Everyone can create games – what you need to know about the profession of a game designer

Since the beginning of the 21st century, humanity has witnessed a boom in the gaming industry – while Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo compete in the console race, the studios release dozens of cool shooters, strategies, racing simulators and RPGs every year. Games have long been a part of our daily life, and almost every second person on Earth can be called a gamer to one degree or another. At the same time, it does not matter at all whether he chops in Mortal Kombat after work, plays Dota 2 with friends or collects puzzles on his mobile phone during a trip on the subway.

Today, the development of the gaming industry cannot be imagined without game designers – it is these people who determine how, where and what we will play. They are the ones who create ideas and concepts for virtual adventures, which then gain fans around the world and bring millions of dollars to their creators.

The very profession of game designer is considered relatively young. In the 1970s and 1980s, the game was often developed by a single person, who was responsible for both the software and graphics, plot, and other “creative” aspects. For example, such game designers include Jordan Mechner, the creator of the Prince of Persia series. Today it is a cult franchise that includes nearly two dozen games for a variety of devices, as well as a high-budget movie starring Jake Gyllenhaal. But her story began with handicraft filming in front of Mechner’s house: he forced his younger brother to jump and do various tricks, in order to then present these movements to the main character of the game. In the CIS, the most famous of the lone game designers remains Alexey Pajitnov, who created the cult “Tetris”.