The biggest market for games developers is in computer games, and from the little I have read about these courses that’s going to be the general career path after completing one. The number of established card/ board/ war games designers who move onto computer games is quite high and much of the disciplines are the same.

If I were to spend three years of my life in education studying games design, that would be the more secure route upon graduation – only a relative handful of folks are ever going to make ‘proper’ money from writing ‘traditional’ games. Not everyone gets to be Reiner Knizia, James Earnest or Klaus Teuber.

I would guess the growth in the availability and popularity of the courses is down to the maturation of the computer games industry. Development studios began as small, tightly-knit teams of enthusiastic, geeky individuals making it up as they went along. Nowadays a studio is seen as a viable start up business for investors (though how viable I think is actually up for debate). With the big bucks now sploshed around the industry (more turnover than Hollywood, some reports claim) the need for qualified professionals in the future will only grow. Those who founded the development companies are now creative directors, senior designers and such and they need the fresh blood to come in after them to do the day-to-day work.

The appeal to employers is certainly there, as evidenced by some of the job ads I have perused over the last couple of months. That said, I suspect that even with a degree under your belt the route is likely to be the same as before – level designer, games designer, lead designer – though perhaps with a quicker run up the ladder. It’s not like there’s a shortage of people trying to get into the industry. Like any vocational degree, its value is dependant upon the person that holds it.

GAV

Yes I do remember your mad Elysians – that’s just the sort of obsessiveness that stands you in good stead as a games developer.

Giant robots are still my favourite thing in sci-fi. I started out with GW games playing Adeptus Titanicus, and fondly remember BattleTech too! I blame Robotech (or Macross Saga) in my formative years, 7.30 on a saturday morning on Super Channel…

Best of luck with it, any questions just holler.

GAV

(I’ll hold my opinion for now)

Thanks,
Mike

Matt

This was a really interesting article for me to read, being as I was amongst the last eight of the GW ‘Trainee’ recruitment batch you mention (You may recall me as the chap with the terrible haircut and magnetic Elysian Drop Trooper).

- Ben S. (Currently messing around with rules for giant fighting robots)

GAV

Addressing the miniatures was something i hadn’t considered. On my latest project which is being play tested at the moment, this questions did pop into my head and i wondered how i was going to get around this. I originally intended for it to be used with any other miniatures, but because they all have their own different themes its hard to change the imagery i set out from my project. I shall start hunting around for small sculptors / companies and pestering them to let me write rules for them, that is something i never considered.

I guess as well it takes alittle bit of luck and timing with these things being in the right place at the right time. Even if i don’t make it big, i still have fun creating things which is the most important part i think.

But again cheers for the advice its given me some food for thought! Plus if anyone wants to see any of my ideas drop me a line! (shameless plug)

Max

If you’re trying to get into games design generally – rather than setting out with the burning ambition to have one particular idea of your own brought into being – then one thing you can consider is approaching companies to see if they’ll let you write a game for their miniatures. There are manufacturers out there who produce ranges of miniatures – even sci-fi, fantasy and adventure ones – for which they produce no game. Start off somewhere like The Miniatures Page (http://theminiaturespage.com/) and see which miniatures ranges interest you, which ones you think you could come up with good ideas for, see if the manufacturer already has a game or games, and then get in touch with them to discuss offering your ideas. Responses will vary – some companies simply won’t have the resources to publish a game anyway, so no matter how interested they are, it won’t be of any use to you. Many companies will already have their own games or plans for them, designed in house. If you’re lucky, though, you might just find a company interested in having someone write a game for their miniatures range.

More generally, you need to learn to design games and to demonstrate you can do that. Write some games – simple little ones will do, play them with your friends, see how they work, change them to make them work better and put them on the internet. Most games designers – and this certainly includes both Gav and myself – will probably have written one games for every one that was ever published. Being a games designer, as opposed to being the creator of a particular fantasy world or whatever, really means designing a lot of games to try out different things. You don’t need to have broken into the industry to do that – you can do it right now, more so than ever in the age of the internet.

Matt