I'm currently in the games industry and have been for the last 2 years. I'm a lead QA Engineer but my heart is in designing games. I know there are a few other industry people here and I was hoping for some feedback from you. I'd like to become a designer but i'm unsure what skills you really need. I'd like to apply for some designer jobs, should I put together some mock up games on paper to show? I've got various skills, like 3D Max, mapping, I understand programming and have written a few programs. I also understand game engines and the technology plus i'm a games tester so know the problems/design issues games hit upon. To me, I think I should stand a good chance but do I really? What other skills are necessary? :smile: Cheers for any responses.

I'm no industry insider, but IMO the secret is to play. Lots. Once you
really understand why existing games work at a deep level you can start
thinking about making them yourself.

Mapping helps too. :razz:

Yeah, I'd complete some maps/models, something to show off to people.

Like any design job- a big fat portfolio :razz:

Cool, thanks. I'm going to design a game and produce a portfolio of work, hopefully that'll get me somewhere. :smile:

:kitty: <--What's going on here??

stroking his pussy :S

Allo allo :dodgy:

Cool, thanks. I'm going to design a game and produce a portfolio of work, hopefully that'll get me somewhere. :smile:

I don't know if jumping in at the deep end is a good idea...

Why would that be considered jumping in at the deep end?

:kitty:

I don't mean to be rude, but why do you want to become a game designer if you had to ask me that?

Depends on the game you're creating. Immediatly going for a full-blown
rpg isn't a good idea, starting with simpler games is better. It's
easier to understand how parts of the game interact when you start
simple. It's then also easier to analyse the larger games and
understand how they are constructed.

For example, I know some guys that wanted to create a MMORPG. I started
at the same time with a tetris-clone. At this moment, I've got a
working (yet uncomplete) tetris, they only have a downloader, with no
game to be downloaded...

I even wonder if they have any progress at all nowadays.

Go ahead and create a game, but stay realistic with what you can achieve with your current knowledge.

It's good you keep up with all the aspects of making a game
(programming, mapping, modeling), but wouldn't it be better to
specialise in one thing ? Game companies are not often looking for good
allrounders, they're looking for people for specific tasks.

Ok, when I said I was going to design a game - I meant on paper . I know creating a full game would take one person a ridiculous amount of time. I'm currently working on my own HL2 mod and so far i've only created one custom model and two (not yet finished) maps, thats taken me about 2 months on and off so far. :smile: I was actually talking about showing I can come up with creative yet realistic ideas (realistic in terms of engine/hardware limitations etc). Basically - design the character/s, the environment, mood settings, game mechanics etc etc etc and show that it can all be done but most of all will actually be fun. :dorky:

:kitty:

I wouldn't concentrate on paper-based ideas. You've said you have various skills - so i'd be inclined to put together a short single-player experience in whatever engine your comfortable. That way you can demonstrate some of your ideas much better, and it also shows you have the determination to get to wherever you need to be. Doesn't have to look anything special (though it would help), as long as your ideas shine through. :smile:

Ask KungFuSquirrel he was recently (well somewhat recently) hired by raven to level design for them (I think :sad: ) in quake 4. Ask him how he went about getting that job :smile: .

Ok, thanks for everyones input - it has helped. I'll give KungFuSquirrel him a pm, hopefully he won't mind :razz:

I'm fairly sure "Game Design" requires rather heavy coding skills. (Taking that all "design" positions are promoted coders in the software world)

It sounds like you'd be better suited for a requirements type of guy ...

That means you'd be the "client" in the process.

Anyway, without any prior experience or a some sort of engineering degree (possibly an arts degree will get you into other areas), the easiest way to "get in there" is to independantly develop. That's my plan anyway (CS degree).

All you really need is a group of friends willing to put hours in. Once you have a product you can shop around distros. (Copyrighting and Trademarking first of course ... in your case internationally file, which should protect you from the distrubutor). Then you could design the game all you want.

If you wanted to work somewhere after that being a designer, it'd be a little easier, I think.

However, I don't have a job in the game industry. That's just a rough depiction of how I've understood it all works.

Ok, when I said I was going to design a game - I meant on paper .

A whole new game is still very much deep end territory. Start
modifying/expanding existing ones and work your way up from there, like
Hawkins suggests.

Eugh, it's always so awkward when someone uses a real name...

I wish I had time to give you more info, but I don't. I had to answer this question a couple of weeks ago. I received an animation degree from the Art Institute of Houston, and currently work at Insomniac Games as a designer. Btw - the role of 'designer' is going to be very different from company to company. Anyway, I thought this might be appropriate information for you.

<!--StartFragment --> What did the company like in you portfolio or like about you?

I think it was a combination of many things, that won my position at Insomniac. From the start, I think my portfolio showed that I was a fairly well rounded artist/designer, who had gone the extra mile to gain experience in my craft. Besides just having formal education, It was obvious that I had put hundreds of personal hours into level desing, in the amateur mod community. I think this little extra push, and bit of portfolio content, spoke alot about my dedication.

