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So you want to be a games designer?

by Ed Bartlett

This article was originally written for the November 2000 issue of UK magazine PC Format.

 

Design of the Times

If I asked you to name your top five film directors you could probably reel off a list without thinking twice. Now if I ask you to name your top five game designers do you think you could do the same? I expect that all but the most committed game players would be unable to name more than two or three, and even then they would most likely be familiar names picked up from magazine articles and interviews rather than the people responsible for their favourite piece of digital entertainment, yet if you ask your average gamer which job they would choose if they could work in this industry the majority pick game design.

Unfortunately for them, game design is probably the role with the most blurred job description and as such is one of the more difficult positions to attain. While it is impossible for me to tell you how to be a creative genius, this article will at least give you an overview of some of the skills required to be a designer and the fundamentals of becoming a successful one.


Jack-of-all-Trades

The first thing you probably want to know is exactly what a game designer does. As with many of the positions within the videogame industry the job description and responsibilities of a designer can vary wildly. Some companies will employ a number of people with specific design skills to work on different aspects of the game design process, whereas others will employ a single designer to do it all, so you should try to obtain a broad knowledge of the entire development process and then concentrate on mastering the areas that will be of most use to you. As with any creative role in life, the first and possibly most important step is to gorge yourself on a daily diet of media! Play as many games and read as many different books and magazines as you can, and remember…variety is the spice of life!


Express Yourself

It's all very well having a groundbreaking game idea in your head but if you can't effectively communicate with the artists, programmers, producers and marketing staff, then at best your game will be a blurred facsimile of the original concept or at worst it won't even get the green light to begin with. You need to be able to present your ideas clearly and concisely both verbally and on paper, and while less than perfect grammar and spelling is not going to affect how your game plays, if the document is going to be used externally to sell the game concept to a publisher it pays to be accurate. A good word processing package will contain built-in features such as spelling and grammar checks as well as documen t templates and wizards to help you with formatting.


Put Some Lead In Your Pencil

A picture is worth a thousand words, and while you don't need to be Van Gogh it is hugely beneficial for a designer to at least have rudimentary drawing skills to help convey the ideas in their heads. Although many companies now employ dedicated concept artists, you still need to be able to give them a rough idea of what you are trying to achieve even if its only a few pages of messy thumbnail sketches!


Lets Get Digital

As with your drawing skills it is not necessary for you to be able to create sensational low-poly models, intricate textures and show-stopping animation, otherwise you would be an artist. However it is frequently required for the designer to support their documentation with mock-up screenshots, sample menu layouts, flowcharts and other graphical content so a fair knowledge of a comprehensive 2D graphics package is a must, and being able to create and texture basic, recognisable 3D objects is becoming more and more useful as the role of designer evolves.


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'I want to be a game designer, why on earth do I need to know anything about programming?' This may seem like a fair comment, and while you are unlikely to ever need to type a line of code in anger, it is increasingly important as a designer to know your MIP-mapping from your b-splines and what is possible from the ever-increasing number of different gaming platforms and peripherals. Far from needing a degree in Computer Studies, you can usually glean the sort of knowledge you will require from the vast number of gaming and technology web sites and from regularly reading magazines such as Edge and your very own PC Format.


No Man Is An Island

The other primary skill you need to be a successful designer is also the one that even the most experienced tend to slip up on every once in a while. Regardless of how revolutionary your idea, how well thought out and presented it is and how much detail you have gone into there is absolutely no chance that you are going to get it past your colleagues without them picking it to pieces! They will find anything from intrinsic problems with the concept itself through to seemingly trivial oversights and plain nitpicking! To a proud designer this is the equivalent of a mother showing off her newborn for the first time only to be told that it is ugly as hell and has no hair!

At the end of the day you have to remember that your co-workers are the people who will spend the next year or two of their life turning your bright spark into a marketable product. They are creative people as well, and deserve to have an input on the design of the game in the same way that you deserve to have an input on the way the game looks and plays later in development. It is also very useful to have a fresh perspective on the game occasionally, especially when you get bogged down with a particularly tricky feature, so rather than showing your documents to everybody at once, leave a few people in the dark so you can have a new set of opinions and ideas at a later stage. You may find some of the brightest and freshest ideas come from the most unlikely people!

 

Walkthrough of design stages


Ideas And Inspiration

Every game design starts with a simple idea, be it a straightforward take on an existing genre or something new and revolutionary. The ideas stage is a time to let your imagination run wild! Ignore limiting factors such as polygon count and bandwidth and concentrate on building an image of the game in your head.


Pen To Paper

Once you have a good mental picture of your game you need to start making notes. Forget organised documentation, just grab a notepad and start writing and sketching everything that comes into your head. Don't worry about going into minute detail at this stage and never cross anything out! Your ideas at this stage are at their purest and may be invaluable later.


