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    A Comprehensive Guide to Video Game Design Schools
    A Comprehensive Guide to Video Game Design Schools
    A Comprehensive Guide to Video Game Design Schools
    Ebook264 pages3 hours

    A Comprehensive Guide to Video Game Design Schools

    By Joseph J. Madden

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    About this ebook

    Game design, a subset of game development, is the process of designing the content and rules of a game in the pre-production stage and design of gameplay, environment, storyline, and characters during production stage. The term is also used to describe both the game design embodied in a game as well as documentation that describes such a design.. Game design requires artistic and technical competence as well as writing skills. You don't have to get a college degree to become a game tester, but it helps. This comprehensive guide includes listings of hundreds of the world's top game design schools with full contact information.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherAndale LLC
    Release dateOct 30, 2011
    ISBN9781465730701
    A Comprehensive Guide to Video Game Design Schools
    Author

    Joseph J. Madden

    Born and raised in Queens, New York, Joseph J. Madden now resides on a horse farm somewhere in the wilds of SE Wisconsin with his wife, daughters, and a wide assortment of fur-covered critters.In March of 1978, then-seven year-old Joseph saw the original Star Wars in the theaters for the first time, an event that stirred within him a life-long love of science fiction and fantasy. By the age of twelve he began writing his own science fiction epics, a passion that continues to this day.Along with his first two novels The Starhawk Chronicles and Rest and Wreck-reation: The Starhawk Chronicles, Book II, he has contributed to the David Bowie anthology 47-16 (Penny Dreadful Publishing), Crossroads in the Dark Volumes III & V (Burning Willow Press) and has released his own collection of short fiction, Other Worlds: A Collection of Science Fiction and Fantasy.

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      Book preview

      A Comprehensive Guide to Video Game Design Schools - Joseph J. Madden

      The College Route

      You don't have to get a college degree to become a game tester, but it helps. I got my first position as a programmer with 10 years of experience (starting at the age of 10) and no college degree (although I had over 100 credits). It's a balancing act: you are unlikely to get a position if you have no experience and no degree, and you are highly likely to get a position with substantial experience and a four year degree. Anything in between will be weighed against the other applicants for the job, so it's to your advantage to get as much experience and college work under your belt as you can.

      In general, the four-year degree is an entry point to many higher level jobs, and is fast replacing the high school diploma as the minimum necessary for any decent job. Just about any major will help you in game testing. For example: physics will help you know what kind of actions are believable and which are not; writing classes will help you with communication skills, a foreign language might help you communicate with teams from other countries, and so on. There's really no major or class that won't help you (for example, an appreciation of religious studies might help you understand Grim Fandango).

      Don't rule out online colleges. Upper echelons of academia may snub their noses at online colleges, but the fact is 99% of employers do not care that where you got your college degree, they just care that you have one. As long as your college is fully accredited by a major accrediting agency, your future employer will most likely not care which institution granted the degree. Many institutions say that they are accredited by a bogus agency (like the Global Accrediting Agency for Online Learning or The U.S. Accrediting Authority for Online Schools.) Don't take their word for it that their accreditation means anything: check with the Department of Educations' Database of Accredited Postsecondary Institutions and Programs at ope.ed.gov/accreditation/. Just type your institutions name into the website and it will tell you if the school is accredited by any organization worth their salt. It's as easy as that.

      Beware that colleges and universities can lose their accreditation for a variety of reasons-including problems with paperwork. One local college in Jacksonville, Edward Waters College, almost lost their accreditation in 2004 after accusations of financial mismanagement. Because accreditation (or lack thereof) isn't necessarily permanent, the following list may contain schools that are unaccredited. In addition, I didn't want to limit the list to US based schools: there are many quality schools around the world that are accredited by non-US agencies. If the school is located in the US, your best bet is to find a school you like and type their name into the Department of Education's website. For foreign schools, check with that departments education regulatory body.

