A Peek Into Design Department
The call for the design department is to manage creative and design endeavor, possesses highly creative talent that absorbs visual trend and deploy them in fresh and exciting ways. Some sample roles we have in Agate’s design department are such: The team are required to create program in order to support the creative ecosystem inside our department and fostering balance of work to maintain the wellness in our culture. Another call is to recruit and allocate needed talents. Being a part of this department means you are going to make numerous of interesting and enjoyable games. It also means you need to set your target; one needs to maintain and improve quality. Your skills will be up for challenge in many levels starting from character development to game mechanism. If you think you can convince our recruiter and in-house member that you are capable to be in this department, check out some tips from our in-house member: Make sure you know which level you are applying for. Your working experiences will be a very much what we will be looking into. An honest and creative portfolio is very essential. Don’t overstate your previous works. Learn from your previous works and see in which case you are really compatible. Believe in your skill but stay humble. Willing to learn and accept criticism is another good point. Head down to our vacancy list below and see which role in the design department that fits your profile. Don’t hesitate to try your best luck here with us! VACANCY ON DESIGN DEPARTMENT Position Department Contract Type Senior Game Designer Design Contract Type : Regular Crew Details Load More
Designer Story Event Recap: A Guide for Aspiring Designers
Are you an aspiring designer who wants to develop your leadership skills and level up your career? Worry not! On December 17th, 2022, our Design Director, Fandry Indrayadi, and our Associate Design Manager, Ignatius Tommy Eka Putra, provided some insightful tips at the Designer Story event. The event was held hybrid, so participants can join both offline and online. Let’s check it out! Fandry (center) and Tommy (right) are sharing their tips and experiences about leadership in the design industry. In the event, Tommy and Fandry shared about the two options available for designers who want to step up their careers to a higher level: SpecialistThey typically become experts in a particular field within the design domain. Generalist-managerial They typically take on a lead position of a design team for a particular project in the company. As a generalist-managerial, there are three career choices that you can take: Lead DesignerYou’ll be responsible to lead the team and ensure the quality of the project. As a lead designer, you’ll collaborate with stakeholders of the project to ensure the timeline and goal of the project are achieved while actively participating in the decision-making process. Design DirectorYou’ll be in charge to ensure the quality and development process of a large project is up to the company’s standards. If there are any issues during the project, a design director will be the problem solver. In a project, you’ll take the responsibility to ensure the design direction of a project and supervise the design progress with other lead designers. Studio Design Director You’ll ensure multiple projects’ quality and development process is up to the company’s standards. In the team, you’ll also work with lead designers and design directors from various projects to supervise, synchronize, and act as an advisor to the team. Tips from experts at Agate to help designers prepare themselves to become a leader: What are the roles and responsibilities of a Design Director and Design Manager? The main tasks of a Design Director are: Ensuring that all designers and the project’s progress are in line with the agreed goal and vision for a game. Having strategic thinking to find a long-lasting experience in the game based on user behavior. The main tasks of a Design Manager are: Helping to manage other designers. Acting as a bridge between the Design Director and other designers. The general differences between the two roles are: The Design Director focuses more on the direction of the design aspects of a project. The Design Manager focuses more on team or people management. Are there any changes when you transition from a designer to a lead designer? What are the differences in the problems and the skills that need to be developed? What a solo designer or designer in a team focuses on: Observing the environment and behaviors around. Particularly things or experiences that can be implemented into the game. Solving problems that exist in the game in order to provide the desired experience. Communicating and presenting ideas, concepts, and designs that have been created. Documenting processes and ideas obtained from oneself or other team members. As a lead or manager, you usually go directly to the field less often. The main tasks of a leader or manager are: Being a good listener who knows how to effectively communicate ideas, concepts, or feedback to other designers. Putting team members in the suitable position according to their abilities and knowledge. Being a decision maker in determining solutions for problems that arise in a project. Providing opportunities for other designers to learn from the problems or mistakes that arise. What do you wish you had known when you first became a lead designer? When becoming a solo designer, one usually focuses on their own thoughts and does not overthink about other things outside of the work being done. In comparison, a lead or manager has to understand the management of human resources and the direction of the project is made. If you’re looking to begin a career in leadership or management, some of the skills you should develop are: Ability to look at the work and situation of others (especially members of the team) Time management Ability to manage people What is the difference between spending your time when you were a solo designer and a lead designer? Are you still designing games/products? When comparing the time spent as a solo designer and lead designer, the most noticeable difference is the intensity of being able to jump in and help design the game. As a lead or manager, more time is spent on the strategic side to ensure the game’s direction and vision are still relevant. In addition, a lead or manager will also spend more time being the mediator in issues faced by their team members, which takes up more time in meetings. As a solo designer, more time can be spent designing the game or product. How to manage time and focus on becoming an effective leader? There are some tips to be able to manage time efficiently and also to make sure that there’s no timeline setback from a project. Establish time or schedule to work on your tasks, discuss with other people, and have meetings (use an online calendar to be focused and organized). Delegate some tasks to other people in the team. Make a priority scale for tasks. Usually, the main priority for a designer is the core gameplay, so focus on that first. Is there any advice for aspiring lead designers? Tips from Tommy: Learn to trust your team; this will allow the team to grow. Learn time management as early as possible; setting a work schedule is one way to do it. Learn how to manage people within the team. Try to be a good support system for the team. Tips from Fandry: A lead or manager should also have good design fundamentals. This means that a leader should continue to hone their skills in the: Observation Critical thinking Verbal and non-verbal communication
