How to become a Game Designer: Skills, Roles and Top Companies
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Students planning to become game designers must know about the skills required, top colleges, career prospects, top recruiters, etc. Read this article to know in detail about how to become a Game Designer.
How to become a Game Designer?
A Game Designer deals with the art and science of creating engaging audio and visuals that give interactive experiences. The job of a game designer is to shape how a game feels to play. They work on their graphics, story ideas, characters, system, software, etc. If you are someone who loves games and enjoys designing, coding, problem solving, then a Game Designer can be a successful career. Game Design is offered by almost all the design institutes in India.
- Game Designer Overview
- Eligibility and Admission Process to become a Game Designer
- Skills Required to become a Game Designer
- Colleges to study Game Design
- Careers Prospects & Roles of a Game Designer
- Top Companies for Game Designers
Game Designer Overview
Candidates should go through the information below.
| Particulars |
Details |
|---|---|
| Course Level |
Undergraduate, Postgraduate, Online Programmes |
| Duration |
Online Courses - 6 weeks to 25 weeks UG- 3 - 4 years PG-2 years |
| Courses |
B.Des B.tech M.tech |
| Eligibility |
For Online Courses - 10+2 in any stream For Postgraduate Courses- Bachelor's degree in design |
| Fees |
Up to INR 10 lakh |
| Top Institutions |
|
| Exams |
|
| Average Salary |
Up to INR 15 lakh |
| Top Recruiters |
Nvidia, Rockstar Games, Capcom, Valve Corporation, Lila Games, Rockstar Games, Blizzard Entertainment, Nintendo, Ubisoft, Epic Games, Square Enix, Sega, etc. |
| Job Positions |
Game Designer, Creative Director, Game Producer, Game Animator, Game Writer, Audio Engineer |
Commonly asked questions
According to students, SMEAT exam is in the range of average, which is neither too easy and nor too tough. The candidate, however, has to know the syllabus and its core subjects thoroughly in order to score well.
Candidates appearing for SMEAT can also appear in other popular private entrance exams like MITID DAT, Pearl Academy, and FDDI AIST.
There are then the top-tier entrance exams like NIFT, NID, and UCEED.
NID DAT and NIFT are two of the most important design entrance exams in the country. Both exams have a design aptitude test and many topics that overlap.
So, you can safely solve NID DAT sample papers as well. That being said you first job will be to complete the NIFT sample papers.
Candidates should always prepare for CEED exam after consulting the syllabus. It will help to identify which topics carry more marks and have a higher chance of being asked in exam. You can also know which topics are asked every year.
Eligibility and Admission Process to become a Game Designer
- For UG programmes, candidates must pass class 12 from a recognised board with any stream. (Merit varies across colleges)
- For PG programmes, candidates must be a graduate with a relevant UG degree. The merit or percentage varies across colleges.
- Certificate Course, candidate must have passed class 12th.
Skills Required to become a Game Designer
Some of the skills required are given below.
- Creative Skills: To become a game designer, a person should be creative. He should be innovative and bring something new to the market. The ideas should be original.
- Storytelling: He should know the art of storytelling because this is how games work today. He should know how a particular character will look, behave and function.
- Understanding of Mechanics: A person must understand the working behind a game. He must have knowledge of design rules, balance, etc.
- Technical Skills: This is a must to become a game designer. It will help in making software. A person should know basic programming languages like C#, C++, Python, .NET, etc.
- Knowledge of Animation: This skill is also required because animation will help to know how a game will look from the audience's point of view. You must have knowledge of UI/UX also.
- Problem Solving and Analytical Thinking: This is important because many times there are problems in delivery of the project, last minute changes, etc. One must know how to deal with such problems and deliver the output on time.
Commonly asked questions
To do well in an entrance exam like NIFT, the candidate is expected to have good drawing skills. Note that the NIFT paper will have two sub-exams - CAT and GAT.
The CAT or the Creative Ability Test will evauate the drawing skills of the candidate.
So, unless you have above average drawing skills, you might struggle.
To do well in the exam, work on your drawing and visualization skills.
NIFT Entrance Exam consists of NIFT Written exam: GAT and CAT. After this, the second stage is NIFT Situation Test and Personal Interview.
NIFT CAT is said to be the hardest and most time taking in the first stage. In the second stage, NIFT Situation test is considered to be hard. But all these can be cleared with practice.
The NIFTs are ranked among the top design colleges in India. As per India Today 2023 rankings for top fashion design colleges in India, the top 8 positions were occupied by NIFTs. In India Today 2022 rankings as well, the top eight positions were occupied by the NIFTs. NIFT Delhi was the number one ranked college, followed by NIFT Mumbai and NIFT Bangalore, in 2nd and 3rd positions. Speaking of placements at NIFT, candidates passing out of NIFT Delhi on average earns INR 5.5 LPA. Meanwhile, candidates passing out of NIFT Kolkata earns about INR 5.7 LPA. In comparison, NIFT Bengaluru pass outs can expect an average salary of INR 3 Lacs LPA.
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Colleges to study Game Design
Some of the best colleges/institutes to study Game Design are:
| Sr No. |
Institute |
Design Department |
|---|---|---|
| 1 |
IIT Bombay |
|
| 2 |
IIT Delhi |
Department of Design |
| 3 |
IIT Guwahati |
Department of Design |
| 4 |
IIT Hyderabad |
Department of Design |
| 5 |
IIT Roorkee |
Department of Design |
| 6 |
IIITDM Jabalpur |
Design Discipline |
| 7 |
IIT Indore |
School of Innovation |
| 8. |
- |
|
| 9. |
- |
Careers Prospects & Roles of a Game Designer
Candidates can see the table below for the job roles offered after completing Game Design courses.
| Role |
Skills Required |
Average Salary Per Year (approx.) |
|---|---|---|
| Game Designer |
Creativity, critical thinking, problem-solving, game mechanics, level design |
INR 7.9 Lakhs |
| Level Designer |
Spatial awareness, creativity, storytelling, game mechanics |
INR 4.1 Lakhs |
| Game Artist |
Artistic skills, 2D/3D modeling, texturing, animation, visual design |
INR 5.0 Lakhs |
| Game Programmer |
Programming languages (e.g., C++, C#, Python), problem-solving, logical thinking |
INR 4.2 Lakhs |
| Game Tester |
Attention to detail, patience, problem-solving, communication |
INR 3.0 Lakhs |
Explore more Design exams with upcoming dates
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10 Oct '25 - 7 Apr '26
Top Companies for Game Designers
Some of the top companies which offer jobs to Game designers are
Game Companies |
Location | Popular Games |
|---|---|---|
Juego Studios |
India, USA, UK, KSA | NBA2K21, School of Dragons, Ghost Busters, Battle Gems- Adventure Quest |
| Ability Games Limited | Kolkata, West Bengal, India | Fantasy Sports, Online Poker, Online Rummy, Card Games, Gaming Platform |
| Moonfrog Labs | Bangalore, Karnataka, India | Mobile Games (Social, Casual, Casino) |
| Revolution Games Private Limited | Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India | Apple Collector’s Conquest, Race The Rails |
| Ubisoft | - | Assassin's Creed series |
| Blizzard Entertainment |
- | World of Warcraft |
| Rockstar Games
|
- | Grand Theft Auto |
| Valve Corporation |
- | Half Life |
| Sony Interactive Entertainment |
- | God of War |
| Square Enix |
- | Final Fantasy |
Sayeba Naushad is a commerce postgraduate from Banaras Hindu University. She has over five years of experience in content writing and editing. She has a nose for current events in design field. At Shiksha.com, she s
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