Game Design

Game Design

Drew Alderson
10/26/10
English
Research essay
Game Design
Gaming in the present day is a huge, multi-million dollar industry. It is an industry that rivals the likes of movies, music, books, or television shows. It has far evolved the days of the seventies when games were just a so-called “fad” doomed to go the way of 8-track and beta-max. With this evolution from fad to global phenomenon, comes an evolution in the design process. It used to be that one man alone could create a game, but these days it takes entire teams of 40+ people to even consider making one. The title of video game designer has gone from being viewed as a person who has a “weird” obsession with computers to that of near rock-stardom within the industry. The question is: just what does it mean to be a video game designer? As with most jobs, the first thing people want to know is the salary. Game designers usually make a salary of about $43,024 – $69,015, of course with bonus ($989 - $5,048) Profit sharing ($1000-5000) and commission pay ($543 - $2,250) the total pay scale usually comes out to $41,862 - $70,053 depending on the city, company, type of job, and years of experience. (payscale.com) other things can be a factor in this, including the size of the company, type of project, how well the project sells, years of experience, and type of education. Education is important in all assets of the job and is often the deciding factor in whether or not you get the job. Most designers need training in calculus or analytic geometry level mathematics, both 2D and 3D Animation, Storyboarding in the form of fiction courses or storyboarding through digitization, Computer simulation in the form of A.I., game physics, or architectural design, and computer programming languages such as C++. There are plenty of degree programs that offer classes in all of these necessary skills. As for what a game designer does depends on the job title and the needs of the project. There are many different...