LESSON #14:
ALL ABOUT THE JOB OF "GAME DESIGNER"

"Game designer" is a job title. The implication of that is that most game designers are employees of a game company. At the risk of bursting bubbles, let me point out that when someone is an employee, one is working. At a job. But it's a great job! I should know, since I've had that job.

I've been asked frequently about the details of the job, so herewith is "FAQ 14" (although I've been calling them "Lessons" they're actually [answers to] "Frequently Asked Questions") - All About the Job of Game Designer. Most of the details below are global, but some of the specifics are peculiar to U.S. companies (wannabes from other countries probably won't even know what the heck a 401(k) even is!).

Starting out - "Game Designer" is not an entry level position. That means that if you do not have any experience working in a game company, you won't be getting hired to fill the title "Game Designer" right off the bat. You'll need to have a college degree (see Lesson 3) first, then apply for any job with a game development company or game publishing company. Game designers usually start out in Level Design, Q.A., Production, Programming, Graphics, Audio, Customer Support, or Marketing. I know one guy who's now the president of a big game company - he started out driving a forklift in the warehouse, moving boxes of games! The upshot? -- Just get in the company to start.

Salary - According to the 2001 and 2002 salary surveys of Game Developer magazine:

• Game designers are generally paid less than programmers. The average salary of a male designer is $53k* (down from last year's average of $56k).
  
• Lead designers get around $63k. The highest paid designer makes around $300k.
  
• Females comprise 9% of the design force. The average salary for female designers is $48k (down from last year's average of $60k).
  
• But in my opinion, the main thing that designers get is a fascinating and unique job! - I don't know why so many people want to become a game designer AND GET PAID TO BOOT! ... Just kidding.

[*Note: in case you didn't know, "k" refers to "thousand" and the salary figure is "per year."]

Want the latest word on salaries in the games biz? Go to gamecareerguide.com and type "salary survey" in the site's Search box. Also check the IGDA site.

Hours - Normally you'll have to work a regular 40-hour week. You can expect to put in longer hours at some point, on just about every project. The entire project hinges on having a complete game design, so the game designer is always under pressure to get it completed as quickly as possible. Not to say that your work is done once the design doc is written... [Note: you will not become a game designer by putting in a mere 40 hours per week, and you will not become a successful game designer if you put in a mere 40 hours per week after gaining the title. You have to be willing to go the extra mile, not just put in the minimum required effort. See Lesson 9 about Professionalism if you do not understand this point.]

Overtime - No. You'll get a flat salary. No extra pay for overtime. Testers get overtime because they're hourly. But designers are salaried.

Office - You may just have a cubicle, or you may be lucky enough to eventually get an office with a door. You'll probably get a phone, a computer, a game machine, and a TV. Depends on the size of the company and/or the office space the company resides in. Japanese companies are a different story entirely - forget the luxuriant privacy of a cubicle if you wind up working in Japan.

Company car - No. If a hot new game company was to offer you a Testarossa or Lamborghini, be advised that your job there probably won't last long (they're going to go out of business very quickly, because they're wasting money big time). No reasonable game company will provide a company car for a game designer.

Relocation Expense - Unless the newly hired designer is experienced, the company may not pay relocation expenses. If they do agree to pay for you to move, make sure you negotiate details in advance.

Health insurance - Depends on the size of the company the designer works for. Big game publishers do indeed provide health insurance benefits for game designers who are their full-time employees. Smaller companies may or may not provide health insurance benefits.

Paid vacation - Just about every employer has to provide vacation benefits, else their employees would all burn out and go nuts!

Sick leave - Everybody gets sick once in a while, so every company's policy covers some amount of sick time.

Jury duty - Depends on the size of the company. Most companies keep your paycheck coming for up to 2 weeks jury service.

401(k) - Depends on size of company. Small companies probably don't have any 401(k) plan. Most big publishers do.

Retirement - This is covered in the 401(k) benefit. Nobody has pension plans in the game industry.

Advancement opportunities - it's unavoidable that after you've been designing games for a while, at some point you'll be moving up. Typically, a successful game designer might move up into a creative director role or a producer position (and eventually even higher), or might strike out on his own and start his own game company.

Stock plan - If the company is a publicly held company, there may be a program for employees to chip in a little from their paychecks and purchase stock in the company. It incentivizes everyone to work to make the company successful.

Stock options - Big publicly held companies may well offer employees stock options (the option to buy company stock in the future at the price at time of hiring) to incentivize them to work to make the company successful and to stick around for a long time.

Bonuses - Most game companies will share profits with the employees in "up" years. Each company has a different way of determining bonuses (may be based on longevity, on job title, on level of contribution to successful products, etc.).

