DESIGNER
Designer
I started as a Game Designer in Brasil, studying it in college for 4 years, and achieving a bachelor in it. Game Design has given me an invaluable in-depth knowledge of the entire process of making a game, from game specifics, such as the pitching, the story writing, modeling, animating and coding, to the marketing and management of the final product.
Having all the aspects combined together gave me a much smoother experience during the development of any game.
Target Public and Product
One of the most important concepts in game development is knowing who the product is for.
The public is wide and their expectations differ according to a miriad of values, like age and time available. It is important to have the target public clearly defined before attempting any other development.
The target public will steer in which direction the game style should go. A young audience might like a more cartoonish style, while a slightly older one might not have the attention span needed for a longer and more complex game. The result will harshly affect the game's reception, and it will affect sales. There are also secondary targets, those who might end up liking the style, even if they are outside the primary target scope.
It is also important to take into account the fact that the audience buying the product might not be the actual playing one, which is normally the case for parents and their children.
Development Process
After the target public has been defined, an idea that encompasses the needs will be created and a pitching of the idea will be made in order to gauge the closeness to the public and the viability of it in terms of cost and production.
A spiral begins then, with a piece of the game being made, analized and checked with someone from the audience in order to know if the idea has gone out of scope.
Each individual is responsible for not only their specific part, but also that it fits and can be used on the actual engine.
Design
Designing the actual game world is a long task. All the pieces must fit together perfectly, in terms of colour, idea, history and story.
A historical game such as Assassin's Creed, for instance, must not have the characters wearing clothes that are not appropriate for that time period. An idea, or base concept can be used and expressed through the game in multiple ways such as the colours or constructions. It is the Game Designer's job to see that all the pieces are coordinated correctly and can be used to form a greater whole art piece.
Selling Venues
The selling venues are the points and locations where the game will be sold to the public, as well as any extra material produced to advertise the product. It can be physical, in stores and other comercial points, or purely virtual, being distribued on a website.
Advertising the product on the web is very important nowadays, with social media sites being very useful in keeping the public interested and updated on the latest productions and future products.