How To Get A Job In Game Design - Part 1 - What Is A Game Designer?

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Playlist: kzbin.info/www/bejne/m3m7YYiqe9-dp6M
00:00 Introduction
00:58 About Me
02:17 A Warning About The Game Industry
04:58 What Is A Game Designer?

[@MB-th6of]

Glad to see more of your content on the game industry! I'm almost done with my studies in game engineering and I'm halfway through your "math for gamedev "series, I learned from it more than the university. It's really educational and helpful. Thanks!

[@OGLDEV]

Welcome back! Great video!

[@canyoneternal]

This was really encouraging, thank you

[@TheJP100]

Thank you for this video and your previous videos, some have helped me a great deal in the past. I've been making game prototypes and have even gotten some uni education about game development for a couple of years but in all honesty, I don't even know what job I would like to do in a team environment, I'm a mediocre coder and terrible artist, all I have gotten relatively good at is predicting outcomes of changes to a game and basically anyone can do that with some experience! xD

[@JorgeVinoRodriguez]

Sounds like you're somewhere between game designer and game programmer! On large teams they force you to specialize and do one or the other, but maybe there are some indie teams that need help where you could wear more hats.

[@qiangpanchen6785]

Thank you for sharing, Jorge ! I am a game designer since 2006, recently doing some self learning about programming and found your math - code tutorials ;) Would be cool to hear about your experience of the advantages of knowing coding as a game designer ! Cheers ~~

[@JorgeVinoRodriguez]

Hello! It's really not that interesting actually, it's mostly struggling with garbage proprietary scripting languages, and there's very little math involved.

[@VicariousReality]

@@JorgeVinoRodriguez Hi there. I just want to say thank you for the videos you've made. With them, I was not only able to better understand key, far-reaching concepts in game programming like dot products and its use cases, but through my understanding of them, I was also able to improve my programming knowledge and skills in general, advancing my career. I wanted to quickly ask: Do you have any videos on how an object revolving/orbiting around another object, without rotation, works on a mathematical level a la your Math for Game Developers Dot Product video? If not, could you please point me in the right direction?

[@JorgeVinoRodriguez]

@@VicariousReality Pick an angle x, get the forward and right vectors of the center object, do forward * sin x + right * cos x for the position, but then fix the orientation at whatever angle you like. Thanks for the kind words :)

[@VicariousReality]

@@JorgeVinoRodriguez Hmm, interesting; that's pretty similar to the 2D implementation I had from some time ago, but there's a big difference between it and my current 3D implementation: It's unclear what angle "X" should be in my 3D implementation. Any suggestions on that front? I tried using the angle found between the target's forward vector and the vector representing the distance from the target and player, but to no avail. What got me the closest results is finding the cross product between the target's forward vector and the player-to-target vector after normalizing them, and then subtracting the result of the player-to-target vector by the intended velocity from the cross product. However, this made the player revolve around the target in a spiral, rather than in a perfect circle. My pleasure, it's the truth; hope DAB is a success, and becomes the new TS, GunZ, Star Wars: Jedi Knight Outcast, Max Payne, and S4 League all in one.

[@JorgeVinoRodriguez]

@@VicariousReality X is the degrees from zero you want the object to be. For it to go straight forward, x should be 0. If you want it straight right, x is 90 degrees or pi/2 radians. You can increase x a bit every frame to make it orbit.

[@_Rizer_]

Great video! Thanks a lot for sharing

[@kilogold]

HE. IS. BACK!!!!

[@JorgeVinoRodriguez]

KELVIN!!!🤩

[@ashgaming9106]

Upload video for game development

[@Voduke789]

That’s quite a disparaging overview of the game design environment. That’s honestly the main reason why I don’t want to go to university for game design, but rather something more practical as a career. Indie development seems like a much better vehicle to actually get a game you want to make out there, even if it means less resources to work with.

