3 answers
donquavis
Student
Memphis, Tennessee
2
Questions
Asked
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What do you have to do to become a video game designer
i love games so i thought to my self why not make em? #video-game-production #video-games #gaming #games
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3 answers
Walt Smith
IT Director
28
Answers
Richmond, Virginia
Updated
Walt’s Answer
If you want to get a taste for what it is like to develop a game, I suggest you download Godot, a game development environment that is really powerful and easy to learn. There are a ton of YouTube tutorials that will help you quickly learn Godot. You should be able to make your first game in a few weeks and you are free to publish your game and make money from it. Godot is completely free to use and to sell games made with it. It can make both 3-D and 2-D games and those games will run on most major platforms.
Hope this helps.
Hope this helps.
Abigael Pamintuan
User Experience Designer
5
Answers
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Updated
Abigael’s Answer
Hi! In the video game industry, there are a ton of roles - so that's great in terms of having a variety of options to choose from. Two possible areas to look into are the development side (programming) and the design side - it really depends on which area you'd like to focus on based on your interests. Development will involve different languages like Python, C++, JavaScript, and C# (and likely others depending on where you work). Design-wise, if you're interested in world- and character-building, you can look into modeling/sculpting, rigging, and animation.
For design tools, Autodesk Maya is an industry-standard for animation but so are tools like Houdini, Cinema 4D, etc. Autodesk's products are free to students through their student and education licenses: https://www.autodesk.com/education/edu-software/overview?sorting=featured&page=1
On the game development side of things, Unity is a common game engine (https://unity.com/) and uses the C# language.
I would suggest firstly researching the variety of roles in the video game field, testing them out on your own with free online courses, YouTube videos, articles that teach you how to do certain tasks, and talking to people working in the field, etc. then, if you find this is something you want to pursue, consider looking into college programs that'll teach you more about the technical (and theoretical) skills you'll need to get into the field. Some programs might have internships which are great since they'll give you an inside look of the industry.
Hope this helps and best of luck!
For design tools, Autodesk Maya is an industry-standard for animation but so are tools like Houdini, Cinema 4D, etc. Autodesk's products are free to students through their student and education licenses: https://www.autodesk.com/education/edu-software/overview?sorting=featured&page=1
On the game development side of things, Unity is a common game engine (https://unity.com/) and uses the C# language.
I would suggest firstly researching the variety of roles in the video game field, testing them out on your own with free online courses, YouTube videos, articles that teach you how to do certain tasks, and talking to people working in the field, etc. then, if you find this is something you want to pursue, consider looking into college programs that'll teach you more about the technical (and theoretical) skills you'll need to get into the field. Some programs might have internships which are great since they'll give you an inside look of the industry.
Hope this helps and best of luck!
Jamie Clark
Visual Effects Artist
30
Answers
Austin, Texas
Updated
Jamie’s Answer
I agree with Abigael, there are loads of different positions available in a video game studio.
One thing to consider... a game designer will never be anything else but a game designer.
I'm not saying that's a "bad" thing, but lets say you work in video games for a few years and realize it's not for you.
Well if you're a game designer then you have to start a whole new career for the ground up. BUT if you were to go into the engineering aspect of games, you could work literally almost anywhere... Google, Facebook, etc.
If you don't have the aptitude (or desire) for programming (I don't have the aptitude :) ) and are interesting in the artistic side of game development, you could be a character modeler, rigger, environment artist, VFX artist, animator, and lighting artist.
All of those above positions can move into different fields. I started out in film / television, I'm now doing video games. But if I wanted to move back to film / television it would be an easy transition.
One thing to consider... a game designer will never be anything else but a game designer.
I'm not saying that's a "bad" thing, but lets say you work in video games for a few years and realize it's not for you.
Well if you're a game designer then you have to start a whole new career for the ground up. BUT if you were to go into the engineering aspect of games, you could work literally almost anywhere... Google, Facebook, etc.
If you don't have the aptitude (or desire) for programming (I don't have the aptitude :) ) and are interesting in the artistic side of game development, you could be a character modeler, rigger, environment artist, VFX artist, animator, and lighting artist.
All of those above positions can move into different fields. I started out in film / television, I'm now doing video games. But if I wanted to move back to film / television it would be an easy transition.