Royalties - Most game companies do not let their employees have any ownership in the intellectual property created by the company, thus there usually aren't any royalties to go to employees. Extremely successful designers may be able to work something out along these lines (but first you're going to have to get yourself included in the "Top Ten Designers" list of an influential game magazine). For those of us below the top ten, our creations belong to our employers. It's called "work for hire."

Job description - Come to work every morning. Communicate effectively with producers, programmers, and other creative personnel. Participate meaningfully in meetings, cooperate with company requirements in terms of filling out timesheets, filing reports, and a lot of boring stuff like that. When you are assigned to work on a project, you have to put aside your pet ideas (which nobody ever seems to want to spend time and money on) and work on the assigned project. Most of the work of a game designer entails writing lengthy documents, attending meetings, soothing frayed nerves, using salesmanship skills, and writing lists. The game designer's job is probably not what you imagined, I suppose (see the game designer fantasy day as portrayed in Lesson 9).

Here's a very well-put view into the work of a game designer from a game programmer whose opinions I respect and admire:

From: Jason Shankel (Maxis/EA)
Newsgroups: comp.games.development.industry
Subject: Re: How to sell game from obsolete platform? - Part 2
Date: Thu, 18 Apr 2002 20:17:50 GMT

To me, the real brilliance of a great designer (of which one I am not, hence the whole "programming" thing) is not the ability to flesh good ideas into good designs, but the ability to survive the production process. When the Big Push comes, the designer is out there all alone with most of the responsibility and almost none of the authority, constantly second-guessed from above and below, ever on the defensive and at the mercy of the talents and loyalties of his team and unable to prove the validity of his vision, as most games are neither fun nor graphically/aurally stunning until near the end of development.

Design Tools - I am often asked what tools (programs, software) are used to design games. I imagine that most folks who ask this question are not aware what a "game designer" actually is and actually does. Professional game designers like me use Microsoft Word to write design documents. I use Excel to create my tables and graphs, and I use Microsoft Paint to make most illustrations for my game design documents. You should definitely learn how to use Photoshop, but I don't use that so much myself. Besides Paint, I also like Paint Shop Pro by JASC (it gives me additional functionality not found in the simplistic Paint). You don't have to be an artist to be a game designer, but it helps if you are able to draw and use art utilities. You don't have to be a programmer to become a game designer, but you do need some sort of skill set that'll get you hired at a game company. You DO have to be a writer to become a game designer. So the most important tools of the game designer are those that help him produce game design documents.

The Common Misconception - We often hear from guys who say, "I wanna be the guy who comes up with new ideas for games and characters!" Yeah. Well. There's a problem. Game designers do not always do that. Ideas for new games do not always come from a game designer. Read the other FAQs, like for instance #s 1, 7, 9, and 10.
And as for the characters, those are usually generated from the game itself. It may be a writer or an art director who decides what the characters should be. If what you want is to be the guy who gets to decide what games to make and who gets to boss everybody else, you'll need to be a high executive in a game publishing company. How do you get to be an executive? Get an MBA and a law degree first. Then you'll know even better than I do what to do next. (I can't help you beyond that.)

So in conclusion...

The title of "Game Designer" is a highly sought-after position, requiring a high degree of trust.

It must be EARNED, one step at a time.

Game designers are not what most people think: the guy who comes up with a brilliant idea for a new game, the guy who gets to tell all the programmers and artists and marketers what to do. That's not how it works. If that's what you want, you need to become a top executive at a game publishing company. Get an MBA and a law degree and maybe you can swing it.

Although game design is an intensely individualistic and creative profession, it's a profession that demands selfless collaboration.

It's WORK. If it wasn't work, they'd call it "super crazy wonderful fun time."

Then again, maybe they DO.

Designers must be good presenters. Check out "Presentation Zen" at http://www.presentationzen.com/.

Guy Kawasaki's "10/20/30" rule for pitches could be useful too. He keeps changing his website, so my old link broke. You should Google it.

Patrick Curry wrote more on what a game designer does - but he keeps changing his website, so my old links broke. But you can Google these: "Patrick Curry's Thoughts On Making Fun for Fun and Profit" and "Patrick Curry's Thoughts On The Player’s Advocate."

From the Q&A bulletin board...

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actual responsibilities of a Game Designer.

