The Video Games Design Industry. Who Does What and When?

02 July 10

The design and creation of every new game is a huge technical and artistic project. It can take two years or more and involves many different people in different jobs, from designers, writers and composers to software programmers to project managers.

A new game is born!

The original concept for a new game or a new version of an existing game often comes from one person or a small team. The ultimate decision to “green light” the game comes from a Head of Development or Executive Team, based on the recommendations of a Producer. It then goes into development with a specific team or studio.

The professional game design team

Game designers plan how the story, characters, environments (the landscape and buildings), rules and levels will operate together to create gameplay (the challenges and obstacles the characters face). All decisions are made with careful reference to the planned platform and controllers. The final version of a game will have many different elements of programming, objects and art materials (called ‘assets’), all painstakingly created and agreed by the team. Top tips from the professionals.

The roles in a professional game design team

A design team can be roughly divided into 3 different groups of creative people who work closely together, although sometime these roles are shared by one individual:

The Creators

Game Designer The Game Designer is often responsible for the overall game concept, and will work with the rest of the design team to determine the purpose of the game (what it is that the player is asked to do), the key features (what are the core elements that will make up the gameplay experience), and the overarching flow of the game (what will the player do first, then what would they do, what reward will they get etc.)

Scriptwriter Some game concepts are based on the story that the player follows; some are based on the actions that the player must do. It’s up to the scriptwriter to work with the team to take the concept and develop the story (the ‘narrative’), the dialogue and any other text. The narrative will often follow a typical type (the ‘genre’), such as thriller, action or adventure which the player discovers as they increase their level.

The Artists

Felipe Venncio on Flickr	Illustrator The Illustrator, or Concept Artist defines the look and feel of the game, making sketches to show how all the different elements look together in the world of the game. Depending on the audience the game is aimed at, a game could be inspired by cartoons to look fun, or by films to look more cinematic, or anything else!
BAFTA / Marc Hoberman	Storyboard Artist The storyboard artist must have a strong understanding of the narrative and the visual world of the game, as well as how the software used to build the game affects what is possible. They use computer software programmes to create series of drawings showing how the game progresses for the player.
	Graphic Designer A Graphic Designer will develop the Illustrator’s work on the environments, characters and objects in more detail.
	GUI Designer The GUI (‘graphic user interface’) Designer finds ways for the game to operate using visual images or icons instead of written commands. This is how a player interacts with the screen.

The Level Designers

Nathanael Boehm on Flickr	Map Builder Either the Map Builder or a Level Editor maps out each level of the game.
Zubo: EA Brightlight	Level Editor After sketching ideas, the Level Editor uses computer software modelling tools to develop the gameplay. They then programme the characters’ motions and build the environment and interactive objects for characters to explore and test their skills. They make sure there are no ‘bugs’, where a character gets stuck or falls outside a level.

Testing a new game

When all the elements of a design have been produced and incorporated into the game by the team’s programmers and artists, a ‘build’ is made, bringing together all the relevant assets, scripts and code (programming language). Games Testers test builds again and again until all the bugs are gone and it’s finished. Testing games is often a way that recent college graduates gain their first work experience in the games industry.

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