A game designer is a person who designs games. A game is a structured activity, usually undertaken for Enjoyment and sometimes also used as an Educational tool The term can refer to a person who designs video games, or one who designs traditional games such as board games. A video game is a Game that involves interaction with a User interface to generate visual feedback on a video device. A board game is a Game in which counters or pieces that are placed on removed from or moved across a "board" (a premarked surface usually specific to that game
Contents |
Video and computer
A video or computer game designer develops the layout, concept and gameplay of a video or computer game. For the television channel see GamePlay HD. Gameplay includes all player experiences during the interaction with game systems especially formal This may include playfield design, specification writing, and entry of numeric properties that balance and tune the gameplay. A game designer works for a developer (which may additionally be the game's video game publisher). A video game developer is a software developer (a business or an individual that creates Video games A developer may specialize in a certain video A video game publisher is a company that publishes Video games that they have either developed internally or have had developed by a Video game developer
This person usually has a lot of writing experience and may even have a degree in writing or a related field (such as English). A writer is anyone who creates a written work although the word usually designates those who write creatively or professionally as well as those who have written in many different forms English is a West Germanic language originating in England and is the First language for most people in the United Kingdom, the United States This person's primary job function is writing, so the more experience they have with that activity, the better. Some art and programming skills are also helpful for this job, but are not strictly necessary. The definition of an artist is wide-ranging and covers a broad spectrum of Activities to do with creating Art, practicing the Arts and/or demonstrating A programmer is someone who writes Computer software. The term computer programmer can refer to a specialist in one area of computer programming or to a generalist In addition game designers often study relevant liberal arts such as psychology, sociology, drama, fine art or philosophy. Psychology (from Greek grc ψῡχή psȳkhē, "breath life soul" and grc -λογία -logia) is an Academic and Sociology (from Latin: socius "companion" and the suffix -ology "the study of" from Greek λόγος lógos "knowledge" Drama is the specific mode of Fiction represented in Performance. Fine art is any Art form developed primarily for Aesthetics rather than Utility. Philosophy is the study of general problems concerning matters such as existence knowledge truth beauty justice validity mind and language Due to the increasing complexity of the game design process, many young game designers may also come from a computer science or other computer engineering background. Computer science (or computing science) is the study and the Science of the theoretical foundations of Information and Computation and their
In larger companies entry level game designers will typically be given simpler tasks such as level design and object placement, while the role of lead designer will be reserved for a designer with more experience and a history of successful titles.
History
The first video games were designed in the 1960s and 1970s by programmers for whom creating games was a hobby, since there was no way to sell them or earn money from creating games (the games required large mainframe computers to play). The 1960s decade refers to the years from the beginning of 1960 to the end of 1969 This article is about the Decade 1970-1979 For the Year 1970 see 1970. A hobby is a spare-time Recreational pursuit Etymology A Hobby horse is a wooden or Wickerwork toy made to be Mainframes (often colloquially referred to as Big Iron) are Computers used mainly by large organizations for critical applications typically bulk data Some were designed by electrical engineers as exhibits for visitors to computer labs (OXO, Tennis for Two), others by college students who wrote games for their friends to play (Spacewar!, Star Trek, Dungeon). OXO (also known as Noughts and Crosses) is a Tic-tac-toe Computer game made for the EDSAC computer in 1952. Tennis for Two was a game developed in 1958 on an Analog computer, which simulates a game of Tennis or Ping pong on an Oscilloscope Spacewar! is one of the earliest known digital Computer games Steve "Slug" Russell, Martin "Shag" Graetz and Wayne Wiitanen Star Trek is a text-only Computer game that originated within the BASIC programming language hacker culture of the 1970s
Some of the games designed during this era, such as Zork, Baseball, Air Warrior and Adventure later made the transition with their game designers into the early video game industry. Zork was one of the first Interactive fiction Computer games and an early descendant of Colossal Cave Adventure. Baseball was the first-ever Baseball Computer game, and was created on a PDP-10 mainframe computer at Pomona College Air Warrior was an early multiplayer on-line air-combat simulator Colossal Cave Adventure (also known as ADVENT, Colossal Cave, or Adventure) (Crowther 1976 Crowther The video game industry (formally referred to as Interactive entertainment) is the economic sector involved with the development, Marketing
Early in the history of video games, game designers were often the lead programmer or the only programmer for a game, and this remained true as the video game industry dawned in the 1970s. Video games were introduced as a commercial entertainment medium in 1971, becoming the basis for an important entertainment industry in the late 1970s/early 1980s in the United A lead programmer is a Software engineer in charge of one or more software projects This person also sometimes comprised the entire art team. This is the case of such noted designers as Sid Meier, Chris Sawyer and Will Wright. Sidney K Meier (born February 24 1954 in Sarnia, Ontario, Canada) is an American programmer and designer of several Chris Sawyer is a Scottish computer game developer who is best-known for designing and programming RollerCoaster Tycoon William Wright (born January 20 1960 in Atlanta Georgia) is an American computer Game designer and co-founder of A notable exception to this policy was Coleco, which from its very start separated the function of design and programming. Coleco was a company founded in 1932 by Maurice Greenberg as " Co nnecticut Le ather Co mpany "
As games became more complex and computers and consoles became more powerful (allowing more features), the job of the game designer became a separate job function, with the lead programmer splitting his time between the two functions, moving from one role to the other. A home computer was a class of Personal computer entering the market in 1977 and becoming common during the 1980s Later, game complexity escalated to the point where it required someone who concentrated solely on game design. Many early veterans chose the game design path eschewing programming and delegating those tasks to others.
