Hi all, I''ve recently been exchanging emails with a lady who works for Climax and have also talked with game developers at Kuju entertainment. It has always been my ambition to be a revolutionary game designer, and I always envisaged that programming would be a good way to gain experience in the industry, before eventually moving into design and writing etc. Everbody I''ve spoken to in the game industry says that it''s almost unheard of for a programer to move into design! Designers no longer need to have a knowledge of programming - marketing and design skills are infinitely preferable. If you read the section below, from an article on Gamasutra, you''ll see what I mean. I''ve decided to do a PPE (philosophy, politics and economics) instead of computer science, probrably for the best since I''m good at essay subjects :-) I would like to know what your aims are - just program other people''s games or actually be the designer??? Should be an interesting post... "The disadvantage of this kind of job [programming], at least in a publishing company, is that it has a glass ceiling - it''s hard to get promoted beyond a certain level. There are two reasons for this. First, if you''re excellent artistically or technically, a company is going to want you to continue to do whatever it is you''re doing. If they promote you into a management position, you won''t have time to do the thing you''re best at, the thing they appreciate you the most for. Unless you can demonstrate to them that you''re a better manager than you are a programmer, they''ll keep you doing programming. Growing publishers almost always hire their middle management from outside, rather than promoting their creative talent. The second reason developing within a publishing company has a glass ceiling is that the higher echelon jobs in a company are fundamentally about money. To rise in a company, you have to have something to do with money, because making money is the company''s primary purpose. In addition, it''s best to be on the side of the people who bring the dollars in (sales and marketing) rather than on the side of the people who spend them (product development). Sales people are the heroes who "make the numbers," "make the quarter" and so on. Product development people are the ones who miss deadlines, blow their budgets, and constantly demand expensive new equipment. While there may be engineers at the top of engineering companies, there won''t be many at the top of mass-market consumer product companies, which is the business we''re in. " Stuffing feathers up your ass does not make you a chicken.

what are my aspirations?

world domination

I intend on getting there through mad programming and business managerial skills. Would I be satisfied programming the designs of others until the whole domination thing takes place? Sure. The key is to just make sure you work on a project that you''re going to like. If you really like sports games then don''t work on an RPG and vice versa.

Thats why for now (well, I am in college) I''m working on projects with close friends. If you have your degree in say Computer Sciences and Philosophy, and you''ve contructed some great projects with some great design by you, then you''ll be able to get that design job. Create a strong portfolio. Go for what ya want and be like Mike - Just do it.

zer0wolf, I think that if you are determined and talented then anything is possible, but here''s something you should bear in mind:

Every single other programmer has a great idea they''re sitting on, with the hope of one day becoming the next Peter Molineux . The publisher will only let someone design a game if they have a proven track record, people management skills and a good knowledge of finance etc, as is discussed further in that article.

From the information I''ve gathered, it looks like programmers just don''t become games designers.

I''m not saying it''s not possible, but getting someone to invest millions (that''s MILLIONS!) in your idea is just not likely to happen unless you''ve got management experience.

Stuffing feathers up your ass does not make you a chicken.

I don''t think I used the best wordings in my post...

my point was that I basically agreed with what you said, lol. I don''t really want to be a game designer, I''d rather use my skills to develop other complete designs, possibly throwing in my two cents here or there. I mentioned that if you wanna be a game designer, sure go ahead and study CS in college so you know about comps, but then study something else like philosophy, economics, etc and work on some projects with your friends with you in a designer position. Having something that you''ve designed yourself and you followed it through till its completion is impressive ... just doin'' it

Yeah, apparently that is the best way to become top dog

What I really want to know is whether everybody here sees their future as being about programming or design.



Stuffing feathers up your ass does not make you a chicken.

My current goal is to finish our first person tactical shooter game and to make it competitive on the game market as a freeware product. A réally good freeware 3D fps game hasn''t been made yet (in my opinion), so I want to be the first to accomplish that.
The keyword in the development is realism, as long as it doesn''t affect the gameplay too much.

My design document can be found here .
AlterNova homepage

*sorry for my screeny-addiction:
(click to enlarge)

Experience like that would probrably be invaluable in getting a job in the games industry.

I know there are probrably a million things you intend to add, but I think you need a lot more objects in the rooms. The textures might look better if they were a few shades darker too.

Stuffing feathers up your ass does not make you a chicken.

Thanks, that are my intentions. This is just a test-map to test stairs and stuff like that. Our mappers are very busy with making some eyecandy :D