A game designer is a person who designs games. The term normally refers to a person who designs video or computer games, but it can also refer to one who designs traditional games, such as board games.

Video and computer game designer

A video or computer game designer develops the layout, concept and gameplay: the game design of a video or computer game. This may include playfield design, specification writing, and entry of numeric properties that balance and tune the gameplay. A game designer works for a developer (which may additionally be the game's video game publisher). This person usually has a lot of writing experience and may even have a degree in writing or a related field (such as English). This person's primary job function is writing, so the more experience they have with the activity, the better. Some art and programming skills are also helpful for this job, but are not strictly necessary. Game designers often have studied relevant liberal arts such as psychology, sociology, drama, or philosophy.

In the video game industry, the job of game designer is one of the hardest to obtain. It is not easy, though many people (especially teenage boys) think they "have what it takes" to perform this job. Almost everyone in the game industry has what they believe is a "killer game" concept and is waiting for the opportunity to develop the game. As a game designer, they may get the opportunity to develop that game concept, so competition is usually very high.

Since a video game publisher may invest millions of dollars towards a game's development, it is easy to understand why they choose game designers carefully—one or two poor game concepts could end up costing them millions of dollars of revenue and could even risk bankrupting the company. For this reason, game publishers usually choose game designers who have a proven track record with several hit games under their belts. Less seasoned designers may be assigned to low profile games that have budgets in the low tens of thousands.

History

Early in the history of video games, game designers were often the lead programmer or the only programmer for a game. This is the case of such noted designers as Sid Meier and Will Wright. This person also sometimes comprised the entire art team! As games became more complex and computers and consoles became more powerful (allowing more features), the job of game designer became a separate job function, with the lead programmer splitting his time between the two functions, moving from one role to the other.

Later, game complexity escalated to the point where it required someone who concentrated solely on game design. Many early veterans chose the game design path eschewing programming and relegating 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 relatively simple games, such as Tetris or Bejewelled. With very complex games, such as MMORPGs, 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.

Notable video and computer game designers

• Danielle Bunten Berry, of the seminal M.U.L.E. and Seven Cities of Gold
• Chris Crawford, creator of Balance of Power and the first computer game design book The Art of Computer Game Design
• Jon Freeman, designer of the Archon series of games
• Richard Garriott (Lord British), developer of the Ultima series of computer games
• Julian Gollop, designer of Chaos, Laser Squad and X-COM: UFO Defense
• Hideo Kojima of the popular Metal Gear Solid series
• Sid Meier of Civilization and Railroad Tycoon fame
• Shigeru Miyamoto of Donkey Kong, The Legend of Zelda and Super Mario series
• Peter Molyneux of the Populous series, Black and White and Theme Park among others
• Brian Reynolds, Civilization II, Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri and Rise of Nations
• John Romero of Wolfenstein 3D, the Doom and Quake series and game engines
• Hironobu Sakaguchi of the popular Final Fantasy series
• Yu Suzuki, designer of many classics that became genres, such as Hang On, Virua racing , Virtua Fighter series,F-355 Chalenge and the Shenmue series
• Roberta Williams, designer of King's Quest and several other computer game series
• Will Wright, designer of SimCity and The Sims

Other notable game designers

• Richard Garfield - collectible card game (Magic: The Gathering) and board game designer
• Gary Gygax and David Arneson - creators of Dungeons & Dragons

External links

• Game design veteran Tom Sloper's game biz advice

Newsgroups

• comp.games.development.design via Google Groups
• rec.games.design via Google Groups