Game designer

A game designer is a person who designs games. The term normally refers to a person who designs computer or video games, but it can also refer to one who designs traditional games, such as board games.

Video and computer game designer

A video or computer game designer develops the layout, concept and gameplay: the game design of a video or computer game. This may include playfield design, specification writing, and entry of numeric properties that balance and tune the gameplay. A game designer works for a developer (which may additionally be the game's video game publisher). This person usually has a lot of writing experience and may even have a degree in writing or a related field (such as English). This person's primary job function is writing, so the more experience they have with the activity, the better. Some art and programming skills are also helpful for this job, but are not strictly necessary. Game designers often have studied relevant liberal arts such as psychology, sociology, drama, or philosophy. Due to the increasing complexity of the game design process, many young game designers may also come from a computer science or other computer engineering background.

Related Topics:
Gameplay - Game design - Developer - Video game publisher - Writing - English - Art - Programming - Psychology - Sociology - Drama - Philosophy - Computer science

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In the video game industry, the job of game designer is one of the hardest to obtain. It is not easy, though many people (especially teenage boys) think they "have what it takes" to perform this job. Almost everyone in the game industry has what they believe is a "killer game" concept and is waiting for the opportunity to develop the game. As a game designer, they may get the opportunity to develop that game concept, so competition is usually very high.

Related Topics:
Video game industry - Teenage

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Since a video game publisher may invest millions of dollars towards a game's development, it is easy to understand why they choose game designers carefully—one or two poor game concepts could end up costing them millions of dollars of revenue and could even risk bankrupting the company. For this reason, game publishers usually choose game designers who have a proven track record with several hit games under their belts. Less seasoned designers may be assigned to low profile games that have budgets in the low tens of thousands.

Related Topics:
Dollar - Bankrupting

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History

Early in the history of video games, game designers were often the lead programmer or the only programmer for a game. This is the case of such noted designers as Sid Meier, Chris Sawyer and Will Wright. This person also sometimes comprised the entire art team! As games became more complex and computers and consoles became more powerful (allowing more features), the job of game designer became a separate job function, with the lead programmer splitting his time between the two functions, moving from one role to the other. Also, in many cases, game engines are written that reduce the role of a project's lead programmer.

Related Topics:
History of video games - Lead programmer - Sid Meier - Chris Sawyer - Will Wright - Computers - Console - Game engines

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Later, game complexity escalated to the point where it required someone who concentrated solely on game design. Many early veterans chose the game design path eschewing programming and relegating those tasks to others.

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Today, it is rare to find a video or computer game where the principal programmer is also the principal designer, except in the case of relatively simple games, such as Tetris or Bejeweled. With very complex games, such as MMORPGs, or a big budget action or sports title, designers may number in the dozens. In these cases, there are generally one or two principal designers and many junior designers who specify subsets or subsystems of the game. In larger companies like Electronic Arts, each aspect of the game (control, level design or vehicles) may have a separate producer, lead designer and several general designers.

Related Topics:
Tetris - Bejeweled - MMORPG - Electronic Arts

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Notable video and computer game designers

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• Danielle Bunten Berry, of the seminal M.U.L.E. and The Seven Cities of Gold.
• Chris Crawford, creator of Balance of Power and the first computer game design book The Art of Computer Game Design.
• Jon Freeman, designer of the Archon series of games.
• Richard Garriott (Lord British), developer of the Ultima series of computer games.
• Ron Gilbert, creator of Maniac Mansion and Monkey Island.
• Sid Meier of Civilization and Railroad Tycoon fame.
• Shigeru Miyamoto of Donkey Kong, The Legend of Zelda and Super Mario series.
• Peter Molyneux of the Populous series, Black and White and Theme Park among others.
• Brian Reynolds, Civilization II, Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri and Rise of Nations.
• John Romero of Wolfenstein 3D, the Doom and Quake series and game engines.
• Hironobu Sakaguchi of the popular Final Fantasy series.
• Bruce Shelley: co-creator of Age of Empires series and Civilization
• Warren Spector: System Shock series, Thief series, Deus Ex series.
• Roberta Williams, designer of King's Quest and several other computer game series.
• Will Wright, designer of SimCity and The Sims.

Other notable game designers

• Richard Garfield - collectible card game (') and board game designer.
• Gary Gygax and David Arneson - creators of Dungeons & Dragons
• James Dunnigan - Previous publisher of SPI Games and designer of over 100 wargames, including the PanzerBlitz/Panzer Leader system
• Charles S. Roberts - Designer of first commercial board wargame (Tactics II) and founder of Avalon Hill
• Frank Chadwick - Previous publisher of GDW and designer of over 50 war and role-playing games, including Twilight 2000 and the Assault series
• Mark H. Walker - Computer book author and designer of Lock 'n' Load system; regular designer for Armchair General Magazine