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[danlthemanl]

I've been looking at choices for what to study in college next year, and game designer always fascinates me, but I've heard that there is no such thing as a game designer. Is it really a mythical job? what is the likely hood of me finding a job from studying game design in college?

[sugarbeard]

It's a job. But it's not what most people think it is. Most people who work for companies as a Game Designer also dabble in other areas like coding or level design. The person that just comes up with random game ideas and systems all day doesn't really exist, minus a very select few.

Go into College with a focus on a concrete area of game dev, code, art, sound, business, then work your way into a "Game Designer" position from there.

[Rob Lach]

Studying game design is like studying art, you only really learn anything by doing it.

[ink.inc]

Studying game design is like studying art, you only really learn anything by doing it.

QFT, man, QFT.

[Netsu]

Studying game design is like studying art, you only really learn anything by doing it.

QFT, man, QFT.

Double QFT.

No one is hiring "game designers", it's not something you apply for. Like sugarbeard said, most designers also take part in the development and I guess almost all of them started out as 'plain' programmers or artist.
So unless YOU hire yourself some programmers, artists and musicians, you aren't becoming the dude that thinks up games and sees them come to life.

[fish]

of course it's a real job.
and yes, there are people who sit around all days defining systems.
they're called game designers.

[LemonScented]

Yes, it's a real job, and no, it doesn't involve going into work in the morning and saying "Hey guys, I've had this great idea for a game!" and then having people go make it for you. Typical duties of a designer include collating the ideas from the team and the publisher into design documents, presenting and communicating the design so that everyone understands it, tweaking numbers in configuration files to affect the balancing and "feel" of the game, making decisions about the best way to solve specific problems as they come up, designing the layout, architecture and pacing of levels, writing scripted code for levels, missions, etc., and trying to stay sane when the programmers are telling you that what you promised to the producer is technically impossible whilst dealing with the publisher who wants to replace all of the Awesome Flying Robots in the game with ponies because "my kids like ponies".

Useful skills (the more of these the merrier):

- Ability to program, if only simple stuff in scripting languages. Even if you don't end up doing any actual programming in your job, having that knowledge will help massively when talking to programmers.

- Strong analytical skills. Being able to identify the crux of a complex problem. Some decent working knowledge of statistics and probability are a big advantage.

- An encyclopedic knowledge of games. It helps to have played a LOT of games, in a wide variety of different genres, even stuff you'd normally hate. Read, too - there are plenty of good resources on game design, and it's good to use them.

- Ability to sketch. You don't have to be a great artist, but clear, simple sketches can be great.

- Good spacial awareness and architectural understanding, if you're going to be doing level design.

- Strong communication skills. You need to be able to write clearly (design docs, emails, presentations, maybe even dialogue if the studio hasn't got an actual writer in), and also to communicate well face-to-face. Being charismatic helps.

- Diplomacy. Everyone you come into contact with will want to push their pet idea into the game. You've got to listen to everyone and incorporate what's useful into the design, but if the guy who pays your wages wants to make outrageous changes, you've got a dilemma.

Personally, I'm not convinced that a university degree can teach good design, I think it's something that comes with experience. Also, I'm not sure if training to be a designer straight away is as useful as going for a games programming course or art course. Very few studios I know of would hire a designer fresh out of uni. It's a position people normally work towards after starting out in other disciplines. Some artists become designers, but it's more common for programmers to move over. The most common transition I've seen seems to be from QA into design, but QA is a brutal job so you need to be willing to have a pretty crappy time of it before you can move towards design.

If you do end up considering a games-related degree, be really thorough in researching the course details. You don't want a design course that's mostly media studies with a module on games thrown in, and you don't want a games programming course that's just computer science with a bunch of irrelevant old languages and one semester of maybe doing OpenGL 101 or something. It's also good to check the reputation of the course and the uni - see what's been said in the press, and perhaps get in touch with some studios in the area around the university and see how they feel about hiring people that have come from those courses.

[gimymblert]

You would better start making game now too

[LemonScented]

Hmm.

No one is hiring "game designers", it's not something you apply for.

The place where I work hired a game designer just a couple of weeks ago. The last place I worked had a dozen people whose job title was "game designer". It is an actual job title. It's just that the job description can be different to what you might imagine when you first hear that such jobs exist.

