Video Game Designer – Turn Your Hobby Into Great Income
By Yenoscyu
How To Be A Video Game Designer
If you REALLY like playing video games or if you are an avid gamer, then it’s a good start to begin a lucrative career, becoming a Video Game Designer.
This job can generate revenue at least $40,000 per year, and along with work experience and quality work you produce, a good and creative Video Game Designer can receive $125,000 to $150,000 per year.
By becoming a Video Game Designer you can design gameplay, conceiving and designing the rules and structure of a game. If you are interested in being Video Game Designer, your field of works including 3D character animator, story boarder, modeler, FX artist, digital artist, broadcast graphics designer, video post-production artist, game planner and researcher, and a producer.
It takes hard work to become a quality Video Game Designer. Your depth knowledge about video games should be coupled with technical knowledge related to the gaming world. You can get these technical skills through school or a course that is devoted to create new Video Game Designer.
The Best School To Become A Best Video Game Designer
Right now there are many schools specialized for those who want to become a Video Game Designer. You must be selective when choosing the school because it’s usually expensive. Pick a school that has a good curriculum and teaching methods and not too draining your pocket. In addition, schools that have a good reputation is also worthy of your consideration, because game developers are usually more prioritizing the Video Game Designer who has the credentials from the prestigious or reputable school.
Below I will give a brief explanation of some schools that could be a consideration if you are serious enough to be a quality Video Game Designer.
1. Full Sail University
Location: Orlando, Florida and Online
You can learn becoming Video Game Designer here either by going on campus or just online. There are many great various game related degrees to choose from including Game Design, Game Art, and Game Development. Graduates from Full Sail University have worked on games like Guitar Hero and Call of Duty: World at War.
Here you can learn so many lessons related to Video Game Designer including game creation process from start to finish. You can learn the preproduction and how to create gameplay, level design, game docs, programming and implementation. You will develop a playable video game with a team of programmers, designers, and artists. You can also learn character development, texturing, shading and lighting, and modeling, in a real-world production setting to create a playable game from scratch to finish.
2. DeVry University
Location: 90+ locations across the US, Canada and Online
Here you can learn specific physics and math, design mechanics, and computer animation that are all focused to video game related topics. With its video game design program, DeVry prepares the potential Video Game Designer to deal with the actual environment they’ll be working on. DeVry also prepares graduates to join private and public sector game software industry including software engineer, programmer, and project coordinator. You will spend about $14,000 for full tuition a year.
3. Westwood College
Location: Anaheim, CA, Denver, CO, Chicago, IL and Online
This one of the great college you can apply to become the future Video Game Designer. Here, students can take bachelor’s degree in Game Software Development and can learn specifically on software engineering fundamentals and game software development. These lessons are needed in high-tech careers such as interactive entertainment and game development. They also offer bachelor’s degree in Game Art and Design, which you can learn Color Theory, Cinematography, 3D Modeling & Animation. You can also learn how to enhance your skill in communication, critical thinking, logic, and problem solving.
4. ITT Technical Institute
Location: 100+ campuses across the US
It’s another great place and easy to find for the next Video Game Designer. Here you can learn specifically about digital game design through the study such as game design process, gaming technology, animation, level design, and general education coursework. The institute will prepare the future Video Games Designer for entry level work in less then three years. Here you can take bachelor degree in Game Design and Digital Entertainment.
5. The Art Institutes
Location: Several locations across the US, Canada and Online
Here you’ll learn so many things needed when you want to be a Video Game Designer. If you choose Game Art & Design Program you will learn how to bring the game designer’s concept to life. You will learn scene and set design, creating a character or object, motion capture, and more. If you choose Game Programming you will receive a hands-on introduction to programming. The lessons include coding, artistic concepts, production, and gameplay strategies.
As many of school for Video Game Designer, tuition for The Art Institutes is fairly high, but it’s cheaper if you choose online school which you will spend about $1,200 per course.
Other schools you can check for becoming Video Game Designer are:
Art Center College of Design
Digital Media Arts College
International Academy of Design and Technology
Pratt Institute
University of Texas at Dallas Arts and Technology
The Scholarships For Video Game Designer
For those of you who feel that education to become a Video Game Designer is expensive then don’t be discouraged. You can follow the scholarships to save your money. Here are some scholarships you can try.
1. Vancouver Film School (VFS)
Each year, the VFS provides scholarship to the Game Design program at VFS. With this scholarship, you are entitled to follow the VFS Game Design for a year which is a specialized program for its graduates to start his career in the competitive gaming industry. The graduates of the VFS Game Design are excellent Video Game Designer and have an important role in designing and producing games like Dead Rising 2, Prototype, and Warhammer 40.000: Dawn of War II.
2. Penny Arcade Scholarship
This program will give $10,000 each year to one college student with potential who intend to become Video Game Designer after graduation and have a 3.3 GPA. In July, the winner of this scholarship is notified by written letter. Within 3 weeks of award notification, the winner should submit a written acceptance of the award.
The game world is a multi-billion dollar industry. Video games will always evolving and everyone loves playing video games. Even smaller gadgets like smartphones and iPad have huge market for smaller video games. It means, by becoming a Video Game Designer, will open a wide opportunity for you to taste the fat cake in the gaming industry. So prepare yourself properly and seriously if you want to be a good Video Game Designer and reap lucrative income.
