What Does a Teenage Video Game Designer do?

A video game designer will help create video games for a company (or by themselves, though that’s very difficult to do) by either coding, drawing, or simply designing the ideas. You will be working in a team with other video game designers to create a video game. The video game can be on different platforms, such as PC or consoles like Xbox and PS4. There are many things that go into a video game, such as audio, graphics, or the general gaming, and you will be focused on one of these. Since it is such a specialized career, you should be good at something that will be used in video games. An example could be drawing the graphics of the game. If you don’t have any skills applicable to video game design, you can learn them via online courses or try to take a course that specializes in this at school.

How Much Does a Teenage Video Game Designer Get Paid?

As a video game designer just getting started, you’ll probably make around $12-$15 per hour. A more experienced video game designer can earn $129,700 annually. This is a very wide spectrum of pay, so if you start now and stick to it, you can climb up the ladder and have a very profitable career. The biggest issue with this type of work though is that you might have a hard time finding a job. The reason is because usually middle schools and high school don’t have these types of programs in their curriculum and you’ll likely need industry contacts to find work. If you start now though and stick to it, you’ll have a great career in the future.

How Can I Get Started as a Teenage Video Game Designer?

1. Before you begin, you’ll need a great education to become a video game designer. You can either take an elective in your high school if they have it, taking a course at college in the future, or take a course on Lynda.com. As of now, it’s unlikely that your school will have the courses available, so we recommend you to search “Game Design Careers by Brenda Romero” and get it.

2. Now that you’ve gotten the education, you’ll want the programs so you can play with and learn on your own. But everyone who wants to be a video game designer needs to understand game engines and two very common ones are Unity3D and the Unreal Engine.

3. Find an internship. Technically you can start learning how to code and understand game development by watching course on Lynda.com, but you’re much better off finding an internship or company that’ll let you learn. You won’t be paid as an intern, but you need to become one if you want to have a full-time job and learn a lot about game design and development. Search on websites like Indeed to find an internship.

4. Congrats, you’re officially a teenage video game designer. It will be tiring at times, staying up all night on your computer, but it will be worth it. Successful video game designers earn over $100,000 yearly. This is an extremely specialized skill and if you are good at it, you will have a great career.

<< Back to Online Jobs For Teens Database

Helpful Resources

• Lynda.com: This platform will teach you the skills you need to become a creative writer.Course: Search for the course “Game Design Careers by Brenda Romero”