Archive for the ‘careers’ Category

Rewarding Careers In Video Game Design

Tuesday, April 27th, 2010

Companies are interested in hiring those people who have a natural instinct of what makes a game good or bad, someone who knows how to design good games, a person who is passionate about playing video games. Secondly, while designing, one comes across many problems so they need someone with good problem solving skills. Last but not the least, companies need a person who can do things efficiently in a very short span of time, because of the fast paced competition in this industry.

Training Requirements

Not everyone can become a video game designer. It requires very specific training from a video game designing school. Many degrees are available online.
Colleges and universities offer degree programs and technical training in video games designing. These programs help you to develop various levels in the game from the beginning till the final stages. Technical training includes drawing, characterization, editing, interactive media and game design which strengthens your foundation for video game design.

Working Environment

Working as a video game designer involves working with a team of people from different fields who coordinate different aspects of the game to create a new video game. If you are interested in making a career in this industry you could choose from a wide range of positions. A storyboard or character artist works out the skeleton with sketches and paintings of the different elements of the game. For this you need advanced technical training in graphic design and computer animation, which helps you to put your ideas through.

Animators and character artist produce the characters of the game and give it a real look and feel with the help of 3D programs. Creating a new game is a long process and designing is one of the major stages. The team is made up of a lead designer and other level designers. It is the responsibility of the level designers to create the right environment at different levels of the game for the player. They perceive the design team’s vision of the game and create the necessary impact. They have to make the game exciting and engrossing. As the levels change, environment designers give the game a three dimensional quality. Texture artists give the flesh and skin to the various elements of the game. They see to it that the textures are convincingly fitted to their characters.

Programmers make the video game engine run. C++ is the preferred programming language. This is an essential part of video games. AI is helpful in creating different elements of the game. Interface designers create menus heads up display in the game. Sound and audio experts create the required dramatic sound effects of the game and set the right mood. Professional testers deal with bugs and other related problems.

With the help of specialized training in advanced graphic design and your passion for video games you will be able to bring your video game characters to life and use your conceptual skills to bring out the concept envisioned. This will prove to be a valued asset for creating new video games and give you the required cutting edge to succeed in this competitive industry.

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Game Design Ideas For MMORPG Game Design

Wednesday, June 17th, 2009

The popularity of massively multiplayer online role playing games (MMORPGs) has exploded over the past few years and shows no sign of letting up. Thanks to the success of hugely popular titles such as World Of Warcraft, EVE Online, and Dark Age of Camelot, the demand for new MMORPGs keeps increasing.

Because of this, demand for game designers who can develop new titles in this genre will also be strong for some time to come. If you are interested in a future job creating these types of games, here are several key points to keep in mind.

Design breaks into three main parts.

First is the game mechanics side, which is often designed iteratively. The interface players use to control their characters, the powers and abilities those characters can posses and the limits of their ability to interact with their surroundings are difficult to precisely plan.

The main concern of a game designer here is to ensure that players can play interesting types of characters, that they can do reasonable things, that there isn’t a silver bullet that makes everything else unimportant and that the interface is easy to use.

Character types should be different enough that the player can start over as a different type and not feel bored at doing the same thing again. For best results players should be able to fight and cooperate with other players, as humans are more of a challenge than bots and the social aspects can be a game’s big draw. This doesn’t get rid of the need for classic wandering monsters to kill when alone.

The second part is the setting. The world in which the gamers will play is usually tightly planned. There is a growing trend in allowing player designed content, but it is too early to know if this is a dead end, a minor outgrowth of the main genre or the coming thing. This is the artistic side of the endeavor.

A game designer must be able to create a distinct world, one that stands out from the rest in some way. It should have enough verisimilitude that a player isn’t spending time thinking about some part just isn’t right or is a clear reminder that this isn’t a reality. It needs to be flexible. Players will try very hard to think of something you didn’t, and will explore places you didn’t intend.

The third part is the engineering end, ensuring the game is capable of handling the traffic and is stable enough to handle normal and unusual conditions. The game designer here must understand the technical issues of networking and the internet, and must also understand how to design the game to maximize the play aspect and also minimize the strain on the equipment.

One way is to clone sections of the setting, such as an arena, dungeon or skirmish site, and have multiple groups using it at once in unconnected adventures. This allows the game to use only one setting, with groups adventuring through the site, invisible to each other and each dealing with their own set of inhabitants.

More than one MMORG has failed when demand was higher than expected and the game was unable to compensate. This will probably ensure that the games will always be on shards, which is the term used for multiple servers running the game. Additional shards can be added as needed, or shut down when not required. This even improves profitability.

