MIT Game Lab Gurus on How to Achieve Success in Game Design

“You have to play games to make games. More importantly, you have to learn how to analyze games so that you can build your own design vocabulary,” says Mikael Jakobsson, Lecturer and Research Scientist at the MIT Game Lab. For game design aspirants, his words hold more weight than prosaic sites throwing out staggering statistics about the promising future of the gaming industry. Though, those statistics certainly are at the high end of eyebrow-raising. 

Sample this, for instance: The number of gamers (promising future customers, all) is expected to reach 3.1 billion by 2027. What that potentially means for game designers is an upswing in employability. The problem is not knowing who to listen to when advice pours in from all corners about career prospects in game design. Given that, then, getting an insider’s perspective can be invaluable, especially when it’s an industry that changes at warp speed. So, when gaming maestros Jakobsson and Philip Tan, a fellow Lecturer and Research Scientist at MIT, have something to say, it’s best to listen. 

Gaming up for Design

To start, though, what even is game design? According to Jakobsson, there’s no specific, singular definition that can encompass the term effectively. “I don’t think that there’s ever been consensus about what a game is. To me, game design strives to devise courses of action aimed at changing existing situations into preferred ones,” he says. Then, diving into the granular technicalities, he continues, “When we look at it through a technological lens, things like graphic performance and fidelity jump to the forefront.” 

More than anything else, however, for the purist, game design is essentially all about the joy of playing. For game designers, then, the first rule of learning is knowing how to tell stories, visualize creatively, and think unconventionally. The technical know-how and skills to develop games lay the foundation to leverage that imagination.

How Game Design Aspirants Get an Edge?

It isn’t at all surprising that this industry continues to be a wildly popular space for the creative-minded. The demand for video game designers has been on an upswing since 2019. What’s more, it’s expected to stay the upward course. “There is no shortage of people who want to join the game industry, especially for game design. Everybody in Hollywood wants to be a director [and] everybody in the game industry wants to design their own game,” states Tan. 

In an in-demand industry, then, how does one break the clutter? It helps, of course, to know current trends and customer preferences and stay on top of tech advances. The constant transformations are there for all to see. For example, blockchain gaming witnessed a 2,000% increase in 2022 and attracted investments of over $2.5 billion. Even smartphones have now become the tool du jour as a medium for gaming. As a matter of fact, mobile games are expected to hit $300.47 billion by 2028. Change is a constant in this industry. It is therefore important for game design aspirants to be current with industry developments even as they focus on skilling up to stand out.   

Fill up on the Skills—But Go Beyond 

While the skills lay the basic groundwork, what’s equally important is a certain intangible creative instinct—Jakobsson calls “good design ‘intuitions’”—that developers look for. “There needs to be an understanding of the methods and materials that go beyond specific genres and trends. It is important to know that you can develop your design intuitions by practicing your design skills and learning from others,” he adds. 

Additionally, game designers mustn’t get too caught up in narrow career goals, especially if they're in it for the long haul. A particular, specialized talent, while a good thing, should not be the only thing. And there certainly are the big-budget, high-profile development studios that need specialized professionals across the board—from network professionals to combat designers to quest writers to character designers to interactive music composers. However, Tan advises taking a slightly different route if a sustained career is a goal. “Pick up knowledge from outside of any specialization. You have to be able to communicate across disciplines if you plan to stay in the gaming industry for a long time.”

Designing for a Diverse Demographic

The other, more significant way for designers to be different is to not follow the crowd or stick to a lane. It’s a welcome and rare ability, that fearless curiosity to venture into unknown territory, to buck a trend. As Tan points out, a shortcoming among designers is inexperience in designing for gamers who are different from them. “There is a lack of experience among designers who are able to think outside of their own game preferences and their own lived experience.” So you’ll have a definite edge if you are open to new experiences and designing for a variety of audiences.  

And there is a vast pool, across a diverse demographic, to design for: the U.S. alone has 48% women gamers, for instance. Americans in the age group of 18 to 34 account for 38% of aficionados while 51.1 million children are into gaming. There are gamers across the world, with Asia clocking in at 1.6 billion players. To speak to and design for every kind of gamer, therefore, takes on greater significance. “As designers, we are co-creators of our culture. We have to champion those who don’t have a voice in this process,” observes Jakobsson.

Games are where different people find common ground; it’s why people play—to connect with others and, as Tan says, “learn from play”. That may explain why multiplayer games are experiencing an uptick in popularity (particularly post-pandemic). Game designers, then, must understand the human linkages that undergird gaming. “You have to listen to what your future players are trying to tell you.” avers Jakobsson. 

Why the MIT xPRO Certification Works

You also have to listen to experts when it comes to making wise career choices. It helps when that advice leads to a clear course of action to realize tangible goals. That comes in the form of MIT xPRO’s professional certificate in game design. “Learners get to learn from a broad spectrum of theory and tools designed to prepare them for the future of gaming,” Jakobsson says about the course. It offers firm foundations for enduring, successful, and rewarding professional development.

What you also need to do is delve into the core of what gaming is and understand your audience. Only then can you tell a story that grabs attention and compels them to play?