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A question I get a lot is "I want to be a game designer! How do I get started?" So, let's talk about that. It can be hard to get started, especially in a field with as much ambiguity as Game Design. We'll start with a disclaimer, and then my 3 tips.

A question I get a lot is "I want to be a game designer! How do I get started?" So, let's talk about that. It can be hard to get started, especially in a field with as much ambiguity as Game Design. We'll start with a disclaimer, and then my 3 tips.

MorelloNMST

Posted 4 years, 7 months ago (Source)

A question I get a lot is "I want to be a game designer! How do I get started?" So, let's talk about that. It can be hard to get started, especially in a field with as much ambiguity as Game Design. We'll start with a disclaimer, and then my 3 tips.

MorelloNMST

Posted 4 years, 7 months ago (Source)

Entry-level (as in you've never worked on a game professionally before) are rare. There are 1000s (!) of applicants for a lot of them. Most...pretty bad. This advice is a mix of how to stand out and compete, as well as to make sure you don't wait for the "magic position."

MorelloNMST

Posted 4 years, 7 months ago (Source)

1) Make some stuff! This is pretty "no duh," but this isn't as nuts as it seems - especially with how many accessible tools and the wealth of information out there. And scope can be reasonable! You don't have to make the next Undertale.

MorelloNMST

Posted 4 years, 7 months ago (Source)

Mods, maps, and other hobbyist content is really good - especially if you can make something people want to play, and like. A lot of folks you probably see out here got their start this way (@SalGarazzo is a really good example)

MorelloNMST

Posted 4 years, 7 months ago (Source)

Unity and Unreal 4 also give you a fantastic starting place, with more online information available than you can imagine. Places like Steam Workshop give mods a venue. If you want to design because you love -making stuff-, this is the way

MorelloNMST

Posted 4 years, 7 months ago (Source)

2) Ground-floor entry. While entry-level positions for designers are rare, they're much more common in some other fields; QA, customer support, and "Assistant" roles particularly. This route concentrates on making yourself qualified by actually knowing how game dev works.

MorelloNMST

Posted 4 years, 7 months ago (Source)

Now, even entry-level roles can be tough to secure here too. But QA has a few other advantages. * Look for contract work. These much more often hire entry-level folks, and are great starting points. It can be rough, too.

MorelloNMST

Posted 4 years, 7 months ago (Source)

Entry-level, contract positions often feature low pay, long hours and weak benefits. But, there is a big opportunity to learn about development in a practical way, and get your resume strengthened. It's also a good step obviously. for a QA career!

MorelloNMST

Posted 4 years, 7 months ago (Source)

A few companies to start your search are Enzymes, Testronic, and Volt - all big players in the for-hire QA world. They have a lot of locations, too, if you're not ready to move your life to shoot your shot. Start here. Apply *everywhere*.

MorelloNMST

Posted 4 years, 7 months ago (Source)

My big caveat to this; QA IS NOT ONLY TO USE AS A STEPLADDER TO OTHER POSITIONS. This might seem contradictory to my first post, but it's nuanced; QA is a good entry level into design because it teaches you skills that matter. QA is also a real career path on its own.

MorelloNMST

Posted 4 years, 7 months ago (Source)

I'll tell you now that one way to fail fast here is to get into QA with your eyes locked on another position. Sure, something like design is a good goal, but your first job will be to be a good QA analyst. If you go into QA and just think about design, you're gonna fail out.

MorelloNMST

Posted 4 years, 7 months ago (Source)

My time in QA has been ultra-valuable to me as a designer - both when I was new and as a veteran. It taught me how little things impact the product and my team. It taught me the importance of good communication. And how to deliver critical feedback in a way that feels good.

MorelloNMST

Posted 4 years, 7 months ago (Source)

3) Transferrable professional experience. That is use your expertise in other fields to start in design. A lot of experience is valuable, if you let it be. Fields that teach rigorous problem-solving and evaluation do well in design.

MorelloNMST

Posted 4 years, 7 months ago (Source)

*-engineering (such as mechanical, civil, or computer) psychology (which design is leveraging constantly) law, finance, etc. Writing and project management can help too, depending on the roles and teams. Downside is that it does require you have a professional background first.

MorelloNMST

Posted 4 years, 7 months ago (Source)

A lot of the advantage these candidates have is experience being a team member in a professional environment, too. Teaching a fresh grad who has never worked a professional job how to do that does incur an overhead that is, frankly, less attractive all things being equal.

MorelloNMST

Posted 4 years, 7 months ago (Source)

OK! That was long. Feel free to ask any questions and I'll respond as best I can. Tomorrow we'll discuss "you think you want to be a Game Designer, but do you?"