>From: John L____
>Sent: Tuesday, August 04, 2009 2:07 PM
>Subject: Question in regards to actual responsibilities of a Game Designer.
>Hello, Tom
>My name's Dillon L____, and I'm seventeen years old. I've been researching the the career positions in the video game industry for about a month now, and one thing hasn't become very clear to me. From other resources I've read (which, admittedly may not have been the best), the job title of Game Designer combines both documentation of the idea and overseeing the production of the game throughout the different stages of its growth. To explain the second point more clearly, many sources have made the design job out to be more of a hands on experience with the developing game, where the designer dabs into each area a little bit as to keep the game on track with the original idea.
>
>However, from the lessons I've read ( I've read Lessons 10, 14, and 37, which all relate to this question), it seems a Game Designer has no actual experience with the deveoping game, but instead really does leave everythign off to the different teams. Does a Game Designer really only interact with the design templates, and really nothing more? It's a little difficult to imagine a designer for 9-14 hours a day only writing up a design template for the length of the devlopment. Could you perhaps either 1. Clarify my confusion with the designer's repsonibilities or 2. perhaps tell me what job title I'm actually picturing in my mind, if one exists at all.
>
>To sum up the type of job I'm picturing, I'll explain. I had assumed that a designer's job had been more of pitching the idea to the rest of the team in both a vocal and written way, and then becoming more involved with the production as everything went on. I hope I'm not taking a shot in the dark here, but the only other position I can think of that has more of a broad description than any other is that of a Producer, but again I'm really not sure.
>
>Heh, hopefully I explained it clearly enough. Don't feel its fair if I become yet another of the people who ask questions that are already answered somewhere else, as you've made it very clear that you're not the biggest fan of those ;D. Hope the information I've given helps, and I'd like to thank you in advance.

Hello Dillon, you wrote:

Question in regards to actual responsibilities of a Game Designer.
It depends. It depends on:
The individual designer. What are his particular strengths, how else is he able to contribute to the project.
The job description of the designer. What is his mandate, what else besides writing the design is he ostensibly expected to do. Is he a full-time employee of the company or is he a freelancer; is he full-time on this project or just there to write the design and nothing else.
The company. How does this company view its designers, how many projects does this company have going on, what other specialties are accounted for among its staff.
The project. What are the particular needs of the game being developed, what design challenges does it present. How much money is there in the budget, how much time is there in the schedule.
The producer. How does the project manager view the role of this particular designer in this particular project.

From other resources I've read (which, admittedly may not have been the best), the job title of Game Designer combines both documentation of the idea and overseeing the production of the game throughout the different stages of its growth.
Only if the designer is also the producer. It's the producer who oversees production. The designer does need to be aware of the needs of the different departments and the way the production process works, and factor those into his design.

many sources have made the design job out to be more of a hands on experience with the developing game, where the designer dabs into each area a little bit as to keep the game on track with the original idea.
It's a good thing when the designer is able to interact with and support the activities of all departments as needed.

I've read Lessons 10, 14, and 37, which all relate to this question), it seems a Game Designer has no actual experience with the deveoping game, but instead really does leave everythign off to the different teams.
In the black-and-white world, laid out in the simplest terms for clarity's sake, and when the designer is solely a game designer and not also a level designer or programmer or tester or anything else (for instance, when the designer is an external freelance designer whose job is solely to provide a game design document), this might be the way it would be done.

Does a Game Designer really only interact with the design templates, and really nothing more?
See my first answer above. It depends.

It's a little difficult to imagine a designer for 9-14 hours a day only writing up a design template for the length of the devlopment.
You should stop trying to imagine it that way, because it never works that way. Once the GDD is written, there is no need for anyone spending all day every day continuing to write it. That said, a GDD often needs to be updated to reflect changes that are made during the course of the project, so as to stay true to the game actually being made - the updating process is required by platform holders, IP owners, and for later porting purposes.

I had assumed that a designer's job had been more of pitching the idea
Pitching is only needed before beginning work. Once a concept is bought into, it's been pitched and caught, and there's no need to continue pitching.

and then becoming more involved with the production as everything went on.
Involved in what way? (I know the answer to this, and maybe now you do too.)

the only other position I can think of that has more of a broad description than any other is that of a Producer, but again I'm really not sure.
Read the article on what the producer does.

Tom Sloper
Los Angeles, California, USA
August 5, 2009

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Name: Tom Sloper
Date: 01 May 2002


Comments

Hello alex, you emailed me:

>ok i have one last question i know i will be working 40 hrs per week but what hours are they

Most game companies have "flex hours" - an individual is expected to put in 8 hours a day.

But (at companies where they have flex hours) the individual's flexible arrival time and departure time must be within reason, unless advance notice is given. All employees are usually expected to be available between, say, 10 or 11AM and 5PM. It wouldn't do to call a meeting at 2PM and have somebody not be there because he arbitrarily decided to work 3PM to 1AM that day.

When you report for work at a company, they'll tell you what their policy on hours is.

Tom

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Name: Tom Sloper
Date: 08 May 2002


Comments

Hello Jeremy (Noobsa44), you wrote:

>[snip] after reading some of your articles, I found that you seem to be suggesting that you can be a 'independent' designer, without having any other talents (such as programming, artistry, etc.).

