How does one become a video game designer or developer?

Some people on this thread are under the impression that there is no such thing as a job for game designers, separate from programmers, artist, or project managers.  This is simply not true.  I have worked as a game designer, have hired game designers, and have managed game designers.  When I was director of the Heroes of Might & Magic III team, I had one lead designer, one assistant designer, and 5 level designers working on the project (not counting the 6 programmers, 20 artists, 3 audio engineers, and a project management assistant). If you need proof that game designer jobs exist, here are postings for such job openings on Gamasutra: http://jobs.gamasutra.com/jobtype/game-design/country/+   True, it there are few open positions for game designers than for programmers and artists -- and it does help to have some programming, artistic and/or project management skills -- but game design is a distinct discipline. Here is a great little video about becoming a game designer: Also as suggests, you should visit Tom Sloper's career advice website. http://www.sloperama.com/advice.html

Well this book is one place to start (Disclaimer: I know the authors and contributed one of the "how I started" stories)http://www.amazon.com/Breaking-Into-Game-Industry-Successful/dp/1435458044/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1310781868&sr=1-1 Depending on your son's talents and interests there are different specializations within the industry. There are several schools now that focus on game development such as Digipen, Full Sail, Art Institute and Academy of Art. Also there are traditional colleges with electronic entertainment programs, Carnegie Mellon and USC are both notable. Ultimately the industry values a portfolio significantly above education. There are so many free tools out there for making games that motivated candidates will have sample games or art they've made to show off their skills. These efforts are significantly more important than where your degree came from. If he's really interested in working in the industry he should start taking a crack at building things now. One note, the industry can be brutal. Long hours, limited job security, and a constant inflow of young workers desperate for a chance to work on games. For those of us that love it, we wouldn't want to do anything else, but burnout is high. Having something generally useful like a computer science degree allows for more flexibility in the job market if he decides that the reality of game development isn't as exciting as the fantasy.

If he has the capacity for Autodidacticism I'd explore that first: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autodidacticism The internet is an amazing resource if you have the capacity for self-education. As Will points out "the industry values a portfolio significantly above education", although I'd have started that sentence, "Thankfully" rather than "Unfortunately".  Meaning talent, skill and passion are more important than money or academic accreditation.  If your son has a passion for gaming that's the minimum entry requirement. Next thing he needs is something for his portfolio.  Pick a skill and get good at it.  Programmers are in higher demand than artist or designers at the moment (and have been as long as I've been in the industry) so if he wants a job I'd recommend that, but really it depends what he's really interested in.  I'm a firm believer that any one can learn any skill given the time and access to instruction or mentoring. As an alternate to the 'get a job' route, he can start his own company... the games industry is currently changing very rapidly (business models not game dev skills) so I would encourage you to look at helping him start his own games company and self publishing his games starting now: Download the Unity game engine from http://www.Unity3d.com Build an extremely simple first game (think pong or pacman) Release it on Steam, in the App Store or on facebook Repeat from step 2 The danger is that his ideas will be mountains that he can not climb.  Encourage him to break down problems into steps and focus on one step at a time.

If your son wants to enter the game industry as a game designer, he should focus on getting out and making good games - as soon as possible. I would highly recommend that he learns at least the basics of one coding language and works on modestly scoped projects of his own, or with small indie development teams until he learns the basics. You can acquire a free license to the Unity3d engine, which is an extremely powerful and usable tool. The University of California: Santa Cruz has an excellent Game Design program that gave me a great start in the industry, but in the end it really comes down to your experience, your portfolio, and critical thinking skills. There very few entry level positions in the games industry where you will get paid for purely coming up with game designs - there are plenty of "idea guys," floating around, but ideas won't get you anywhere unless you can execute in some way.

Have him get the best education he can in terms of ability to solve complex problems, and encourage him to develop games in high school and in college as well. There's really no substitute for experience.  There's also no substitute for being an exceptional thinker.

