Design Research

Okay, as part of an assignment for the Production Track we had to choose a key discipline from Game Development (Art, Design or Programming) and had to research key roles within that discipline and average salaries. I chose to research Design as it's the discipline I'd hope to find a career in one day. I started my research like everyone else, with a quick google search and by typing Game Design into Wikipedia.

I found that the International Game Developers Association (IGDA) lists four types of Game Designers:

• Lead Designer
• Level Designer
• Basic Game Designers
• Fiction/Screen Writers

However, these roles can be broken down further to cover a wider range of responsibilities that each role covers:

• World Design – This focuses on the backstory, setting and theme of the game.
• System Design – This is the creation of the games rules and underlying mathematical patterns.
• Content Design – This focuses on the creation of characters, puzzles, missions and items for the game.
• Game Writing – This involves writing text, dialogue and the story of the game.
• Level Design – This focuses on creating levels and environments and their features.
• User Interface Design – This is the construction of the user interactions and feedback interface, like menus or heads-up displays.

Finding the average salary for each role was a little more difficult. However, this was only because there were so many different valuations available and of course this is expected as salaries in an industry as dynamic as the Video Game industry can be affected by a number of factors.

I found that, in the UK, A new Video Game Designer with previous industry experience could earn around £19,000 per year. After two or three years in the industry this could rise to around £25,000 - £35,000. A Lead Designer may earn between £35,000 and £55,000 per year.

The final part of the assignment was to make a list of some of the individuals who were most successful in their discipline. It's a designers job to make games fun. If games weren't fun, the industry would collapse. This list includes some designers that are a personal inspiration and key figures in the industry. There are a couple that I didn't know about until I researched them but they are all successful designers nonetheless.

• Shigeru Miyamoto (Shigsy) – Video Game Designer and producer. He is credited with creating legendary franchises such as The Legend of Zelda, Super Mario Bros, Donkey Kong, Star Fox and Pikmin.
• Christian Allen – Lead Designer on the Ghost Recon series and Halo Reach.
• Naoto Oshima – Video Game designer that formally worked for Sega. He created the characters of Sonic The Hedgehog and Dr. Eggman.
• Ken Rolston – Lead designer on Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind and Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion. He is also credited with being the Lead Creative Visionary for Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning.
• Fumito Ueda – Lead Designer for Ico and Shadow of the Colossus.
• Jenell Jaquays – Leader of Game Design for Coleco in the 1980’s and a designer/level designer on the Quake series.
• Marc Laidlaw – Designer/Writer at Valve for the Half-Life series.

In terms of my personal preference on a job role and responsibilities. I'm still unsure. I've enjoyed every aspect of design that we've covered in lectures and on projects so far and I think I need to keep learning and trying my hand at covering multiple responsibilities and seeing where I excel and where I maybe need to improve before I can even think about making an informed decision on where my future lies. However, I'm pretty sure my future is in design.

More updates to follow shortly.

Keep it real!