1. Stanford University
Stanford, CA • Private
In-State Tuition
$51,354
Enrollment
7,083
What is a Video Game Designer?
What Does a Video Game Designer Do
When it comes to the most important skills required to be a video game designer, we found that a lot of resumes listed 31.0% of video game designers included motion graphics, while 30.3% of resumes included video content, and 10.3% of resumes included adobe photoshop. Hard skills like these are helpful to have when it comes to performing essential job responsibilities.
How To Become a Video Game Designer
If you're interested in becoming a video game designer, one of the first things to consider is how much education you need. We've determined that 74.4% of video game designers have a bachelor's degree. In terms of higher education levels, we found that 6.4% of video game designers have master's degrees. Even though most video game designers have a college degree, it's possible to become one with only a high school degree or GED.
Average Salary for a Video Game Designer
Video Game Designers in America make an average salary of $95,185 per year or $46 per hour. The top 10 percent makes over $160,000 per year, while the bottom 10 percent under $56,000 per year.
Average Video Game Designer Salary
$95,185 Yearly$45.76 hourly
What Am I Worth?
Roles and Types of Video Game Designer
There are several types of video game designer, including:
Designer
Role:
A career as a designer can go so many different directions. From fashion designers to floral designers or even graphic designers or interior designers, as long as you have an eye for detail and a steady hand you could design whatever you wanted.
The education that is required to become a designer can vary depending on what type of designing you're going to be doing. For example, a floral designer only needs a high school diploma, but a graphic designer may need a Bachelor's degre. It really depends on what direction you want to take your career.
- Average Salary: $66,347
- Degree: Bachelor's Degree
Game Designer
Role:
Game designers work with a team of programmers, designers, artists, and management to oversee the complex task of creating a video game. They design, develop and implement game features as well as complete accurate documentation for all assigned features. They assist in managing budgets, work schedules, and project timelines. Also, they help with the constant review of the game's progress to adjust the implementation of assigned features. Additionally, they are responsible for writing the game codes and testing the early versions.
As a game designer, you'd be required to have a bachelor's degree in game design or a related field with a minimum of three years of experience working in a design capacity. Essential skills include communication, creativity, presentation, collaboration, project management, interpersonal, and analytical skills. You must also be familiar with computer systems and programming languages. Game designers make an average salary of $72,833 annually. Their salary varies between $48,000 and $112,000.
- Average Salary: $87,645
- Degree: Bachelor's Degree
States With The Most Video Game Designer Jobs
Mouse over a state to see the number of active video game designer jobs in each state. The darker areas on the map show where video game designers earn the highest salaries across all 50 states.
Average Salary: Job Openings:
Number Of Video Game Designer Jobs By State
| Rank | State | Number of Jobs | Average Salary |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | California | 2,689 | $106,458 |
| 2 | New York | 1,151 | $93,700 |
| 3 | Texas | 1,013 | $91,038 |
| 4 | Washington | 711 | $106,982 |
| 5 | Georgia | 696 | $71,688 |
| 6 | Illinois | 656 | $77,600 |
| 7 | Florida | 639 | $76,332 |
| 8 | Massachusetts | 630 | $97,622 |
| 9 | Virginia | 615 | $84,145 |
| 10 | Pennsylvania | 530 | $85,248 |
| 11 | North Carolina | 513 | $79,886 |
| 12 | Michigan | 436 | $88,630 |
| 13 | Ohio | 404 | $97,974 |
| 14 | Oregon | 371 | $87,218 |
| 15 | Minnesota | 369 | $74,295 |
| 16 | Colorado | 345 | $86,587 |
| 17 | Maryland | 344 | $100,825 |
| 18 | New Jersey | 330 | $85,381 |
| 19 | Wisconsin | 298 | $101,229 |
| 20 | Arizona | 262 | $86,666 |
| 21 | Missouri | 231 | $83,511 |
| 22 | Indiana | 222 | $100,948 |
| 23 | Utah | 207 | $93,451 |
| 24 | Tennessee | 201 | $77,716 |
| 25 | Connecticut | 163 | $99,993 |
| 26 | Alabama | 161 | $73,309 |
| 27 | Kansas | 136 | $69,981 |
| 28 | Iowa | 134 | $71,700 |
| 29 | Kentucky | 126 | $89,732 |
| 30 | South Carolina | 124 | $88,220 |
| 31 | Oklahoma | 106 | $74,961 |
| 32 | Louisiana | 98 | $97,924 |
| 33 | Arkansas | 92 | $78,019 |
| 34 | New Hampshire | 90 | $95,737 |
| 35 | Nevada | 77 | $119,434 |
| 36 | Nebraska | 77 | $81,839 |
| 37 | New Mexico | 70 | $93,409 |
| 38 | Idaho | 61 | $100,082 |
| 39 | Mississippi | 60 | $91,469 |
| 40 | Maine | 59 | $98,920 |
| 41 | Rhode Island | 57 | $109,261 |
| 42 | Delaware | 46 | $112,119 |
| 43 | Montana | 40 | $83,374 |
| 44 | West Virginia | 39 | $98,514 |
| 45 | North Dakota | 32 | $84,908 |
| 46 | South Dakota | 32 | $81,450 |
| 47 | Vermont | 30 | $91,977 |
