How to become a Game Designer?
Hi guys,
1 question that I have been thinking a long time ago since I was young,
I want to be a game designer since I was studying primary school,
Game Designer is my dream but I don't know how to get it,
There's no any courses for that but only art and programming,
If I focus on art of programming,
I can only achieve art director or lead programmer as the final goal,
Instead of game designer, it should be a wrong way,
So what can I do? I Hope somebody can give me some tips,
Really appreciated.
1 question that I have been thinking a long time ago since I was young,
I want to be a game designer since I was studying primary school,
Game Designer is my dream but I don't know how to get it,
There's no any courses for that but only art and programming,
If I focus on art of programming,
I can only achieve art director or lead programmer as the final goal,
Instead of game designer, it should be a wrong way,
So what can I do? I Hope somebody can give me some tips,
Really appreciated.
Replies
That's not to say that some programming and 3D skills aren't useful to have, a lot of game design positions need to have a little programming, but nothing as hard core as what you'd get from a computer science degree. 3D is useful for blocking out really basic level designs.
Also, I would make games; these can be card games, board games, anything. I'm serious, if you can't make a fun and interesting board or card game, how do you know you can make a fun video game.
There are any number of paths you can take towards this end. And there are any number of subjects that you can and should study in your efforts to achieve this. Game design is an incredibly diverse field. The more inspiration and influence that you can draw from, the better. Being well read, educated, and cultured will be one of your best strengths.
Now, if your goals are more specific, you should probably specialize in what you are interested in. A lot of the crowd here at Polycount specialize in game art production. But those are individual disciplines within game production. Game design, by its nature, requires a broader perspective.
Play games - every and any type of game you can find. Read and write constantly and always be thinking about what type of things you can turn into games. Read game documents and learn what it takes to write a good one.
What everyone else is saying.
I got a lots of ideas everyday and I write down in my book,
Including Interface design, how to play, detail explain,
Functions, game system, level design, secrets, example and so on,
Most of them are casual games or mini games for iPhone / Android etc,
Only 1 game is a huge production which is for PS3 / XBox360 etc,
I can't turn them into game because I don't know any programming languages,
I try to learn that by myself but I can't fully understand something,
Is a game designer really need programming skills?
Firstly, make sure you know the difference between an idea for a game and an idea for a story. A lot of first years say they want to make a game where such and such happens, and it's a love story, but space marines appear from the future and save the day. That is NOT a game concept, it's a story idea, and a bad one at that.
Make sure, for your ideas, you can explain to a businessman, in less than 30 seconds, what players will DO. If you cannot convey gameplay, then you're boned.
Secondly, Art or Science.
Choose one.
Designers are dime-a-dozen. Yes, you have ideas. So does everyone, and odds are the people you're up against have more experience than you at bringing them into reality.
So either become a designer and a decent (no need to be fantastic, but it's preferable) programmer, or a designer and a competent, driven artist.
Even forming groups at uni, you'll find that the designers that can actually contribute to the building of the game get snapped up before they've even announced that the assessment is in teams, and the pure designers hand in a shoddily programmed, looks-like-ass abomination.
Good ideas mean nothing if they're stuck in your head.
Thirdly, get your arse into gear and use some existing engines. Even editors.
Especially Editors.
StarCraft 2 Editor.
Far Cry 2 Editor
Unreal Development Kit
Unity.
Source (Valve).
The first two are BRILLIANT for designers, because you don't need to model or texture ANYTHING. Try to make a game with a story, aim for a 45 minute playtime. PUBLISH IT TO BATTLE NET. That impresses people; that your stuff is out there, is being played, and people enjoy it.
Unreal, Unity and Source are great level design tools; use them, make maps, even little games. There's tons of stuff available for you to use in them. Just focus on the design, the layout, etc.
LEARN TO SCRIPT
This isn't programming, but learning to use triggers will enable you to work independently on building much more complex levels. Even simple if statements that trigger simple events can be used elegantly to make exciting sequences.
Watch THIS
[ame]
at least 3 times
And for the love of god become accustomed to scouring Gamasutra at least twice a week.
Well, it depends. Do you know someone who can program, and would be willing to work with you on projects? If yes, then you can begin producing games without knowing how to program. If no, then you are going to have to learn some coding yourself.
My first recommendation would be AS3, or by extension, Haxe. Actionscript 3.0 is a capable and extremely Object-Oriented language, and will allow you to produce Flash games. Flash is fantastic for small prototypes and casual games. The broad distribution of the Flash player and ease with which people can load those games in-browser makes it a great platform for testing concepts. (and getting people's feedback on-line) It is also one of the most common platforms used to produce Facebook games. I mention Haxe because that language would make it possible for you to develop Flash games and port them to the iOS easily.
My second, more 3D-friendly suggestion would be Unity. This is a full-featured game development suite with a lot of convenient import plug-ins, and an indie-friendly licensing plan. For the base package you don't have to pay a dime.
I haven't said anything others have not mentioned already. Get a piece of paper and write what you want you game to be. Break down the elements. The more organized this is at this stage the easier the game will be to produce. You should be able to test this stuff with friends to see if it's fun.
[ame]
I mean.. as soon as you've made your first game then I'd say you are a game designer.
If we are talking about landing a job then you'll most likely need to know a lot from multiple disciplines. However a lot of the stuff you'll pick up along the way. So the question is really.. what should you concentrate on that will land you a job where you can continue to pick things up.
Personally I'd say you should aim for the position of level designer first. These guys usually need to know a little art, a little programming as well as game design.
Another route is makings mods but I'd say that is a little too advanced to start out with. You could also just join a mod team but they probably require you to know some stuff first.
But ya.. I'd say.. make something in an existing game. It's the quickest way to try things out. It is not a waste of time cause if you can't even stick it through to make a level for a game then you will never be able to stick it through to create a game.
http://artofgamedesign.com/
I think I know what to do right now,
Appreciated.