At the moment, the Global Gaming Market is worth $455 billion, with mobile gaming accounting for nearly $100 billion of that. Xbox and PlayStation are rapidly vanishing from stores, and their rising prices don’t seem to deter customers one bit. More so, gamers, gaming influencers, and gaming YouTubers are rising in number by the day. They not only have a viable career option with this but are making a killing in earnings by playing video games online. What was once a favorite pastime has now risen to something big and has birthed so many careers. One of the core elements behind the rise of the gaming industry is Game Design.
Game Design isn’t a lateral design field anymore but is placed right alongside other design courses. It is, if not more, important to the likes of Transport Design, Interior Design, Product Design, etc. Putting all of this into context, it is worth pursuing why the Gaming Industry has suddenly ticked off, what led to the rise of game design, and why it is a viable and thriving career option.
By definition, Game Design is a creative endeavor that utilizes art, technology, psychology, plot, and storytelling to provide an engaging and entertaining experience for its users. It is a growing field whose lucrative and alluring nature has attracted more designers in recent times.
Design, by its nature, is a creative field. However, Game Design adds an extra layer of fun and frolicking nature to it. This is a huge benefit, since the job remains light-hearted and enjoyable, irrespective of the burden of work. While passionate designers live their dreams by pursuing this field, they can also play around with the design elements and express their creativity in more ways than one.
Concerning the work they will be doing, Game Design can essentially be categorized into two parts – System Design and Level Design. It depends on what area interests an individual and where their specialty lies. Either way, both these options are fruitful ventures with a lot of promises.
System Designers are occupied with the tiniest details inside a video game that enables its functioning. From the movement of characters to their bodily actions to their style of locomotion and their physical abilities, a System Designer meticulously handles each aspect. They handle a lot of paperwork, like hand-drawn designs, spreadsheets, and a whole lot of theories. The technical aspects of the game are also explored in it.
Level Designers, on the other hand, are much more closely involved with world-building. The location of the game, how it will look, the various geographical elements required, and the overall landscape are some of the things that Level Designers work on. For them, the job is more like solving a puzzle or a hidden quest, except they do it with a lot of technical elements like UI/UX, etc.
Either sort of game design will require heavy involvement with a core group or team of professionals. From artists to engineers to developers, everybody will be inside a room when a design idea is brainstormed. This could be a professional boon, since unlike many jobs that are done in solitude, game design encourages collaborative work, which fosters growth and unlocks the hidden creative potential of any individual. There is also heavy research involved in finding out the right demographics. Knowing one’s audience is very crucial.
Other avenues inside game design, such as dialogue writing, creating graphics, and sound production, are also equally exciting occupations. Communication is integral to being a game designer; otherwise, how will a designer convey their exact vision to the team?
Game Designers play a lot of games in their free time, taking inspiration from them. Therefore, a pure entertainment activity becomes part of their daily professional life.
All in all, Game Design is becoming one of the most desired jobs in the industry. It is an occupation worth pursuing since the Bureau of Labor Statistics suggests that jobs in this field, including special effects artists and animators, will increase by 16% by 2030. But what’s much more fulfilling and wholesome is how game designers feel when their product is liked and loved by all. When they find out about the reactions of players around the world to their game design, their whole work takes on a whole different meaning.
However, unlike any other job, especially the ones that are creative, a game designer also has to take harsh feedback. Since the product is out in the open, people’s response to the initial layout will be of paramount importance.
A Game Designer must not be discouraged by unnecessary negative reviews and learn to sieve the important ones from the harmful ones. Nevertheless, if done right, the rewards are still tantamount. This makes it a career worth pursuing and a journey worth taking.
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