Video Game Designer

[e-jewell]

I'm in classes for graphic design, and my intent was advertising. But since my first class geared more specifically in that direction, just last night, coupled with my enthusiasm for gaming, I've been wondering if perhaps I should consider a career in vg design.

I'm only 18, and this has been my first year of college... so I don't quite know how things get once you start becoming more focused onto a particular subject field.

Anybody have any idea what sorts of skills are required to design? Obviously graphics, and some mathematics and the like.... mainly just curious what others think of this idea.

This is what's in my mind: I enjoy writing, so narration for games would be a fun treat for me (not to mention, IMO, the best games are the ones with the most prose-like dialogue). I'm already in classes for design and the like. I'm wondering, if I were to go ahead to a specialized school and get that degree, how a job op would pan out. Do I just design my own games and sell them to larger companies? Would a company hire me, and thus, I'd just be a small part of a chain making someone else's idea tangible?

Thoughts, input, etc. It IS a pretty booming industry, and it seems even the most idiotic of games are recognized. I, along with other friends I know into gaming, usually will play a shitty game just to add it to the reportoire of games we've played. So a flop of a game has a chance to make some decent money.

[Msterbeau]

CCS has a very good digital animation program which is maybe not the same thing but probably gets you a lot of the same skillz. Worth investigating but it is a very pricey school so that may not suit you. It's well worth finding a top level program no matter what field you're in as the people in the industry tend to look at those schools for a lot of their talent. Otherwise you'd better be stellar at it and make a really good reel that they can't ignore. Doing it yourself may be an option. Depends what you intend to produce. I don't play games much but I do have a lot of experience in the creative/design fields if you want to bounce ideas around.

[e-jewell]

Yeah... I still have quite a bit of time to think, after all. This class is just one of a string of 5 or so related to digital animation. A little ridiculous they do it in segments.....

We start by learning how to create a shape. Only, you can't just create a shape. You have to click, then click and hold control shift, then click again, then delete the 'handlebar' that forms.... I just don't get why we can't draw a fucking line in paint.

[Msterbeau]

Yeah... I still have quite a bit of time to think, after all. This class is just one of a string of 5 or so related to digital animation. A little ridiculous they do it in segments.....

We start by learning how to create a shape. Only, you can't just create a shape. You have to click, then click and hold control shift, then click again, then delete the 'handlebar' that forms.... I just don't get why we can't draw a fucking line in paint.

Creating things in a 3D app is very different then making shapes in paint or any other pixel-based app. Making complex objects requires you to imagine the whole construction process beforehand.. not as you go. What software are you learning in?

Also - Going to a top level school means you compete against the best... You will find out very quickly whether your talents are good enough or not.

[e-jewell]

Illustration, I believe? Just called 'Illustration', but I don't quite remember. We had MAC PCs and I was too busy being pissed off and annoyed about that to pay much attention to the assignment.

Also QuarkXpress, I remember seeing on our server applications list. I thought the name was silly.

[Msterbeau]

Illustration, I believe? Just called 'Illustration', but I don't quite remember. We had MAC PCs and I was too busy being pissed off and annoyed about that to pay much attention to the assignment.

Also QuarkXpress, I remember seeing on our server applications list. I thought the name was silly.

Ah.. Adobe Illustrator. Not 3D app. 2D. What's great about it is you can make graphic shapes very quickly and easily once you get used to it. And the file sizes tend to be much smaller then pixel based images that might come out of Photoshop, for instance. Quark is a page layout software. You make books and magazines and stuff like that with it.

You don't like Macs? Tsk Tsk. :-P

[e-jewell]

lol, it was my first time using one too. I'm far too proud to admit that I couldn't work a simple computer though, so I spent the good majority of the class trying to figure out on my own how to connect to student server, then access certain items, blah blah blah.... finally I relented and asked for help.

Our first assignment is to line over a very simple drawing, much like a children's coloring book. But with the complex rules to follow for drawing a simple line it's pretty difficult.... I just want to get this stuff out of the way so I can get to the animation.

[Msterbeau]

lol, it was my first time using one too. I'm far too proud to admit that I couldn't work a simple computer though, so I spent the good majority of the class trying to figure out on my own how to connect to student server, then access certain items, blah blah blah.... finally I relented and asked for help.

Our first assignment is to line over a very simple drawing, much like a children's coloring book. But with the complex rules to follow for drawing a simple line it's pretty difficult.... I just want to get this stuff out of the way so I can get to the animation.