MMORPG game designers need a large skill set. Increasingly, companies rely on teams of designers to provide all of the abilities needed. Game designers thus need to be good at one or more of the basic needs of the genre, be able to work well with others, work to further a plan and have enough creativity to make the product a better one because they were involved.

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Video Game Jobs – How To Become A Game Designer

Tuesday, December 2nd, 2008

For those that don’t want to be stuck in the basic coding of a video game, never witnessing the visual interpretation of your work, the role of game designer might be a better fit for you.

While, programmers are directly attached to basic code and game engines and artists are in charge of bringing all visual aspects to life, the game designer is a mash-up of everything and one of the most important roles in the video game industry.

Your job as a video game designer will be to craft the basic concepts of the game. Often, you will need to have a degree in writing or a similar field and a great deal of experience in doing so. A lot of game designers graduated with English degrees and worked in journalism, magazine, or fiction before turning to video games. However in the video game industry, versatility is key. If you can also have experience in programming and visual design, you’ll be a lock for a great job in game design.

The job itself involves mapping out the course of the game. A game designer will often work on the basic concepts, writing up how a game will operate, how it will work, and what will happen over the course of a game. One of the most famous game designers of all time is Shigeru Miyamoto, the creator of Mario and Zelda. His schooling was in the arts and most of his job involved creating characters and game concepts, detailing intricately how he wanted his game to work.

Those details are then passed on to the programmers and artists who will start to create the engines to do what the game designer envisions and the characters to do it. A game designer is something akin to a director of a major film. Your job could include almost anything on that set, and you’d better be capable of doing it, because you are the most important person involved.

The job is probably the most fun you can have in the video game industry though. As a game designer you get the chance to pitch, develop, and write your game concepts into reality, turning those amazing ideas you had on the basement couch with your buddies into the next great video game. Your job duties are immensely varied, with everything from writing to programming to visual design and you’ll be involved in most aspects of the game’s design.

Strong leadership skills and the ability to keep track of multiple tasks will do you well in this role, and a creative streak of gold. The video game industry is always looking for the next great game designer and it could very well be you.

But if you’re looking for a position that isn’t at the top of the ladder, or that doesn’t involve so many duties there are many more to choose from. You might be a born math whiz and find programming as your niche, or a born artist, only interested in helping create the characters for video games. There are many different aspects of the video game industry for you to look into.

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Video Game Design Schools – 3 Favorite Schools

Monday, October 20th, 2008

When you decide that you want to be a game designer, you need to learn the skills needed in order to do the job. This means going to a school with the required curriculum. There are a surprising amount of colleges and universities now serving this field. These are three of the best.

The ITT Technical institute has 85 locations in 30 states across the US, and offers a bachelor’s degree in Digital Entertainment and Game Design. The program offers a strong foundation in game technology, game design, animation, level design and general education. The program falls under the School of Drafting and Design. There is very likely a campus close enough to attend, and the college is accredited by Accrediting Council for Independent Colleges and Schools.

DeVry University has various campuses across the US, Canada and online. DeVry offers a Game and Simulation Programming Bachelor’s Degree teaching software development, programming, software engineering and project coordination. The program is applications oriented and provides a foundation in math and physics for games, programming, game design, modifications, massively multiplayer online role playing game programming, two and three dimensional graphics design, simulation and game engine design. There is also a good grounding in general education to provide the well grounded team members the industry desires. DeVry works on a trimester system and many degrees can be achieved in three years of work. DeVry is accredited by The Higher Learning Commission.

Westwood College is located at Anaheim, CA, Denver, CO and Chicago, IL. They offer a bachelor’s degree in Game Art and Design, which focuses on design, computer and problem solving skills, focusing on applied knowledge and hands on teaching. In addition to practical exercises, Westwood also provides grounding in theory. They also offer a Game Software Development degree, teaching software fundamentals, game software development and an emphasis on game development and interactive entertainment.

One of the main outcomes of a good college program is exposure to more than just the core material. A well rounded person will be able to know of concepts and information in other fields that impact the major area of study, but which were not included. Additionally, a good program will include both theory and practice, so the student can tell how things should be, and what actually takes place in the field.

With the electronic component to the industry, just about everyone concerned should have a good grounding in computer programming to understand ways to most effectively work within the limits of the computer while maximizing the capabilities of their own disciplines. Most work on computer games is obviously computer related, but there is a need to understand the artistic components, such as music and the visual arts too.

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Video Game Design – Do You Have What It Takes To Design Games?

