career as a Video Game Designer

jacobwilliam1 · 11-04-2009, 11:22 AM

I want to become a professional video game designer, in animation. I have very low experience on using Blender and dont know if I should throw my hard work at working with Blender instead of other software. Or would using 3ds Max, ZBrush, MudBox or any other program be better to work with for my future?

What would be a good video game design software to buy for making a career as a Video Game Designer?

Richard_Rahl · 11-04-2009, 12:50 PM

I know there are Game Design study programmes at some colleges and universities. Maybe that is a better starting point than purely doing self-study. And forget about sticking to one single program. When being part of a team there is no way of choosing your own tools.

bazarach · 11-08-2009, 02:55 AM

i agree with Richard. if theres a college near your place, or you can go to city with a college that offers game design, you go get that. you can only learn so much from self-study. i have a degree in computer science, but its still not enough to be able to make games. heck, a lot of stuff that you're required to code in games aren't tackled in CS.

as for software, imo there is no such thing as game design software. games are made of several outputs of several software. for programming, go with C or C++, for modelling, 3DSMAX or Maya. one job i applied to used a new Javascript based platform named Unity3D. finally theres flash and actionscript if you're making games for a hobby (like yours truly XD )

jacobwilliam1 · 11-14-2009, 02:25 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bazarach

i agree with Richard. if theres a college near your place, or you can go to city with a college that offers game design, you go get that. you can only learn so much from self-study. i have a degree in computer science, but its still not enough to be able to make games. heck, a lot of stuff that you're required to code in games aren't tackled in CS.

as for software, imo there is no such thing as game design software. games are made of several outputs of several software. for programming, go with C or C++, for modelling, 3DSMAX or Maya. one job i applied to used a new Javascript based platform named Unity3D. finally theres flash and actionscript if you're making games for a hobby (like yours truly XD )

Hi bazarach,

Thanks very much...

HD0087 · 11-14-2009, 05:29 PM

If you have a studio you would like to work for in mind already try finding out what programs belong to their workflow and take the time to learn them. Tho some studios might have their own set of tools not shared to public there is very little anyone could do to prepare for those except being a fast learner.

Then there's the issue of being noticed. Getting into mod projects is a great way to learn and hopefully get a job in this industry but you better keep making portfolios of your work as you progress so you would have something concrete to show if it comes to that.

Secondly being good at just animation tools isn't enough these days it might get you a few month contract as a fill in somewhere but you have to make your self an ace of all trades to get a steady job, specially if your aiming for a designer job where understanding scripting languages like Perl to Mel and Max scripts could be an vital requirement as well.
Good Luck