Today, it is rare to find a video or computer game where the principal programmer is also the principal designer, except in the case of casual games, such as Tetris or Bejeweled. A casual game is a Video game targeted at a mass audience of Casual gamers Casual games can have any type of gameplay and fit in any genre Tetris (Тетрис is a Video puzzle game originally designed and programmed by Alexey Pajitnov in June 1985 while working for the Dorodnicyn Bejeweled is a Puzzle game by PopCap Games, first developed for the browser in 2001. With very complex games, such as MMORPGs, or a big budget action or sports title, designers may number in the dozens. A massively multiplayer online role-playing game ( MMORPG) is a genre of Computer role-playing games (CRPGs in which a large number of players interact with In these cases, there are generally one or two principal designers and many junior designers who specify subsets or subsystems of the game. In larger companies like Electronic Arts, each aspect of the game (control, level design or vehicles) may have a separate producer, lead designer and several general designers.
See also
External links
Newsgroups
This page primarily is meant to list non-video game designers This is a list of video game designers, past and present in alphabetical order This is a list of individuals that Design Role-playing games, including Live-action role-playing games but excluding computer and console GameSpot is a video gaming Website that provides News, Reviews Previews Downloads and other information Eurocom is also the name of an Israeli telecommunications company and a Canadian Computer maker The video game industry (formally referred to as Interactive entertainment) is the economic sector involved with the development, Marketing Game design is the process of designing the content and rules of a Game. Game development is the process by which a Game is produced Today this term most commonly refers to the development of Video games Overview Development Game programming, a subset of Game development, is the Programming of computer, console or Arcade games. Game testing refers to the process of Software testing for Video games The formal process performed by professional Game testers begins well into Video game journalism is a branch of Journalism concerned with the reporting and discussion of Video games. Level design or game mapping is the creation of levels mdashlocales stages or missions&mdashfor a Video game (such as a Console game or A game producer is the person in charge of overseeing development of a Video game. A game programmer is a Programmer who primarily develops Video games or related Software (such as Game development tools. A game artist is an Artist who creates art for one or more types of Games Game artists are responsible for all of the aspects of Game development that call A game tester analyzes Video games to document software defects as part of a Quality control process in Video game development. A level designer is a person who creates levels challenges or missions for computer and/or Video games using a specific set of programs These An arcade game is a coin-operated entertainment machine typically installed in businesses such as Restaurants Pubs Video arcades and Family Entertainment A personal computer Game (also known as a computer game or simply PC game) is a Video game played on a Personal computer, rather This article is about games played on consoles Video gaming is about this form of gaming in general A handheld video game is a Video game designed for a handheld device A video game developer is a software developer (a business or an individual that creates Video games A developer may specialize in a certain video A video game publisher is a company that publishes Video games that they have either developed internally or have had developed by a Video game developer This is a list of companies that have made Video games for either computers or video game consoles and includes both companies that currently exist as well as now-defunct companies This is a list of video and computer game publishers, past and present This is a list of all Video game lists that can be found on Wikipedia. Below is a list of notable people who work or have worked in the Video game industry, on video or Computer games The list is divided into different roles butDapyx Software network: MP3 Explorer | Ebook Manager | Zenithic