All the aspirant freshers, keen to join the Gaming Industry? Even already joined a reputed institution & you are being taught MAYA in the name of Game Design? Wait ! If you are one of these guys, This one is a must-read for you. Beware of some ‘funny myths’ about the Game Industry. Rather, I would say, every segment of the industry is infected with this myth-virus, game –play, game development, game design, game programming, game testing-what not? Today I am sticking to game design only. These completely fabricated stories are not only downright wrong, also these are spoiling the huge talent-pool in India. let’s have a look :
Most Popular Myths about Game Designers-
× Game designers play games all day long! That’s what they are paid for!
× A Game designer is same as a Game Artist.
× A game engine is a multimedia software; and
× Animation & Gaming are same.
Funny, huh? Well, dear, to put it plainly, Animation is one-way while Gaming is always Two-way.
A game engine is a software system used for developing the games. A game can be made 2D or 3D depending on the use of the game engine. These game engines basically move the creative arts through programming.
A Game Artist deals with the interactive graphic development that includes character creation, scene design etc. But a Game Designer designs the rules of the game,setting of the game, story and characters, props such as weapons and vehicles, different ways the game may be played.
Game development is NOT a child’s play. Rather it’s a well-planned system with a set of rules created by highly skilled people. You have met the Avatars already.
Myth-busters about Game Designing
A Game designer certainly plays games but not for game-play; rather to know the look & feel of the game when presented to the audience.
Game designers define the concept of the game & communicates the whole idea to the development team. He is responsible for incorporating any new art creation & programming in the GDD. The design process undergoes many stages. After the initial research, the Game Designer puts together the ‘Concept Document’ for the team members to convince them that the game is worth taking forward. In the next phase, a playable prototype of the game is prepared by a small team of artists & programmers who work with the Game Designer in close collaboration. A Game Designer decides what will happen in the game, when, why & how. they also may be responsible for creating the story of the game including characters, setting & plot. He also trains the Game-Tester to play the game for the quality assurance.
Anyone who comes up with an idea CAN’T be a Game Designer. They need to know logic as well.He is someone who is aware of the user’s need & flexibility.
People think that Game Design means Designing the game using MAYA or by simply animating some characters with background. NO. A Game Designer is NOT a Graphic Designer or Animator. He feels for the target audience & communicates the best possible idea to the rest of the team.
Some 3D modelling artists with their odd concept of the Industry, apply for Game Designer’s job to me. Some apply for game development jobs. “Have you the relevant experience in Game Developing or Game Art?”- I ask. The immediate reply is “yes”. But to my dismay, while interviewing, I get to know that they went through some ‘crash course’ from some ABC institutes and only knows how to do modelling or they are “specialized in texturing and lighting using a 3D software”.
There are some popped-up institutions who teach ‘multimedia’ (Who don’t know the difference between Multimedia application and ‘MULTIMEDIA’), started a course called ‘Gaming’ soon after the gaming industry started to flourish! Funny indeed. I really can’t understand what these wise men refer to by the word Gaming. Game design? Game development? Game art? Or Game testing?? & the surprise doesn’t end here. Their dazzling course structure pokes me to know more. I ask them ‘what do you teach in Gaming?’ ‘Game-design’ is the usual reply I get. The next shock comes when I ask them what engine they teach & the answer is ‘Maya’!
For God’s sake, Maya is NOT a game engine! It is used in 3D animation technology for modelling, rigging, skinning, animation. However, you can make objects/characters using Maya for the game engines, which may be called GAME MODELLING, or GAME ANIMATION but never ever GAME DESIGN.
Oh yeah! MAYA reminded me of something more, or else, ‘SOMEONE’ more… Once in 2001, I was popularly thought to have a girlfriend whose name was MAYA! Don’t panic. Someone asked me what I had been doing. I replied that I had been taking an online course of ‘Maya ’…& you can guess the rest of the story. LOL.
Jokes apart, these institutes claim to make a brand-new game designer within 6 months while they themselves know absolutely nothing! Back in 1998, when we sailed off with teaching game art, game design, game programming & game development, some ‘wise men’ took or rather snatched contents from our websites & started parallel courses namely Game Designing where they teach Flash. After 2008, many institute started teaching game designing with the same concept of flash design; which in no way is Game Designing not Game Art. I would have no complain if it could serve you guys. But sadly, since then they are befooling students with a wrong concept, a wrong course & an alluring classroom ambiance and you are not enough lucky to escape.
One of my students had already been the victim of their show-off. After doing one year’s course from our institute ,he went to Bangalore & joined some reputed institute to do an advanced course on Game Art. Within twenty days he came back & told us that no institute offered a such detailed course as we did. In fact, we taught him 3 game engines on game art & logic. But what he found there, was an eye-opener for all of us. He found that those institute only give training on 2D graphic design or 3D modelling .. there are no concept of game art no use of low poly , nothing using a simple Blender (which is so simple to train up with) or game development pipelines . Thats it ! No details, no practical work ! He himself joined our advanced course & proudly told ‘You people are the best, Sir’.
‘Nothing like stealing if it goes undetected’. But sadly, they get caught. Still they act shameless. They make a false enquiry to our institute & branches to know the course content! I wish that could help them. Poor guys! I request you not to nip the students in the bud for money.
No blame-game is going on here. I am just trying to show you the truth. And believe it or not, the students have their fair share in the lack of awareness. They get tempted by the dazzling beauty of the butcher institutes, pay a hefty amount,waste time, come out with valueless certificates & finds no place for themselves in the industry. Dear students, if all these make sense to you then why don’t you do your study online itself? Next time, please don’t go by the looks. At least you can always cross-check the info on the internet. I am sure you all know how to find the useful links.
There is no shortcut to success. There is no crash course for Game Design. You can’t do game design if you don’t know the difference between Art and Logic , FPS & RPG. You can’t do characterisation if you are not acquainted with the character details. Can you tell me why can’t Hulk fly? How does Thor fly? Why Green Lantern is Green ? How many lanterns are there and what’s the meaning of their colors ? How you can think of an Indian character which will look like a science fiction character? How to optimise the memory of a game? What will be the target audience for a game before you design it ? If your institute didn’t teach you to think on this then sadly, you are not yet ready to be a game designer. Sorry, a fresher can’t suddenly be a game designer.
That MAYA defined my relationship status didn’t make me as sad as the lack of the awareness did. What could be more painful than to see the supposed wise men suffering from the syndrome of ‘a little learning is a dangerous thing’? what can be more disappointing than to see the parents preventing their children from choosing the Gaming Industry as their mainstream career fearing that the careers will be doomed? Believe me, I had to & still have to bear with such stupid questions from the parents. Even if some ‘good boy or girl’ dares to pick up this career option, s/he is taken as the odd man out! Blame it on the virus of the misconceptions.
It takes a lot of hard work by the skilled people to create the ‘wow-moment’ for the gamer. You may be the next savvy Game Designer. You never know! The skill may be latent in you. But I shall not say ‘Give it a try’ , because it’s not a matter of joke. That you will go to a wrong institute, will pay a ransom & then will come out with nothing-is certainly I don’t want. Rather I shall say READ, KNOW & then GO FOR LEARNING.
.. as this title is future scope of animation so we will stick to only the scope of it 
