By James Green - Creative Assembly

The Missing Dead Activity Pack to be used with the Missing Dead Game app

What does the Job entail?

Game designers work with the rest of the development team to make the game experience enjoyable and interesting – making sure it’s fun, everything works as it should, and that it’s an experience the player wants.

To find out more about being a game designer in the games industry, click here to read Creative Assembly’s Creative Chronicles series

Different areas/specialisms of the role:

• Level design: these designers are responsible for making the levels, missions, chapters or worlds the game takes place in, and making sure they’re fun to play.
• Core design (also called systems design): these designers are responsible for the rules, mechanics and systems of the game – things like the camera, weapons and items the player can use, moves the player can perform and the game’s controls.
• Technical design: these are very specialist designers who make sure design systems and tools work well. They’ll often take on the most difficult technical tasks.

 

Main skills required:

• Good communication skills – designers often have to work with many others in their team. They need to be able to present and explain their ideas clearly.
• Good at logic and maths – making games is very technical, designers don’t just come up with ideas, they have to make those ideas work and prove that they work.
• Good organisational skills – making games is complicated, with lots of different areas that require design.
• A good designer will be creative, inventive and innovative. They will be good at solving problems.

 

Interesting Facts:

• The best way to become a game designer is to start making games! You can start with board games and card games, then move on to video games. There’s lots of freely available software online to do this such as Unity or Unreal, and many existing games can be modified, or allow you to make your own maps. A game doesn’t have to be of finished quality to demonstrate good game design.
• Every professional game designer was making games long before it became their job!

 

Important subjects to do at school:

• There are no right or wrong subjects to do at school to become a game designer. It’s important to do subjects you enjoy, but give you a broad range of skills.
• You can study game design at University – and there are some good courses – however it isn’t required to have a degree in game design, and many game designers don’t. It’s more important that you can show you can make games and understand what makes a good game.