      Introduction

      Early in video game history, game designers were lead programmers and often the only programmers for a game, and this remained true as the video game industry expanded in the 1970s. This person also sometimes comprised the entire art team. This is the case of such noted designers as Sid Meier, John Romero, Chris Sawyer and Will Wright. A notable exception to this policy was Coleco, which from its very start separated the function of design and programming.

      As games became more complex and computers and consoles became more powerful, the job of the game designer became separate from the lead programmer. Soon game complexity demanded team members focused solely on game design. Many early veterans chose the game design path eschewing programming and delegating those tasks to others.

      Today, it is rare to find a video or computer game where the principal programmer is also the principal designer, except in the case of casual games, such as Bejeweled. With very complex games, such as MMORPGs, or a big budget action or sports title, designers may number in the dozens. In these cases, there are generally one or two principal designers and many junior designers who specify subsets or subsystems of the game. In larger companies like Electronic Arts, each aspect of the game (control, level design) may have a separate producer, lead designer and several general designers.

      Overview

      Game design starts with an idea,[3] [4] [5][6] often a modification on an existing concept.[3][7] The game idea may fall within one or several genres. Designers often experiment with mixing genres.[8][9] The game designer usually produces an initial game proposal document containing the concept, gameplay, feature list, setting and story, target audience, requirements and schedule, staff and budget estimates.[10]

      Many decisions are made during the course of a game's development about the game's design; it is the responsibility of the designer to decide which elements will be implemented, based on, for example, consistency with the game's vision, budget or hardware limitations.[11]Design changes may have a significant positive or negative impact on required resources.[12]

      The designer may use scripting languages to implement and preview design ideas without necessarily modifying the game's codebase.[13][14]

      A game designer often plays video games and demos to follow the game market development.[15]

      It is common for the game designer's name to misleadingly be given an undue amount of association to the game, neglecting the rest of the development team.[16]

      Funding game publishers must be taken into account, who may have specific expectations from a game[17] as most video games are market-driven — developed to sell for profit.[18] However, if financial issues do not influence designer's decisions, the game becomes design-or designer-driven; few games are designed this way because of lack of funding.[19] Alternatively, a game may be technology-driven, such as Quake (1996),[20] to show off a particular hardware achievement or to market the game engine.[20] Finally, rarely a game may be art-driven, such as Myst (1993),[21] mainly to show off impressive visuals designed by artists.[21]

      In The Study of Games, Brian Sutton-Smith writes:

      " Each person defines games in his own way — the anthropologists and folklorists in terms of historical origins; the military men, businessmen,and educators in terms of usages; the social scientists in terms of psychological and social functions. There is overwhelming evidence in all this that the meaning of games is, in part, a function of the ideas of those who think about them. ...

      ... A game designer is a particular kind of designer, much like a graphic designer, industrial designer, or architect. A game designer is not necessarily a programmer, visual designer, or project manager, although sometimes he or she can also play these roles in the creation of a game. A game designer might work alone or as part of a larger team. A game designer might create card games, social games, video games, or any other kind of game. The focus of a game designer is designing game play, conceiving and designing rules and structures that result in an experience for players.

      Thus game design, as a discipline, requires a focus on games in and of themselves. Rather than placing games in the service of another field such as sociology, literary criticism, or computer science, our aim is to study games within their own disciplinary space. Because game design is an emerging discipline, we often borrow from other areas of knowledge — from mathematics and cognitive science; from semiotics and cultural studies. We may not borrow in the most orthodox manner, but we do so in the service of helping to establish a field of game design proper. "

      Game designer

      A game designer is a person who designs gameplay, conceiving and designing the rules and structure of a game.[22][23][24] Many designers start their career in testing department, where mistakes by others can be seen first-hand.[25]

       Lead designer coordinates the work of other designers and is the main visionary of the game.[26][27] Lead designer ensures team communication, makes large design decisions, and presents design outside of the team.[28] Often the lead designer is technically and artistically astute.[29] Keeping well-presented documentation also falls within the lead designer responsibilities.[30] Lead designer may be the founder of a game development company or may be sent by the publisher, if the game's concept is provided by the publisher.[27]