The other half of this formula, was my interview and design test. I put everying I had into my design test, and I think it showed. When it came time to actually interview and discuss this test, I think that my ability to communicate well, and take criticism well, won me alot of ground. Even though my design test was pretty good, it had obvious flaws, pointed out during the interview - I welcomed this criticism, and was able to discuss these problems professionally, and honestly. I believe this sincere desire to learn, and improve, was a big plus in my interview

<DIV class=quote>
<DIV class=quotetitle>? quoting Varsity</DIV>
<DIV class=quotetext>Eugh, it's always so awkward when someone uses a real name...</DIV></DIV>
Heh :smile: I stopped using an online alias years ago (Rain) simply because all my former colleagues at Bits Studios would address me by that rather than my real name - and it started to annoy me too much.

Ok, by portfolio I mean finished maps, models, animations, code, but also incomplete stuff, and screenshots of developments. People in recruting positions like to know a bit how the person they are hiring thinks. In architecture you are encouraged to show any work you have done, no matter how scruffy- it shows your design process.

Finger is it possible at all to list the contents of your portfolio or
show it off in a website somewhere? It would be helpful for Mint_Sauce,
and its also quite interesting to me.

He has a fair amount of content on his website, including a resume and lots of portfolio stuff...

http://www.duncanmoore.org/

Awesome! Thanks for all the replies and help, i'm stoked. I've looked
over Fingers site and love his artwork, some of it is amazing. I
personally just bought a Wacom yesterday so hopefully this will be
another step in the right direction. Think i'm going to do an online
portfolio, showcasing all that i've done in one place. I believe that
will help me a great deal. Thanks again everyone.

Awwww, the smilies bit isn't there and I wanted to leave a nice stroked pussy pic too. :/

I'm fairly sure "Game Design" requires rather heavy coding skills. (Taking that all "design" positions are promoted coders in the software world)

Disagree. While it helps, and many programmers are also general designers, the people in this category can come from any background, though in many settings the most direct path to this is through the design department (level design, mainly, but again the role of the designer varies greatly from company to company). In some companies, design is split between designers and environment artists, in others it's more dual-role (I personally fall into the latter).

The best advice I can give: Start something, stick to it, finish it. If you can do it well in your spare time, you'll do it well full-time.

Also, don't spread yourself too thin. It's enticing to try and learn a level editor, modeling software, photoshop, c++, etc., but it's generally going to be better to develop strong skills in one before venturing to any others. I came here with little to no modeling experience and some ever-so-slight C++ from high school (self-taught) and Java from college (3 years ago), and have expanded into some small modeling and slightly less small scripting roles within the 9 months I've been here.

And finally, never be frightened or intimidated by next-gen tech and don't force yourself ahead just for the sake of doing so. Polycounts are getting higher, resolution is getting higher, but enjoyable and well-thought out design is the same as it ever was. Two of us here (myself and Ken Banks) got here on HL engine work alone and jumped straight to Doom3 in no time - I was up and running on production work within a week. If/when you're immersed in a setting full of talented people, you will learn what you need to know far quicker than you could ever hope to on your own (see above example of modeling/scripting).

Disagree. While it helps, and many programmers are also general designers, the people in this category can come from any background, though in many settings the most direct path to this is through the design department (level design, mainly, but again the role of the designer varies greatly from company to company). In some companies, design is split between designers and environment artists, in others it's more dual-role (I personally fall into the latter).

The best advice I can give: Start something, stick to it, finish it. If you can do it well in your spare time, you'll do it well full-time.

Also, don't spread yourself too thin. It's enticing to try and learn a level editor, modeling software, photoshop, c++, etc., but it's generally going to be better to develop strong skills in one before venturing to any others. I came here with little to no modeling experience and some ever-so-slight C++ from high school (self-taught) and Java from college (3 years ago), and have expanded into some small modeling and slightly less small scripting roles within the 9 months I've been here.

And finally, never be frightened or intimidated by next-gen tech and don't force yourself ahead just for the sake of doing so. Polycounts are getting higher, resolution is getting higher, but enjoyable and well-thought out design is the same as it ever was. Two of us here (myself and Ken Banks) got here on HL engine work alone and jumped straight to Doom3 in no time - I was up and running on production work within a week. If/when you're immersed in a setting full of talented people, you will learn what you need to know far quicker than you could ever hope to on your own (see above example of modeling/scripting).

I wasn't thinking of it from the art aspect actually.

I probably confused it with engine design or something as such. I do that often enough.