It is very important for you to read this: https://unseenu.quora.com/No-you-cannot-get-a-job-as-a-Game-Designer Short answer if you can't take the time to read it (though I highly recommend it.)  Game developers are software engineers, artists and business people.  He needs real hard skills is one of these three areas to work in the industry. If he is inclined to programming, then he should program a simple game.  AN 80s arcade game like Asteroids makes an excellent first project.  If he is inclined to art then he should create a "mod" for a game using his own art.  If he is inclined towards business, he should be learning about project management.  I cant help there, but maybe you know someone who manages development projects he can talk to.  The skills arent unique to the game industry. For game programming, you might want to look at some of the resources I give pointers to on my web site for my college students: http;//http://unseenu.wikispaces.com

Long time ago, I used to run a computer games company (Intelligent Games). I wrote an article to help prospective games industry employees get a job: http://www.stibbe.net/Writing/Games_Industry/recruitment.htm.  I re-wrote it and updated it in a more general sense for my blog: http://www.badlanguage.net/how-to-get-the-job-you-really-want. I agree with everyone here who says get some experience. We really liked it if people could show us something they had already made or designed. In other words, we liked people who looked like they lived and breathed games and not just people who did it as a job.

The first step is to decide on the game design role you want to play: Designer, Programmer or Artist. Each position demands a different set of skills, learning plan, personality traits and passions. Here's an excerpt from an article I wrote for http://ITCareerFinder.com that breaks down the video game design job roles (from http://www.itcareerfinder.com/it-careers/video-game-designer.html): DESIGNERS are the video game dreamers. Game designers imagine all aspects of the video game before the programming and artwork begins. Game design duties include plot writing, conceptualizing the characters, and planning game strategies & objectives. Once a video game is in production, designers work closely with programmers and artists to ensure the design is being followed. Popular job roles for video game designers include content writer, game mechanics designer, level designer, and lead designer. Skills to look for in a video game design college education program to become a designer include game theory, storytelling & storyboarding, game planning & strategy, scripting, brainstorming & creative thinking, and game design project management. ARTISTS are responsible for a video game's aesthetics and visual style. Video game artists create all of the artwork in a game, including worlds & environments, characters, weapons, vehicles and other items. Popular job roles for video game artists include animator, modeler, concept artist, lead artist, motion-capture artist, and art director. In-demand skills and courses to look for in a video game design college education program to become a game artist include computer animation, 2D and 3D modeling, camera & lighting techniques, environment design, lines & perspective, Adobe Photoshop & Illustrator, and life drawing. PROGRAMMERS write the code that tells the computer how to handle everything from gameplay rules & physics to the user interface & graphics. Video game programmers utilize one or more programming languages and development platforms to bring the game art & design to life. Job roles for video game programmers include artificial intelligence (AI) developer, graphics programmer, physics developer, UI programmer, and network programmer. Top skills for programmers in a video game design college education program include user interface (UI) design & usability testing, simulation programming, Adobe Flash, object-oriented programming languages (Java, C++, etc.), online multiplayer game development, AI programming & collision detection. The same site features a side-by-side comparison of the leading game design schools, including those mentioned by previous posters: http://www.itcareerfinder.com/find-training/by-career-path/video-game-design-college-courses-and-degrees.html

Someone recently messaged me about how to improve as a game designer. I told him these are the things I've been doing since my teen years and have continued doing for that last 30 or so. Play lots of games, of all types, including ones I don't like. Play the top games of whatever platform I'm working on (in this case iOS) Learn and play lots of board games Read highly rated design books, both for games and other design subjects. Read books on project management, people skills, management, etc Read books and learn about different subjects, most importantly; mythology, history, economy, architecture and psychology. Read lots of stories, watch lots of movies. More specifically. You need to master your tools. For me that currently is Word, Excel and Powerpoint. For an aspiring designer, it should include those things, but also learning an off the shelf engine like Unity, and learning how to script. It's "easiest" to enter the industry as a level designer, and it also happens to be the position that's needed as a designer in larger numbers at most companies, and is easier to show your work in a portfolio. So with either Unity or Unreal, he can work on crafting levels that are compelling and interesting. In the past, I've been most happy with my hires right out of Digipen or SMU Guildhall.