option is to work remotely, and the other is to move where the jobs are. My wife already makes more money than I could hope to make as an entry level developer, so moving may not be in the cards right now. I understand working remotely will likely reduce my options for potential positions which is why I'm trying to figure out the best way to build experience until it is time to move. Is working remotely common in the gaming industry?

Hammer_Deus said:
Is it unheard of for someone to be promoted to Game Designer after being a programmer for a number of years

No. Many roles can play the Upgrade-to-Designer game. Just gotta get your foot in the door.

Hammer_Deus said:
I live in South Carolina … I understand working remotely will likely reduce my options for potential positions which is why I'm trying to figure out the best way to build experience until it is time to move. Is working remotely common in the gaming industry?

It's common to work remotely due to COVID concerns, but it's common to work remotely within commuting distance. The pandemic has changed things a lot, but you need to be aware of the “location, location, location” reality.