What skills should a Video Game Designer put on a resume?

O*NET rates Programming, Active Listening, Critical Thinking, Reading Comprehension, and Complex Problem Solving among the most important skills for this occupation. Name the ones that are genuinely yours and show where you used them. A resume that lists skills you do not have is weaker than one that lists fewer.

What software should a Video Game Designer list?

Software recorded for this occupation includes 3D graphic design software, Adobe ActionScript, Adobe After Effects, Adobe Creative Cloud software, and Adobe Illustrator. Applicant tracking systems match on the exact product name, so write the tool as the posting writes it rather than describing it in general terms.

What other job titles cover Video Game Designer work?

O*NET records 24 titles for this occupation, including Design Director, Designer, Game Designer, and World Designer. Searching only your own job title hides most of the openings you could apply to.

What qualifications does a Video Game Designer need?

In O*NET's survey of people doing this job, 55% reported their level of education as "Bachelor's Degree". That is what current postholders reported, not a requirement any single employer sets.

Will this resume pass an ATS for a Video Game Designer role?

No tool outside an employer can tell you how that employer's system is configured, including ours. What you can control is that the resume parses cleanly, names the work in the words the posting uses, and does not claim anything you cannot back up.

Video Game Designer resume example

A resume for a Video Game Designer needs to show the work itself: design core features of video games. Day to day that means work like this: 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. Recruiters and applicant tracking systems both read for the tasks and tools this role actually involves, so the strongest resume names them in your own experience rather than describing the job in the abstract. Below are the tasks O*NET records for this occupation, the software and tools it uses, the titles it is advertised under, and the skills worth naming if they are genuinely yours.

Also advertised as

The same job is posted under many titles. Searching only your own job title hides most of the openings you could apply to.

Design Director
Designer
Game Designer
World Designer
Environmental Artist
Game Design Consultant
Gamemaster
Level Designer
Computer Game Designer
Computer Video Game Designer
Concept Artist
Content Creator
Environment Artist
Game Engineer
Gameplay Engineer
Interactive Multimedia Designer
Mobile Game Engineer
Video Content Creator

O*NET records 24 titles for this occupation in total.

What this work actually involves

Tasks recorded for this occupation, in O*NET's words. If your experience covers one of these, it belongs on your resume in your own words.

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.
Create gameplay prototypes for presentation to creative and technical staff and management.
Guide design discussions between development teams.

24 tasks are recorded in total; these are the most central.

Example bullets for this role

Built from this occupation's own tasks. The brackets stay empty on purpose: we will not invent a number for you, and a fabricated metric is the fastest way to lose an interview you had already won.

Balance and adjust gameplay experiences to ensure the critical and commercial success of the product, for [who or what it served], at [what volume].
Devise missions, challenges, or puzzles to be encountered in game play, for [who or what it served], at [what volume].
Create core game features, including storylines, role-play mechanics, and character biographies for a new video game or game franchise, for [who or what it served], at [what volume].
Solicit, obtain, and integrate feedback from design and technical staff into original game design, for [who or what it served], at [what volume].

Software used in this role

Recorded for this occupation by O*NET. An applicant tracking system matches the exact product name, so write the tool the way the posting writes it.

3D graphic design software
Adobe ActionScript
Adobe After Effects
Adobe Creative Cloud software
Adobe Illustrator
Adobe Photoshop
Advanced business application programming ABAP
Atlassian JIRA
Autodesk 3ds Max
Autodesk Maya
Autodesk Scaleform
Balsamiq Studios Balsamiq Mockups
Blackboard software
C

54 software entries are recorded in total.

Tools and equipment

The physical equipment this occupation is recorded as using. Worth naming when a posting asks for it by name.

Audioconferencing systems
Computer data input scanners
Desktop computers
Laptop computers
Personal computers
Smart phones
Tablet computers
Video gaming equipment

Skills an ATS reads for

Worth naming only if they are genuinely yours. Keyword overlap is one input to a resume's score, not a verdict.

Adobe Photoshop
Jira
Autodesk Maya
C
C#
C++
Git
JavaScript
Java
Perforce

What this job rates as most important

O*NET rates every skill for importance to this occupation. These are the highest rated, in order.

01Programming
02Active Listening
03Critical Thinking
04Reading Comprehension
05Complex Problem Solving
06Judgment and Decision Making
07Active Learning
08Systems Analysis
09Time Management
10Systems Evaluation

Knowledge areas

The subject knowledge this occupation draws on, rated by importance.

Design
Computers and Electronics
Communications and Media
Mathematics
Psychology
English Language

What qualifications people in this job have

From O*NET's survey of people doing this work. This is what postholders reported, not a requirement any single employer sets.

55%Bachelor's Degree
15%High School Diploma, or the equivalent
10%Less than a High School Diploma

What level this role is pitched at

O*NET places this occupation in “Considerable Preparation Needed”. Most of these occupations require a four-year bachelor's degree, but some do not.

A considerable amount of work-related skill, knowledge, or experience is needed for these occupations. For example, an accountant must complete four years of college and work for several years in accounting to be considered qualified.

Common questions

What does a Video Game Designer do?: Design core features of video games. Day to day that includes work like balance and adjust gameplay experiences to ensure the critical and commercial success of the product and Devise missions, challenges, or puzzles to be encountered in game play.
What skills should a Video Game Designer put on a resume?: O*NET rates Programming, Active Listening, Critical Thinking, Reading Comprehension, and Complex Problem Solving among the most important skills for this occupation. Name the ones that are genuinely yours and show where you used them. A resume that lists skills you do not have is weaker than one that lists fewer.
What software should a Video Game Designer list?: Software recorded for this occupation includes 3D graphic design software, Adobe ActionScript, Adobe After Effects, Adobe Creative Cloud software, and Adobe Illustrator. Applicant tracking systems match on the exact product name, so write the tool as the posting writes it rather than describing it in general terms.
What other job titles cover Video Game Designer work?: O*NET records 24 titles for this occupation, including Design Director, Designer, Game Designer, and World Designer. Searching only your own job title hides most of the openings you could apply to.
What qualifications does a Video Game Designer need?: In O*NET's survey of people doing this job, 55% reported their level of education as "Bachelor's Degree". That is what current postholders reported, not a requirement any single employer sets.
Will this resume pass an ATS for a Video Game Designer role?: No tool outside an employer can tell you how that employer's system is configured, including ours. What you can control is that the resume parses cleanly, names the work in the words the posting uses, and does not claim anything you cannot back up.

Related roles

Occupations O*NET records as closest to this one, and worth looking at if this search is not moving.

What this page cannot tell you

No tool outside an employer can tell you how that employer’s ATS is configured, including ours.
This page makes no claim about pay, demand or how many people hold this job. O*NET does not publish that here and we will not estimate it.
Keyword overlap is one input to a resume’s score, not a verdict on you. A resume that names skills you do not have is worse than one that names fewer.

If this is the job you are aiming at, the guide to tailoring a resume covers how to aim one posting properly, and building and exporting a resume here is free.

Occupation data from the O*NET 29.1 Database by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA), used under CC BY 4.0. O*NET is a trademark of USDOL/ETA. SpartanResume is not endorsed by USDOL/ETA.