# Video Game Designers

> Design core features of video games. Specify innovative game and role-play mechanics, story lines, and character biographies. Create and maintain design documentation. Guide and collaborate with production staff to produce games as designed.

- **SOC code:** 15-1255.01
- **Canonical URL:** https://singulariki.com/roles/role-15-1255-01
- **Also known as:** Design Director, Designer, Game Designer, World Designer, Environmental Artist, Game Design Consultant, Gamemaster, Level Designer
- **Frame:** "AI exposure" means task overlap (how codifiable the work is), not jobs lost or a forecast. Every figure below is traced to a named public dataset.

## What this work is

**Core tasks** (O*NET):
- Balance and adjust gameplay experiences to ensure the critical and commercial success of the product.
- Devise missions, challenges, or puzzles to be encountered in game play.
- Create core game features, including storylines, role-play mechanics, and character biographies for a new video game or game franchise.
- Solicit, obtain, and integrate feedback from design and technical staff into original game design.
- Conduct regular design reviews throughout the game development process.
- Develop and maintain design level documentation, including mechanics, guidelines, and mission outlines.
- Document all aspects of formal game design, using mock-up screenshots, sample menu layouts, gameplay flowcharts, and other graphical devices.
- Provide feedback to designers and other colleagues regarding game design features.
- Create and manage documentation, production schedules, prototyping goals, and communication plans in collaboration with production staff.
- Provide feedback to production staff regarding technical game qualities or adherence to original design.
- Guide design discussions between development teams.
- Create gameplay prototypes for presentation to creative and technical staff and management.

## Skills, tools, capabilities

**Knowledge, skills & abilities** (O*NET, highest importance first):
- Design _(knowledge)_
- Computers and Electronics _(knowledge)_
- Fluency of Ideas _(ability)_
- Programming _(transferable_skill)_
- Written Comprehension _(ability)_
- Originality _(ability)_
- Near Vision _(ability)_
- Active Listening _(essential_skill)_
- Oral Comprehension _(ability)_
- Written Expression _(ability)_
- Information Ordering _(ability)_
- Reading Comprehension _(essential_skill)_

**Skills in demand:**
- Information Ordering _(Specialized Skill)_
- Active Listening _(Common Skill)_
- Reading Comprehension _(Common Skill)_
- Inductive Reasoning _(Common Skill)_
- Deductive Reasoning _(Common Skill)_
- Critical Thinking _(Common Skill)_
- Complex Problem Solving _(Common Skill)_
- Adobe Photoshop _(Specialized Skill)_
- Active Learning _(Common Skill)_
- Time Management _(Common Skill)_
- Systems Analysis _(Specialized Skill)_
- Psychology _(Specialized Skill)_

**Tools & technology:**
- Adobe Photoshop _(hot technology, in demand)_
- C# _(hot technology, in demand)_
- C++ _(hot technology, in demand)_
- Python _(hot technology, in demand)_
- Adobe After Effects _(hot technology)_
- Adobe Creative Cloud software _(hot technology)_
- Adobe Illustrator _(hot technology)_
- Atlassian JIRA _(hot technology)_
- C _(hot technology)_
- Extensible markup language XML _(hot technology)_
- Git _(hot technology)_
- Hypertext markup language HTML _(hot technology)_

## AI exposure & outlook

- **AI task-overlap index:** 95th percentile (High) across all occupations — composite of current-era exposure studies (ai-exposure-index-v1).
- **LLM task exposure, γ (OpenAI / Eloundou):** 95th percentile (High) — source: eloundou_gamma.
- **AI assistant applicability (Microsoft):** 86th percentile (High) — source: microsoft_applicability.
- **Projected employment (BLS 2024–34):** 7.0% growth (Growing fast); 9.1k annual openings; 128.9k → 137.9k jobs.
- **Pay & employment (BLS OEWS, May 2024):** median $98,090; 111,400 employed.

## Sources

- **O*NET** (30.3) — U.S. Department of Labor / National Center for O*NET Development. https://www.onetcenter.org/database.html
- **BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS)** (May 2024) — U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. https://www.bls.gov/oes/
- **BLS Employment Projections** (2024–2034) — U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. https://www.bls.gov/emp/
- **Anthropic Economic Index** (v4 (2026-01-15) + v2 (2025-03-27)) — Anthropic. https://www.anthropic.com/economic-index
- **Microsoft “Working with AI”** (working-with-ai) — Microsoft Research. https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/research/
- **“GPTs are GPTs” (Eloundou et al.)** (arXiv 2303.10130) — OpenAI / academic. https://arxiv.org/abs/2303.10130

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_Generated from Singulariki's joined dataset; data snapshot 2026-06-02T21:00:32.945303+00:00. https://singulariki.com/roles/role-15-1255-01_