Iksar

Posted 4 years, 7 months ago (Source)

@MorelloNMST This is the question I usually try to get to the bottom of before anything else. More than half of the people that ask me about getting into design end up finding out they don’t actually want to be designers once they figure out what the job really is.

<blockquote class="quoted">
 
</blockquote>
A question I get a lot is "I want to be a game designer! How do I get started?"

So, let's talk about that. It can be hard to get started, especially in a field with as much ambiguity as Game Design.

We'll start with a disclaimer, and then my 3 tips. (<a href="https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1409227985157230592">None</a>)
<hr/>

<blockquote class="quoted">
 
</blockquote>
Entry-level (as in you've never worked on a game professionally before) are rare. There are 1000s (!) of applicants for a lot of them. Most...pretty bad.

This advice is a mix of how to stand out and compete, as well as to make sure you don't wait for the "magic position." (<a href="https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1409227992526639104">None</a>)
<hr/>

<blockquote class="quoted">
 
</blockquote>
1) Make some stuff! This is pretty "no duh," but this isn't as nuts as it seems - especially with how many accessible tools and the wealth of information out there.

And scope can be reasonable! You don't have to make the next Undertale. (<a href="https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1409227999032098819">None</a>)
<hr/>

<blockquote class="quoted">
 
</blockquote>
Mods, maps, and other hobbyist content is really good - especially if you can make something people want to play, and like.

A lot of folks you probably see out here got their start this way (@SalGarazzo is a really good example) (<a href="https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1409228001309605890">None</a>)
<hr/>

<blockquote class="quoted">
 
</blockquote>
Unity and Unreal 4 also give you a fantastic starting place, with more online information available than you can imagine. Places like Steam Workshop give mods a venue.

If you want to design because you love -making stuff-, this is the way (<a href="https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1409228007911395332">None</a>)
<hr/>

<blockquote class="quoted">
 
</blockquote>
2) Ground-floor entry. While entry-level positions for designers are rare, they're much more common in some other fields; QA, customer support, and "Assistant" roles particularly.

This route concentrates on making yourself qualified by actually knowing how game dev works. (<a href="https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1409228010121793537">None</a>)
<hr/>

<blockquote class="quoted">
 
</blockquote>
Now, even entry-level roles can be tough to secure here too. But QA has a few other advantages.

* Look for contract work. These much more often hire entry-level folks, and are great starting points. It can be rough, too. (<a href="https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1409228017856135172">None</a>)
<hr/>

<blockquote class="quoted">
 
</blockquote>
Entry-level, contract positions often feature low pay, long hours and weak benefits. But, there is a big opportunity to learn about development in a practical way, and get your resume strengthened.

It's also a good step obviously. for a QA career! (<a href="https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1409228020473282562">None</a>)
<hr/>

<blockquote class="quoted">
 
</blockquote>
A few companies to start your search are Enzymes, Testronic, and Volt - all big players in the for-hire QA world. They have a lot of locations, too, if you're not ready to move your life to shoot your shot.

Start here. Apply *everywhere*. (<a href="https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1409228027293319171">None</a>)
<hr/>

<blockquote class="quoted">
 
</blockquote>
My big caveat to this; QA IS NOT ONLY TO USE AS A STEPLADDER TO OTHER POSITIONS. This might seem contradictory to my first post, but it's nuanced;

QA is a good entry level into design because it teaches you skills that matter. QA is also a real career path on its own. (<a href="https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1409228029214310405">None</a>)
<hr/>

<blockquote class="quoted">
 
</blockquote>
I'll tell you now that one way to fail fast here is to get into QA with your eyes locked on another position. Sure, something like design is a good goal, but your first job will be to be a good QA analyst.

If you go into QA and just think about design, you're gonna fail out. (<a href="https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1409228031189786633">None</a>)
<hr/>

<blockquote class="quoted">
 
</blockquote>
My time in QA has been ultra-valuable to me as a designer - both when I was new and as a veteran.

It taught me how little things impact the product and my team. It taught me the importance of good communication. And how to deliver critical feedback in a way that feels good. (<a href="https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1409228033534332928">None</a>)
<hr/>

<blockquote class="quoted">
 
</blockquote>
3) Transferrable professional experience. That is use your expertise in other fields to start in design.

A lot of experience is valuable, if you let it be. Fields that teach rigorous problem-solving and evaluation do well in design. (<a href="https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1409228039788052485">None</a>)
<hr/>

<blockquote class="quoted">
 
</blockquote>
*-engineering (such as mechanical, civil, or computer) psychology (which design is leveraging constantly) law, finance, etc.

