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Games Designer

Bringing ideas, building prototypes, creating interactive narration and developing a game's mechanics

How this role makes a difference

Did you know there are nearly 3 billion gamers around the world? Gaming used to be an activity enjoyed by a smaller community, but today, because of the range of games available and the ease of accessing them, on our mobile phones as well as games consoles, it’s hard to avoid gaming.

A games designer helps to generate the ideas for a game, builds prototypes – small scale versions of a game concept – creates the game storyline, decides on the points of interaction with a gamer, and plans the game mechanics. You could be the technician who helps to invent whole new gaming worlds that millions of people explore for fun and entertainment.

Person playing a game on their mobile phone

The kind of work you’ll do

  • Designing games for a range of devices and platforms
  • Finding ways to capture the imagination of a gamer
  • Planning in detail every element of a new game, including the setting, rules, story flow, props, vehicles, characters and mode of play
  • Presenting your ideas to people in your game development team
  • Carrying out market research to learn what your target audience wants from a game
  • Transforming your initial ideas into a detailed concept, then implementing the concept
  • Writing scripts and designing storyboards
  • Developing design specifications and adapting them as the game progresses
  • Planning the overall user experience
Useful skills
Technologically minded
Skills & attributes
Useful skills
Attention to detail
Skills & attributes
Useful skills
Communicating complex ideas
Skills & attributes
Useful skills
Problem solving
Skills & attributes

What you can bring to the role

A passion for gaming and belief in the entertainment games provide.

Some knowledge of the different hardware platforms available for games.

A vivid imagination and lively mind that can generate fresh ideas.

A knack for using new technology and creating things on computers.

A focused approach to your work and the ability to make sound judgements and accurate decisions.

Good communication skills and the ability to get your ideas across to other people.

The confidence to work independently and in a team.

The determination to find solutions to make an idea work.

This role could also be right for you if you have any of the following interests:

- gaming and technology

- art, film, fashion and design

- sports, adventures and the outdoors

£ 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 , 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
Average salary per year *
£ 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 , 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
Average salary per month *

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*according to ONS

Future career opportunities

After gaining experience as a junior games designer, you could get promoted to a quality assurance (QA) testing role. In this role you would be involved in testing applications and games to confirm they reach the right standards and operate well properly across different platforms.

You can progress into a senior creative or technological role, subject to the training and experience you have. You might prefer to be involved in developing the storylines and working out how to make them a great gaming experience, or it could be the programming and build of the games you enjoy more.

How to get into this role

There’s no perfect career path or ideal way into your dream job.

 But if you’re interested in education and training options that could be relevant to this role, you might want to consider:

Schools and colleges each have their own career guidance plan and can provide detailed information, advice, and guidance on options and next steps.

A little more about the role

Exciting features...

You’ll work in a creative and technologically-advanced environment, interacting with game developers, programmers, game artists, animators and quality assurance testers. You’ll brainstorm together all the different ways a game could work in order to create the best gaming experience possible. Your role could include interface or content design. In smaller teams you will tend to get involved in a range of work, whereas bigger companies often have specialists focused on each element of game design.

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Games Designer

Ali Skewes
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