Hi, as far as i know, there are lots of different types of game designers, after all, game designing is a wide field. There are level designer\game designer\lead designer\etc. Can someone tell me what kind of designers there are? Also, im getting confused for the requirement to being one. It seems to differ heavily depending on what people you work with. Can someone also tell me what the common basis of game desigining requirements are? Please and thank you.

hmm..read a lot of other game designs. read a lot of articles about game design. then design a game ;) POOF! your a game-designer :D


note: you have to have a published game to get rid of the (-) and become a true Game Designer :D

seriously, I assume you mean in the game industry? Well, how does anyone get a “title”? I suppose by being paid to have “game designer” on your business card and being paid to design games.

I “designed” a game that was finished by an indie group of guys. Im designing another pc game and working with a team for free or commercial (we’ll see how it goes) and I have designed numerous board games. But I don’t call myself a game designer. I don’t think I can unless I’ve sold a product made possible because of my elite game design mad skilz. :D

Why don’t you tell us what you’ve done before? Artist? 2d or 3d? programming? Sound? Nothing at all? That would help us figure out how to help you answer your question.

There is no such thing as a lead designer proffession, its just a title given to a guy with a bit more experience than the rest of the designers... or however the big cheeze sees fit. There all pretty explanitory, and often programmers make up the design team on smaller projects, just because its easier to understand your own system.

Graphic Designer - Probably most sought after, the only real designer profession in my opinion.

Level Designer - a fun job, I wouldn't call it a proffesion though, anyone can be a level designer.

Game Designer - a guy who nails the details down of the game, how things work, and perhaps the story line too... again, I wouldn't really call it a proffession because just about anyone can fill this position who is activly working on the game at hand.

Edit: Pretty much what Charles said also.

Quote:Original post by Narcis
There is no such thing as a lead designer proffession, its just a title given to a guy with a bit more experience than the rest of the designers... or however the big cheeze sees fit. There all pretty explanitory, and often programmers make up the design team on smaller projects, just because its easier to understand your own system.

Graphic Designer - Probably most sought after, the only real designer profession in my opinion.

Level Designer - a fun job, I wouldn't call it a proffesion though, anyone can be a level designer.

Game Designer - a guy who nails the details down of the game, how things work, and perhaps the story line too... again, I wouldn't really call it a proffession because just about anyone can fill this position who is activly working on the game at hand.

Edit: Pretty much what Charles said also.

http://www.sloperama.com/advice/lesson14.htm

This site has alot of Game Industry Info from Tom Sloper whos been in the industry for atleast 20 years. He works as a Game Designer/Producer and a Consultant for the industry. The article that I selected gives you a great overview of the job.


Enjoy

I'll admit that I was wrong - especially after reading the article on http://www.sloperama.com, but I wont admit that I was completely wrong.

I don't really see whats so special about level designers, I can still make just as great a level as a level designer (given the proper resources from a graphic designer), only because I understand how it works - thats really all it takes in my opinion to become a level designer (and game designer as well).

I do acknowledge level designers are a real part of the industry, and by all means, hire or be a level designer, but if you understand the system (previously referenced as it), you most likely wont have a problem designing a level yourself.

Definition of The System - Also known as it; The System regarding level design, are general rules that apply to, or are set to manipulate, the level.

It's nothing MORE SPECIAL about LD but you underestimated them a lot. And if you don't lack the skills of creating GOOD levels (congratulations) it does not mean that everybody can do it ;).

MANY little details make the difference between a good level and an excelent one and the theory won't teach you that. I think any person here working in the industry can tell you that.

I think what I'm trying to say is that its not brain surgery, and I'm not paticularly impressed with general level designers, if they can recreate scenes, playable in a game (to a certin extent), then I'm impressed (one that really impressed me was the movie-to-ingame change in The Lord of the Rings (The Two Towers was it? Maybe the others too) for Gamecube, PS2, etc).

I think if anyone with experience playing games (by that I mean the ability to figure out a paticular game's rules) can make an excellent level (or map) for xxx game. Theres a huge level editing fan community out there, made up of just level designers (not related to the game industry) - and you know what most of the great map makers credentials are? Highschool or less, and the ability to figure out the game's rules, and even manipulate the map to feature something slightly new (see Warcraft III Map Editing for not only a super map maker that can change just about every aspect of the game, but a huge community of great level designers around it).

So in my opinion, someone with no experience developing games, can be a good level designer. I'm not trying to start an arguement, I'm simply saying that in my opinion, some people are taking "Map Making" a little too seriously as a form of profession.

Disclaimer:

Quote:in my opinion

I love it when someone throws "in my opinion" around. You know that you are on a forum biased on people who want to be game designers. By the way it takes an extreme amount of time energy and critical thinking to be a designer. There is way more to it than just analyzing a game that you play and recreating it or cool ideas. Because of the money involved its not as easy or as casual you make it seem.

To really be an amazing game designer you have to be able to get inside the head of your target audience or "hypothetical player" and then use your skills in that mind set. Look at games like SWG and Planet side. Great game concepts crashed from poor design choices. Then look at a game like EVE online. A very niche biased game and has undergone huge changes but all of there design choices have been smart ones. So choices and ideas offered up by designers can make or break a game.

Let's not argue about what makes a good designer or a bad one. The original question came from a lack of understanding of what a 'designer' actually does, and really it's wrong to look for some sort of common requirement when it's apparent that 'designer' can mean many things just like 'engineer' does. The Sloperama link concentrates on the 'pure' designer as opposed to the specialised (and arguably more technical) roles such as level design and so on, and the skill requirements will vary from one to the next.