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Hellbent

creating a computer/video game

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Do computer game design companies hire creative people to work on the design concepts of the game without having to do any technical programming? How do the design concepts of a game come about? What is the job like for the person who is coming up with the design concept of a game?

Basically, what I want to know is if there is a place for someone to work on designing a game without doing any programming. :)

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Can you draw well? can you use 3d editing software? Programming is where you're most likely to get work, but if you can create assets (sounds, models, textures, maps ect) there could be room for you.

If your asking if theres a job where you get paid to make your totally new and cool idea for a video game you guys then sorry, you're out of luck. There's no such thing as an 'ideas guy'.

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Sure there is. Every game company has an "ideas guy".

He's usually the one who's proven himself through many development cycles, having seen each one through to completion and been involved at every level. He uses his tenured position and experience in project leadership to hire people who report directly to him - thus delegating the grunt work that he's been neck-deep in for half his life and becoming an "ideas guy".

So you've got that to aspire to.

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Hellbent said:

Do computer game design companies hire creative people to work on the design concepts of the game without having to do any technical programming? How do the design concepts of a game come about? What is the job like for the person who is coming up with the design concept of a game?

Basically, what I want to know is if there is a place for someone to work on designing a game without doing any programming. :)


It's my understanding that generally, and this doesn't apply to every studio, a project starts with the producer(s) and the head software engineers doing the pre-production. They'll be doing proof-of-concept, prototype gameplay, and etc., because without the actual game there's nothing for the ideas to adhere to. There's almost never a dedicated "idea guy" because of a few things:

First of all, everyone's got ideas. Ideas are a dime a dozen. Writers and artists usually end up entering the picture later in actual production because of the second reason:

Mechanics, more often than not, need to come first. Concepts unto themselves are never going to hold up if it doesn't fit to the mechanics.

Really, if you want to get involved with games without having an actual trade to apply (coding, art, writing, etc.), you're probably best off looking into being a production manager. They're the glue that keep everyone together, and can make or break a game's progress by how strictly or loosely they enforce deadlines and managing personnel. But even still, you're better off knowing at least a little about each of the trades that go into making a game Extra Credits has a good video about what they're all about with some ideas of how to get your foot in the door.

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Hellbent said:

Basically, what I want to know is if there is a place for someone to work on designing a game without doing any programming. :)


Depends on the scope of the game and who's making it. Any skills useful for game making could help: art, level design, gameplay mechanics (including board/card games), Q&A/beta testing (if you have a lot of experience), and surely more. Probably not sound design/music composition alone though, unless you're making a very audio-centric game.

If you have some grand idea for a game, and you want it to get made without you needing to learn to code, your best bets are (a) be really good at art, (b) learn to code well enough to take tools other people have made and use them (maybe less than you'd think), (c) get a whole bunch of money so you can hire people.

If you want people to work for you or to hire you solely for your ideas alone, you're going to need to find a way to prove that your ideas are worth that. Usually that means contributing to another project of some sort, and without any of the skills above, this is quite difficult.

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Usually they're the best friend of the developer that upon success money gets thrown their way. Ideas are free my man, you need to do something useful like art, testing, level design or... marketing.

If you want to throw out ideas, take a look at:

http://www.doomworld.com/vb/everything-else/63999-blaze/

http://www.doomworld.com/vb/everything-else/66421-longbow-sidescroller-shooter-project/

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Kinda reminds me of an AVGN rant on an obscure Atari Jaguar game, which was so weird that he concluded that he could come up with a game like that, like having IDK sharks growing trees which made apples, and then turkeys came and ate the apples, and then you had to use the turkeys to power up some plants that produced power that prevented the turkeys from cackling too much or somesuch...

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If you want to get a job with your game idea, you should make some prototype game of it. Of course this will mean you need to know some programming/art/etc.

Maybe it could also be possible to pitch/design an idea through some concept art (and some writing). But then it needs to be really awesome.

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I'd love to get into the games industry, hopefully creating games!

To achieve this, I'm mostly complaining when I play games; saying how I'd do everything better, and crying myself to sleep.

Then again, there are tools out there to build prototypes with no coding knowledge; and even the Doom engine.

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Hellbent said:

Do computer game design companies hire creative people to work on the design concepts of the game without having to do any technical programming? How do the design concepts of a game come about? What is the job like for the person who is coming up with the design concept of a game?

