A game-design degree can lead to varying career paths in a fast-growing field, and many students receive training in those diverse fields while still in school. Careers with a game design degree go beyond the actual game-design process, branching out into areas of sound and music, layouts, scene development and strategy. Many people with a game-design degree also have options to work on a freelance basis or choose to open their own game-design firm.
Degree Requirements
Individuals interested in a career in game design and game development must fulfill education and training requirements of a game-design degree program. The University of Advancing Technology requires the following prerequisites of any student seeking a degree in game design: Flash and Photoshop experience, basic programming skills, strong mathematical or science background, strong problem-solving skills, entrepreneurial skills, strong creative skills and the ability to be a team player.
Career Paths
Mania.com reports on the different career paths available with a game design degree. These include video-game designer, video-game tester, conceptual artist, 2-D artist, 3-D artist or a sound designer for video games. Another career path in this field is texture artistry or texture designing.
The video-game designer typically works with a team of storyboard writers, programmers and video game artists to develop a plot, strategy and implementation plan for the game. Video-game testers play games at all levels to pinpoint any bugs on the technical side, or problems with the strategy.
Conceptual artists work with the storyboard writers to create sketches of characters and scenes of each portion of the game, and 2-D and 3-D artists work as part of the creative team to bring the conceptual artists' hand-drawn characters and scenes to life. They do this by working with programmers using advanced web-design methods.
Sound designers work with the creative team to develop the game's music and sound effects. They typically have an educational background in both music and video-game development. Texture artists are responsible for creating high-impact visual elements of the video game environment that mimic textures such as brick walls, skins and light elements that help the game appear more real.
Salary Information
People with a game-design degree can earn $25,000 to $120,000 or more depending on their years of experience and career path. According to adigitaldreamer.com, the salary ranges in 2009 were $45,000 to $70,000 for animators, $65,000 to $80,000 for lead animators, $40,000 to $70,000 for game designers, $45,000 to $90,000 for lead designers or creative directors, $65,000 to $75,000 for audio designers, $25,000 to $45,000 for video-game testers and $40,000 to $60,000 for lead game testers.
Job Options
Many game designers work for an interactive gaming firm or as part of team of virtual graphic designers, but there are other options. Career options with a game design degree include freelancing by providing game-design services independently to private clients, or setting up a small business that offers services in conjunction with web developers, game designers and other professionals in the industry. Some game designers are self-employed, and may not work exclusively for a single client.
Career Training
Some game-design schools offer hands-on training as part of their educational program, but many game designers learn key skills and advanced knowledge through an on-the-job training program. Schools such as ITT Tech and DeVry University offer comprehensive career training and education programs that make use of cutting-edge technologies and simulations to teach students basic and advanced skills. Schools such as The Art Institute of Pittsburgh offer online game-design degrees and provide training through interactive lectures and online training modules.
