What Does a Game Designer Do?

Think back to when you first discovered your passion for gaming. Chances are, a particular moment or game stands out.

For Brandon Crose, it was the Atari 2600, purchased at a yard sale, that introduced him to this lifelong love. His mom picked it up for him, “blissfully unaware of the trajectory she was sending me on,” he said.

Now, Crose is a creative professional absorbed in tabletop games, especially. He develops them, discusses them on his show, “The Ordinary Epic” — a BBC Audio Drama Awards finalist — and teaches Southern New Hampshire University (SNHU) students about the nuances of game and narrative design.

If your love of gaming has also surpassed hobby-level, you might be interested in a game design career.

What is Game Design?

Game design is a lot like other collaborative creative fields, according to Crose, an assistant professor of game design and coordinator of game and interactive technologies at SNHU.

But there's a twist that sets it apart from the rest. Unlike other creative disciplines that produce “fixed” narratives for their audiences to experience, Crose said, game designers are tasked with creating unique experiences for everyone who engages with their game.

“This is both the unique opportunity and challenge of game design,” he said. “You are trying to design a certain gameplay experience, but you can only design the game. The players' interaction with your game will create the gameplay experience, which — you hope — will be the experience you designed for them.”

This is referred to as a "second-order design problem" — and it's the exact puzzle that excites Crose most about the field. It calls for feedback from your playtesters.

“Their suggestions may not always solve your design problem directly, but they may lead you to a better solution you could not have otherwise found. To me, this process is endlessly fascinating.”

The Role of a Game Designer

Game designers are usually responsible for designing the frameworks of a video game, according to O*NET OnLine. Specifically, O*NET said they:

• Create prototypes, storylines and characters
• Present concepts to members of the production team and stakeholders
• Develop and maintain design documentation
• Organize test groups to obtain and incorporate feedback
• Work collaboratively with other members of production

Your exact role as a game designer, though, will depend on where you work, according to Crose.

“A game designer may focus on one specific aspect of the game's design — like its various gameplay systems or its level design — or they may wear many different hats, designing everything from the game's core concept to its narrative to what it ‘feels' like for the player character to jump or run or shoot,” he said.

It comes down to your studio size and team. A large studio with a sizable budget, for instance, might have many team members responsible for specific aspects of game design. If you work for a small indie studio or as an indie developer, you may do more.

Read more: How to Become a Video Game Designer

Game designers also take their knowledge into roles beyond the gaming industry, Crose noted. He said the experiences they build in a game design and development degree program can be applied to industries such as:

• Architecture
• Defense
• Film and television

Particularly, he highlighted that game designers could find success in roles such as product or project management, user interface or user experience design, technical writing, instructional design and education.

The Skills Helpful to Game Designers

Game designers typically take the lead during the pre-production phase of a game, according to Crose — and they work with a lot of teams throughout the stages of the game development. Because of that, being able to work with others is critical.

Within a game design and development degree, Crose said you'll hone soft skills that any industry values. They include:

• Crafting clear and effective communication
• Giving and receiving constructive criticism
• Guiding a project from idea to release
• Knowing how to collaborate with different personality types across different teams

At SNHU, you'll be able to put all of them to the test in a cumulative studio experience, where students in the game design concentration will team up with peers studying in the game art and programming concentrations to create a game.

Of course, game design requires technical skills, as well — such as getting comfortable using industry tools and software.

Two terms before Tim Barrett '22 finished his bachelor's degree at SNHU, a post in the university's gaming Discord channel caught his eye. Several SNHU students and alums had formed an indie game studio named Belfrost Studios — and they were looking for a level designer.

“I reached out directly to the poster, interviewed with the team and, within a few days, was a member of the team myself,” Barrett said.

In addition to this opportunity to connect with others in his field, Barrett said he learned a lot of skills within the tool Unreal Engine that he has been able to use in level design work. “I feel that my SNHU education really helped me feel prepared to work in this industry,” he said.

And since game design is a cross-disciplinary field, a range of skills may prove transferable. For instance, if you're drawn to computer science, graphic design or creative writing, Crose noted that each is related to game design.

You might even decide to take elective courses in entrepreneurship, management, marketing and creative writing, Crose said, “to better tailor their academic journey to the kind of game development professional they want to be.”

“Because game design is so cross-disciplinary and collaborative, designers who know a little about a lot of different things tend to excel,” he said.

Game Designer vs. Game Developer: Are They the Same?

Sort of. Think of game development as an umbrella. Game designers, according to Crose, fall underneath that umbrella — as do programmers, project managers, sound designers and quality assurance testers, among other roles.

So, basically, if you're a game designer, you're also a game developer. If you're a game developer, you might also be a game designer — or you could be responsible for an entirely different part of the game development process.

Is Game Design Hard to Learn?

Game design marries a lot of different skills — from math and analysis to reading, writing and public speaking, according to Crose. Because of that, you may find that some aspects of learning game design come more naturally to you than others.

According to Crose, one of the most challenging elements of learning game design is understanding the “second-order design problem.” This refers back to that indirect nature of designing an experience for players to create. It's where the ability to receive and act on feedback is essential.

“A great game designer must be not only open to criticism but hungry for it in order to achieve the game experience they are trying to design," he said. That feedback, Crose noted, involves asking playtesters:

• What, specifically, they liked
• What they didn't like
• When they were bored or confused (and why)
• What they wished they could do but couldn't

“I think a large part of this is that creators are protective of our creations,” Crose said. “The work can be deeply personal, and therefore it's natural to feel that criticism of the game is a criticism of you. Learning how to embrace and understand criticism to help your game succeed is part of what we practice in my classes.”

Rebecca LeBoeuf Blanchette '18 '22G is a writer at Southern New Hampshire University, where she fulfills her love of learning daily through conversations with professionals across a range of fields. She earned her Bachelor of Arts in Communication with a minor in Professional Writing at SNHU’s campus in Manchester, New Hampshire, and followed her love of storytelling into the online Master of Arts in English and Creative Writing at SNHU. Connect with her on LinkedIn.