Becoming a Game Designer

>>49710172
just make games in your spare time and if you make a career out of it you make a career out of it.

>>49710172
those courses will be of less use than you might think. what you really need to do is to play a lot of games.

There's nothing wrong with learning prob & stats.

>>49710172
>Which are the necessary subjects I need to master in order to have any chance in this carreer?

Being able to keep a day job. Preferably one that pays well enough that you don't have to live in your mom's basement.

Alternatively: marry someone with a steady well-paying job. You'd be surprised how many "real" game designers with published games wouldn't be able to survive without their spouse's income.

DESU, 99% of game design doesn't require anything beyond high school level math. Can you calculate the probability of drawing 3 cards from a 52 deck and having them all be spades? If yes, you probably already know all the math you need.

If your university has game design courses (especially a game prototyping course), those would be a good idea. A lot of older advice on the internet will tell you that game design classes are worthless, but in reality a lot of universities have started to find decent teachers and put together useful curricula.

Graphic design is extremely useful. Play enough prototype games at conventions or whatever, and this will quickly become obvious. If the cards are a mess and the icons make no sense, even the best game in the world will seem like unplayable garbage.

Aside from graphic design, look at creative writing classes, marketing classes, and various art classes. Any of those will be very useful as a solo designer or as part of a team. Art is particularly difficult to self-teach, and art skills (or lack thereof) are much more obvious than marketing or writing skills.

>>49710172
Change your name to that of an Action Hero Protagonist. Robin D. Laws, Monte Cook, Keith Baker, etc.

But in all seriousness, in my experience game design is exactly like writing. You need to do it every day. Keep a small notebook with you at all times and dedicate yourself to writing down every, and I mean EVERY game idea you ever have. Try and get X number of ideas per day, no matter how terrible they seem. Eventually you'll hit upon a good idea, one that really works. Don't get hung up on it, develop it further, but don't fall in love with it, and don't make it your one and only.

When I first got on /tg/ I suggested the wonderful idea of converting Dark Heresy to 5e. That went about as well as could be expected. Now, I've managed to improve a bit, and some of the projects I'm more proud of include:

1. Suurvival-Action Primal Setting on an Ice-Age planet, using Savage Worlds.

2. Crypt Raiders, a rules-lite skirmish wargame where one side plays as Tucker's Kobolds, and sets OSR style traps in order to defeat the other side, an attacking party of Adventurers.

3. Numerous Setting and Character ideas.

And, most notably,

4. The Calvin and Hobbes RPG

Just keep on producing work and you'll improve. If it were me, I'd get several quality ideas ready, Kickstart all of them at the same time, and get your name out into the community. If one of these ideas work out, that's great, but your real goal is to build up a reputation and resume that includes published games, then use that to get hired by a major gaming company, and build your resume further, until you can get the job you want.

As for degrees... marketing and business. The most important thing in game design isn't necessarily how to develop a good game, it's to recognize how well a game will sell and be played.

>>49710539

>If the cards are a mess and the icons make no sense, even the best game in the world will seem like unplayable garbage.

Yes this, many times. In RPGs I want my tokens to be simple and being recognizable at first glance. In tabletop games that's even more crucial.

>>49711021
>RPGs
>tokens
Okay.

Take a personal finance class. <- this is my sarcastic asshole way of saying you shouldn't try to make a living as a game designer

>>49710198
>>49710444
>>49710539

All of these.

>>49710172
If a tabletop game designer is unlucky he makes no money what so ever. If a tabletop game designer is lucky he gets to live below the poverty line.

>>49710172
Steve Jackson Games takes in articles for their GURPS magazine, try and get published there. They're also willing to let fans write short books.

>>49710172

You should really play a whole heap of games if you really want to be a game designer. Statistics and probabilities are not bad to learn for doing math involved in the mechanics of the game and whatnot but ultimately you really should play lots of games. Card games, board games, vidya games, exploring all facets of these type of games will teach you good and bad elements of game design as you recognize certain parts of each game that you'll like to adopt and others you'll like to avoid or discard.