Hello all,
My fellow Ambassador Scott and I were watching one of UAT's Alumni (Tommy Leeds) do a stream of playing the Batman series. Tommy graduated in May this year in Game Art and Animation. Now, what set this stream apart from others is that he was talking about some of the things he noticed that the designers and artists were doing throughout the game. This made some of the people watching his stream curious about creating games. He would get a couple questions every once in awhile that would relate to the design and art of the games he was playing.
One, very important question he was asked was : I want to be a game developer. What should I major in?" He spoke to this person for a bit and narrowed down that they wanted to be a game designer. The main difference between a game developer and a game designer is that anyone on a project for a game is considered a developer. Whether they are artist or programmer they are a game developer. A game designer is the person who plans out each level and oversees the other two branches.Designers are the middlemen to programmers and artists to bring their work together to make the game. They plan out all the documentation that goes into the game, create a list of assets needed, write the story or script of the game, plan any UI and every level, as well as put everything together in that level once the assets are complete.
So Tommy narrowed this persons interest to game design instead of game developer. Although game design is a great degree to get, when you are out in the industry sometimes it's good to have a focus. Finding a specialty is a great thing for a game designer. Find out if you prefer to do white boxing, documentation, writing, level design, programming, or some art. Most of the students here at UAT who are game designers are going to tell you the same thing. "oh, you're in game designer? Make sure while you're here to find a secondary focus other than game design whether it be art of design. This will make it much easier for you to get a job once you're done." This is exactly what Tommy and Scott were telling the person.
It's good to know what degree you want to go into but don't start going into specialties before you have been in your degree for awhile. Learn about the broad and once you have a good understanding, then find a specialty to focus your portfolio on.
That's all for today,
Karina
