Video Game Deisgner
 

I know what I want to do with computers!!

I talking with my friend and he says that video game designers work
very long and hard hours, are very stressed, and hate their jobs.
Is this true? is being a ideo game designer very bad?

How about pay? Does it pay good?

I hear EA games is a monoploy that is very bad to their worker.

Is anyone here a video game worker?

Additional Spam:
bumpppp

I've known some video game programmers and...

Yeah, to me it seems like a real tough job. As various deadlines approach they often work 6 day weeks plus lots of unpaid overtime. The salary is fine I think. Maybe 50-60k on the low end. Some guys like it, some can't handle it.

Anyone else out there who can verify?

Game Designers and programmers often do different things depending on the size of the develpment team. In a "large" development team, such as EA, you would either be a designer or a software developer(programmer). From my experience in industry, software developers make between $60-120K depending on your level of expertise and your title. These guys do graphics, AI, and general programming that make the games run.

Designers usually work at a higher level of abstraction in the workflow and either delegate tasks to programmers, or indirectly tell the programmers how the game needs to function.

of course there are many other kinds of jobs in the games industry, such as sound and graphics design.

If you want to do the programming part, you will likely need a BS in Computer Engineering or Computer Science with some industry experience programming. Most game developers like their programmers to have at least 3+ years of development experience. Your mileage may vary though. I'm sure there are quite a few developers witout degrees.

Actually it's the contrary. Video game designers tend to love their job however they can get burned out from the deadlines and long hours. Many, if not all get into the game industry because of passion not fame or fortune. The pay won't make you rich unless you play your cards right and become like John Carmack (good luck).

Game design isn't just computers either. A great game designer will draw upon his many life experiences and general knowledge of the world. He knows how games work including the inner structure. He may not be a master programmer but he at least understands it and I know many do double as programmers or have been previously. There are also various aspects of game design and if you're serious you should check out gamasutra, not here.