Online Game Design Schools: Taking Your Education to the Next Level

Online game design schools

If you have a passion for video games, explore the opportunities that online game design schools offer. A subset of game development, it is up to a game designer to develop a game’s overall concept and feel. Game designers generally must possess a combination of artistic, technical, and writing skills to succeed in their careers, and most game designers have a college degree. Earning an online game design degree will assist you in building a career in game design, even if you’re too busy to attend a traditional game design program full-time.

Online Game Design Degree Options

You can pursue a game design degree at the associate’s, bachelor’s or master’s level. Online game design schools provide students with a well-rounded education in the arts, teaching skills like drawing and painting, software design, programming, storytelling, 3D technology, and animation. Other common degree concentrations among game designers include English, computer science, graphic design, animation, and art. Online programs allow you to earn your degree from the comfort and convenience of your own home, eliminating the need to commute to campus at specific class times.

Communication skills are vital to a career as a game designer, so those working towards a game design degree should take classes in English, creative writing, theater, and other liberal arts subjects to hone their communication abilities. Game designers also require management skills since they have to work with many people’s ideas and incorporate them into the final product. Additionally, since they collaborate with programmers, game designers need to have strong technical skills and understand how computer programming and software design work.

Potential Jobs for Online Game Design Degree Holders

The ultimate goal of a game designer is to make a game fun and challenging to players. Those in game design careers are responsible for designing the mission, theme, and rules of a video game in the pre-production stage. During the production stage, game designers are responsible for designing a game’s gameplay, environment, storyline, and characters.

The most important type of training that game designers get is on-the-job. Most game designers start out as producers, testers or artists and eventually move up into designer positions. After earning an online game design degree, graduates can find work as lead designers, game mechanics designers, level designers or writers.

Lead designers make large design decisions and manage the design team. Game mechanics designers design gameplay mechanics. Level designers are responsible for creating a game’s levels, missions, and overall environment. While collaborating with other game designers, writers come up with a game’s commentary, narrative, dialogue, hints, and more.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, surveys by placement companies found that the annual salaries of game designers and writers varied widely, ranging from $35,000 to $75,000 per year. The earnings of game designers ultimately depend on their reputation in the field. Designers who have built a name for themselves earn the most money. Whether or not a game designer has a degree also plays a role in earnings, as does the breadth of job responsibilities. To start your career as a game designer, explore online game design schools today.