Crafting realistic AI behaviour in your game design ventures poses a significant computer vision (CV) challenge, often requiring sophisticated pattern recognition and decision-making mechanisms. Our guide offers in-depth strategies and tools to enhance your CV implementations, ensuring your non-player characters move and react in believable ways, enriching player immersion.
- Answer job requirements with your game design CV and experience;
- Curate your academic background and certificates, following industry-leading CV examples;
- Select from +10 niche skills to match the ideal candidate profile
- Write a more succinct experience section that consists of all the right details.
Do you need more specific insights into writing your game design CV? Our guides focus on unique insights for each individual role:
How to ensure your profile stands out with your game design CV format
It's sort of a Catch 22. You want your game design CV to stand out amongst a pile of candidate profiles, yet you don't want it to be too over the top that it's unreadable. Where is the perfect balance between your CV format simple, while using it to shift the focus to what matters most. That is - your expertise. When creating your game design CV:- list your experience in the reverse chronological order - starting with your latest roles;
- include a header with your professional contact information and - optionally - your photograph;
- organise vital and relevant CV sections - e.g. your experience, skills, summary/ objective, education - closer to the top;
- use no more than two pages to illustrate your professional expertise;
- format your information using plenty of white space and standard (2.54 cm) margins, with colours to accent key information.
Once you've completed your information, export your game design CV in PDF, as this format is more likely to stay intact when read by the Applicant Tracker System or the ATS. A few words of advice about the ATS - or the software used to assess your profile:
- Generic fonts, e.g. Arial and Times New Roman, are ATS-compliant, yet many candidates stick with these safe choices. Ensure your CV stands out by using a more modern, and simple, fonts like Lato, Exo 2, Volkhov;
- All serif and sans-serif fonts are ATS-friendly. Avoid the likes of fancy decorative or script typography, as this may render your information to be illegible;
- Both single- and double-column formatted CVs could be assessed by the ATS;
- Integrating simple infographics, icons, and charts across your CV won't hurt your chances during the ATS assessment.
PRO TIP
Use font size and style strategically to create a visual hierarchy, drawing the reader's eye to the most important information first (like your name and most recent job title).
The top sections on a game design CV
- Game Design Portfolio showcases your practical skills and creativity.
- Professional Experience details your past roles and contributions.
- Education Background displays relevant qualifications and training.
- Technical Skills highlight the specific game development tools you excel in.
- Project Management Experience shows your ability to lead and work in teams.
What recruiters value on your CV:
- Highlight your game development skills by detailing your experience with game engines like Unity or Unreal Engine, and specify any scripting languages you're proficient in such as C# or C++.
- Include a concise section about your design philosophy, focusing on how you approach gameplay mechanics, story development, and player engagement to convey your creative thought process.
- Showcase your portfolio with links to games you've contributed to, emphasising your specific roles and achievements within those projects, whether they are published titles or concept prototypes.
- Detail your understanding of the game development lifecycle, from concept to post-release, demonstrating your ability to work effectively within different stages such as pre-production, production, and live operations.
- Mention your collaborative skills by describing successful team-oriented projects, and how you've communicated with artists, programmers, and other stakeholders to realise a cohesive game experience.
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What information should you include in your game design CV header?
The CV header is potentially the section that recruiters would refer to the most, as it should include your:
- Contact details - your professional (non-work) email address and phone number;
- Professional photograph - if you're applying hinting at the value you bring as a professional.
Many professionals often struggle with writing their game design CV headline. That's why in the next section of this guide, we've curated examples of how you can optimise this space to pass any form of assessment.
Examples of good CV headlines for game design:
- "Lead Level Designer | Environmental Storytelling Expert | 8 Years Experience | Advanced AI Integration | Unreal Engine Pro"
- "Senior Game Developer | Multi-platform Programming | VR Specialist | Computer Science MSc | 10+ Years in Industry"
- "Gameplay Programmer | Unity Certified | Physics Simulation Enthusiast | Agile Workflow Advocate | 5 Years of Crafting Fun"
- "Art Director | AAA Studio Experience | Award-Winning Visuals | Creative Team Leadership | 12 Years Industry Veteran"
- "Junior Game Designer | Innovative Mechanics Creator | Bachelor of Game Design | Passionate about Player Engagement | 2 Years Experience"
- "UI/UX Designer | Player-Centric Interfaces | Mobile & Console Expertise | HCI Diploma Holder | 7-Year Track Record"
Catching recruiters' attention with your game design CV summary or objective
Located closer to the top of your CV, both the summary and objective are no more than five sentences long and serve as an introduction to your experience. What is more, you could use either to entice recruiters to read on. Select the:
- Summary, if you happen to have plenty of relevant experience. Feature your most impressive accomplishments and up to three skills that are relevant to the job you're applying for;
- Objective, if you're just starting your career off. Provide your career goals and answer how you see the role you are applying for will match your professional growth.
