A few months back, I was asked to do a write up on the different disciplines that exist in game design to help onboard a new designer. As a neophyte to design, this person is still unsure of what realm they are hoping to dive into long-term. This was created as a template, a broad introduction, on the different vectors that exist in game design that they may get introduced to during their initial first few years as a developer. While this is a broad list, it isn’t everything, but covers a lot of common roles I’ve come across during my time in game design.
Overview
A summary of the typical tasks and expectations for a newly minted game designer. The intent is to give a broad overview of the most common roles and tasks most new designers experience. An additional quick description of some of the more common disciplines within the design group is also included. Please note that each project, each strike team, and each craft have their own unique characteristics. This is meant to serve as merely a general guide for the purpose of providing some insight into the craft.
A brief introduction to Game Design and the expectations for a junior or entry level designer
Trying to sum up the complicated nature and description of what a “Game Designer” does is often difficult and hard to explain to those who are not familiar with the general processes of game development. Game designers often don’t code like a programmer, but most know some code language. Designers usually don’t create art assets, or have much to do with rigging an animation for those art assets. Designers also don’t spend a lot of time planning out milestones or developing a schedule; those aspects are often left to game production, directors, and product owners.
Instead, designers are often the midpoint between all disciplines, taking each aspect of development and actually making them work.
Years ago, an article on Gamasutra written by Liz England summed up the overall function of a game designer in a very elegant way. She equates the job of a game designer as someone who has to make a door open and close; game designers don’t fabricate doors, they don’t make the code that opens the door, but they are the ones who bring those multiple aspects together and add the finishing touches to it. If you’re curious, you can find the article here: https://www.gamasutra.com/blogs/LizEngland/20140423/216092/quotThe_Door_Problemquot_of_Game_Design.php
What makes game design such a unique and fun discipline is the encouragement and frequent discussions surrounding new or older games. As a game designer, you should have a vested interest in video, board, or table top games. Not many other professions allow a group of people to discuss game mechanics or share experiences with a game during work hours, and most often, it’s highly encouraged. You’ll frequently hear people refer to experiences they had in a game as starting points for design discussions and the more exposure you have to all things gaming the more at ease you’ll feel. Think about a positive experience you had in a game recently, be it tabletop, video, or board game, and how that experience stuck with you. What made it so fun and unique? What about that moment was so exciting? Now, just take another moment to realize that you are now part of the opportunity to make someone else feel the same way!
An important piece of information to keep in mind as a new game designer is that no one expects you to know everything. In fact, the expectation most other team members have for a new designer is the interest in learning and observation. That’s basically it!
The thirst for knowledge and the curiosity of trying to understand how things work are the most highly sought after traits that are expected. This message is often echoed frequently to all new designers to help alleviate stress, and also to encourage the new designer to ask questions, or just shadow a more experienced designer. Ideally, you’re a blank slate eager to learn and observe how the craft collaborates within itself and with other game development disciplines.
During the learning process, most new designers begin to notice the specializations that make up a design team or craft. We’ll examine some of these disciplines and specializations in more detail shortly. The most important takeaway any new designer should carry through their entry experiences is that you will find you are stronger in some aspects of design and weaker in others. This is more than okay; knowing where your interests, strengths, and passions fall while also being cognizant of your weaknesses will only strengthen your arsenal in personal development tools and skills.
A more in depth examination of the typical tasks of a junior or entry level designer
We’ve touched on the general expectation by most team members of a newly appointed designer, with an emphasis on the interest in learning and observing.
Depending on the starting point into development for the new designer, their experiences with game development in general is very personal and custom to them.
Some designers begin their journey as developers in Quality Assurance, Customer Support, Content Marketing, or another department altogether, allowing them to witness some of the workflow and processes, including deliverables, testing, release, and support (such as hotfixes and bug reports). Others get their start through a game development school or program, which typically has more of an emphasis on tools and content creation. The array of experiences each new designer has varies making it obvious that there is no one right path into game design.