Writing and project management can help too, depending on the roles and teams.

Downside is that it does require you have a professional background first. (<a href="https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1409228041809715201">None</a>)
<hr/>

<blockquote class="quoted">
 
</blockquote>
A lot of the advantage these candidates have is experience being a team member in a professional environment, too.

Teaching a fresh grad who has never worked a professional job how to do that does incur an overhead that is, frankly, less attractive all things being equal. (<a href="https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1409228044007526410">None</a>)
<hr/>

<blockquote class="quoted">
 
</blockquote>
OK! That was long. Feel free to ask any questions and I'll respond as best I can. Tomorrow we'll discuss "you think you want to be a Game Designer, but do you?" (<a href="https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1409228046876430348">None</a>)
<hr/>

<blockquote class="quoted">
 
</blockquote>
@MorelloNMST This is the question I usually try to get to the bottom of before anything else. More than half of the people that ask me about getting into design end up finding out they don’t actually want to be designers once they figure out what the job really is. (<a href="https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1409379457077432324">Iksar</a>)
<hr/>

Tweet

A question I get a lot is "I want to be a game designer! How do I get started?"

So, let's talk about that. It can be hard to get started, especially in a field with as much ambiguity as Game Design.

We'll start with a disclaimer, and then my 3 tips.

Entry-level (as in you've never worked on a game professionally before) are rare. There are 1000s (!) of applicants for a lot of them. Most...pretty bad.

This advice is a mix of how to stand out and compete, as well as to make sure you don't wait for the "magic position."

1) Make some stuff! This is pretty "no duh," but this isn't as nuts as it seems - especially with how many accessible tools and the wealth of information out there.

And scope can be reasonable! You don't have to make the next Undertale.

Mods, maps, and other hobbyist content is really good - especially if you can make something people want to play, and like.

A lot of folks you probably see out here got their start this way (@SalGarazzo is a really good example)

Unity and Unreal 4 also give you a fantastic starting place, with more online information available than you can imagine. Places like Steam Workshop give mods a venue.

If you want to design because you love -making stuff-, this is the way

2) Ground-floor entry. While entry-level positions for designers are rare, they're much more common in some other fields; QA, customer support, and "Assistant" roles particularly.

This route concentrates on making yourself qualified by actually knowing how game dev works.

Now, even entry-level roles can be tough to secure here too. But QA has a few other advantages.

* Look for contract work. These much more often hire entry-level folks, and are great starting points. It can be rough, too.

Entry-level, contract positions often feature low pay, long hours and weak benefits. But, there is a big opportunity to learn about development in a practical way, and get your resume strengthened.

It's also a good step obviously. for a QA career!

A few companies to start your search are Enzymes, Testronic, and Volt - all big players in the for-hire QA world. They have a lot of locations, too, if you're not ready to move your life to shoot your shot.

Start here. Apply *everywhere*.

My big caveat to this; QA IS NOT ONLY TO USE AS A STEPLADDER TO OTHER POSITIONS. This might seem contradictory to my first post, but it's nuanced;

QA is a good entry level into design because it teaches you skills that matter. QA is also a real career path on its own.

I'll tell you now that one way to fail fast here is to get into QA with your eyes locked on another position. Sure, something like design is a good goal, but your first job will be to be a good QA analyst.

If you go into QA and just think about design, you're gonna fail out.

My time in QA has been ultra-valuable to me as a designer - both when I was new and as a veteran.

It taught me how little things impact the product and my team. It taught me the importance of good communication. And how to deliver critical feedback in a way that feels good.

3) Transferrable professional experience. That is use your expertise in other fields to start in design.

A lot of experience is valuable, if you let it be. Fields that teach rigorous problem-solving and evaluation do well in design.

*-engineering (such as mechanical, civil, or computer) psychology (which design is leveraging constantly) law, finance, etc.

Writing and project management can help too, depending on the roles and teams.

Downside is that it does require you have a professional background first.

A lot of the advantage these candidates have is experience being a team member in a professional environment, too.

Teaching a fresh grad who has never worked a professional job how to do that does incur an overhead that is, frankly, less attractive all things being equal.

OK! That was long. Feel free to ask any questions and I'll respond as best I can. Tomorrow we'll discuss "you think you want to be a Game Designer, but do you?"

@MorelloNMST This is the question I usually try to get to the bottom of before anything else. More than half of the people that ask me about getting into design end up finding out they don’t actually want to be designers once they figure out what the job really is. (<a href="https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1409379457077432324">Source</a>)
 
 <hr/>