Some of the tools you'll use in the 3D apps will work like those in Illustrator. Learn them and learn them well. You need solid foundational work before you go on to more complex stuff. I taught at CCS a few years in the evenings. Students always want to move on to the "good stuff" as quickly as possible, but the ones that spent the time and effort to learn the basics benefited a lot later. Also... you'll find that you need those skills in Illustrator and Photoshop to create textures and other bits of art, backrounds etc. to use in your animations. Do yourself a huge favor - Swallow your pride and learn the best you can. Ask every question that pops in your head. You're paying for an education... you may as well get the maximum out of the class you can.

[e-jewell]

Yeah... once I got the hang of it, not too difficult. It's just so tedious for something that can be done so much more quickly in paint or something.

[Msterbeau]

Yeah... once I got the hang of it, not too difficult. It's just so tedious for something that can be done so much more quickly in paint or something.

True. But there are specific reasons to use certain software. With Illustrator, all those shapes are very easy to edit later. Depending how you set up your files in Photoshop, that is rarely the case with pixel based art.

And Paint... get that outta your head...

[n0Mad]

Adobe Illustrator is a great program and you'll have to learn it if you want to do pretty much anything in the industry. Fireworks is also worth learning too because it handles vector drawings better. I think.

QuarkXPress is pretty much the industry standard for page layout design although Microsoft Publisher does have a small market share for certain things. I prefer Adobe InDesign because it integrates nicely with all the Adobe/Macromedia programs and is very quickly becoming one of the most popular, though Quark still edges it out do to tradition and familiarity.

But none of that really has anything to do with animation. I've dinked around in Flash but really know nothing about it. The only formal training I've had is with Lightwave 3D but that's been at least a decade so a lot has changed since then.

Students always want to move on to the "good stuff" as quickly as possible, but the ones that spent the time and effort to learn the basics benefited a lot later.... Do yourself a huge favor - Swallow your pride and learn the best you can. Ask every question that pops in your head. You're paying for an education... you may as well get the maximum out of the class you can.

X10²³

[Scary Guy]

3D modeling (since most games use that these days) and probably some programing. I'm playing Fable II at a friends house and the graphics on that are pretty amazing.

In the olden days just from what I know about DooM/2 they had to code all the maps and then add the texture files on the walls/floor etc... and all the monsters were 2D sprites even though it was one of the first 3D movement games (same thing with Wolfenstein 3D).

Me and another friend were discussing the 3D engine enhancements from over the years. Blockout was the first 3D tetris. Wolfenstein 3D was the first 3D FPS. DooM gave you up and down movement but you couldn't walk under anything since everything had an infinite height. Quake let you walk under things and the models were in 3D as well along with the first real use of Open GL/Direct X.

Not to mention lots of game companies created custom programs from scratch to help them create worlds/rules for their engines easier. But this isn't always the case.

I also remember making (well editing) skins for Quake II with an editor which were overlayed over .mdl files which were the 3D models of the player/monsters.

Be happy because you'll probably get to edit whatever you're doing in some program. People who did Atari graphics had to code everything in and make it fit on very little memory (4k? I forget).

Also prepare to move to India because that's probably where your job is headed too.

[e-jewell]

I'd love to move to India!

Anyways vg design is just one option I've considered. I'm at that age for experimenting with different careers and trying to discover one I'd mesh best with. After this semester I'll decide if that field is right for me.

lol good thing it's a community college, otherwise I'd never be able to afford this dillydallying.

[paradox]

no matter what you do in life, im going to double up on the advise to ALWAYS ASK FOR WHAT YOU WANT. no one will give you what you want til you ask for it. and when you ask for just about anything in life, youll be amazed at how easily some people will hand it over.

also, you lose nothing by asking and only stand to gain. not asking just delays you getting what you want. it can also make you stress out at not getting what you want and cause you to do things the wrong and hard way for no good reason.

work smarter, not harder. you dont need to reinvent the wheel when someone can just teach you to drive a car.

you know, way back when i was a brick paving laborer, we had a pun on the above little phrase: "Work harder, not smarter." dont go through life with the mentality of a laborer. it doesnt work. trust me.

another funny thing. my daughter currently wants to be a video game designer (seriously). shes only 10, but i still encourage her to learn skills that can be used in things besides vg design. if that job pans out, good, but dont hang a career on it. have a broad enough skillset to be flexible.

now get off my lawn. damn kids....

[Slept with ghost]

Looks like Jade Raymond might have to watch her back.