As you hear the word – Video Games, it brings nostalgic memories of your childhood and teens. It also provides an interesting storyline with visuals and graphics.
A career in video game design is a creative, exciting and highly rewarding option to be considered. If you are passionate about gaming, have a burning desire to learn the latest programming skills, and have the creative thinking skills to develop engaging, educational, and functional interactive game experiences, this is your dream job.
What does a Video Game Designer do?
• Develop user-friendly games for different platforms such as computers, mobile devices, websites by brainstorming game details, building codes, testing the products by working along with a team.
• Prepare a draft of different elements of the game and it functions on a defined structure for the creation of the best game within budget and meeting deadlines.
• Make the concept of gameplay come into action through experimentation with plots, characters, maps with scenarios and difficulties, ways for winning or losing the game and user interface creation.
• Writing programming codes using a variety of computer languages and prepare the full game design document that allows the game to be played.
• All this is possible through computer software where the designer will input computer scripting processed by software to generate commands, events, characters and objects that the players connect with.
Required Skills and Responsibilities
• Know extensive technology like editing and design software. The designer should manage to create programs or select formats for websites, magazines and movies that require an understanding of technology and software.
• The candidates should have problem-solving skills and should be able to determine how the elements of a project can fit well together.
• The game design professionals have to work frequently with deadlines and have to complete their responsibilities quickly.
• Small glitches or fault in layouts can halter a game’s usability and a bad colour scheme can alter the visual quality. So, the designers have to pay close attention to these details.
• To develop the mission, challenges and puzzles, that will be a part of gameplay.
• Should be aware of various game platforms and technologies.
• Requires skills in software programming and graphics.
Educational Requirements
• A Bachelor’s degree in a related field such as computer sciences, computer graphics, software engineering and game design.
• The education program should also contain aspects of game theory, game strategy and planning, storytelling and onboarding, innovative content writing, creative thinking and project management of game design.
• You can also boost up your career by obtaining degrees that offer specialization specific to video game design and make you a step ahead of other applicants.
• Some organizations can favour candidates with master’s degree as it explores player’s experience and biometrics, the business aspects of video game design.
Prestigious Institutes that offer the courses:
• National Institute of Design.
• Asian Institute of Gaming and Animation, Bangalore.
• Backstage Pass Institute of Gaming and Technology located in Hyderabad.
Experience Requirements
• Build a portfolio of your projects that are done as a part of your course work or your personal interest that the employers can evaluate. These projects show your proficiency in programming and design to level up your chances of securing the job.
• The best way to make an entry into an industry is to leverage your network and connections with a degree program that is tailored to video game development that can help you enter into a vast network of faculty and peers.
• Stand out from the busy crowd by taking part in various industry competitions focused on video game design.
Recruiting Companies of India
- 99 Games, Karnataka
- 2 Pi Interactive, Hyderabad
- CreatioSoft, Noida
- Apar Games, Mumbai
- Dhruva Interactive, Bangalore
- Games2win, Mumbai
- Geek Mentor Studios, Noida
- GSN Games, India
Job Outlook
The videogame industry is somewhat competitive to break into but it has been noticed that there is a consistent growth in the last few years and is believed to grow more. By 2016, the global market of video games was a $100billion business and will double by 2023. This phenomenal growth has captivated greater and diverse talent to companies and start-ups.
The flourishing market of video games on PCs and major consoles like Xbox, Nintendo and play station has unlocked a better world of opportunities for video game designers and developers. Designers with expertise in mobile development will be most sought after as smartphones and tablets like iPhone, iPad and Android devices have modified the way we play video games. Almost half of the huge gaming market is dominated by mobile gaming.
– Samiya Firdous