Concept Document

Now is the time to transform the pages of notes into a concise document, something that is best achieved in electronic form via a word processor. This document will 'sell' your idea to people, so make it interesting and informative, but again don't go into the minutiae of every game feature - that comes with the full design treatment.


Design Document

You've been given the green light - now comes the hard part. The design document (often referred to as 'The Bible', partly because of it's importance and partly because it is usually full of contentious issues!) is used by all development staff throughout the project, and must accurately define all game functionality as concisely as possible. This document is often contributed to by other key staff, but should always be maintained and overseen by the Lead Designer or Producer.


Production

Once all of a games key functionality has been documented, the Lead Designer will usually take some time out for R&D, and then begin conceptualising the next potential product. They will have little day-to-day involvement in the remaining development cycle other than dealing with problematic design issues as they arise, and occasional play testing to ensure the game follows their original vision.


On The Shelf

Your masterpiece finally hits the stores on time and under budget! Sit back and bask in the glory as the glowing magazine reviews, industry awards and seven-figure contracts pour in! Or so I'm told.

 

Career Paths

If you've read this far, you'll probably be wondering how on earth you go about getting a job as a game designer. As you may have gathered there is no hard-and-fast rule, with many designers having moved into the role from other areas of game development. Although there are an increasing number of specific university courses available, their success is for the most part untested due to their relative infancy.

If you have no direct experience, probably the best route into the industry, and game design in particular, is via a developer or publisher QA department. With so many companies and so many games, it is surprisingly easy to get a job as a game tester and as long as you are literate and don't mind being at the bottom of the food chain for a while, it can be a surprisingly satisfying job. Most importantly it gives you a thorough grounding in how games are developed, as well as access to all the expensive development software and tools you need to become an artist, programmer, producer or designer.

If you are serious about gaining employment within the industry, one of your best options is to get in touch with one of the many dedicated agencies such as Aardvark Swift Consulting Ltd.

Stephen Lloyd Davies of Aardvark Swift explains:

Prepare a short, sharp CV detailing your personal information, academic qualifications, what position you are seeking and why, and any supporting material you may have created such as Quake or Unreal Tournament levels and then send it off to one of the many specialist game recruitment agencies, which you can find in the jobs section of dedicated magazines such as Edge. They will keep your details on record and attempt to arrange interviews for you and it won't cost you more than the price of a stamp!

It is also a useful pointer that some companies sign exclusive deals with particular agencies, and some refrain from using agencies altogether, so it can be a good idea to check what each one has to offer. It may even be beneficial to be registered with more than one agency!

 

Design do's and dont's

Do…

1. Read, watch films, listen to music and play games as often as possible, and try experimenting with new and different genres.

2. Learn about other areas of game development. Many designers have direct experience of at least one other aspect and a good working knowledge of the others.

3. Keep a notepad and pen with you where possible. Ideas hit you when you least expect it and you need to get them on paper fast!

4. Stay abreast of technology and the latest hot games. There are a huge number of free gaming news sites on the Internet.

5. Keep your ideas to yourself as much as possible. It's a dog-eat-designer world out there, and as excited as you may be about coming up with 'The Best Idea Ever', running around telling anyone who will listen could quite literally give the game away. Be sure to check the small print on company NDA's (Non Disclosure Agreements) carefully before showing or discussing your work. If you are not sure, show it to someone who knows.

Don't…

1. Expect to simply take 'The Finest Ingredients' from 'The Best Games' to create 'Instant Blockbuster'.

2. Be disheartened by constructive criticism. It's an important part of the development process so don't take it personally.

3. Be afraid to innovate. There have been a number of new and hybrid genres in recent years, and there are still more to come. Honest ;-)

4. Expect every game idea you come up with to get the green light. In fact, never take anything for granted until the game is sitting on the shelf of your local EB.

5. Believe the hype!

 

Tools of the trade

You can always spot the game designer in a company…they are the ones up to their necks in printers, scanners, joysticks and games!

Here is a list of the vital equipment no designer worth their salt should be without:

 

Author Bio

Ed Bartlett is a game designer for legendary London-based independent developer The Bitmap Brothers, where he is currently working on a yet-to-be-announced game featuring numerous unique online aspects. Having started life at the now-defunct NMS Software developing titles such as Tilt, Risk and Battleships he worked briefly for Acclaim before joining The Bitmap Brothers at the beginning of 1999. His recent history includes an update of the classic shoot-em-up Xenon as a 6-month development tutorial project for PC Format magazine, as well as working on the follow up to the critically acclaimed RTS hit Z, Z: Steel Soldiers, described as "the purest and most adrenaline fuelled strategy hit for sometime" (PC Gamer) and the recipient of a number of magazine awards. He has also written development-related articles for PC Format and Edge Online and was featured in a Develop magazine roundtable discussing online gaming.

Ed can be reached at: ed@bitmap-brothers.co.uk

 

 

The opinions expressed in this article do not necessarily represent the IGDA.