[@JorgeVinoRodriguez]

It can certainly be rough out there! :) I personally find that working in a professional environment lets me learn from other people and progress my career much faster than when I just made indie games alone. More people around me equals more people to learn from. But some people definitely serve themselves better by being on smaller teams.

[@martink4975]

Hey @Jorge Rodriguez, I first found your channel when i saw your math tutorials about game mechanics wayyy back in the day 😄 I am happy to see you have moved on up 😁. In this video you show a more personal side of yourself and talk a little about the games industry, which makes me want to ask some questions 🤔. - How accepting are people in the industry of devs with conservative values? - Are there separate tracks for getting inn for people with minority status(race, gender, sexuality, etc) - Do you feel like the games Industry has become better or worse since the days of COD4? I understand if these questions might be a little dangerous to answer for a person in your position so dont feel pressured to answer some guy in a youtube comment 😅. Take care of yourself and good luck with the next COD 👏

[@JorgeVinoRodriguez]

Hello, thanks for the kind words! - It's a bit of a charged question. If your conservative values align with Trumpism and current Republican politics like "Trans people should not exist" and "All lives matter" and if you are vocal about those opinions then you will probably not find people accepting you or being your friend, especially because a lot of those people are trans, minorities, etc. I've not yet met anyone in any of the studios I've worked with who openly supported Trumpism. Pre-Trump conservatives would probably be fine in most studios. - Not strongly defined tracks that I've seen. Some studios will seek people of minority status by eg going to conferences, eg I was sent by Amazon to the Blacks in Tech conference to help look for applicants, but then those applicants must proceed through the same interviewing experience. There are legal issues with creating a separate channel for hiring minorities, and for good reason, just like there would be legal issues if there were a separate channel for hiring non-minorities. - Modern Warfare is a 15 year old game, we've come a very long way since then. But there's a lot remaining to do. For example I mentioned in another reply that before a few weeks ago I had never been on the same team as a female black game developer working at a large studio. I've mentored some and they're smart and capable and I hope they find their way to where they deserve to be, but we're not there yet. Love the questions!

[@martink4975]

@@JorgeVinoRodriguez Thank you for the answers 😁. I ask because this is a rare opportunity to talk to someone who is deep within the industry and has shared an idea interesting idea. - Everything in the games industry seems to be charged with something these days 😅. I just feel that the industry currently has certain groups that have this idea that anyone right of them should be pushed out.That If “you don't agree with me, that means you are X ,Y or 🤠 '' so now you get dropped from an interview, your dev job or other opportunities. But what I get from your answer is you will probably 😐 be fine as long as you don't get it the way 🤐 - So there are tracks, just within the legal bounds as to not directly get in conflict with any laws😅. I sometimes ask myself, if I am where I am due to my skin color or my skills or maybe even a combination of both 👽. Thank you for shedding some light on this 👍. - 15 years ago seems to be a moment every studio is trying to recreate. I feel some magic has been lost or not understood by those who are developing games nowadays 😑 So we just have imitations that look better in different settings(ww2 or ww3) or just straight up re-releases 😓. If something new does come out, it just gets copied and pushed out 😒. Let's hope the black female dev can change that 😏 Thank you for giving some time to a random internet stranger 😁 👏. If you ever see me on a stage saying something you might not like, just understand this 🤔. I just want to make games, nothing more nothing less👾☮

[@JorgeVinoRodriguez]

"I just feel that the industry currently has certain groups that have this idea that anyone right of them should be pushed out." Not explicitly as far as I've seen. Thanks for all the comments! Good luck in your journey, I hope this series helps you.

[@kephas-media]

Your point on diversity gained you a sub

[@MagpieMcGraw]

Do you think people sometimes confuse "wanting to be a game designer" with "wanting to make a game"?

[@JorgeVinoRodriguez]

Possibly but I don’t question the motivations of the people who ask me for help. I take what they say their motivations are at face value and help them get to where they tell me they want to go.

