Now I know what most of you are going to say, you are going to tell me "There are no real entry level game design positions in the gaming industry." and you are most definitely correct, but in all actuality there are. The truth is that there are entry level game design positions, though they are not what you think they are.

My name is Jack and I have been studying Game Art & Design at the Art Institute of Colorado for the past two years and am entering my final year of my bachelor of technical arts program. Since I am entering my final year I am beginning to start the portfolio process as well as portfolio classes, and I am having great difficulty in deciding what to do for my portfolio. The problem that I am having is that I want to be a game designer which as you might know is a very difficult job title to achieve let alone at entry level. The reason for this is that it is a very demanding and unique job within the industry that only makes up a very small portion of the development team, roughly 2-8%. This job title requires great knowledge and understanding of what makes good gameplay and game mechanics as well as the actual jobs, programs and techniques that it takes to make them possible. For these reasons it is a more advanced position.

So late last year a friend of mine sent me an email informing me that Blizzard Entertainment was offering summer internships for 2015. At first I was not that interested in the internship but out of curiosity and the fact that my friend took the time to inform me about it I thought that I should look into it. Now I did not have any intention of applying due to the fact that I live out of state from them and I would have to take time off school, but when I saw that they had an internship in Game Design I was stunned. Needless to say I applied while I had the chance and will hopefully receive a call from them in mid to late April. Now the reason that I was so stunned that they had an internship in game design was the fact that it is almost never an entry level job, but all of Blizzards internships are for entry level jobs meaning that they have them for game design itself. So I hope to get this internship not only for the experience but also to find out what it takes to be a game designer especially in terms of entry level and portfolio.

After a lot of research I have come to the conclusion that entry level game design positions do in fact exist and are obtainable. These positions are typically held by company's that have a very large amount of game mechanics for there games, games such as MMORPGS and other various other game types, which is why they are available at Blizzard Entertainment. I have found that these positions involve everything from quest design and creation to simple enemy mechanics, things that would not be put on the lead game designers shoulders.

So my question for you is, do you think that it would be a viable option to pursue in terms of a portfolio for an entry level job to try and get? Needless to say this would limit me in terms of job opportunity's in the future due to the fact that many companies do not offer the position. The safe way would be to try and go for environment or level design and work my way up to try and become a game designer. My thing is that if I manage to nail a job in the entry level version of game design than I could reach the lead game designer position in 1/4th of the time so it is risk vs reward. So what do you think I should do?

So my question for you is, do you think that it would be a viable option to pursue in terms of a portfolio for an entry level job to try and get?

Yes. Actual work experience will always in general be better than personal/side-project experience.

Needless to say this would limit me in terms of job opportunity's in the future due to the fact that many companies do not offer the position.

I don't see how this make any sense at all.

My thing is that if I manage to nail a job in the entry level version of game design than I could reach the lead game designer position in 1/4th of the time

Um, no.

So what do you think I should do?

It's unclear what you are asking. Are you asking if you should take the internship if they offer it?

If you can afford to relocate yourself, and afford to live there during the internship on what they pay you, and if it will not adversely affect your schooling, then sure. It seems like a good opportunity to learn and get practical experience.

Internships are rarely work-to-hire though, do not count on that.

Sorry for being unclear I was trying to write on the run and was rather unsuccessful in doing so.

The internship was how I found out about entry level jobs for game design. My main question was should I risk making my portfolio for future jobs (not the internship) in game design? Since it is a hard entry level job to find amongst most game companies it would not be easy to get a job in this as it would be a level designer which every company needs.

Most game designers got to where they are after being level designers and many other positions over the course of 10 or so years. Now there are entry level positions that did not exist 5 years ago and can get you to upper tier game design jobs far faster than the route that I just mentioned. It is faster because it is far more direct of an approach to the actual position that I want. This is why many young game designers have been popping up lately, people in there mid to late 20's.

So I would just like to know whether it would be worth the risk to try and make a portfolio for these rare entry level jobs in order to rank up faster in terms of the game design tree, or should I follow the more traditional and reliable route of becoming a level designer or something along those lines to try and become a game designer. It comes down to if I want to risk not getting jobs as easily but have the opportunity to become a game designer is my 20's rather than my 30's or 40's.

My main question was should I risk making my portfolio for future jobs (not the internship) in game design?

There should be no risk here; the portfolio is of your work. That will be equally applicable to any job you apply for. It's the work you've done. Unless you're trying to build your portfolio out of pieces you've tailored to a specific job or job application, in which case you're doing it wrong because most of the time that kind of thing is easy for a potential employer to see through.

Most game designers got to where they are after being level designers and many other positions over the course of 10 or so years.

Citation needed. But probably irrelevant anyway, because (a) "most" game designers are not you and (b) "most" game designers have been in the field a while, meaning they were part of the industry when it was younger and different than it is now.

Now there are entry level positions that did not exist 5 years ago and can get you to upper tier game design jobs far faster than the route that I just mentioned.

This is just wrong. First of all, entry level positions have always existed: everybody started somewhere. It is true that they have not often been heavily advertised, but generally this is because they didn't need to be. There are always potential internal candidates and unsolicited candidates.

Second of all, unless your first position in the industry is an "upper tier" (what does that even mean, exactly?) position, there is nothing about an entry level design position that will get you there any faster. Your ability to reach an "upper tier" job (whether that be about salary and compensation, final deciding authority over a particular aspect of the game, management of juniors, or simply an empty job title) is all down to one thing, really: You. Your ability to do your job plus handle those additional aspirations well. Unless you work somewhere where nepotism or pure seniority factors 100% into promotions (and you don't want to work in those sorts of places), it's how well you do at a job that's going to get you promoted or otherwise advance your career. Not some arbitrary metric based on what your title was in your very first job.

