From 'What If...?' to Fun, Playable Experiences: The Essential Role of Game Designers

IB028 | 15:15 - 15:45

From games on your mom's phone about matching pieces of candy, to indie titles developed by a single person, and all the way to AAA open-world games with multi-million-dollar budgets, video games have become one of the major entertainment mediums. Many people can guess that game development teams include artists to make everything look amazing, and programmers to create the code that will bring the game to life. But who thinks and works on what the game should be about? Who decides how high you jump? How many bullets are in your gun? How much time does it take to harvest your turnips? These tasks usually fall onto the head of the game designer: A figure that ensures that the whole experience and the work of everyone fits together and delivers the intended experience. This talk will delve into how video games are made, from the very first ideas until the final release and beyond. From there, I’ll explain with more detail the position of the game designer inside a game development team, and how we work with the other departments to arrive at the common goal: making cool games.