define best?

The lead designer/creative director is higher up the chain then a game designer at most companies. Typicaly the LD/CD has a team of game designers under him when working on a project.

However being the head cheese does have its drawbacks. There can be a lot rideing on the creative descisions you make. People can loose jobs, and the company can close down if not enough game sales are reached. Make no mistake, game development at a professional level is a team effort.

No job title's meaning is set in stone. But you most certainly should not expect to get the "best" job right off the bat. Typically the more work you do, the better the position you get; this includes work you've done prior to applying for jobs (e.g. by creating a portfolio, contributing to mod projects, and the like) but also definitely includes work you've done after you get hired. From what I've heard, it's far more common for someone to get promoted out of the QA department than it is for them to come onboard as a game designer.

By all means, set your sights high. But don't expect to leap straight to your dream job.

MSW is right, "Hero." In order for us to tell you which is "best," you have to tell us your criteria.
But it would also help if you explained why you ask. You say you want to aim for the "best job," but that doesn't tell us what you like to do - what you're good at - what you're majoring in - how old you are - other stuff that would help us advise you.

Quote:Original post by MSW
The lead designer/creative director is higher up the chain then a game designer at most companies. Typicaly the LD/CD has a team of game designers under him when working on a project.

As MSW said, Lead Designer is basically a step (or three) up from Game Designer. In the end, the core of their jobs are similar, except as a lead, I imagine you would move away a bit (not entirely) from the hands-on, creative stuff and handle the administrative paper-work, team co-ordination etc. It's basically like a Game Designer plus a thousand more responsibilities, although if you're choosing this based on what you want to study in tertiary education, I would imagine the same course(s) would be applicable to both, the only difference in selection being, as Derakon stated, how much work you do.

"Hero" wrote:
> Im 22 Years old ... im tring to get into a college with eather game art Design or any kind that can help me get the goal im looking for.

I see a couple of problems right off the bat.

Firstly, you said you aspire to eventually become either a Lead Designer or a Creative Directer [sic] or a Game Designer. But now you're saying you want to get an art degree? That doesn't make sense for Lead Designer or Game Designer. I acknowledge that it's possible to become a game designer after entering the game industry as an artist. But are you saying you want to study art because (A) you think you are supposed to, or (B) because you're extremely talented artistically?

Secondly, game designers must write much better than you have written in this thread. Verbal and written communication skills are of utmost importance in game design. Have you just been writing sloppily because you don't think you need to type the way I'm typing? Or are we seeing the way you actually type all the time? If the former, I recommend you change this habit, and work to type the way the rest of us are typing our responses to you. If the latter, do you think it might be possible to improve your writing skills with some additional study and/or work? (Apologies for asking this: is English your native language?)

>But I heard thoes schools pay HUGE amount of money to get in Im in California so there is like a few in this state.

It's not necessary to go to a "game school" to become a game designer. A less expensive mainstream liberal arts degree can help you open doors. See my FAQ 3 about preparing for a career in game design, and my FAQs 34 and 44 about those "game degrees." My FAQs are at http://www.sloperama.com/advice.html

Good luck

Quote:Original post by Hero Atanque
Oh yeah I also purchased Game Design Book by Bill Bates it good and worths it Weight in gold. It also shows what to add in the Game Documents maybe you got some of your ideas from it. =)

If you actually take a solid look at sloperama.com, you'll see that Tom Sloper has been developing games for a very long time. I would recommend that you spend a lot of time reading over everything he has on his site. He provides some very solid advice.

I'm not going to rehash over the differences between a Creative Director and a Game Designer, because it has been pointed out pretty clear. At our company the man in the Creative Director role has the title of Art & Design Director. He is on the main board for choosing of projects we get in and he decided what designer works on what. He works on designs as well, but a good portion of his day is taken up with various administrative duties. As a game designer, which is what I am, I spend the majority of my day in Word working on design documents and in Photoshop roughing up mock-ups for things.

Getting a visual arts degree isn't a bad idea in my opinion. In fact, my degree in Computer Graphics Technology is what helped me to get my job, because my director was looking to get a designer in with a visual background. I lucked out a bit, though, because not everywhere is going to be looking for that in a designer.

Quote:Original post by zer0wolf
Getting a visual arts degree isn't a bad idea in my opinion. In fact, my degree in Computer Graphics Technology is what helped me to get my job, because my director was looking to get a designer in with a visual background. I lucked out a bit, though, because not everywhere is going to be looking for that in a designer.

That's good advice - and it's especially apropos for anyone who's handicapped by poor English writing skills.