Darben Skirae
Well-Known Member
As an aspiring game designer myself, I've been making some friends in the game-making community. Are there any aspiring game makers/designers/artists/programmers on here?
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Any Game Designers On Here?
- Thread starter Darben Skirae
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The Last Song
[member="Darben Skirae"]
Not a designer, but I am a game composer.
Not a designer, but I am a game composer.
Alara Slayn
An Existentialist Enigma.
As a coder, I've had the privilege on working on a few game titles, yes. 
Asemir
Null Prime
My brother is one of the developers for the indie game Dustforce. He does coding and composes music. If you've got any specific questions you'd like to ask, I can relay to him. It may take a little bit to get a response because he's preparing a presentation for GDC, but he's always happy to share his experiences.
Character
[member="Darben Skirae"]
I plan on being a game designer once I get out of college and understand a few programming languages. Though to be honest I'm not looking forward to the long hours and crunch time I'll adapt to it once it happens.
I hope you don't mind me asking but can I ask your brother some questions as well?
I plan on being a game designer once I get out of college and understand a few programming languages. Though to be honest I'm not looking forward to the long hours and crunch time I'll adapt to it once it happens.
[member="Asemir Lor'kora"]Asemir Lor'kora said:
I hope you don't mind me asking but can I ask your brother some questions as well?
Asemir
Null Prime
[member="Barr Vexos"]
Yeah, go for it! Feel free to PM me questions or post here. If possible, I'd like to post the answers here publicly so that questions aren't repeated. (I'll remove identifiers, of course.)
Yeah, go for it! Feel free to PM me questions or post here. If possible, I'd like to post the answers here publicly so that questions aren't repeated. (I'll remove identifiers, of course.)
Asemir
Null Prime
I received some questions via PM and my brother answered them pretty quickly:
1. What exact skills would be needed to be a game designer?
Designers and programmers are pretty different jobs. You can't really get hired as an entry level designer, unless you're specialized in some specific aspect of design, like writing or level design. Otherwise you work at a different role (code, art), and work your way into it.
Skills to be a good designer:
- Rapid prototyping (can make quick small games to test ideas).
- Having a critical eye with media: being able to pick apart and understand exactly why something is good. This is the most important. You need to understand what makes something effective, why you like certain things, and being able to distinguish between "subjectively good" and "well designed". To learn this you must constantly ask why, and be around people who are interested in discussing these things.
- Understand the difference between mechanics and aesthetics, and the interplay between the two.
- Having a wide range of interests (not just games or adjacent interests).
- Deep skills in a different role (code, art, music, etc). You don't just be a "designer"; everyone on the team is a designer and specializes in something more specific.
- Communication skills: can deal and receive good criticism effectively.
2. What programs/software are recommended to learn?
- Unity and C#. Most common game dev tool. You could also learn Unreal and C++ but both teach you the same things, and Unity has a bigger community to learn from.
- Optional - GameMaker or some other quick game making tool. Good for prototyping. Unity is good for prototyping too, but for tiny projects, GameMaker can be even faster.
- Any IDE like Visual Studio or Visual Code.
- Photoshop.
- Play around with 3D tools and audio tools. You don't have to be good with them if you're not specializing in them, but it's important to know what your teams' capabilities are.
- Source control software, like git.
- If you want to specialize in some type of code, like mobile or web or graphics, you'll have learn some specialized tools.
- Google.
3. What is the recommendation for education? Go to a trade school or a 4-year University? What degrees are recommended?
Only go to a trade school if it's Really Good, like Digipen. A normal uni is the best choice otherwise. No college at all is good too, under the right circumstances. If you want to focus on a programming route, do the closest degree to software design/engineering. Something like Computer Science & Engineering is good. Honestly, when it comes to game design, college is just for the degree, not so much the education. The degree can help you get your first jobs but the real education you will have to learn yourself.
Even with programming, the school won't teach everything you need. It will teach theory (which is important), but not concrete day-to-day things like debugging and maintenance and workflow. To learn these things (and more) you need to be working on your own projects. You'll learn more about software development and game design by making a tiny game in 1 week, than you will in 4 years of school. If you make tons of tiny games throughout your college time, and critically examine them deeply and share them and get critical feedback, and compile the results into a portfolio, you will be far more prepared for a game design job than some high GPA student who just focused on classes. A strong portfolio sets you apart. A good GPA is icing on top, and with both, you can get any entry job available to grads.
