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Video Game Designers

Also called: Design Director, Designer, Game Designer, World Designer

Where in the military? In the military: see titles from the Marine Corps or Navy.

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What they do:
Design core features of video games. Specify innovative game and role-play mechanics, story lines, and character biographies. Create and maintain design documentation. Guide and collaborate with production staff to produce games as designed.
On the job, you would:
  • Balance and adjust gameplay experiences to ensure the critical and commercial success of the product.
  • Devise missions, challenges, or puzzles to be encountered in game play.
  • Create core game features, including storylines, role-play mechanics, and character biographies for a new video game or game franchise.

Knowledge

Engineering and Technology
  • design
  • computers and electronics
Communications
  • multimedia
Math and Science
  • arithmetic, algebra, geometry, calculus, or statistics
  • psychology
Arts and Humanities
  • English language

Skills

Basic Skills
  • listening to others, not interrupting, and asking good questions
  • reading work related information
Problem Solving
  • noticing a problem and figuring out the best way to solve it
People and Technology Systems
  • thinking about the pros and cons of different options and picking the best one
  • figuring out how a system should work and how changes in the future will affect it

Abilities

Verbal
  • read and understand what is written
  • communicate by writing
Ideas and Logic
  • come up with lots of ideas
  • create new and original ideas
Attention
  • pay attention to something without being distracted

Personality

People interested in this work like activities that include creating, designing, and making your own rules.
They do well at jobs that need:
  • Adaptability/Flexibility
  • Cooperation
  • Attention to Detail
  • Initiative
  • Achievement/Effort
  • Persistence

Technology

You might use software like this on the job:

Development environment software
  • C Hot Technology
  • Microsoft Visual Studio Hot Technology
Data base user interface and query software
  • Blackboard software
  • Microsoft SQL Server Hot Technology
Object or component oriented development software
  • C# Hot Technology
  • Objective C Hot Technology

Education

Education: (rated 4 of 5)
bachelor's degree or
high school diploma/GED
usually needed

Get started on your career:

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Job Outlook

Bright Outlook
New job opportunities are very likely in the future.
Salary
$79,890
$38,550
$168,200
Check out my state Local Salary Info Find Jobs

Explore More

See more details at O*NET OnLine about video game designers.