The use of the word "independent designer" may mislead some readers, so forgive me if I suggest that perhaps a better way of phrasing this is "pure designer." ("Independent" usually is interpreted as meaning "freelance.")

>On the other hand, most sites/books I find that they suggest that you have other knowledge if you wish to become a game designer.... So, which is it? You need no talent and can be a game designer or you must have talent such as a programmer (or other skill[s] listed above) to be a game designer?

This is really an excellent question, and I'm glad you asked.

You do have to have value for the game company in some capacity. You don't necessarily have to be a programmer, and you don't necessarily have to be an artist. To have a lack of skills in BOTH computers AND art, though, would likely hamper one's video game designer aspirations. Still, non-artistic non-programmers can become designers through their skills with communication, creativity, product management, or another useful skill set.

Most people who become designers do so through having been either a programmer, tester, customer support specialist, I.T. engineer, production assistant, or other useful job in a game company. So you can't just start out with the idea "I am a designer" and get a job as a designer (without any other job skills). You do have to have some other useful job skills, in order to get into the industry and learn the industry and grow into a designer position. And most game companies cannot sustain full-time positions for "designers" so it is likely that someone who designs a game will have to fall back on his/her other job duties when that project is over.

>Also, how long does it take on average to write a halfway decent design document?

Couple months.

>On a semi-related note, take a look at my not-so-updated game design website [snip]. Last, but not least, would you be willing to take a look at a game I’ve been making [snip]?

Not really, no. Sorry. I freely offer my advice in this Q&A format, but reviewing and analyzing websites, resumes, designs and WIPs requires an extra amount of time that I can't offer for free. (And I would not be comfortable with charging wannabes for that kind of service!) So - no. Sorry.

>P.S. It's polite to provide your "Age-Ed-Occ" in your profile, so please do. =)

(^_^) Cute. YOU didn't really need to know MY age, of course. The reason I ask for the posters' age is so that I can put the question into context and thus formulate a better-focused answer. I was getting a lot of childish-sounding questions, and was writing "what the heck are you thinking" type responses, only to discover that the poster often WAS a child. So I added the age question. It's part and parcel of the "ask a good question" concept.

Best wishes in your endeavors, Jeremy! - Tom

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Name: Tom Sloper
Date: 20 May 2003


Comments

Hello Ryan <redrock2057>, you emailed me:

>Subject: Question

>Hi My name is Ryan (age 16) and I live in the U.K. I have read all the lessons on your site but i was wondering if it is still possible to get a good job in games designing if you are no good at art. I can draw but i am no expert and you mention it a lot, so i was wondering if it is really that important.

I kick myself for being a failure as a writer. I guess I need to modify the lessons so it says clearly, maybe in all caps? that IT IS NOT NECESSARY TO BE AN ARTIST TO BECOME A GAME DESIGNER. I did say, somewhere, did I not? that IT IS NOT NECESSARY TO BE A PROGRAMMER TO BECOME A GAME DESIGNER.

I thought I described what the job of game designer is, and that it primarily consisted of WRITING. Apparently I really suck at writing, because a lot of people who read my lessons still don't understand that IT IS NOT NECESSARY TO BE AN ARTIST TO BECOME A GAME DESIGNER and that IT IS NOT NECESSARY TO BE A PROGRAMMER TO BECOME A GAME DESIGNER. I am going to attach this post to Lessons 3 and 14 so future readers understand this point.

>By The Way, if u respond to this message will it be on the site or will u reply. Thanks

All questions go on the BB. And I email a form letter to all first-time seekers to let them know that their Q and their A are up on the BB.

Tom

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>From: Peter
>To: Tom Sloper
>Sent: Wednesday, July 12, 2006 12:48 PM
>Subject: July 2006 "Games Game" colomn. Regarding your free paint program suggestion.
>Tom Sloper,
>Hello, my name is Peter. I am a student member of the IGDA with the user name "TheSidDog."
>On your latest (7/06) "Games Game" column, you suggested Microsoft Paint as a free alternative to Photoshop or Pain Shop Pro. I was wondering if you have ever heard of the free GIMP, which is an acronym for GNU Image Manipulation Program. It works just like Photoshop, and is far more powerful than MS Paint.
>Here is the website:
>http://www.gimp.org/
>Best of luck,
>-Pete
>www.thesiddog.com

Hi Peter,
Great tip, thanks! I'll add that to the Links page and FAQ 14.
Tom Sloper (湯姆スローパー)
Los Angeles, CA (USA)
July 11, 2006