I've got thems skills. Except modelling :sad: (Although, I made a deal with a friend of mine that he'd give me the lowdown basics if I show him some coding ... equal trade I'd say)

ok, thanks guys. Here's some of the stuff which i'll put up on my website (when it's made) :S

My mod levels (only got this one dark screenie at the mo)..

http://homepages.nildram.co.uk/~henleyb/hl2/maps/graveyard/pics/grave320003.jpg

My new Wacom, it's great fun :smile:

http://homepages.nildram.co.uk/~henleyb/hl2/textures/art/bangy_airplane.jpg

http://homepages.nildram.co.uk/~henleyb/hl2/textures/art/first_tablet_drawing.jpg

http://homepages.nildram.co.uk/~henleyb/portfolio/art/sunset.jpg

I've done a few creative technical things, like creating this waterfall
using a panning camera over water and massive monitor (for the
waterfall itself) :biggrin:

http://www.cometosibley.com/henley/games/waterfall/waterfalltest50004.jpg

http://www.cometosibley.com/henley/games/waterfall/waterfall.zip

football scoring map

http://www.cometosibley.com/henley/games/footie/football.rar

Adventure game test

http://www.cometosibley.com/henley/games/myststyle/sp_myst_testing_triggers01.zip

and also exploiting the physics in the game

http://www.cometosibley.com/henley/games/ph_machine_02wip.bsp

http://homepages.nildram.co.uk/~henleyb/hl2/maps/machine/ph_machine_02_wip.vmf

a tutorial

http://www.cometosibley.com/henley/games/Making%20complex%20machines.doc

some 3d work

http://www.cometosibley.com/henley/3d/cokecan10.jpg

http://www.cometosibley.com/henley/3d/sol17.jpg

50% through importing a model in to my map

http://homepages.nildram.co.uk/~henleyb/hl2/maps/graveyard/pics/church180003.jpg

I've got other stuff but it's late and I need to get to bed. :razz: Any
crits on any of it would be greatly appreciated, I love critisism so be
harsh as you like but please let me know what you do like as well, then
I can get to moulding it all in to a website better. :smile:

Cheers again all.

Dude you should really think about where you could go. You have awesome work. . .

I love that coke can render :biggrin:

Is that coke can render from a tutorial or something? I swear I've seen
it dozens of times now :biggrin: Car looks pretty awesome though, nice work :smile:

Is that coke can render from a tutorial or something? I swear I've seen
it dozens of times now :biggrin: Car looks pretty awesome though, nice work :smile:

lol, it's my favorite piece so I whore it everywhere like a dirty slut
:biggrin: I have posted it up here somewhere before too. It's not from a
tutorial tho, I didn't know what to model at the time so I went out and
bought a coke can and started modeling it.

it figures. i wanna see this coke can and the link borks, but.. the forking huge in game screens show right up :sad:

just my luck.

im in the middle of moving all my stuff to a new server, coke can is now here. :biggrin:

http://homepages.nildram.co.uk/~henleyb/portfolio/3d/cokecan9.jpg

<DIV class=quote>
<DIV class=quotetitle>? quoting Mint_Sauce</DIV>
<DIV class=quotetext>im in the middle of moving all my stuff to a new server, coke can is now here. :biggrin:

http://homepages.nildram.co.uk/~henleyb/portfolio/3d/cokecan9.jpg

</DIV></DIV>

nice..

see though, screens like this need the clarity of a larger file size. unlike a game screen that cannot be hurt by a well done optimization.
i am not a total prick guys, this is a good looking coke can :smile:

you need a lip print and some sweat on the can sides.

yeah, no I agree. I might still have the model (I made this over a year
ago) but i'd have to re-set up the lighting and re-render. I'll see if
I still have the file and redo it if poss. Thanks for the feedback.

<DIV class=quote>
<DIV class=quotetitle>? quoting Mint_Sauce</DIV>
<DIV class=quotetext>yeah, no I agree. I might still have the model (I made this over a year ago) but i'd have to re-set up the lighting and re-render. I'll see if I still have the file and redo it if poss. Thanks for the feedback.
</DIV></DIV>

you get a new version, or even some quality older ones. you might consider posting them in the "arts" forums.

Just found this thread. As a rather late update I went ahead with some suggestions etc and built a Half Life 2 mod called Rock 24 with a friend.

http://www.henleyb.com

http://mods.moddb.com/7917/rock-24/
http://developer.valvesoftware.com/wiki/Rock_24

My friend who was in the same position as myself (in the industry looking to become a designer) just got a job as one.

I moved away from London due to family and around here there's no industry jobs (i'm in the sticks) but I now know I could get a job if I wanted as a designer so anyone else out there, the forumla works, stick to it!! :smile:

Not too many offsite design positions, I'd imagine :razz:

I'm trying to break into the industry as of now, and I think I found a pretty damn good window to climb through, so to speak. I'm starting some non-college credit courses for game design at Austin Community College in 3 weeks, where all the instructors are current game industry professionals (they don't have to be full-fledged teachers with degrees and what not, because it's non-college credit). My art teacher is one of the lead artists at NCSoft in Austin for example, and Warren Specter (!) is one of the 'alumni' along with a few people from Gearbox, Bioware, NCSoft, and several other studios in the area.

This is gonna be a prime opportunity to do some networking, make some contacts, and rub elbows with some industry leaders. And at less than $500 a course it's a lot cheaper than the "as seen on TV" game colleges.

Just thought I'd throw that out there :wink:

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o

What role are you interested in Baron? Art, Design, Programming?

Art, most definitely, it's my scheme to get rich doing what I already do in my free time :smile:

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o

uhh, this one is going in the collection.

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Aaron's Stuff