Getting even further clarity!

Phew, I'm happy to say I've had quite a few interviews lately. Unfortunately I haven't found "the place" yet, but doing all of these interviews has helped me understand more and more about myself and figure out a clearer path ahead.

As you might know, I've been a designer for a while, but making the move from HE design to the private sector (especially video games) turns out to be a bit more difficult than I originally imagined.

In Higher Education, "designers" are a jack-of-all-trades. We need to be organised, strategic, technologically adept and media whizzes to boot. This is great for building your skills and the variety was always fun, but when it comes to making that switch you are seen as too general. "what specialisation do you want to work in?", "What would you say is your main skill?", these are hard questions to answer for someone who has filled a lot of shoes in the pursuit of great content and has constantly had to change their skill set based on what project they are doing that day.

I'm surprised they kept it just to 10!

After the last couple of interviews the feedback has been really positive but this necessity to be specialised was raised a few times. So what do I specialise in?

I've always been strategic, I've always been good at looking at products from the user's point of view, I'm fast and good at writing both copy and creating media... generally I like to create content.... create content.... hmmm.

In the game industry there isn't just one type of game designer, there are level designers, game writers, systems designers, technical, UI, creative director, etc, etc. While I would love to do all types of design, if I had to specialise I think I would now go for Content Design.

Content Designers are often involved in the narrative of a game or product (I'm good at telling stories). This could involve writing the stories, the NPCs, the missions, the in-game materials. While they sometimes get confused with game writers, it's also possible for a content designer to design the overall flow of a game, or particular puzzles and challenges, design creatures, literature, etc.

This really appeals to my sense of creativity but also makes it easier to focus on a particular area as I do like a bit of guidance now and then. They are also opportunities outside of the games industry that could help me further develop my skills while supporting my family.

I've recently been for a job interview regarding a Content Designer position at a well know FinTech. Ok, it's not gaming, but it is a fantastic company with the potential to really push myself and learn A LOT. I still want to make games but having the opportunity to get upskilled while working for a company such as this would be perfect. You never know, I might enjoy it so much I end up staying and doing games in my spare time.

This journey I've been on so far has been one full of stress and often a bit of confusion, but it's also been full of self-discovery. I'm learning about my strengths and weaknesses, and coming to an understanding of the type of route it looks like I could take to achieve what I want to achieve.

For all those out there doing the same, keep your chin up, put yourself into difficult situations to grow, learn and network and generally be open to taking a slightly different route than you originally thought.