This is why many young game designers have been popping up lately, people in there mid to late 20's.

Such as? I have not seen a rash of game designers "popping up" recently, unless you count hobbyist and independent developers who

• are generally working alone/for themselves, and thus are part of a system wholly distinct from the corporate/studio process you're talking about entering
• have always, always existed and simply appear more prevalent now (and have much better success rates) because of the way the modern internet has evolved extremely useful tools for them (social media, Kickstarter, Steam and the like)

So I would just like to know whether it would be worth the risk to try and make a portfolio for these rare entry level jobs in order to rank up faster in terms of the game design tree, or should I follow the more traditional and reliable route of becoming a level designer or something along those lines to try and become a game designer. It comes down to if I want to risk not getting jobs as easily but have the opportunity to become a game designer is my 20's rather than my 30's or 40's.

Just... no. You have a very naive view of the industry in a lot of ways -- as is typical and expected of somebody who, you know, hasn't actually been in it for the last ten years.

Here's my advice. As somebody who has.

• Your portfolio should be about you, about work that you are proud of and that you did because you loved to do it. That work will show the best and provide the best platform for having interesting conversations about your skills and aspirations at an interview, which in turn makes you far more appealing a candidate than if you, say, tried to guess what the employer wanted to see and built that.
• Job titles vary wildly from studio to studio. What is a "level designer" in one studio may be a "level artist" in another. What is an "entry level designer" might be functionally equivalent to a "level designer," obviating the entire need for your worrying about the distinction. Don't get hung up on what title you want, focus on what tasks you want to accomplish. Now, and for your longer-term career. There are entry points for everything, and as long as they broadly in the same domain as what you want long term they're going to be perfectly fine for you. You are never going to be a good "lead designer" if you don't have a good, basic understanding of all of the design tasks you are leading.
• Similarly, game development isn't itself a game. There's no "tech tree" you can short-circuit to "rank up faster." It doesn't work so clean and simple like that.

As Josh stated having a game design role on your resume won't get you a more senior position faster. It will definitely help you get an interview faster but that's about as far as it goes. What will help you land a job is knowing what you are talking about, showing passion and creativity and how well you've done your job previously.

In the game industry I would say over 50% of jobs go to someone somebody knows rather than a blind candidate who emailed in their resume. I wouldn't take this as fact, its just my impression from what I've seen. I know this type of industry sucks but its how the game industry works and it's a lot more reliable for finding better employees.

So when you do land your first job, don't step on toes and make sure to make friends, keep in contact and learn how to network.

Thank you both for your comments. I feel I have been over thinking my portfolio and career choices lately and just need to slow down which is apparent after reading your reply's so thank you for that. Lately my instructors have wanted us to research quite a lot about the job we want in the future and really explore how to get there and formulate a plan to get there. I believe that I have just been to focused on exactly what job to get to start and how to get there fast rather than what I just want to do.

This is just wrong. First of all, entry level positions have always existed: everybody started somewhere. It is true that they have not often been heavily advertised, but generally this is because they didn't need to be. There are always potential internal candidates and unsolicited candidates.


Second of all, unless your first position in the industry is an "upper tier" (what does that even mean, exactly?) position, there is nothing about an entry level design position that will get you there any faster. Your ability to reach an "upper tier" job (whether that be about salary and compensation, final deciding authority over a particular aspect of the game, management of juniors, or simply an empty job title) is all down to one thing, really: You. Your ability to do your job plus handle those additional aspirations well. Unless you work somewhere where nepotism or pure seniority factors 100% into promotions (and you don't want to work in those sorts of places), it's how well you do at a job that's going to get you promoted or otherwise advance your career. Not some arbitrary metric based on what your title was in your very first job.

This makes a lot of sense and is very helpful. I have always known that you have to work hard and be good at you job in order to advance. I was really under the assumption that it was easier to get a job having already done the ones directly below that position. Which is still somewhat true, but after reading your reply and delving deeper into it I realize that this is not the case when it comes to the gaming industry. There are so many factors of whether you get that job or not, and many companies have different titles for jobs as well as requirements to be met for the job. So I definitely understand your point Josh, it is well received and will be noted in the future.

So might you have any further advise or helpful tips for me?

All in all an internship at Blizzard would look great on your resume and nothing hurts from applying and doing the job.

Um, what? As per previous replies, you don't need to horriblize the remote possibilities. Apply if you want to. All those horrible outcomes you posited are unlikely in the extreme.

Well that was not what I was really meaning to say. Sorry for the terrible writing in my initial post, I was in a rush and did not take the proper time to proof read my work.

What I was getting at was in the future when I apply for game design jobs in general not the internship, and how with other companies I would have a hard time finding that kind of position. But this was pretty foolish thinking on my part so I apologize for the confusion and stupid comments that I initially made in my post.

All in all an internship at Blizzard would look great on your resume and nothing hurts from applying and doing the job.

My thoughts exactly, even if it is a very slight chance of me actually getting the internship it was well worth applying for on the off chance that I do in fact get it.

I have always known that you have to work hard and be good at you job in order to advance. I was really under the assumption that it was easier to get a job having already done the ones directly below that position. Which is still somewhat true, but after reading your reply and delving deeper into it I realize that this is not the case when it comes to the gaming industry.

No, it's still true in the games industry. But getting promoted is not just a matter of doing really well at your current job. That's usually necessary, but rarely sufficient. You can be the best level designer in the world, but that doesn't mean you will be a decent lead level designer. Promotion often comes with new, differing responsibilities (such as managing people, being responsible for their own career growth, et cetera). To get promoted you often have to demonstrate affinity for both skill sets. That's why promotions are far more about what you do and have done and not what the title of the job actually is.