Judging which one you need to add to your game design CV may at times seem difficult. That’s why you need to check out how professionals, with similar to your experience, have written their summary or objective, in the examples below:
CV summaries for a game design job:
- With over five years of dedicated experience as a Senior Game Designer, specialising in RPG mechanics and storytelling, I have successfully led a team to launch a BAFTA-nominated title. Proficient in Unreal Engine 4, Unity, and agile project management, my portfolio showcases a history of creating immersive worlds that captivate players.
- Passionate 3D Artist with a decade in the animation industry, seeking to leverage my expertise in environmental design and character modelling towards a new challenge within game development. Skilled in Maya, ZBrush, and Substance Painter, I bring a unique artistic vision that has been honed through work on award-winning animated features.
- Accomplished Web Developer transitioning into game design, blending 6 years of coding experience with a lifelong passion for gaming. Adept in JavaScript, C#, and HTML5, I aspire to combine my technical skills with creative game concepts to develop engaging gameplay experiences.
- Dynamic Marketing Professional shifting focus to game design after 7 years of crafting compelling narratives for global brands. With a strong foundation in storytelling and audience engagement, I aim to apply my content creation and analytical skills to the realm of interactive entertainment and game storylines.
- Seeking to initiate my professional journey in the exciting field of game design, where I can apply my strong analytical thinking and Bachelor’s in Computer Science. Eager to master game development tools and contribute fresh ideas to drive player engagement within a forward-thinking game studio.
- Aiming to harness my deep-rooted passion for video games and fervent desire for storytelling through an entry-level opportunity in game design. With an academic background in creative writing and recent certifications in game development, I am committed to learning rapidly and adding value to a creative team creating memorable gaming experiences.
Narrating the details of your game design CV experience section
Perhaps you've heard it time and time again, but, how you present your experience is what matters the most. Your CV experience section - that details your work history alongside your accomplishments - is the space to spotlight your unqiue expertise and talents. So, avoid solely listing your responsibilities, but instead:
- adverts' keywords and integrate those in your experience section;
- Use your CV to detail how you've been promoted in the past by including experience in the reverse chronological order.
Before you start writing your game design CV experience section, dive into some industry-leading examples on how to structure your bullets.
Best practices for your CV's work experience section
- Articulate your role in the design and development of games, highlighting any unique mechanics or features that you were responsible for. Include successful iterations or player engagement metrics to showcase the impact of your contributions.
- Demonstrate your ability to collaborate effectively with multidisciplinary teams by providing examples of working with artists, programmers, and other stakeholders to achieve a coherent vision for games.
- Exhibit your understanding of game design principles with specific examples of how you've implemented balance, pacing, feedback loops, and reward systems in your projects.
- Showcase your proficiency in game design tools and software such as Unity, Unreal Engine, or custom scripting languages, including the scope and scale of projects you've worked on using these.
- Detail your experience with user testing and feedback incorporation, explaining how player input has shaped the design decisions and improvements in your games.
- Provide examples of your problem-solving skills, particularly how you've addressed design challenges or technical constraints to enhance the gameplay experience.
- Highlight any experience with live operations, community management, or post-launch content development that has contributed to a game's longevity and community engagement.
- Illustrate your ability to document and communicate game concepts and mechanics clearly through design documents, flowcharts, and presentations to ensure alignment within the development team.
- Mention any experience with narrative design or writing for games, detailing how you've crafted storylines, character arcs, or environmental storytelling to enrich the player's experience.
- Played a pivotal role in the development of an innovative RPG which attracted over 1.5 million downloads within the first year of release.
- Led a team of 5 junior game designers, mentoring them in advanced level design techniques and narrative development that boosted game engagement metrics by 30%.
- Collaborated closely with cross-functional teams to integrate user feedback into game development, seeing a 20% increase in player retention rates.
- Oversaw the conceptualisation and implementation of a major update for a AAA FPS game, enhancing the user experience and expanding the game's lifespan on the market.
- Managed the creation of over 100 unique asset designs, which were critical in diversifying gameplay and maintaining a high level of player interest.
- Streamlined the game prototyping process by introducing agile methodologies, which decreased the prototype development cycle by 40%.
- Spearheaded the game level design for a popular mobile strategy game, contributing to it achieving top 10 status in the strategy category on the App Store.
- Implemented analytics-driven game mechanics changes that enhanced user engagement by 25% and significantly grew monthly average user spend.
- Facilitated cross-departmental workshops to align game design principles with marketing strategies, resulting in increased brand recognition and a 15% jump in quarter-over-quarter player acquisition.
- Designed and launched a successful educational game for children, which was recognised by industry experts for its creativity and impact, contributing to a 200% sales forecast exceedance.
- Devised a comprehensive game balancing framework that improved user satisfaction by creating more competitive and engaging game sessions.
- Collaborated with user experience specialists to optimise game interface, effectively reducing navigation time for players by an average of 15 seconds.
- Led the narrative development for an award-winning open-world adventure game, that later on received critical acclaim for its story depth and character development.
- Directed the integration of virtual reality elements into existing game titles, boosting immersion and garnering a 20% increase in game revenue from VR-enabled content.
- Orchestrated a seamless redesign of game UI/UX, which improved user accessibility and contributed to a 40% reduction in customer support tickets related to usability issues.