[@backdrift5612]

Hello, Can you give examples of the kinds of documents you have to write for your job? How design is conveyed in triple A is a big question for me. What is the process for realizing a system from inception to implementation in a studio where each department is about 10+ people large?

[@JorgeVinoRodriguez]

A great question! First a design document: It typically starts with a problem to solve. We need players to behave a certain way and they're not, so the a feature is designed to solve that problem. (More on that in the next video!) The document identifies the problem, lists the goals and that we'll work toward solving that problem, and list the features required to meet those goals. It should be a pretty light breakdown, you typically don't want to go into a lot of depth in these documents or else people won't read them. Then you have a kickoff meeting, the purpose of which is to cover the document and explain the feature to your team members in order to get buy-in from them and make sure everyone is on the same page. Next production documents: Some times you have to do the same thing 100 times. You might have 100 loot items that have to be implemented, with 8 steps each. You might have 100 achievements or challenges to build, and each needs text, image, implementation, etc. So some documents are simply huge lists of everything that has been done, what their names are, what art assets they touch, what progress has been made on each one, and so on. This sort of document just helps make sure nothing falls through the cracks. Producers love this type of document, but they're hella useful to designers as well. Typically you also have a number of periodic meetings to check in on the status of a feature. Each day typically begins with a standup, where everyone talks about their progress for that day. There are also sync meetings, where leads and ICs (independent contributors) go over each aspect of the feature while everyone watches to identify what remaining work needs doing and what things may have been missed. Leads also generally sign off on a feature during this time as well. One final note: Departments in video game studios are often way larger than 10 people.

[@GusKesaranond]

Im going to Gnomon school for game art but if I want to eventually switch to a designer/dev, how should I do it?

[@JorgeVinoRodriguez]

Excellent question! I talk a little bit about how to transition from one role to another in the next video. It'll be out next weekend. Let me know if you have more questions when you watch it! :)

[@juansolo4429]

I’m a freshman in college and am working towards figuring out the degree I wanted to pursue a career in game design, do you recommend any way to get the experience needed to get a job in game design. Where would I start, I have started to try and teach my self C# and am trying to learn unity any other tips for getting experience?

[@JorgeVinoRodriguez]

MAKE GAMES That's the biggest and most important advice. It's very difficult to get a game design job without designed games on your resume. Keep them small enough in scope so that you can reasonably finish them as just one person, but substantial enough that you can talk about them in interviews. If you haven't learned any programming languages yet I recommend Unreal Blueprints. If you have then Unity C# might be more flexible. If you're already familiar with Javascript then making a web game is a good idea. If you can do something interesting and novel that would cause interviewers to ask "how did you do that?" it can be a plus. It's OK to just make indie games by yourself, they don't have to be part of a large team. Remember: the hiring manager needs someone who can implement designs and so they're going to be looking for people who have experience implementing their designs, not just designing things on paper. Having game projects on your resume is the way to show that you can do the work. Also be smart about it: Think about the type of design you want to do and isolate just that type of design for your project. There's no need to build the game from scratch. Level designer? Make levels for existing games. Combat designer? Make a new weapon for Half-Life. AI designer? Make a new enemy with behavior trees and free Unreal store assets. Don't spend time doing things that a hiring manager isn't going to find important, for example don't spend time programming the engine when you're looking for design work. Good luck! Ask more if you have more questions :)

[@juansolo4429]

@@JorgeVinoRodriguez Wow thank you so much for the reply, I have been leaning more towards level design, do I need to be good at art and modeling to do that in a game design job or do I use assets that other artists made? And I have no prior knowledge of coding so I will definitely look into unreal blueprints, are there any things you recommended on learning that? Once again thank you so much your reply has a ton of useful information.

[@JorgeVinoRodriguez]

@@juansolo4429 You're welcome. FYI I used your question for the Q&A in the most recent video up now, mostly the same as what I said here. Generally artists are responsible for creating assets and populating levels with them, and a level designer focuses on level layout. However you may not want to put very bare levels into your portfolio (also they just don't feel good to play!) so putting some basic effort into your level art might be useful. For learning unreal blueprints there are about a thousand youtube tutorials, you shouldn't have too much trouble finding some.