Basically, what I want to know is if there is a place for someone to work on designing a game without doing an programming. :)


Show the world you're good at designing games despite your lack of programming ability. Be known for a kick-ass mod or six, or be part of a team that is.

To artists: get more people to check your details. The tape drives in Black Mesa with counter-rotating reels were really just unforgivable.

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Actually.... become a producer or executive producer, use your own money to fund things, then you can create the game you want.

There was the guy that did Limbo who made art and said.... someone make this into a game, and someone did.

There is also the pro game reviewer turned game developer that made Gunpoint was it? All of the reviews love that game. All of the reviewers knew the developer too.

You can do it man, programming isn't that difficult, but its the time you're willing to commit.

I like Jay's idea.

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LOL oh them. Yeah a small dev team of like 2 people can become multi millionaires while a big team of 50 - 300 people will go out of business. Mortal Kombat 1 was a 5 man team. Most Atari games were a 1 man team. Meat Boy, Limbo, World of Goo had 2 man teams.

Another catch to all of this is some times its just cheaper to hire Koreans or Japanese and tell people you programmed it.

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Hellbent said:

Basically, what I want to know is if there is a place for someone to work on designing a game without doing any programming. :)


Of course. There's level design, concept art, modelling, animation, texturing, sound design, musical composition and voice acting, just to name the most obvious ones off the top of my head.

A certain degree of technical knowledge is invaluable regardless of the position you're in, however. It's often desirable for level designers to be familiar with the game's scripting system, which I guess could be described as a very basic form of programming in many cases, though nothing nearly as complex as what an AI or graphics engine programmer needs to know. Designers and artists alike should be very familiar with the limitations and shortcomings of the game engine. Sound designers should be very well-versed in different sound formats and the pros and cons of each.

Basically, there's no escaping that video games are a very technically-minded industry, no matter what angle you approach it from---but this doesn't necessitate being a programmer.

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there have been instances of boardgame designers jumping ship to helm computer game development. And since boardgames are currently experiencing a slight renaissance thanks to kickstarter et. al, that might be a good place to start. Show you can do basic game mechanics there, set up a cheap indy gig and work your way forward.

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Valve made a lot of money moding Quake into Half Life. Then Gearbox made a lot of money moding for Half Life. Then there are other people that made mods for Half Life that were bought and made into real games like EYE, Left 4 Dead, Team Fortress and others. Weapon makers for TF2 supposedly make six figures (not sure how).

Even people moding for Doom and Morrowind have gone on to either make games or get offers from companies.

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Some companies have dedicated designers that don't program/do art/do music/etc. Blizzard is such a company. Depending on the scope of the game, there might be one guy doing most of it. In the case of WoW, there a class design team, a systems team ("systems" in that context means mostly features and what they entail the player doing), a world design team, quest designers and writers, and so on. There is a lot more to design than just one guy calling the shots. But, that is a game that features a scope far beyond a normal game, so different projects will demand different kinds of designers.

Consider the adventure game genre. The gameplay design is pretty sparse. It is something that needs designing, obviously, but in that genre, doesn't pretty much every facet of the game answer to the game's story?

A competitive first person shooter like Quake Live probably requires one guy calling most of the shots, and map designers.

Point is, different projects will have different demands on design.

As for getting into the industry, I'd wager design positions are really tough to get because of all the competition and industry veterans moving into those positions. At a company like Blizzard, having no industry experience is probably a deal-breaker, unless the design concepts you bring to your app/interview are just jaw-dropping, which is possible. Your best bet is probably to either start your own indie company and designate yourself a designer while another guy programs, etc, or to get in at a small company that might give you a chance.

Making mods/maps/scenarios/etc for existing games is a good way to get some experience and develop your taste and ethos. If you make something really good, you can use that in your interview.

I am not in the industry, but I'd wager what I'm saying is mostly true. If you want to make it happen, you can probably make it happen at some level. Whether you "strike gold" and wind up at Blizzard or some other incredible studio, who knows, but "designer" is a job and title that can be fulfilled at the indie level, too.

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I know it was the 90s but AFAIK, Tim Willits got hired at Id because of some Doom maps he made without having any prior game design experience. Doesn't that mean that some of the best guys here should be eligible for a job at Id?

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DooM_RO said:

I know it was the 90s but AFAIK, Tim Willits got hired at Id because of some Doom maps he made without having any prior game design experience. Doesn't that mean that some of the best guys here should be eligible for a job at Id?


Not just ID. The Casalli brothers got jobs at Valve.

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