Designer’s Weapon: Essentials Tools and Skills Game Designers Use
It takes a game designer with qualified skills who are able to channel their ideas and communicate them in a way that users can enjoy. Game designer also requires precision in their craft and not to mention effectiveness in the delivery of their work. To do so, they depend upon the exact tools to work on their masterpiece. A tool is the extension of one’s hand, and a machine is but a complex tool. As the user, you have to pick the right tool for the point you’re trying to make. In this day and age, we are provided with a bountiful of tools in today’s technology. Yet, each tool may vary depending on its function, and many are similar. How can someone choose the appropriate one to get the job done effectively? In Agate, our designers get the chance to learn and experts in various tools and skills. Supported by various talent development programs, our designers learn not just from their experiences but also keep leveling up their skills to match the rapid needs and updates in the game industry. Here are essential tools and skills game designers utilize in their work field. What Tools Do Game Designers Utilize? Game Engine UnityThis game engine might have been the most popular game engine for most game development that popular for making a game, but it is also one of the essential tools that will help the game designer build an early prototype. Also, this tool could cover both 2D and 3D games easily. But you need some programming skills or a programmer to use this tool. UnrealThis tool has powerful visual scripting, which is easy to understand for designers. Its level design tools are more convenient since we can edit the mesh directly in-engine by default. Plus, it has blueprints, better than Unity prefabs, with their parent-and-child system. Managing data for game designers and narrative designers alike is also helped by Unreal’s user-friendly data tables instead of filling data in a JSON (for example). Game Design & Balancing Machinations.ioWhat are a few things more difficult for a designer than balancing their game when seeing all the numbers they put in without knowing how they will go at the end? Machination can do much more. It will show you the estimation and the probability of the balance, but you could also track and simulate every number of the game from the start to the end and find the result within seconds. Design & Creativity Adobe Inc. (XD, PS, etc.)Some people might think that most Adobe products are for artists and people who deal with the visuals of the product. However, Adobe products help a designer give a visual for our idea to everybody in the team and give us more leeway to express our minds and ideas. The versatility of the Adobe product gives us more flexibility to show others the visuals of prototypes, wireframe making, and early design for UX/UI worth the subscription price. Data Analysis MS ExcelMS Excel stands out for its simplicity and effectiveness as a spreadsheet tool. It offers designers an accessible database and analysis tool that can be used for a lot of things and create estimations and calculations, even complex ones. In addition, a spreadsheet can be easily accessed from any browser anytime and anywhere. This tool is also an excellent tool for team projects. Brainstorming & Documentation NotionNotion is a great working and documentation app with multiple tools and features that are already built into it. With these tools, most basic management and database work related can be done quickly and easily. Additionally, a multi-layer page within the notion could make documentation more manageable and easy to find. MiroCreate a collaborated and centralized communication with pre-built templates or start from a clean slate. Miro provides design tools for brainstorming, diagram creation, or project management. It is easy to edit, has a vast working space for ideation and collaboration work, and puts all our ideas into something we can read. As a bonus, you could present your work in a slide show for better presentation. What Skill Does A Designer Needs? A designer is responsible for coherent & effective product design (particularly on mechanics, features, and levels). They must have relevant knowledge of the design process to ensure it fits the user’s desired aesthetics and is technically feasible. What are the skills needed for a designer to achieve those goals? Effective CollaboratorAs a game designer, you work towards a desirable goal. By collaboration, designers can work effectively to produce the best game design. Excellent Communication Skills and TeamworkGame designers work as part of a team. Communication is essential for designers to deliver their ideas to all team members. Highly Versatile in Problem-Solving SkillsDesigners meet problems daily. Hence, to deliver the best experience to the user, a designer needs to be versatile so they can tackle those problems. Proficient with Game Design, UX/UI, and User/Audience ResearchA game designer must be proficient in a broad aspect of game development, such as game design, user experience, user interface, and also with their users. Planning and Documentation SkillsTo keep track of what designers do, documentation is an essential skill designers need to have. Designers also need to be able to manage and plan two to three steps further. Ready to be the next game designer with us? Check out our Designers role that is currently available down below! Vacancy On Design & Writing Departement All DepartmentsTalentQualityFinance, Corporate and LegalDesign and WritingArt All DivisionsSupportGamificationFull DevelopmentArt Service All ContractsTemporaryRegular Search Position Department Division Contract Type Game Designer Design and Writing Full Development Contract Type : Temporary Details Load More
