“So prove it!“
It was always my dream to become a designer of some sorts, and it was the bold challenge above that landed me in the industry.
I am quite often asked “How do I get a job as a board game designer?”
The answer is quite simple. “I desired it and applied.” That is all it took really. Although I was told it would take more than that prior to being hired.
“Find a mentor and establish contacts.” “Go to college.” “Create an awesome Linkedin account.”
…and so on.
Honestly, if you want something bad enough you will find a way to make it happen, and those methods might help some, but they didn’t help me. All that being said, the purpose of this article is not going to cover what it takes to join the game design industry. Instead, I wanted this article to focus on what happens after you are brought into the industry – be it as a freelance designer or employee.
We can all agree that dreaming is easy… and FUN! But dreaming isn’t what got you where you are. Applying hard work and dedication placed you in your seat as a game designer. So, why then would the production of a game be any different? Seems like a rhetorical question for sure, but sadly it tends to become an all to common place scenario.
Envisioning the concept you want to build is the easy part. There is no effort required to alter it, no fear of how it will play out in reality, and no need for worrying about it being… broken. On the contrary, designing a game IS quite scary. It involves hard work. And it rarely works as intended out of the gate. Due to these factors, amazing concepts never evolve past the dream stage. Concepts that could be the next Dominion or World of Warcraft for example.
Now, I can’t do anything to rectify that initial fear. But I CAN prepare you for the stages that follow:
- Build Prototype
- Initial Testing
- Applying Theme
- Refining Mechanics
- Blind Playtesting
- Final Production
Over the next few days, I will cover each stage in its own article.