Game designer
A game designer isperson who designs games. The term normally refers toperson who designs video or computer games, butcan also referone who designs traditional games, such as board games.
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VideoComputer Game Designer
A video or computer game designer developslayout, conceptgameplay:game design ofvideo or computer game. They work forvideo game publisher or developer. This person usually haslotwriting experiencemay even havedegreewriting orrelated field (such as English). This person's primary job functionwriting, somore experiencehave withactivity,better. Some artprogramming skillsalso helpfulthis job, butnot strictly necessary.Invideo game industry,jobgame designerone ofhardestobtain. Itnot easy, though many people (especially teenage boys) think"have whattakes"perform this job. Almost everyone ingame industry has whatbelieve is"killer game" conceptis waiting foropportunitydevelopgame. Asgame designer,may getopportunitydevelop that game concept, so competitionusually very high.
Sincevideo game publisher may invest millionsdollars towardsgame's develop, it's easyunderstand whychoose game designers carefully—one or two ill game concepts could end up costing them millionsdollarsrevenuecould even risk bankruptingcompany (as incaseSir-Tech). For this reason, game publishers usually choose game designers who haveproven track recordseveral hit games under their belts. Less seasoned designers may be assignedlow profile games that have budgets inlow thousands.
History
Early inhistoryvideo games, game designers were oftenlead programmer oronly programmer forgame. This iscasesuch noted designers as Sid MeierWill Wright. This person also sometimes comprisedentire art team! As games became more complexcomputersconsoless became more powerful (allowing more features),jobgame designer becameseparate job function, withlead programmer splitting his time betweentwo functions, transitioning from one role toother.
Later, game complexity escalated topoint whererequired one who concentrated solely on game design. Many early veterans chosegame design path eschewing programmingrelegating those tasksothers.
Today, itrarefindvideo or computer game whereprinciple programmeralsoprinciple designer, except incaserelatively simple games, such as Tetris or Bejewelled. With very complex games, such as MMORPGs, designers may number indozens! In these cases, theregenerally one or two principle designersmany junior designers who specify subsets or subsystems ofgame.
The VideoComputer Game Design Process
The game designer starts withconcept, which may be handedthem or may be onecreated themself. They may start informally by discussinggame ideaothers or may start writing immediately. Either way, one offirst tasks iscreate an initial game design (or proposal, depending oncircumstances). The initial design needsbe approvedthen full-scale production can begin.
However, just gettinggame idea or design approved can betedious process. Ifinitial designrejected,designer hastryfigure out whywas rejectedmake changesappease stakeholders. The processsubmittingdesign, getting rejected, tweakingresubmitting can take weeks, months or even years. Often,game design never gets approved anddesigner hasattemptdifferent idea altogether. But whendesign finally gets"green light,"isn't over.
When full-scale production begins,initial game design givesproduction team (programmers, artistone or more producers)"jumping off" pointdevelopment. Artists generate concept sketchesprogrammers will develop several prototypestest out various game concepts. During this time,game design will evolve, changegrow drastically,it isgame designer's jobdocumentall.
Butdoesn't end whenearly production phaseover. During development many discoveriesmade (for example,wayrender larger scenes)shortcomings havebe dealt(for example,inabilitycalculate inverse kinematics). All these discoveries altergame designmust be documented. The game design is"living document" andgame designerits heartblood. Makingmanaging allchangesdifficultcan be cumbersome, sodesigner must be adept at prioritizingtracking changes. Additionally, since changes can be madeany place ofdocument,designer must be vigilantkeepingteam informedthese changesmust be readyany anger or criticism levied at them fromoutcome—many hundredshourswork may be discarded from subtle changes togame's direction.
Byenddevelopment,design document may grow from less thandozen pagesseveral hundred. Samplesartworkgraphs make up some ofcontent, but most ofdocumenttext whichdesigner must generate.
The game designer must also be diplomatic. During development, many members ofdevelopment team will offer suggestions or request changes (actually,good game designer will solicit comments fromteam). When many suggestionsone aspect ofgamemade,designer must choose which onemost desirable. They must be diplomaticannouncing their decision so as notoffend those who profferedunused choices. Likemost endeavors,coherent teamvitalgame development anddesigner can't affordoffend those who may play vital roles.
Diplomacyalso important when dealing withclient, who may be upper management, or, incase ofthird-party developer,game publisher. If these stakeholdersnot satisfiedaspects ofdesign,designer must diplomatically resolve these issues, balancing satisfyingclientkeepingfeatures that he or she wants. Upsetting any oneseveral possible stakeholders could leadremoval ofdesigner fromgame.
Ifdesignernotsole designer ongame,must exercise diplomacy when discussing featuresother designers. Conflicting ideas can easily escalate into violence when passionate personalitiesinvolved.
Thoughmay go without saying, game designers must be creative individualsbroad backgrounds. Earlytheir career, designers may be requireddesign games based on licensed properties or IPss—somewhich may have little game potential (for example, Cap'n Crunch cereal). In these cases,designer must exercise great creativitypatience while forminggame thatfuninteresting. After several yearssuch design experience,designer may be givenopportunitywork ongametheir preferred genre.
Notable VideoComputer Game Designers
- Sid MeierCivilizationRailroad Tycoon fame
- Will Wright, designerSimCityThe Sims
- Shigeru MiyamotoDonkey KongThe LegendZelda series
- Richard Garriott (Lord British), developer ofUltima seriescomputer games
- Danielle Bunten Berry, ofseminal M.U.L.ESeven CitiesGold
- Hironobu Sakaguchi ofpopular Final Fantasy series
- Yuji Horii ofpopular Japanese Dragon Quest series
External Link
- Game design veteran Tom Sloper's game biz advice