       Game mechanics designer or systems designer designs and balances gameplay mechanics.[27]

       Level designer or environment designer is a position becoming prominent in the recent years.[16] Level designer is the person responsible for creating game environment, levels, and missions.[31[32][33][34]

       Writer is a person often employed part-time to conceive game's narrative, dialogue, commentary, cutscene narrative, journals, video game packaging content, hint system, etc.[35][36][37][38] It is responsibility of the writer to collaborate with primary designers[38][39] to seamlessly place this content into the game, creating immersion, avoiding repetition, providing feedback, etc.[40] Writing for games involves a different set of skills from those for traditional works, such as novels or screenplays, as the writer must collaborate with the other designers during the writing process. [38]

      Compensation

      In 2010, a game designer with more than six years of experience earned an average of US$65,000, $54,000 with three to six years of experience and $44,000 with less than 3 years of experience. Lead designers earned $75,000 with three to six years of experience and $95,000 with more than six years of experience.[41]

      World design

      World design is the creation of a backstory, setting, and theme for the game; often done by a lead designer.[42]

      System design

      System design is the creation of game rules and underlying mathematical patterns.[42]

      Content design

      Content design is the creation of characters, items, puzzles, and missions.[42]

      Game writing

      Game writing involves writing dialogue, text, and story.[42]

      Level design

      Level design is the construction of world levels and its features.[31][32][33][42]

      User interface design

      User interface design constructs the user interactions and feedback interface.[42]

      Game elements

      Narrative

      Numerous games have narrative elements which give a context to an event in a game, make the activity of playing it less abstract and enhance its entertainment value, although narrative elements are not always clearly present or present at all. The original version of Tetris is an example of a game apparently without narrative. It should be noted that some narratologists claim that all games have a narrative element. Some go further and claim that games are essentially a form of narrative. Narrative in practice can be the starting point for the development of a game, or alternatively can be added to a design that started as a set of game mechanics.

      Gameplay

      Gameplay is a commonly used term used to describe the interactive aspects of video game design. Gameplay involves player interaction with the game, usually for the purpose of entertainment, education or training.

      Design process

      The design process varies from designer to designer and companies have different formal procedures and philosophies.[43]

      The typical textbook approach is to start with a concept or a previously completed game and from there create a game design document. This document is intended to map out the complete game design and acts as a central resource for the development team. This document should ideally be updated as the game evolves throughout the production process.

      Designers are frequently expected to adapt to multiple roles of widely varying nature: For example, concept prototyping can be assisted with the use of pre-existing engines and tools like Game Maker. Level designs might be done first on paper and again for the game engine using a 3D modelling tool. Scripting languages are used for many elements—AI, cutscenes, GUI, environmental processes, and many other behaviours and effects—that designers would want to tune without a programmer's assistance. Setting, story and character concepts require a research and writing process. Designers may oversee focus testing, write up art and audio asset lists, and write game documentation. In addition to the skillset, designers are ideally clear communicators with attention to detail and ability to delegate responsibilities appropriately.

      Design approval in the commercial setting is a continuous process from the earliest stages until the game ships:

      When a new project is being discussed (either internally, or as a result of dialogue with potential publishers), the designer may be asked to write a sell-sheet of short concepts, followed by a one or two-page pitch of specific features, audience, platform, and other details. Designers will first meet with leads in other departments to establish agreement on the feasibility of the game given the available time, scope, and budget. If the pitch is approved, early milestones focus on the creation of a fleshed-out design document. Some developers advocate a prototyping phase before the design document is written to experiment with new ideas before they become part of the design.

      As production progresses, designers are asked to make frequent decisions about elements missing from the design. The consequences of these decisions are hard to predict and often can only be determined after creating the full implementation. These are referred to as the unknowns of the design, and the faster they are uncovered, the less risk the team faces later in the production process. Outside factors such as budget

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