[@juansolo4429]

@@JorgeVinoRodriguez thank you I’ve appreciated your help so much. I will definitely start learning unreal blueprints.

[@BullHorn7]

bellyflopper diesel

[@JorgeVinoRodriguez]

I dunno what you mean by that but hello BullHorn long time no see!!

[@BullHorn7]

@@JorgeVinoRodriguez i have no idea what it ever meant, but i do remember it appearing on the TS forums constantly. great videos btw

[@Jed7356]

I'm so sick of all this garbage racism against white people. I'm a white dude and you don't know me, you don't know my story. I grew up in a poor family with very little "privilege", there were more times than I can remember when my parents would tell us we had a few bucks in the bank for the next week. To be completely honest, in a lot of ways I was at a disadvantage because of my skin color and gender. There was a game development grant that I wasn't allow to apply for because of my immutable traits. I worked my butt off for close to a decade and sacrificed my twenties to realize my dream of making games and I believe it's a very dangerous and foolish thing to make blanket statements about huge groups of people. Everyone should be valued based off of their work and character. We shouldn't dilute ourselves to basing everything off who is more "deserving" of opportunity, because it's an impossible thing to truly know who deserves something. There are black people who are way more privileged than me and vice versa. So why even start playing that game... do your best, work as hard as you can and stop trying to fix everyone else. Work on yourself because you can't and probably don't have the agility to right all the wrongs in the world.

[@JorgeVinoRodriguez]

Hello sir. I didn't mean to imply that all white people are advantaged, that's obviously not true. It's also true that there are people who are not white who do have advantages. The fact is that almost everybody on game design teams is white, and women are relatively uncommon. As an example, I've been in games for this long and the first time I met a black woman game developer was a few weeks ago. I've never met a black woman designer, who is working in the industry, on any team or at any conference. What's your theory of how this happened? My theory is that the people who had the advantage to create those positions filled the jobs with other people who had advantages. Then, since the industry is a high-pressure environment, even if someone didn't have the advantages and got the job anyway, they were pushed out. The result is very few minorites -- and also very few people with a background like yours. Ultimately I want everyone to be on a level playing field and earn the position based off their work and character, as you say, and that's why I made these videos.

[@Jed7356]

​@@JorgeVinoRodriguez Thanks for replying. Sorry if I came off a little strong, I'm not a fan of the way our industry and world is headed. I don't have all the answers and the more I listen and watch others, I can see they don't have them either. So when people (not just you) talk about a very complex issue and state that the issue (We also don't know if it's actually an issue) is racism or bias I'm immediately skeptical. Potentially another reason why there aren't very many women in games is due to interest. In my life, I know very few women who are even remotely interest in computers at all. This could be due to a number of reasons, and I not saying that some women don't enjoy coding and working in game design. But in general I believe that's true. As an example, the KZbin audience is 90% male for some reason. Is this sexism? Or does KZbin for some reason appeal more to men? I'm sure there are some people who are malicious and are only selecting base off of sex, but I'm not convinced that such a huge margin is attributable to this. So I really don't think it's a good idea to make a gut reaction off a hunch and start offering exclusive opportunities available only to certain skin colors or sex, which seem increasingly the direction people are heading. To me this feels like a regression of equality. We're going back to the standard of the 19th/20th century where a lot of opportunity was offered based off immutable traits.

[@JorgeVinoRodriguez]

@@Jed7356 Hey Jed. Thanks for also being cool in the reply. Most of the people who reach out to me and want to join the game industry are women. I've mentored more women in improving their game design and programming skills than I have men. I've observed that there tend to be many more junior women than senior women, and I've heard from a lot of women that that is because it's more difficult in the industry for women than men. So I would not agree that there's a lack of interest from women in game development, whether programming or design.