Careers and Education in Game Design

[Depression Moon]

Concerning my education it got even worse. At my college we were supposed to work on making a 3-D game using esperient, but it was super buggy so it was canceled. What did we do after that? We smurfed around. We usually played games are just talked. Tomorrow's my last class and I really don't have to do. The class is supposed to be presenting their non-digital games to the class. I already did mine which was basically a real life plunder game, instead of a treasure I used a ball with a kitten on it and instead of guns we tagged.


That was a waste of time, so I would be a fool to continue at that school especially since I'll be having the same instructor. I'm still exactly unclear on what I'll exactly do, but I'm thinking about going to a school in Atlanta for game design. The thing is though it requires a lot of artistic drawing and I fail at drawing. I could go for game programming, but I'm terrible at math and failed one C++ class that I took in the summer.

[Slothy]

You mentioned before that you might be interested in the writing and level design aspects of game making. Since it's apparent that programming probably isn't for you and you can't really draw or do the visual art side of things (don't feel bad since neither can I), I'd avoid any game design program that requires you to do either. In fact, you may want to simply go for a program geared specifically towards writing or literature for the writing aspect of it. Lessons learned in writing in general could be transferred over to writing for a game, and projects that you work on during the course work could make for a good portfolio to show to potential employers.

As for level design, try your hand at it in a variety of game types. You mentioned using the LBP level creator a lot which would be good practice since making a level that's fun pretty much requires you to not only understand the core gameplay for the game, but get your head around concepts like pacing, and how to structure challenges in game. It may not seem like that would transfer to something like an FPS, but once you understand what makes a level exciting, all it takes is learning the mechanics of a given game to transfer that knowledge and experience over. I would definitely start messing around with the level editor for a game you play and perhaps get involved with online mapping communities for said game. Then you could make levels, share them, and get feedback relating to what could be improved, balance issues, etc. thereby helping you improve.

Get enough experience with these and you may even be able to work your way into assisting on some indie title. Don't think that you necessarily have to go with some specific course targeted at game design, or that you have to learn something you hate to get in. There are a number of ways into the industry for those who have the drive and the passion to learn and improve in their areas of concentration, even if it's done without some sort of game design certificate.

[Depression Moon]

The thing withgoing in writing is a fall back plan. What kind of job can i get with that degree? I also want to write books too, but it's hard getting published. I guess I could be a teacher, but I can't deal with students. I'll end up in prison

[Slothy]

I guess I could be a teacher, but I can't deal with students. I'll end up in prison

Precisely why I'm leaving tat career path to my wife. I'd kill a student too if I didn't end up fired first.

Yeah, it's definitely a bit tricky having a back up plan with something like an arts degree. I don't know about the States, but in Canada you could actually work for the government with any degree and make more money (there are very few government departments that actually care what your degree is in, just that you have one oddly). I won't lie, I've never seen anyone with an arts degree get a job that uses it that wasn't a teacher.

Perhaps minoring in that stuff somewhere might be a better choice? You could take something else your interested in as your main degree. Even better if it can somehow translate to making games.

There's also the self tought route too I suppose. If you can pretty much teach yourself to write and come up with a strong portfolio to get your foot in the door, or do some good work with a mod team or an indie developer then that may be all you need. Hell, I'm going to be doing the sound design for the game my friends and I are making and the only even remotely related experience I have is being a musician for the last 10 years, and being a hobbyist when it comes to music software for the last two or three. I'm pretty much going to have to teach myself as much as I an through what sources I can find and trial and error.

[Depression Moon]

Generally speaking, we look for people who are good at what they do (ie,programming or art) and have some combination of educational background and work experience, along with examples of work they've done in gaming. So, not only do we want good programmers or artists, but we want good programmers or artists who have examples of mods or plugins or game-related things they've done on their own that show us they "get" what it is we do here.



There's no magic degree, or school, or number of years of experience that we're necessarily looking for or need. The requirements for each job we're currently hiring for will give you an idea on a position-by-position basis the Jobs section of Bethesda Softworks



Hope this information is helpful.

This is an email that I received a little while ago from Bethesda. Just thought that I should share it with you all.

[Madame Adequate]

As far as I can tell one of the best bets to get into the industry is to make good mods. If you do that then you have somewhere to demonstrate your talents, you have a 'portfolio' to show people basically. There have been quite a few modders who have been actively approached by a company to work on a game or expansion pack due to their modding work on that company's earlier stuff.

In terms of actual courses then yeah, specialization is necessary. If you don't have that then you either need to mod and hope you get noticed, or you'll have to start as a tester. Which is infinitely less fun than it sounds, but can offer chances for progression to other roles. Unfortunately everyone reckons they're a writer so they're not in much demand - something which shows in games. If you're an artist or programmer you'll have a much easier time getting hired. Modding is again good because it can let you show off some of this stuff; certainly it can give you a lot of experience with level design.