| 48 | Alaska | 24 | $102,507 |
| 49 | Hawaii | 22 | $71,496 |
| 50 | Wyoming | 17 | $70,150 |
Top Colleges for Video Game Designers
2. Harvard University
Cambridge, MA • Private
In-State Tuition
$50,420
Enrollment
7,582
3. University of Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, PA • Private
In-State Tuition
$55,584
Enrollment
10,764
4. Cornell University
Ithaca, NY • Private
In-State Tuition
$55,188
Enrollment
15,105
5. Northwestern University
Evanston, IL • Private
In-State Tuition
$54,568
Enrollment
8,451
6. University of California, Berkeley
Berkeley, CA • Private
In-State Tuition
$14,184
Enrollment
30,845
7. California State University - Long Beach
Long Beach, CA • Private
In-State Tuition
$6,798
Enrollment
31,503
8. Carnegie Mellon University
Pittsburgh, PA • Private
In-State Tuition
$55,465
Enrollment
6,483
9. University of Southern California
Los Angeles, CA • Private
In-State Tuition
$56,225
Enrollment
19,548
10. Duke University
Durham, NC • Private
In-State Tuition
$55,695
Enrollment
6,596
Choose From 10+ Customizable Video Game Designer Resume templates
Zippia allows you to choose from different easy-to-use Video Game Designer templates, and provides you with expert advice. Using the templates, you can rest assured that the structure and format of your Video Game Designer resume is top notch. Choose a template with the colors, fonts & text sizes that are appropriate for your industry.
Video Game Designer diversity
Video Game Designer Gender Distribution
Male
87%
Female
13%
After extensive research and analysis, Zippia's data science team found that:
- Among video game designers, 13.3% of them are women, while 86.7% are men.
- The most common race/ethnicity among video game designers is White, which makes up 67.7% of all video game designers.
- The most common foreign language among video game designers is Japanese at 50.0%.
Online Courses For Video Game Designer That You May Like
Advertising Disclosure
1. World Design for Video Games
Start creating your world. A game world is not just a backdrop for your game—be it minimal or detailed, contained or part of a much bigger universe, it provides the context for your player. Ultimately, a game world should feel alive and wholly unique to any player who will experience it. In this course, we will explore game worlds in existing games and study the art and influences that inform their themes and styles. We will also investigate key components of environment and level design as...
2. Character Design for Video Games
In this course you will explore concepts and approaches involved in creating successful character designs that can be applied to video games. Following a first week delving into some foundational concepts for successful character design, each of the remaining three weeks are structured as a master class where you will observe three professional character designers at work in the studio: Andy Ristaino (Adventure Time), Jacky Ke Jiang (Journey), and Robertryan Cory (SpongeBob SquarePants). Each...
3. Game Writing: Storytelling through Video Game Design
Write and design your own games; develop ideas, character and plot to create a compelling storyworld. (Made with Unity)...
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Best States For a Video Game Designer
Some places are better than others when it comes to starting a career as a video game designer. The best states for people in this position are Nevada, Delaware, Rhode Island, and Washington. Video game designers make the most in Nevada with an average salary of $119,434. Whereas in Delaware and Rhode Island, they would average $112,119 and $109,261, respectively. While video game designers would only make an average of $106,982 in Washington, you would still make more there than in the rest of the country. We determined these as the best states based on job availability and pay. By finding the median salary, cost of living, and using the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Location Quotient, we narrowed down our list of states to these four.
1. Washington
Total Video Game Designer Jobs: 711
Highest 10% Earn:
$167,000
Location Quotient:
1.73
$106,982
Avg. Salary
2. Rhode Island
Total Video Game Designer Jobs: 57
Highest 10% Earn:
$185,000
Location Quotient:
0.84
$109,261
Avg. Salary
3. District of Columbia
Total Video Game Designer Jobs: 192
Highest 10% Earn:
$180,000
Location Quotient:
2.04
$111,386
Avg. Salary
How Do Video Game Designers Rate Their Jobs?
Top Video Game Designer Employers
Most Common Employers For Video Game Designer
| Rank | Company | Average Salary | Hourly Rate | Job Openings |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | IGN | $129,791 | $62.40 | 1 |
| 2 | TEKsystems | $111,230 | $53.48 | 2 |
| 3 | Heavy Iron Studios | $109,477 | $52.63 | 2 |
| 4 | Daybreak Game | $106,144 | $51.03 | 1 |
| 5 | University at Buffalo | $105,495 | $50.72 | 1 |
| 6 | Hitcents | $105,292 | $50.62 | 1 |
| 7 | Electronic Arts | $103,117 | $49.58 | 1 |
| 8 | Take-Two Interactive Software | $102,883 | $49.46 | 2 |
| 9 | Valve | $101,273 | $48.69 | 2 |
| 10 | Projects | $100,381 | $48.26 | 1 |