EDIT:

You would better start making game now too

This is the most useful piece of advice you will hear in this whole thread. Games companies, as a rule, tend not to care about qualifications as much as what you can actually DO. The games you make are your portfolio.

[s0]

My job as a game designer at EA consists of pretending to discuss serious topics here on TIGSource, all the while ripping off obscure indie games for the big-budget AAA mainstream titles I crank out incessantly.

No seriously, I get paid for this shit, why do you think I post as much as I do?

[Zaphos]

You can search the job listings on http://jobs.gamasutra.com -- they have a bunch of ads seeking game designers, and if you click them they will give you overviews of what the job entails and what qualifications they're looking for.  Might give some idea of what the title means.

[Netsu]

No one is hiring "game designers", it's not something you apply for.

The place where I work hired a game designer just a couple of weeks ago. The last place I worked had a dozen people whose job title was "game designer". It is an actual job title. It's just that the job description can be different to what you might imagine when you first hear that such jobs exist.

Yeah I meant those mythical game designers, the ones that think up games for others to make

[kavs]

Don't spend 30k to go to game school with the hopes of being the 'idea guy'. I've been in AAA development for over 4 years now trying to become one of those types of designers, and let me tell you that it's nearly impossible. Plus, it's mostly all just spreadsheet work and documentation anyway, so it isn't as amazing as it sounds on paper.

It's more realistic to become some sort of level designer or mission scripter, but the schools won't teach you much. Pick up a scripting language or mod toolset and practice by making games if you want to be proficient... Flixel/FlashPunk/Lua/Unreal3(Kismet)/Gamemaker. Just scripting in general will make you a better designer, but if you can make games with it it'll go a LONG way to getting you a job.

[phubans]

Yeah, who doesn't want to be a game designer and sit at a big table surrounded by competent artists, musicians and programmers who do your bidding and help bring your vision to life? Thing is, you don't just walk into a job like that, and no company is going to hire you off the bat for that role.

Your best bet is to go full-indie while having a skill of your own, whether it's art or programming, maybe both. If you're lacking in either of these areas, then you might as well forget it, because you're not going to have the cred you need to be a designer. However, if you are a decent artist and can program enough to make a game of your own, you can spend a year or three doing this driven by your own passion and vision and then you'll have something that says, "Hey, I am serious about this kind of thing."

But even with that, it still may not be enough.

At the studio I work for, the design stuff is a collaborative effort between a bunch of people. The auteur method is seldom seen in the West, and probably no longer seen in the East anymore, either.

Oh, and as for school, don't waste your time... At least not with a degree in art or design. If you do, avoid the Art Institute chain/scam at all costs. Like Pierog said, it's not a skill that can be taught but is cultivated with practice. In the game industry, having a degree is irrelevant; it's all about your portfolio and who you know.

[gimymblert]

You will also need to train sarcasm and blank stare, So when your creative director told you there is no need for a system but "tiger fight woman and woman fight tiger" > BLANK STARE him then SARCASM with fellow designer. (based on a true story bro)

[bento_smile]

Your best bet is to go full-indie while having a skill of your own, whether it's art or programming, maybe both. If you're lacking in either of these areas, then you might as well forget it, because you're not going to have the cred you need to be a designer. However, if you are a decent artist and can program enough to make a game of your own, you can spend a year or three doing this driven by your own passion and vision and then you'll have something that says, "Hey, I am serious about this kind of thing."

But even with that, it still may not be enough.

At the studio I work for, the design stuff is a collaborative effort between a bunch of people. The auteur method is seldom seen in the West, and probably no longer seen in the East anymore, either.

Oh, and as for school, don't waste your time... At least not with a degree in art or design. If you do, avoid the Art Institute chain/scam at all costs. Like Pierog said, it's not a skill that can be taught but is cultivated with practice. In the game industry, having a degree is irrelevant; it's all about your portfolio and who you know.

What? I think degrees for games design are becoming more relevant (and besides, even as an artist my coworkers were shocked that I didn't have a degree) and in other areas degrees are near essential.

I mean, if the OP is interested in college, they might as well go for it.   (Just like everyone else says, make sure to make some games too! And as always be careful about choosing your college, etc. etc. Go to some game jams also to get a boost from other game makers.)