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>From: wekkster
>Sent: Monday, February 19, 2007 1:38 PM
>Subject: Contradiction
>Dear Tom,
>I think you are promoting somewhat of a contradiction as a way to become a game designer. In some of the articles you promote Indy game creation as a way of entering the industry. However, a game designer CANNOT create a game by themselves. They need programmers and artists. So how does one expect to create an Indy game if they possess neither of these skills. No one will help them. An Idea is nothing without skill to pull it off. Yet much to my surprise, I see you here at the bulletin board making fun of those who are going about learning how to program. I see you claiming that they are wasting there time. And I laugh out loud at you.
>Of course you got lucky, your first game designing opportunity fell right into your lap - others will not be so fortunate.
>So here I sit, laughing my head off. Still baffled about why anyone would hire someone as rude and skilless as you.

Hello Wek, you wrote:

In some of the articles you promote Indy game creation as a way of entering the industry.
Not many articles. It's a way of learning the craft of making games.

However, a game designer CANNOT create a game by themselves. They need programmers and artists.
Yes, I'm pretty sure I said that in my articles.

So how does one expect to create an Indy game if they possess neither of these skills.
It's a challenge, all right. But I have (believe it or not) heard from programmers who said they want to program games but don't have ideas of their own about what game to program. I also believe many programmers and artists are either unable to (or simply don't want to) write game design documents, to worry about all the little details of the user interface that a game designer does. So the aspiring designer needs to find some others who want to make a game but who either can't or won't work out all those little details in an organized way, then he can prove his worth to them.

An Idea is nothing without skill to pull it off.
Yeah, I'm pretty sure I've said that in my articles. A big part of the skill of the designer is to communicate the ideas back to the team - and to incorporate the team's own ideas in with his. The designer who thinks he's going to find some programmers and artists, and convince them to create his game idea, will surely be disappointed. He needs to be a collaborator, to work with others to help them define and share a unified vision, not just to force his own ideas down their throats. Perhaps I never stated that in so many words in my article. I probably ought to append this conversation to FAQ 14...

Yet much to my surprise, I see you here at the bulletin board making fun of those who are going about learning how to program.
I assume you are talking about the post from Daniel London 2 days ago. He clearly stated (if not in so many words), "I want to be a designer, and I'm in a programming degree, but I hate programming." Or at least that's the way I interpret what he did say. Regardless of what career one aspires to, if one pursues a degree one dislikes because that's the degree he thinks he needs to pursue, then he shouldn't be in that degree program. He's either wrong about needing that degree to get to where he wants to go, or he's deluding himself about what he wants to do in his career.

I see you claiming that they are wasting there [sic] time.
No, you don't. Read FAQ 51 says "regardless of what you think, it's probably not a waste of time." And what I said in my previous paragraph above is not "he's wasting his time" but rather "he's torturing himself and/or deluding himself." He'll surely learn from that, and it becomes a valuable experience thereby.

Of course you got lucky, your first game designing opportunity fell right into your lap - others will not be so fortunate.
You're talking about my FAQ 18, of course. Opportunity fell into my lap because my experience had led me to be in the right place, so that the opportunity found my lap conveniently placed for it to fall right smack dab into! That's also part of what I teach in my articles. Following my passions got me into my lucky break. Sitting around pining for a lucky break didn't do it.

Still baffled about why anyone would hire someone as rude and skilless as you.
I admit I am often rude, and I was rude to Zack Lasher yesterday, and I regret that. But as for my being "skilless" [sic], I wonder how you can justify that one?

Tom Sloper (탐 슬로퍼   /   湯姆·斯洛珀   /   トム·スローパー)
Los Angeles, California, USA
February 19, 2007

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>From: wekkster
>Sent: Monday, February 19, 2007 9:23 PM
>Subject: Good Points
>
>Hello Tom,
>
>Alright. Good response. Good points. You win. And yes I was referring to the Daniel London article - your response set me off a little. But I suppose I overlooked the fact that he disliked what he was doing.
>And yes I can't justify the skilless remark probably because it's not true, but when a man is on a rant, he often adds unjustified points to add to its impact. Consider this a take-back off that particular remark.
>
>"It's a challenge, all right. But I have (believe it or not) heard from programmers who said they want to program games but don't have ideas of their own about what game to program. I also believe many programmers and artists are either unable to (or simply don't want to) write game design documents, to worry about all the little details of the user interface that a game designer does. So the aspiring designer needs to find some others who want to make a game but who either can't or won't work out all those little details in an organized way, then he can prove his worth to them."
>
>So you are saying that if I made a full-fledged game document and went to somewhere (such as GameDev.net), I would most likely get some help in creating that game. I suppose that makes sense.
>
>Now I have some more questions.
>
>Wouldn't it be quite valuable for a designer to have some programming experience to make a prototype for some aspect of the game - so the team understands the idea best? Or would this just be a waste of time?
>Additionally, does a designer ever create flowcharts or pseudo code?
>
>How closely do a concept artist and a designer work together on a team? Because, clearly they are working towards similar goals.
>
>And finally, do you think the time of the one man team (who designs/programs/creates art) is over. Or is this reemerging on the internet because of Flash etc.
>
>And this time, you get a big giant Thank-you. You are indeed a help. I appreciate the time you put into this.
>
>Sincerely,
>     Tim