- Conceptualised and deployed a real-time multiplayer system for an eSports title, which supported 10,000+ concurrent players and reduced server latency by 50%.
- Developed an in-depth analytics tool for gameplay balancing, enabling the design team to make data-driven decisions that resulted in a 50% increase in player match satisfaction.
- Initiated a community-driven game feature process, incorporating player feedback into the development pipeline and achieving a notable increase in positive game reviews by 45%.
- Developed a custom game engine for an indie game project which supported unique physics mechanics, distinguishing the game in a competitive indie market.
- Curated a storytelling framework that adapted player choices into the narrative, enriching user experience and resulting in high replay value and critical acclaim.
- Pioneered the use of AI-driven NPCs that dynamically responded to player actions, creating a more immersive and realistic gaming environment.
- Championed the user interface design for a cloud-based gaming platform, which supported seamless gameplay across various devices and increased user base by 250,000 within six months.
- Mentored a squad of ten aspiring game designers, providing them with the necessary skills to produce top-tier content that led to a 35% faster production cycle.
- Implemented a rewards-based system within the game that drove daily active user numbers up by 20% and improved long-term player engagement.
Lacking professional expertise: how to write your CV to highlight your best talents
Don't count on your lucky stars when you're applying for a role, where you happen to have less (or almost none) professional experience. Recruiters sometimes do hire inexperienced candidates if they're able to present their unique value from the get-go. So, instead of opting for the traditional, CV experience section:
- List any applicable expertise you happen to have - no matter if it's a part-time job, internship, or volunteer work. This would hint to recruiters that your profile is relevant;
- Focus your CV on your transferrable skills or talents you've obtained thanks to your whole life and work experience. In effect, you'll be spotlighting your value as a candidate;
- Separate more space for your applicable academic background and certificates to show you have the technical know-how;
- Ensure that within your objective, you've defined why you'll like the job and how you'll be the perfect match for it. Always ensure you've tailored your CV to individual applications.
Looking for more good examples for your first job? We'll show you how other candidates, with less professional experience, have created their job-winning CVs.
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PRO TIP
If you have experience in diverse fields, highlight how this has broadened your perspective and skill set, making you a more versatile candidate.
Hard skills and soft skills to showcase your unique skill set on your game design CV
Did you know that your CV will mostly likely be assessed by recruiters based on skill alignment? And that means that the way you feature your key skills across different CV sections will play a crucial role in landing you that first interview. We recommend you add your:
- technical capabilities or hard skills in your CV experience, certificates, projects, etc. Use your past accomplishments to prove your technical capabilities. List up to a dozen different software or hardware in your dedicated skills section to match the job keywords;
- personal and communication skills or soft skills in your CV strengths, achievements, summary/ objective, etc. Soft skills are a bit more difficult to prove. How do you define your aptitude in active listening? So, instead of just listing the skill name, include a tangible metric to show your success.
On a final note, when you're in a hurry to create your profile, you may misspell a particular technology or soft skill. That's why we suggest you copy and paste the particular skill name (or keyword), directly from the job advert. This would also help you to pass any initial Applicant Tracker System (ATS) tests.
Top skills for your game design CV:
Game Development Fundamentals
Level Design
3D Modeling
Texturing
Scripting and Programming Languages (C++, C#, etc.)
Game Engine Proficiency (Unity, Unreal Engine, etc.)
Animation
User Interface Design
Audio Design
Quality Assurance and Playtesting
Creativity
Problem-Solving
Collaboration
Communication
Attention to Detail
Time Management
Adaptability
Critical Thinking
Passion for Gaming
Leadership
PRO TIP
Focus on describing skills in the context of the outcomes they’ve helped you achieve, linking them directly to tangible results or successes in your career.
Listing your university education and certificates on your game design CV
The best proof of your technical capabilities would be your education and certifications sections. Your education should list all of your relevant university degrees, followed up by their start and completion dates. Make sure to also include the name of the university/-ies you graduated from. If you happen to have less professional experience (or you deem it would be impressive and relevant to your application), spotlight in the education section:
- that you were awarded a "First" degree;
- industry-specific coursework and projects;
- extracurricular clubs, societies, and activities.
When selecting your certificates, first ask yourself how applicable they'd be to the role. Ater your initial assessment, write the certificate and institution name. Don't miss out on including the completion date. In the below panel, we've curated relevant examples of industry-leading certificates.
PRO TIP
If you have received professional endorsements or recommendations for certain skills, especially on platforms like LinkedIn, mention these to add credibility.
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Key takeaways
Write your professional game design CV by studying and understanding what the role expectations are. You should next:
- Focus on tailoring your content to answer specific requirements by integrating advert keywords through various CV sections;
- Balance your technical know-how with your personal skills to showcase what the unique value would be of working with you;
- Ensure your CV grammar and spelling (especially of your key information and contact details) is correct;
- Write a CV summary, if your experience is relevant, and an objective, if your career ambitions are more impressive;
- Use active language by including strong, action verbs across your experience, summary/objective, achievements sections.