That last paragraph is only required if you want to be top 1%. If you just want to get in the industry somehow, you can probably get by with good grades and good networking. But if you really want to learn The True Way, just start making games, right now. All the information and software is free and available online.
1. What exact skills would be needed to be a game designer?
Designers and programmers are pretty different jobs. You can't really get hired as an entry level designer, unless you're specialized in some specific aspect of design, like writing or level design. Otherwise you work at a different role (code, art), and work your way into it.
Skills to be a good designer:
- Rapid prototyping (can make quick small games to test ideas).
- Having a critical eye with media: being able to pick apart and understand exactly why something is good. This is the most important. You need to understand what makes something effective, why you like certain things, and being able to distinguish between "subjectively good" and "well designed". To learn this you must constantly ask why, and be around people who are interested in discussing these things.
- Understand the difference between mechanics and aesthetics, and the interplay between the two.
- Having a wide range of interests (not just games or adjacent interests).
- Deep skills in a different role (code, art, music, etc). You don't just be a "designer"; everyone on the team is a designer and specializes in something more specific.
- Communication skills: can deal and receive good criticism effectively.
2. What programs/software are recommended to learn?
- Unity and C#. Most common game dev tool. You could also learn Unreal and C++ but both teach you the same things, and Unity has a bigger community to learn from.
- Optional - GameMaker or some other quick game making tool. Good for prototyping. Unity is good for prototyping too, but for tiny projects, GameMaker can be even faster.
- Any IDE like Visual Studio or Visual Code.
- Photoshop.
- Play around with 3D tools and audio tools. You don't have to be good with them if you're not specializing in them, but it's important to know what your teams' capabilities are.
- Source control software, like git.
- If you want to specialize in some type of code, like mobile or web or graphics, you'll have learn some specialized tools.
- Google.
3. What is the recommendation for education? Go to a trade school or a 4-year University? What degrees are recommended?
Only go to a trade school if it's Really Good, like Digipen. A normal uni is the best choice otherwise. No college at all is good too, under the right circumstances. If you want to focus on a programming route, do the closest degree to software design/engineering. Something like Computer Science & Engineering is good. Honestly, when it comes to game design, college is just for the degree, not so much the education. The degree can help you get your first jobs but the real education you will have to learn yourself.
Even with programming, the school won't teach everything you need. It will teach theory (which is important), but not concrete day-to-day things like debugging and maintenance and workflow. To learn these things (and more) you need to be working on your own projects. You'll learn more about software development and game design by making a tiny game in 1 week, than you will in 4 years of school. If you make tons of tiny games throughout your college time, and critically examine them deeply and share them and get critical feedback, and compile the results into a portfolio, you will be far more prepared for a game design job than some high GPA student who just focused on classes. A strong portfolio sets you apart. A good GPA is icing on top, and with both, you can get any entry job available to grads.
That last paragraph is only required if you want to be top 1%. If you just want to get in the industry somehow, you can probably get by with good grades and good networking. But if you really want to learn The True Way, just start making games, right now. All the information and software is free and available online.
The Noble Scoundrel
The Eccentric
[member="Darben Skirae"]
All I know is that my mind is a massive landscape of ideas. I have a very large imagination, but I have a hard time organizing everything...
All I know is that my mind is a massive landscape of ideas. I have a very large imagination, but I have a hard time organizing everything...
Darben Skirae
Well-Known Member
[member="The Noble Scoundrel"]
Sounds a lot like me. So many ideas, only for them to be pushed aside by others.
[member="Arumi Zy"]
I have already had a taste of how busy (and frustrating it can be) from the course I'm in (AIE).
[member="Asemir Lor'kora"]
He knows his stuff. Maya is pretty good for learning 3D art in games. For learning it.
Sounds a lot like me. So many ideas, only for them to be pushed aside by others.
[member="Arumi Zy"]
I have already had a taste of how busy (and frustrating it can be) from the course I'm in (AIE).
[member="Asemir Lor'kora"]
He knows his stuff. Maya is pretty good for learning 3D art in games. For learning it.
Asemir
Null Prime
[member="Darben Skirae"]
I can only assume he knows his stuff because I've seen the end-product. Every time I watch him code, though, I end up shaking my head and walking away. And this is coming from an intermediate SQL user. XD
I can only assume he knows his stuff because I've seen the end-product. Every time I watch him code, though, I end up shaking my head and walking away. And this is coming from an intermediate SQL user. XD