Unit 1 Assignment 1: Game Designer

 Game designers are those who design game mechanics, levels, and player experiences. their role requires the greatest understanding of games and players, as they have to design the core mechanics and building blocks of a game experience, sculpting how the game controls work, what the objectives are, and how the game feels.

Starting in game design is quite difficult, as it often requires either a degree in game design, or proof that you have made one or more games already, meaning that even entry level positions require at least some professional experience in game design. for this reason, it is often more beneficial to start in another area of game design, such as quality assurance testing, or production, and move into game design later, once their capabilities have been proven.

Game design is a more analytical position than many others in the games industry, as it requires designers to understand what makes a game fun, and what constitutes the difference between a hit game and a flop game so that they can apply this knowledge to their own games to make them fun, cohesive and successful. this often requires playing the games of competitors extensively, so that they can understand their strengths and shortcomings, and apply that knowledge to their own games in order to differentiate it from the competition, and hopefully make it better.

Teamwork is also a fundamental skill in game design. Game designing is a team effort, and working on a design team will require communication with your team, sharing ideas, and adapting what you're doing to suit the direction of the team, rather than coming up with all of your own ideas, ands expecting everyone else to follow.

The salary of a game designer typically starts at around £45,000 annually, and peaks at £90,000 in lead positions. Like most game careers, pay typically scales with experience, however it can also depend on the size of the studio you work at, or your education, as those with degrees from game design universities tend to receive higher starting salaries. Additionally, certain sectors pay more than others. for examples, those with neither morals nor a soul could earn up to £150,000 a year designing games for gambling companies.

To become a game designer, I would have to get a lot more practice both playing and designing games, and would probably be best off playing a lot of games in a certain genre, and then making a game in that genre using the knowledge obtained by playing.