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Is there any interest in a video game design subgroup?
Hey all,
I'm a professional game designer with about ten years in the video game industry. I've worked primarily with collectible card games and my most recent project is a mobile first strategy card game. I'm interested in talking more about video game design, design theory, and more.
Most of the design topics I've seen on Tildes are focused more on tabletop / board games and I was wondering if there is a big enough population of people interested in discussing game design more from the professional side of video game design.
Hope to have some meaningful discussion and I'm available to chat about relevant topics.
There used to be a ~games.game_design group, but there wasn't enough participation to keep it. It was removed in July 2023 (see announcement).
I think we should bring it back, but it should be ~games.development (likely, ~games.dev would be better), encompassing all areas of game development, design, and news.
I agree about the first two, but I'm not sure what you mean by news. Are you talking about news about development (e.g. better integration between blender and godot, or a new middleware for sound), or are you talking about a studio developing a new game (e.g. blizzard teaser trailer for diablo 13)? Personally I'm interested in the former, but I think the latter fits pretty well directly under ~games. I.e. I'm interested in a category for people that are developing or want to develop games. There can of course be things in diablo 13 that are interesting for a game development discussion, but it being in development isn't that interesting to me in itself.
Oh absolutely on the former, game development news, tools, plugins, upgrades, innovations, etc. Sort of like ~tech for, well, ~games.
I second this. I'm not a software engineer working in the gaming industry but one with over 20 years of experience working in enterprise environments with, at this point, nearly 30 years of being extremely passionate about games and game development in all its aspects.
A place in which we could share articles, videos and discussions about everything that happens "under the hood" and "behind the scenes" in the gaming industry would be very much appreciated.
Thank you.
I will try to post relevant threads to games and see what kind of traction we can get. Makes sense that there wasn't enough activity for such a niche topic.
I would love to have those kinds of chats, but as PetitPrince mentioned, last time groups were reconsidered it was pruned for lack of activity. If we can show enough interest in ~games, it'll rise again.
Sounds good. I'm happy just posting relative to my interests every week or so. I'm coming at things from the perspective as a game designer and not a developer so much of what I have to contribute is probably fine for the tabletop and boardgame communities as well.
I'm also interested in more posts on this subject! I studied game dev in college and want to break into the industry working on narratives (which is unfortunately not a particularly in-demand skill/role for game development), but I also just really enjoy thinking about mechanics and such. Not just coming up with them, but also analyzing existing games and design choices. I tried making a post recently about the most essential assets for various maps hoping it could spark some interesting discussion, but it didn't get much traction as the few responses mainly boiled down to suggesting asset packs or looking at games.
Overall though, game dev is just a really fun topic and I'd love more discussions on all sorts of aspects of it!
Narrative is really hard to break into. I have a lot of personal and professional writing experience in addition to nearly ten years in game design. It would be a long shot for me to get a Narrative role because the market is extremely small and they're always looking for someone with AAA experience as a Narrative Designer. That lines up with what I've been told by friends who work at AAA studios. The other path that sometimes sees success is starting as a tech writer at a big studio, putting in a ton of time and extra work, and eventually transitioning to Narrative. But Narrative usually pays less so by the time you're invited to move over it's not as attractive.
Another path is to work at a smaller company where roles are less specialized. This is what I've done and because of my interest and experience as a writer, I end up taking on more of the story driven content / moments. That led me to a leadership position on another team where I ended up creative lead, handling all the story content, managing the style guide, etc.
There's paths but it's tough.
The biggest thing I can recommend is make as many real friends in game design as you can. Go to game jams and local meetups until you connect with someone that you enjoy making games with.
I'm an amateur gamedev, so I'd love this! (Though not sure how regularly I can contribute / post.)
I'd be interested. I've never worked professionally in video games directly, but as a graphics/rendering engineer I've worked in closely adjacent areas (simulation, film, and GPU). I love video games, though, and developing and releasing a one has long been on my bucket list -- even if it just uses simple pixel art, lol.
You can do it. A close friend jumped from QA to game design by studying Unity and C+ in their spare time and making their own game.
I've never been a pro or even amateur, but it's something i've followed, discussed, and researched a lot of and I find very interesting. Especially because I think you see a LOT of repeated mistakes in various genres. I'd personally find it interesting.
For sure. I'm also happy to answer questions anyone might have about the game design industry and how to get started on a career in games.
I don't have any professional game design experience, but I have a decade of regular dev experience with a little time as an indie game dev. This is something I would personally be interested in. The design aspect of games is usually what I get caught up on. If I have a clear idea on what I'm making I rarely have an issue, it's just getting my idea worked into something actionable that I have issues with.
I can't promise I have anything to contribute if there are threads specifically for it, but I'm always up for learning about game design.
It sounds to me like you would have plenty to contribute. As the previous sub was shut down for inactivity, I'll stick to posting about what most interests me and go from there.
I'm pretty big into making maps for GoldSrc games in my free time, if the counts. Sure the games are 20+ years old, but hey it's level design! If a game development/design subgroup were to exist, I'd certainly have an interest and would like to contribute to it.
Counts for me. Most of the traditional game design roles in the industry are level design so you probably have more relevant experience than I do.
I know next to nothing about the industry, so I'm pleasantly surprised that making these maps might actually count towards something other than just being (hopefully) fun to play.
As much as the skill would transfer to Video Game Level Design, which is mainly FPS and similar genres. If you're interested in that I'd look at one of the many free Unreal tutorials and try to build your own FPS map.