Computing Career Project

By: Desmond Walker

What does your job do? A game designer is one of the most highly sought-

after and competitive fields in the industry. Game designers/developers get to develop the

overall concept of the game. They oversee the process of making that concept a

reality. They work on crafting the systems that make a

game run and they work on nearly every aspect of the game development process.

Game designers are rewarded for their hard work with quality pay: the average annual salary is $83,000.

Work Environment

The working environment of a game designer is usually a comfortable office or cubicle, although some game companies do allow telecommuting.

The main work-related injuries in this field, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, are eye strains.

Ergonomic chairs and keyboards can prevent or lessen the impact of these problems.

So can frequent breaks from looking at the computer

screen.

Typical workday looks like: Writing Game Content Drafting In-Game Specifications Meetings Debugging and Fixing Issues.

Educational Level Required As the video game industry grows, more universities are

creating curriculums to support careers in video game design.

Video Game Designers typically have a bachelor's degree in Game Design, Computer Engineering or Computer science which takes four to five years to complete.

Courses in a Game Design degree program may include project management, and, game prototyping and level design.

What you need to be good at:

A video game designer must have a strong set of skills, including programming, video graphics and hardware essentials

Graphics also play a huge role in video games, and game designers must have at least some skills in these areas.

Video game designers also need to understand how to work game consoles such as PlayStation 3, Nintendo Wii, Xbox,etc.

Many colleges, technical schools, and universities offer classes certificates and advanced degrees in areas computer programming ,computer engineering, software development ,etc.

This is not a job where you can just jump up and decide you want to do it with no training.

Yearly Salary

. The average salary of a male designer is $53k(down from last year's average of $56k).

Lead designers get around $63k. The highest paid designer makes around $300k.

Females make up 9% of the design force. The average salary for female designers is $48k (down from last year's average of $60k).

Colleges that offer a career in Game Design

1.University of Utah (Salt Lake City, UT) 2.University of Southern California (Los Angeles, CA) 3.Rochester Institute of Technology (Rochester, NY) 4.Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Cambridge,

MA) 5.Drexel University (Philadelphia, PA) 6.Savannah College of Art and Design (Savannah, GA) 7.The Art Institute of Vancouver (Vancouver, British

Columbia / CAN) 8.Michigan State University (East Lansing, MI) 9.Worcester Polytechnic Institute (Worcester, MA) 10.New England Institute of Technology (East

Greenwich, RI) 11.North Carolina State University (Raleigh, NC)

Reference Page

http://blog.k12.com/2012/05/09/college-readiness-george-washington-university-online-high-school

http://electronics.howstuffworks.com/video-game-designer1.htm

http://www.sloperama.com/advice/lesson14.htm http://www.theartcareerproject.com/combine-work-and-play

-information-about-video-game-design/93/

http://work.chron.com/education-training-necessary-game-designer-4875.html

http://www.theguardian.com/money/2010/may/01/video-game-designer

http://wpcomwidgets.com/ http://google.com