Hi Tim, it's nice to have a human name. And of course I'm glad we've both calmed down. You wrote:

So you are saying that if I made a full-fledged game document and went to somewhere (such as GameDev.net), I would most likely get some help in creating that game. I suppose that makes sense.
Um, actually, no. I'm not saying that. Just the opposite. It's still going to be a challenge getting programmers and artists to welcome a "game designer" into their midst, because aspiring game designers have a reputation for wanting to tell the others what to create. You're going to have a challenge getting them to see that you're there to help them create the thing they have in mind. A lot of non-designers think they can just do their own design, but it often turns out to be more than they expected. Not unusual for them to overlook important aspects of what the game will need, until it's too late to do a redesign. And game design documents are a dime a dozen - most programmers and artists have very strong ideas about what kind of game they want to make, and it's rarely dropped into their laps by an aspiring designer who just happened to be on the same wavelength.
These two sentences make me wonder why you came to that conclusion based on what I'd said. It helps me get in tune with you if you tell me how old you are, what level of education you've completed, and what your current occupation is.

Wouldn't it be quite valuable for a designer to have some programming experience to make a prototype for some aspect of the game - so the team understands the idea best?
Depends. If he's a fast programmer and that's the best way to demonstrate an idea, then by all means he should do that. But if it's going to take a long time to program it, or if there's another creative way to communicate his vision, then he should go that way. Not every idea needs a proof-of-concept demo, and even when there is one, not every viewer of the demo will "get" the intended message.
Or are you just asking about iterative development?

Or would this just be a waste of time?
Read my FAQ 51. I don't regard anything that helps us learn to be a waste of time.

does a designer ever create flowcharts or pseudo code?
Read my FAQ 13. And read what I wrote to Jon Guidry on Feb. 13, below.

How closely do a concept artist and a designer work together on a team?
It depends. Do you have an identical relationship with every person you know? I don't think so.

do you think the time of the one man team (who designs/programs/creates art) is over. Or is this reemerging on the internet because of Flash etc.
It depends. Big game: big team. Small game: small team.

Tom Sloper (탐 슬로퍼   /   湯姆·斯洛珀   /   トム·スローパー)
Los Angeles, California, USA
February 19, 2007

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The Catch-22 of Game Design

> From: Niko S
> Sent: Monday, January 20, 2014 8:16 AM
> Subject: No game studio in area
> Mr.Tom Sloper , I read your lessons and I am keen to follow them. I have almost all facilities excet that there is no game studio in my area.
> I wanted to ask you that are there any online game designer partime jobs ??? And if some game studios do give online jobs would they add an inexperienced person (me for example) in their team ?
> I wanted to do it partime even if it doesn't pay, I only need experience ?
> After getting online job (if there are any) how would I get a proof of experience on my portfolio, is it a document?
> And one last thing ,I was wondering that all game studios I have seen (online) give job to an experienced person, so if a newbi doesn't have experience he cant join any studio, and if he cant join a studio where will he get the experience from?
> And where do newbis get experience?
> Sorry if I was not detailed and easy to understand.

Hello, Niko. You wrote:

there is no game studio in my area.
Then move. My lessons say that, don't they? Read FAQ 84.

are there any online game designer partime jobs ???
No.

would they add an inexperienced person (me for example) in their team ?
As designer? No. I thought you said you'd read my articles?

I wanted to do it partime even if it doesn't pay, I only need experience ?
That's not a question. It's a wish, with a question mark tacked onto the end.

how would I get a proof of experience on my portfolio, is it a document?
You put the experience in your résumé. You put screen shots and documents and review clippings in your portfolio. You provide the phone numbers of past employers as references.

all game studios I have seen (online) give [GAME DESIGNER] job to an experienced person,
Yes. My FAQ 14 says "'Game Designer' is not an entry level position. That means that if you do not have any experience working in a game company, you won't be getting hired to fill the title 'Game Designer' right off the bat." I thought you said you'd read it?

so if a newbi doesn't have experience he cant join any studio
Like I wrote in FAQ 14 and FAQ 85, you have to start in the industry in some other position, then level up to "game designer." Like QA, for example. But your writing is not good enough to get you hired as a QA tester or a game designer (assuming English is your native language, but perhaps it isn't -- you did not give me any of the "5 tidbits" I need to know in order to give the best advice, as stated above). So you need to find an entry pathway from which you can grow into a design role.

