How to Become a Computer Game Designer
Computer games have become a mainstay in American culture. Children and adults of all ages play video games as a pastime, and game designers must be able to create for all demographic segments. According to Payscale, game designers made an average salary between $41,970 and $70,202 as of November 2010. To become a game designer, you need formal training and a creative mind.
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Instructions
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Earn a bachelor's degree. According to the Summer 2000 issue of “Occupational Outlook Quarterly,” most game designers have at least a bachelor's degree. The three most common degrees held by game designers are in English, computer science and art. The publication also notes that above all else, game designers must be effective communicators in both writing and speech. Courses in English, creative writing and theater can all be helpful for game designers.
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Apply for entry-level positions within the gaming industry. Entry-level game design jobs are rare. Instead, you typically learn the ins and the outs of the industry through hands-on experience. While it is essential you have a technical working knowledge of how computer games work, this will not automatically qualify you for a designer position. Instead, “Occupational Outlook Quarterly” notes that most designers enter the field and work as game testers, producers, programmers and artists.
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Build your resume with each project you work on. Attempt to work on more than one aspect of various projects as you do. In other words, if you can serve as the graphic artist on one game project and then as a programmer on the next, this will significantly reduce the time it will take you to build an impressive resume. It will also reduce the learning curve of the job. As you build your resume, put together a demo of all of the projects you have worked on to show potential employers.
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Network with other professionals in the industry. Game Career Guide suggests that the easiest way to accomplish this is to attend major industry events, such as the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco, the Montreal International Games Summit, the E3 Media and Business Summit in Santa Monica and the Austin Game Developers Conference.
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Apply for open positions through major game industry job websites such as Gamasutra. Major developers, including EA Sports and THQ, regularly post open positions to these sites.
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