Saturday, March 22nd, 2008

If you’re an avid video gamer and while sitting at home playing your favorite game, you think to yourself, “I could do this better”, video game design might be the perfect job for you someday. But there are some key skills you’ll need to have before you can enter the field and truly make an impact on the video game market. Here’s a description of the most important ones.

Programming

Everything you see in a video game is boiled down to 0s and 1s, the basics of programmers everywhere. If you decide to aim for this job, you’d better start early. Programming is the building block of any good video game design job. If you’re great with numbers, better with details, and don’t mind spending long hours staring at a computer screen looking for a missing line of code, programming is a great place for you in video game design.

You’ll need to learn a combination of three to five different programming languages to be really successful in this job, so you’d better be prepared for a lot of work. While C++ is the groundwork for any programming job, you’ll also be learning Java and Visual Basic to supplement it.

Most video game design uses a combination of whatever works in a given situation to get the job done. If you’re in high school though, interested in a job in video game design and programming, you should try your hardest to take courses in or learn C++ as preparation.

Story Writing/Game Theory

For every good video game, there’s someone (or many someones) whose job it is to write the story and develop the ideas for the game. You might think this sounds simple, having sat in your basement telling your friends how much better you could do at writing the ending for a particular game. But there’s just as much schooling to get a job writing or brainstorming ideas in video game design as coding.

For writers, you’d better get a decent degree in creative writing or English. Most video game design jobs require at least a Bachelors degree in English to apply for a story writing job. Second, they want experience, so start early, working on projects in school, taking specific courses in Game Theory and developing long story lines for use in video game design projects.

Your job will be writing dialogue, script and concepts for a massive world with hours of interaction. You’d better have a decent idea of how you’re going to do that.

Computer Animation

The face of video game design, the job that everyone thinks of when they envision their future designing video games, is computer animation. First off, you’ll need to still learn the programming languages of your programming coworkers. This job requires a lot of different skills, many of which are programming languages. So C++ had better be on your resume along with Maya, 3DS Max, and a handful of other image rendering mega-software.

Video game design courses are perfect for the potential Computer Animator as well, as you’ll learn how to operate vast, high tech computers and machinery and utilize the newest software in doing so.

Computer Animation requires not only the technical expertise of a programmer, but the visual, artistic mastery of a story writer or sketch artist. This job requires the best of both worlds in the video game design industry.

There are plenty of jobs for all different skill levels in video game design. If you’re capable of writing a good story, drawing a decent picture, or remembering vast strings of numbers, you can find a job in game design. It’s all about where you’ll best fit in.

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Video Game Design Careers – Where To Start

Friday, January 4th, 2008

It’s getting to that time in your life when you have to start considering exactly what you’ll be doing with your career and video games look like a solid field. You’re good with numbers, you know a little programming code, or you’re a fairly decent artist.

Any of these are good reasons to consider the industry, so where do you go for video game design career information? You’ll need to be proactive, getting out there and putting forth the effort to make the most of your interest. Here’s how to start.

First off is schooling.

For any video game design career, you’ll need to get a two to four year degree in the field you’re interested in first. Devry, ITT Technical Institute, and many of the Art Institutes all offer programs that will prepare you for the video game design field as well as offering you tons of video game design career information through their programs.

There are other more traditional schools, such as The Digital Media Arts College in Florida, which offers extensive Bachelors Degree programs in video game design, as well as Collins College in Arizona. Almost anywhere in the nation though you’ll find a program that will help you get the video game design career information you need.

Know The Industry

But, just getting a degree is not necessarily enough. Many careers require some level of experience or knowledge of the industry, possibly even just a few contacts from within. Regardless, you should be familiar with the various game design companies.

Not only should you know which companies you’d like to work with when it comes time to apply for jobs, you should know what they produce, familiarizing yourself with their output.

You should know that EA has multiple studios that produce Sports games, action games, and movie license among many others. You should know that if you want to work for a Japanese publisher, you might need to know a little Japanese.

Get Out There and Network

Once you’ve familiarized yourself with the industry and are on your way to having a degree, you should look for video game design career information in the most information packed places of all, the trade shows and publications.

You can find endless amounts of information at these shows, with every major publisher out in full force. Though E3 has changed its format this year to a smaller invite only summit, other major shows such as the Tokyo Game Show (once again, Japanese helps), or the Game Developers Conference offer plenty of chances to step in and grab information or meet and greet with designers.

And if you can get invites to any industry events, either through school or press credentials or through networking with industry insiders, you can find yourself in a position to land a great job designing video games.

The real key to finding good video game design career information is to step out of the box and take real initiative. You had better have a keen eye and a willingness to get your foot in the door and meet lots of people. There are hundreds of opportunities out there if you’re willing to make the effort in exploiting them.

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