Video games are fast becoming one of the most engaging activities in the world. Children, adults, and people of all age categories enjoy playing video games because of the intrinsically motivating experience it delivers.
Creating a high-quality video game, on the other hand, involves a lot of processes and a carefully laid out plan. It undergoes different specialized professionals in game creation. They include game artists, animators, designers, producers, and programmers who all work in synergy.
In this piece, you will learn about all there is to becoming a video game designer, the level of education required, salary expectations, and much other significant information.
Who Is a Video Game Designer?
A video game designer is a person saddled with the responsibility of brainstorming and creating the storyline, discussions, and character of a video game. The game designer has to consider a lot of things. one of which is if the game is designed for a mobile device, a computer, or a laptop.
A Video game designer actually conceptualizes the idea for the game and works with other specialists by effectively communicating in order to ascertain how to bring the game idea to life.
Video Game Designer Requirements
There are majorly two major requirements that a person is supposed to have in order to qualify to become a Video Game Designer;
- Education Requirement
- Experience Requirement
- Skills
#1. Educational Requirement
A video game design is a product of intense brainstorming and probably countless nights. This is why in order to become a video game designer, you must have gone through some level of school. A lot of Gaming related careers demand a minimum of a Bachelor’s degree in fields like Computer Graphics, software engineering, game design, or maybe computer programming.
However, in order to be more sought-after, you have to obtain a master’s or even a Doctoral or a professional degree in any of the related programs. Most employers may prefer candidates with higher educational degree ranking due to the fact that they believed a person with a higher degree must have explored more.
#2. Experience Requirement
A lot of career paths require an aspirant to acquire some level of experience and passion before putting them into consideration. As an aspiring video game designer, you must seek experience in the field of video game design.
Applying for internship training in any top gaming organization is one of the best and most certain ways to gain this experience. This process will provide you with hands-on experience in video game design as well as the opportunity to speak with top professionals in the field.
#3. Skills
To become an online video game designer, you must be a person who is highly multi-skilled in different video game aspects. Below is a list of some of the top skills you must learn or develop more to be fit to become a video game designer.
- In-depth Analytical and Mathematical understanding
- A gaming passion
- Excellent communication skills
- Ability to make others understand your ideas as you do
- Problem cracking skills
- Open to learning
A Guide on How To Become A Video Game Designer
If you hope for a successful video game design career, then you should follow these carefully sorted out steps;
- Go for a degree
- specialize in a particular aspect
- Know more about the gaming industry
- Explore other related skillsets
- position yourself to be noticed
- Make your own game
#1 Go For a Degree
Video game designing has to do with so many roles, and in most of these roles hence, you would need to choose a focus area of study. You can decide to specialize in being the game idea conceptualizer, the artist, the programmer, and many other roles. Focusing on a particular aspect of video game designing will help you become more specialized and highly skilled.
#2. Specialize in a Particular area of Video Game
The video game career Is a broad one with a lot of areas one can specialize in. You will need to deliberately decide to select a particular aspect of the video game design process to fully engage in. Choosing to focus on one aspect of video game designing is advisable as this will help you build expertise in that preferred choice of specialization.
#3. Know More About The Video Gaming industry
Unlike other people that are not totally involved in video game design, you are supposed to know more about gaming. You should put in more effort to understanding how a video game is designed. From the idealization to the round-off area.
#4. Explore other related skillsets
Following the fact that games designers are really creative people, you must et familiar with various skills that can are closely related to video game design such as being able to communicate effectively, pay utmost attention to details, know about programming languages and the game creation process.
Having these multiple skills will place you in a position where others can find me.
#5. Position yourself to be noticed
Be strategic about your positioning. This is because when you are not positioned properly then nobody will likely notice you. A person with a video game designer career should network with other people and place adverts on different job websites so as to be able to reach potential employers
#6. Make your own Design
As an aspiring professional video game designer should create his/her own personalized design even at an early design. Demonstrate your technical skill and abilities by trying to create a prototype video game or an actual game.
Video Game Designer School
Video Game Designer Schools
- University of Southern California
- University of Utah
- Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
- University of Central Florida
- DigiPen Institute of Technology
- Savannah College of Art and Design
- University of Central Florida
- Drexel University
- Worcester Polytechnic Institute,
- Becker College
Video Game Designer Jobs
Upon graduating from the university, you will find that creating a video game involves a high level of division of labor. A video game designer career involves different aspects such as a career in Game animation, Developer, programmer, and many others.
The List below comprises some of the video game jobs. A person interested in video games can do any of these and earn a good amount of income.
- Software developer
- Game animator
- Lead quality assurance
- Game writer
- Lead designer
- Game animator
- Quality assurance
- Game programmer
- Software engineer
- Game artist
If you have interest in Video game design, you can choose other Highest Paying IT Careers.
How Much Do Video Game Designers make- Video Game Designers Salary
The salary of a game designer varies from country to country, firm to firm, and depends on the demand level for a particular designing skill. Nevertheless, in the United States of America (US) there is an average salary range for video game designers.
Source: Payscale
The average Entry-level video game designer’s yearly salary starts at around USD $40,000. For designers with a bit of experience, the average yearly salary is around USD $65,042. And lastly, for top-level video game designers, the average pay is around USD $102,000.
Video Game Designer Job Outlook
The job outlook for video game designers has been on the increase side since 2019. As at that time, the Job opportunities for this career have increased by 5.31 percent as at that time which brought about an average growth of 5.31 percent yearly.
After much research has been conducted, there is an expectation for a higher demand for video game designers. By 2029, there is an expectation of 32,090 more new vacancies for people to occupy.
Conclusion
Creating a videos game is no easy task, it involves so many processes and hard work, however, the making of a game is fun full. There are many career opportunities for a video game designer to specialize in and each specialization with a good pay range.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do Video game designers work independently?
No, they do not. Different roles are played when designing a game. Some of these roles include The Artist, Animator e.t.c
What is the difference between a video game designer and developer
In the simple analogy of a building, the video game designer is the person that draws the plan in plain paper and gives necessary details about how the construction will be made. While the video game developer merely analyzes this plan and brings it to reality.
Can I earn an online degree as a video game designer?
Yes, video game online degrees are also recognized.
How long does it take to complete a video game degree.
Depending on the degree, for B.Sc – 4 years and for a Masters – 18 Months or 2 years depending on the school.
References
- Masterclass– How to become a video game designer
- Neit– Video game designer ultimate guide
- Cgspectrum – Game designer job description
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