Breaking into the games industry

There are many routes to a dream career in the games industry, and as technical games designer Tyler Rotheram shows it’s never too soon to start. Rotheram is a 2019 BAFTA Young Game Designer finalist and credits this early opportunity as a great stepping stone.

The BAFTA Young Game Designer competition is a chance for young people aged 10-18 who are passionate about games to create their own. Whether they’ve got a great idea for a new game concept or are a whizz at making games it’s a way for them to showcase their talent and potentially kickstart their dream careers in the process.

Here Rotheram talks to ERIC Creative Careers App co-founder Mae Yip about how he broke into the games industry after entering BAFTA’s Young Game Designer competition and how becoming a finalist helped launch his career.

Despite having a passion for playing games in his spare time, Rotheram admits that before entering Young Game Designers (YGD), he hadn’t considered game design as a career. He said: “I never used to think of [games] as a career I could actually go into, because I used to look at games and be like, magicians must have made this. How do you take this idea and make it into something?”

He discovered the Young Game Designers competition while studying at sixth form and thought it would be a “fun challenge.” He reflects on how when entering the game design category, he “went through the process of creating a games design dock and thinking okay, how can I convey this concept to complete strangers who have never seen my game in their life?”

YGD was an opportunity for Rotheram to “learn, develop and improve.” And he reflects that many of the transferable skills he developed through entering YGD, can be applied to a range of careers as well as game design. When describing the role he does today, he said: “As a designer, it’s somewhat about ideas, but it’s about execution and selling them. And problem solving.”

As well as offering him the chance to stretch his creative skills, Rotheram also explains YGD offered him lots of opportunities to network. This was really important for Rotheram “to make sure people know who I am, because they can’t hire me if they don’t know I exist.” He encourages aspiring game designers to get their names out as much as possible, and says YGD is a great way of doing this as it “showcases [your game] to the games industry.” He said: “If you’re ever looking to get into the industry, that is what matters most, that people know you’re hungry.”

So, what would Rotheram say are some of the biggest misconceptions people have about working in the games industry? Firstly, “there’s no one way to make a game” or to get into the industry. There’s no set path to making it in games, and Rotheram – who began his career working at PlayStation before he’d even completed sixth form – is no exception. He also says no one knows everything, which came as a surprise to him. He shared that “even if you’re at the top level, you’ll always be learning,” because it’s an industry that evolves constantly.

Another misconception about working in games is that you must be based near London to begin your career. The games industry is actually “very UK wide,” with hubs across the country, says Rotheram. Originally from Liverpool, the game designer highlights how he is currently based in Newcastle-upon-Tyne where he says “there’s loads” of opportunities to work in games. “People don’t realise, [in the UK] we have Rockstar and we have Ubisoft. Like GTA was made in the UK!”, he says, before adding “there’s plenty of opportunity outside London.”

Rotheram describes a range of early careers role for game designers. He began in Quality Assurance at PlayStation, but describes other entry roles as internships “that can be in design, programming,” and more.

To start your career in games, Rotheram suggests putting together a CV and a portfolio “to show that you’re really hungry and interested in the industry.” To add to your CV, he recommends participating in game jams, which give aspiring designers “48 hours or 72 hours to create a game. You can do that on your own or in a team, and usually they have a theme.” He also encourages budding games designers to think about their YGD entries as “a game prototype and then you’ve got something for your portfolio. You meet new people. You network.”

• Young Game Designers is now open for applications. Find out more here.
• Download the ERIC app and follow our page for early-career opportunities and advice.
• For more games inspiration check out the 2026 BAFTA Games Awards Longlist.