Tom Sloper
Creator of the game advice FAQs -- donations appreciated.

Los Angeles, California, USA
January 20, 2014

---

School interview project

>From: nicole
>Sent: Thursday, February 26, 2009 2:22:01 PM
>Subject: The day in the life as a game designer and other things.
> Well first off, my name is Andrew [deleted] and I am 15 years old looking for a career in Game Design. I cam across your site when I was looking info. for a presentation I need to do in a speech class about a job you would like to do. So the majority of info came off your site. I saw I could contact you and ask you some questions, which is great because thats one of the requirements.
> So my first question is, Whats it like in the day of a life for a game designer?
> How long does it take average to work your way up to that title?
> Do you need to be successful at designing a certain number of game for a promotion? How many?
> Thanks,
> From Andrew
>p.s great site you really covered A LOT and I'll have to read the rest of it.

Hi Andrew,
You asked:

Whats it like in the day of a life for a game designer?
I usually say "read FAQ 14," but FAQ 14 doesn't really have much information on what a typical day on the job is like for a game designer. There is some stuff on this in FAQ 37, but I guess that doesn't make it all that clear either. FAQ 55, of course, describes what the typical day of a game designer is NOT like. (^_^)

"It depends." No day is "typical." It depends on what kind of game the designer is working on, it depends on whether the designer is working as an employee of a game studio or as a freelancer. It depends on what stage of development the project is at. It depends on what kind of designer we're talking about, because each designer is different; some just write designs, some are level designers, some are a bit artistic or a bit technical.

But in general, the designer reports to the office at the same time every day, sits at his desk responding to emails, then has to attend meetings. In these meetings he listens and he presents and he collaborates. He spends part of his day standing at the desks of co-workers, checking out what they're working on, answering questions, sharing ideas, solving problems, pointing at computer monitors, listening to sounds or music, whatever. Part of the day he goes on the Internet, reads articles, researches material for his design, playing competitive games to collect ideas for interfaces and game behaviors and read the comments of players on forums. Sometimes he finds out that something he's designed is not working, and he has to throw it away and try again. Sometimes he finds out that folks like what he designed, and then he has to do it again. Eventually, the day has wound to an end, and he goes home.

How long does it take average to work your way up to that title?
It varies. You should expect it to take a minimum of two years after obtaining a game job (which you had to take a four-year degree to get, and a couple of years building a portfolio). But it can happen faster. And it can take a lot longer.

Do you need to be successful at designing a certain number of game for a promotion? How many?
No, that's not how promotions happen. In general, you spend time (years) working really hard, doing a really good job, and impressing people with not only your work ethic but also your ideas, your talent, your cooperative attitude, and your willingness to help out in any way you can.

I'll have to read the rest of it.
Yes, especially articles 7, 10, 14, 37, and 55.

Tom Sloper
Los Angeles, California, USA
February 25, 2009

---

Still trying to figure out what I want to do with my life, parts 4 & 5

>From: Elizabeth
>Sent: Monday, May 04, 2009 5:02 AM
>Subject: Advice would be helpful sir. PART 3
>Dear Tom,
>I have no problem with writing, sir. As I type this email, I am actually in journalism class which I have been the last three years. I am used to writing and things of the sort. I was just trying to get a feel of the job from an actual designers perspective. A game designer is what I want to shoot for and I know its going to take awhile and some experience, but I'm up for that. Thanks.

>From: Elizabeth Dunbar
>To: Tom Sloper
>Sent: Monday, May 04, 2009 5:11 AM
>Subject: And another...sorry.
>Do game designers draw the characters? I'm guessing that graphic artists and such do that, but you say designers help with characters and levels. Would a game designer just write the technical stuff? Like how the character should look, how they should move, how fast, and stuff like that? Or would they go into detail about characters and levels and have to draw them out. Thanks for the fourth time, sorry.

Good morning, Elizabeth. You wrote:

I have no problem with writing
Mm-hmm. Sure sounded like it when you wrote, "would I be stuck to writing the whole time?" You seemed so concerned that you would "be stuck there writing plots and things like that."

Do game designers draw the characters? I'm guessing that graphic artists and such do that, but you say designers help with characters
The game designer has to say who the characters are. How are the artists supposed to know what to draw if they don't know what the game is, and what's supposed to be in it?

and levels.
You haven't read FAQ 69 yet. I pointed it to you previously.