Having familiarity with the development process or tool sets such as editors and 3D modeling software helps, but isn’t always necessary. This is because each design group is unique. For example, even though Unity is a very commonly used editor, no two products or games utilize the editor the exact same way. Most games require custom built tools for content creation and bug fixing, such as localization and data management. While it helps to have a basic understanding of an editor such as Unreal or Unity, just keep in mind that you will still need to spend some time learning the basic aspects of the tools.
Most new designers (no matter their level) spend the majority of their onboarding process learning the intricacies of the tools, including limitations, bugs, and workarounds.
As you work through multiple aspects of the design process you will begin to notice items that you feel more comfortable with than others. Make sure to keep notes and highlight areas that interest you, that confuse you, or you don’t feel comfortable with touching, because this will help continue facilitating your development growth.
Once a new designer is comfortable with tools and processes, the most common tasks that they begin to tackle often depend on the team’s needs. You may spend weeks fixing old bugs, or helping polish a new content area, you may spend time creating player items and gear, or you may even spend most of your day testing or peer reviewing another designer’s work before it is ready to go to QA. The more exposure you have to testing will help expedite the learning process while also allowing you to help a fellow designer make target deliverable dates with a more polished experience. The most important takeaway during this time is to remain patient with yourself; no one expects a junior designer to build flawless or bugfree content. Instead, the expectation is always going to be the continued willingness to learn and observe.
After a few cycles of shadowing, testing, bug fixing, or tackling smaller tasks, remember to keep updating your personal notes on aspects of these processes you find to be most passionate about, aspects you’d like to learn more about, and areas you still aren’t comfortable with working on. During your one-on-ones with a manager or discussions with your mentors, a more clearly defined role for you will begin to emerge. There is no set time limit for when these specific items will be hit; it’s all very custom to the new designer and will take some time to develop. Have patience with yourself while also continuing to ask questions, observe, and take detailed notes. Once you are ready, you’ll begin to work toward some of the more specialized disciplines within the design department.
The design team/craft makeup
Keep in mind that each product may have a different set of specialization designers. Here, we’ll examine some of the more common disciplines within design: Systems, Content, Narrative, Level, and Economy Design. These are just broad and general descriptions, but are a good starting point in examining some of the aspects you as a new designer may find interesting. The biggest item of note is that each discipline works closely with each other to develop features and deliverables.
Systems Designers
Designing and working in systems is one of the more common disciplines within design. Typically, these systems can range from the creation of a crafting system, balancing player gear, and retrofitting older content values to newer ones. Most system designers work in numbers, spreadsheets, and formulas to help create a “balanced” gameplay experience.
Content Designers
Content designers often work with game mechanics such as quests, job boards, achievements, and other types of playable content to add more depth to the gameplay experience.
Narrative Designers
Narrative designers often specialize in the actual story that goes into the game. They work closely with all of the disciplines to tie together the plot and frequently write most of the quest and game descriptions of items such as player gear and lore.
Level Designers
Level designers specialize in creating the actual playable areas that go into the game, spending time working with artists and in game to get a feel for the overall gameplay environment. Painting terrain, using props, and building new areas are just some of their areas of specialization.
Economy Designers
Economy designers often work closely with system designers to create aspects of gameplay that rely heavily on currency. Similar and sometimes overlapping with system designers, their specializations often are focused on in-game shops, item costs, and items that can be purchased with real word currency.
Conclusion
Think of your introduction to game design as any other skill you may have had to learn and eventually mastered in the past. Things like learning how to ride a bike, playing an instrument, or even writing a good story all took time and practice to hone your skills. There will be some days you will feel you’re finally getting the hang of it only to notice a bug you cannot fix. Don’t fret, rather take a moment, maybe even a break, and come back to it. Don’t be afraid to ask for help. Asking for help, feedback, and continuing to ask questions are aspects that will help make you stronger and eventually allow you to develop a more natural intuition for design.
Remember that moment I asked you to recall from a recent gameplay experience that left you with a positive experience? At some point the content you help create will also do the same for someone else, and even though you may go through some trying times with the editor, with the tools, or even trying to understand how things work, it all pays off when you get to see a positive response to a piece of gameplay you helped design.
Valerie Kromas 