The Beginnings of a Game Designer
Crossing into a Game Design role on a team is a challenge for newcomers. There are often fewer design roles compared to other fields, and unlike programming where there’s firm accreditations that you can rely upon to prove to an employer, Game Design hiring managers often look to your past successes and experiences to see whether or not you have the judgement skills to become a Game Designer.
So, then, what's the Best Way to Become a Game Designer?
I've gotten this question many times throughout my career. I definitely had a challenge in figuring it out for myself. I figure that the best way I can give a substantial answer is two parts: what did I do to get into games, and what would I do if I had to do it all over again.
I wanted to start here because it's important to me to give advice on whatever stage you're starting from. Being a game designer can be a job title, but more fundamentally, it's a mindset that leaks across your hobbies in one way or another!
I am incredibly fortunate to work professionally as a Lead Game Designer on Mixmob Racer 1, a role that respects me in my separate pursuit as an indie game creator with my Honey Hound Games projects.
With that all in mind, what's a better way to show you how to be a game designer than to share my story? Let's take it from the top!
Self-Discovery
I grew up in rural Saskatchewan in the 1990s. Vast open fields, small towns, some of the most beautiful skies you can imagine... but nothing comparable to a technology or entertainment sector.
As you can guess, there's not a lot to do. It was a simple life and moved slowly, but there was plenty of room to imagine.
It didn’t come with the cosmopolitan perks of major cities, but I do credit the wide open skies as opportunities to imagine.
Often I’d look at the wispy unobstructed clouds over fields and see stories unfolding.
Photo by MattrichmoThe 1990s were also a key decade for gaming. Fortunately, we had a Game Boy, Sega Genesis, and a Nintendo 64. I remember unwrapping the N64 over Christmas Day and being blown away by our first experience of 3D gaming (Ocarina of Time is still a beautiful game, and that aesthetic is, dare I say, timeless).
Hundreds, more likely thousands, of hours were spent in the family basement with my brothers playing games and sharing experiences. As the youngest, I often had to play spectator to my older brothers playing through some grander experiences. I fondly remember the three of us playing Goldeneye and making up our own rules inside the multiplayer modes mere moments before descending into impatient chaos.
I was also introduced to a few key opportunities that same year, Age of Empires II and Starcraft released with Map Editors. These were built-in tools that players could use to create their own levels and game content. I was instantly hooked. I would spend hours creating content and scenarios to share with other players online. Feedback was often muted but I loved the opportunity to share.
An example of Starcraft’s StarEdit level creation software. I spent plenty of all-nighters creating maps with bizarre new custom rules. With StarCraft characters standing in for heroes of my own creation.
This led me to seek out other game-creation content. Klick n' Play and RPG Maker were my next level up. Being less tied into a specific game format allowed me to try new mechanics and discover new ones. I would take my RPG games, copy them onto floppy disks, and turn around to sell them at my school to supportive friends (Thanks, William!). Happy to say my very first game sale was around age 12 - I guess I was a paid Game Designer then?
Every few months, I'd be trying something else that was new. Another foray was using a modding platform called OpenBOR (Beats of Rage). This fan-based community tool reworked the fighting game Streets of Rage. My mod took sprites from Nintendo's Kirby Superstar and created a bare-knuckle brawler. I wouldn't consider the cute pink ball of Kirby a natural fit for a beat 'em up. Even so, I was pleasantly surprised to find it racked up several thousand downloads.
A screenshot from my Kirby mod of Beats of Rage. For those who may need to become more familiar, Mods (or Video Game Modding) are user-generated edits of existing systems and games.
Each time I went out and tried something new, even if they were built as a layer on a game content editor, I knew that being a Game Designer was who I was. I didn't need to work for a triple-A studio to showcase that.
But I want to end off with this - you don't need Unity, Unreal, or Godot to be a game designer. You are a Game Designer when you create a level in Halo Forge. You're a Game Designer when you design an encounter in your next Dungeons & Dragons session.
Next time we'll discuss how I took this passion from homebrew to venturing out to University and Game Design schooling!
Ideas to Get Started
Don't let Game Engines prevent you from designing your own game experiences. You can create encounters in your favorite tabletop roleplaying games or board games with only a few pieces of paper and a pencil!
Check out platforms for beginner designers that allow you to focus on content over technology. Roblox and Super Mario Maker are game specifically designed for