Would a game designer just write the technical stuff? Like how the character should look
How the character should look is kind of an art director decision. The designer and the art director meet (did you notice how in FAQ 14 I said that meetings were a big part of the designer's job?) and discuss (remember that in part 3 of this thread I said that the designer would "be around other people"?), and reach agreement on the overall style of the game. The art director whips up some concept sketches of the character, or supervises a concept artist in doing so. Then the designer, the art director, and the producer decide on the final one. It's not just one guy who gets to dictate everything to the rest of the team. You have to stop thinking like an entitled empowered individualistic artiste and start thinking like a collaborative team member whose position is tenuous, subject to removal if she doesn't perform or succeed in keeping everyone's trust.

how they should move, how fast, and stuff like that?
How the character should move is kind of an animator decision (probably in discussions with the lead designer and the art director). How fast is going to be figured out once the character has been created and is controllable. (It's a little hard to write a technical specification for the speed of a character's movements - that's kind of intangible.)

Tom Sloper
Los Angeles, California, USA
May 4, 2009

---

Why doesn't the law do justice, part 3

>From: Paarth G
>Sent: Thursday, December 29, 2016 4:14 PM
>Subject: Why doesn't the law do justice for the game industry? (part 3)
>Name: Paarth G
>Location: Chennai, India
>Occupation : Junior Game designer, game tester
>Age: 24
>Ok so I would like to talk about this law in gaming industry further as it is simply irritating and just doesn't make a lot of sense atleast to me.
>The government in general often tends to insult games and tries its best to ban majority of games to the public hence the reason why China banned them until now. So if at all such attempts are made to stop these so called controversial games, then why not just make the companies go bankrupt by having strict laws instead? Its just them being hypocrites here as they despise any sort of game violence and yet they ignore basic laws when it applies to those who overwork or don't get paid.
>I'm not expecting a lot of discussion here since you already made it clear that you have no idea what can be done. But I would like it if you can make an FAQ about this matter so that those who want to be into the world of gaming or any other entertainment biz must know of these notorious crunches so they can think twice whether its worth doing this field or not...after all, there's the matter of families, friends and affording basic resources.
>Also it would be interesting to know what you went through during those crunch times.

Hello, Paarth. You wrote:

The government in general often tends to insult games and tries its best to ban majority of games to the public
I have no idea what you're talking about, Paarth. You're saying the Indian government has made the majority of games illegal to sell or to own or to play, in India? I did not know that.

hence the reason why China banned them until now.
You're saying China banned games in China because the Indian government "insults" games? I don't follow you. I don't think you have hit upon the real reason why China made it difficult for non-Chinese game companies to sell their products in China. I think the real reason had more to do with trade restrictions, and China's wish to control what goes on in China.

So if at all such attempts are made to stop these so called controversial games,
Here in the US, controversial games are a small subset of all games. You're saying that in India, non-controversial games are a small subset of all games.

then why not just make the companies go bankrupt by having strict laws instead?
I don't follow what you're suggesting.

Its just them being hypocrites here as they despise any sort of game violence and yet they ignore basic laws when it applies to those who overwork or don't get paid.
I agree that lawmakers worldwide are often hypocritical.

But I would like it if you can make an FAQ about this matter so that those who want to be into the world of gaming or any other entertainment biz must know of these notorious crunches so they can think twice whether its worth doing this field or not...
Hmm, let's see what I wrote on this... I see that in FAQ 14 I didn't say enough about it (so I'll append this conversation to it). And I see that I never mentioned it in FAQ 7, either. Same for FAQ 10. I need to append this conversation to those FAQs, also. I did briefly (too briefly, perhaps) define the term "crunch" in FAQ 28.

Also it would be interesting to know what you went through during those crunch times.
I used to keep a sleeping bag under my desk for crunch times. As a producer, if my team was working late, then I would work late too so they could get in touch with me quickly. I worked numerous late nights, and sometimes the overwork hindered my normal thought processes. I would get frustrated easily, and sometimes I would get sick from the long hours and lack of sleep.

You are be right that an FAQ is desirable; but right now I've got other priorities while I'm recuperating from cancer surgery that I had 10 days ago. I'm putting it on my list of things to do.

Tom Sloper
Creator of the game advice FAQs -- donations appreciated.

Los Angeles, California, USA
December 29, 2016

So you wanna be a game designer? Read http://www.gamecareerguide.com/features/491/designer_advice_a_beginners_.php.

The Oct. 3, 2008 article "How To Hire Good Game Designers" is also extremely worthwhile. http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=20373. Codemasters principal designer Phil O'Connor outlines 10 different ways hirers can spot a "real game designer" during the resume and interview process, so hirers can avoid hiring ineffective or unqualified applicants, or posers.

See this website's Game Biz Links page to find sites where game jobs are advertised.

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