How to Make Video Games

Surprising Degrees You Can Leverage Into a Career in Game Development

1. Literature

Industry Jobs to Consider

• Games writer
• Narrative director
• Games PR
• Games journalist

Transferable Skills

• Research
• Writing, communication, and presentation
• Problem-solving
• Screenplay writing and storytelling
• Character development
• Storyboarding
• Dialogue

There are a lot of lit majors running around in the game industry. Game developers are increasingly interested in narrative elements and storytelling, so development teams need highly creative writers who design empathically, understand fictional construction, and can add narrative to all elements of the play experience.

2. Architecture

Industry Jobs to Consider

• Game designer
• Environment artist

Transferable Skills

• Sketching
• Conceptualizing space
• Understanding built environment
• Use of color and light
• Interior design

Architects-turned-game-designers are a growing trend. Both architecture and game design are concerned with the built environment: how a space is used, how it feels, how it functions, and how the end user will ultimately navigate it.

As world building in games gets more sophisticated, the expertise an architect can bring becomes even more valuable.

3. History

Industry Jobs to Consider

• Games writer
• Narrative director
• Consulting

Transferable Skills

• Analytic thinking
• Understanding systems of human behavior
• Research
• Building narrative structure
• Curating data

Storytelling is ultimately about curation: Which elements will you bring into the game and which will you leave out? How do those elements work together to create meaning and coherence?

Historians are trained to curate.

"As historians, we read historical documents and look at historical images, and then discuss what that means about the societies they came from. I think that's very important in game development, where you are trying to connect up the world-building mechanics to the narrative you want the player to move through," said James Baillie, a part-time game designer who is pursuing a history Ph.D. at the University of Vienna.

"Historians can bring a wider understanding of how narrative and the human systems behind it connect up."

4. Fine Arts

Industry Jobs to Consider

• Conceptual artist
• Narrative designer
• Special effects
• Character modeler
• Character animator

Transferable Skills

• Artistic development
• Distinctive style
• Adaptability
• Creative vision
• Traditional skills (light, perspective, color, anatomy)
• Technological skills (digital arts and 3D software)

There are many art jobs in the video game industry, and people in those roles can benefit from traditional training and skills. Artists create the visual elements that determine a signature look and feel for the game.

According to "Drawing Basics and Video Game Art" author Chris Solarski, "video games rely on the very same design principles — perspective, form, value, etc. — that classical artists employed to create the illusion that the canvas is a window into an imagined world. These design techniques also serve a second purpose equally applicable to game design."

5. Music

Industry Jobs to Consider

• Audio engineer/sound designer
• Audio implementer
• Composer

Transferable Skills

• Improvisation
• Working within an ensemble
• Discipline
• Creativity
• Music composition

Brenna Noonan has an MA in music composition and classical performance. She has recently founded her own game development studio, Quillsilver Studio.

"I definitely think that my musical training has made me conceive of games differently than other people do," Noonan said.

"I think like a composer when I'm designing. Other people will look at the individual mechanical components, while I look at a game like a piece of music. What is the structure? Where is the rising and falling action? What is the audience experience? What are the ergonomics? How does this make me feel? It's a powerful perspective to have when you are trying to produce an immersive experience."