Random musings from me!

As promised, this is the second part of my ‘So you want to work in the games industry?‘ series of posts. This one will be covering the game / level design aspect of it.

As I read through C.V.s and directly interview potential designers, I’ll explain what I look for. I’m also going to cover some of the differences between job roles and levels.

First things first though, the differences between what a game designer and a level designer are. You might think this is an obvious point, but one thing to be aware of when applying to different companies, is what they expect a level designer, or a games designer to do in their job role.

Level Designer

As the name suggests a level designer is responsible for creating levels or missions for the game they’re working. Some companies will expect the level designer to build what’s known as a white box in a 3D package like Max or Maya. A level designer might be expected to actually build the level and texture it (though this is something that doesn’t happen as much now in favour of artists doing this).

Game Designer

A game designer or sometimes known as a core game designer is often responsible for creating gameplay mechanics, game balancing and play testing. They are often key contributors towards the HLGD or High Level Game Design document. Sometimes a company will expect a game designer to also be a level designer, and as you’ll see below, both roles have quite a lot of cross disciplines.

Design roles

Some companies have multiple different levels and roles for designers and some don’t. Separating roles or the level of the designer is a way to show responsibility and their experience.

Entry level / junior designer

As the name suggests these have only just started in the games industry as a designer and most likely don’t have any published titles.

Game / level designer

A game or level designer would normally have a minimum of 1 year’s industry experience and possibly 1 published title.

Experienced game / level designer

These designers would normally have around 3 years experience and possibly 2 published titles. They would also have enough experience to be able to help guide and tutor some of the more junior designers.

Senior game / level designer

A senior designer would normally have a minimum of 5 years experience and at least 3 published titles. These designers form a wealth of knowledge and are used to mentor all other designers below them.

Chief / lead / principle game designer

A lead or principle would normally have a minimum of 7 years experience, around 4 titles published, and should ideally have had some form of management training. These designers actually hold the game vision and make sure this is carried out by the other members of the design group. These designers also double up as managers of the design teams.

What I look for

So now you know the different roles and levels that exist, I’ll try to generalise what I look for in a good designer. One of the most important points is that a designer needs to be a team player. By that I mean not only can they get on with the other designers, they need to also be able to get on with the various artists, coders and production staff.

They need an excellent and very varied knowledge of video games, past, present and a good grasp on what’s coming out in the future. For a level designer, they should be able to show they understand how to put together interesting levels, and how they will make sure it adheres to the game vision. A game designer needs to show me they can come up with new and unique game mechanics, but they are also able to utilise tried and tested mechanics when it suits.

Qualifications are a tricky point. Some people assume that because they have a degree or even a Masters in game design, they automatically have become a game designer. That said, I think it’s important to know that having a degree, particularly in game design, does often stand out when I’m looking through C.V.s. I’m just trying to explain that it is not everything.

As a large part of a designer’s job is based around documentation, I look for well written C.V.s and ideally an example of design documentation. As mentioned before in my previous post, a good designer, like a good QA tester, should have excellent listening skills.

Sometimes an important part of an interview is finding out just how enthusiastic a candidate is about the subject they’re going to be working on. I’d rather had a designer who has a passion for the subject, be it sports, racing, shooters, military etc than someone who isn’t fussed which title they’re working on.

I look at candidate’s technical knowledge, what 3D packages do they know. Do they have any scripting language knowledge and if so which languages. How are they from an artistic point of view and can they use any art packages to help realise their level or game mechanic vision?

For more senior roles within the design group, I look for people’s man management skills and how well they cope with conflict resolution. I look to how much they have mentored and helped other more juniors designers grow.

Lastly I look for creativity. That doesn’t mean that this is the lowest priority to me. In fact it’s one of the highest. A good level or game designer should have a creative spark or flair to them, and this is something I try to look for once I know they have the knowledge, understanding and training I’m looking for.

So that’s it in a nutshell I suppose. Some other designers out there may disagree with how I go about looking for the perfect candidates. It’s also important to know that sometimes, I’ll spot someone who doesn’t quite tick all of the boxes, but I know can be trained up on area’s they’re falling short on. I hope this information has been useful, and a little bit of an insight into the games industry.

My next post for the ‘So you want to get into the games industry?‘ blog series will be covering coders / engineers and programmers.

Thanks for reading.

Tim