Creating a compelling game world often requires meticulous attention to character variation, a CV challenge that can be daunting when seeking originality in design. Our guide provides robust frameworks and creative exercises that enable you to harness diverse inspiration and breathe life into your game's characters with unparalleled uniqueness.
- Applying the simplest CV design, so that recruiters can easily understand your expertise, skills, and professional background;
- Ensuring you stand out with your header, summary or objective statement, and a designated skills section;
- Creating your CV experience section - no matter how much expertise you have;
- Using real life professional CV examples to enhance the structure and outline of your profile.
If you still have no muse to write your professional CV, find some more industry-leading examples.
Structuring and formatting your game designer CV for an excellent first impression
The experts' best advice regarding your CV format is to keep it simple and concise. Recruiters assessing your CV are foremost looking out for candidates who match their ideal job profile. Your white space, borders, and margins. You may still be wondering which format you need to export your CV in. We recommend using the PDF one, as, upon being uploaded, it never alters your information or CV design. Before we move on to the actual content of your game designer CV, we'd like to remind you about the Applicant Tracker System (or the ATS). The ATS is a software that is sometimes used to initially assess your profile. Here's what you need to keep in mind about the ATS:- All serif and sans-serif fonts (e.g. Rubik, Volkhov, Exo 2 etc.) are ATS-friendly;
- Many candidates invest in Arial and Times New Roman, so avoid these fonts if you want your application to stand out;
- Both single and double column CVs can be read by the ATS, so it's entirely up to you to select your CV design.
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For certain fields, consider including infographics or visual elements to represent skills or achievements, but ensure they are simple, professional, and enhance rather than clutter the information.
The top sections on a game designer CV
- Profile Summary: Offers a snapshot of your design expertise and creativity.
- Game Design Experience: Showcases relevant projects and knowledge in game mechanics.
- Technical Skills: Lists software and programming mastery needed in game development.
- Education and Training: Details qualifications specific to game design and related fields.
- Portfolio Link: Provides direct access to your work for practical evaluation.
What recruiters value on your CV:
- Demonstrate your creative process by including a portfolio link or case studies of games you’ve designed, focusing on your role in developing game mechanics, narratives, and user experiences.
- Highlight any technical skills such as proficiency in game development engines (e.g., Unreal Engine, Unity), scripting languages (e.g., C#, JavaScript), or design software (e.g., Adobe Creative Suite), which are essential tools for game designers.
- Emphasise your understanding of game design principles and your ability to create engaging player experiences by referencing your knowledge of user-centred design, playtesting, and balancing gameplay.
- Include any collaborative projects or team leadership experience to showcase your ability to work effectively within multidisciplinary teams, which is a critical aspect of game development.
- Mention any industry recognition or awards you’ve received for your work, as this can differentiate you and demonstrate a track record of creating successful and noteworthy games.
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Making a good first impression with your game designer CV header
Your typical CV header consists of Your typical CV header consists of contact details and a headline. Make sure to list your professional phone number, email address, and a link to your professional portfolio (or, alternatively, your LinkedIn profile). When writing your CV headline , ensure it's:
- tailored to the job you're applying for;
- highlights your unique value as a professional;
- concise, yet matches relevant job ad keywords.
You can, for examples, list your current job title or a particular skill as part of your headline. Now, if you decide on including your photo in your CV header, ensure it's a professional one, rather than one from your graduation or night out. You may happen to have plenty more questions on how to make best the use of your CV headline. We'll help you with some real-world examples, below.
Examples of good CV headlines for game designer:
- Lead Game Designer | AAA RPG Expert | UX/UI Enthusiast | 10+ Years Experience
- Senior Level Designer | Open-World Speciality | Certified Gameplay Innovator | 8 Years Crafting Worlds
- Game Mechanics Guru | Junior Game Designer | BA in Game Development | AI & Balancing Passion
- Narrative Director | Story-Driven FPS Crafting | 12 Years Industry Narrative | MFA in Creative Writing
- Virtual Reality Game Designer | Immersive Experiences | 5+ Years in VR Development | Haptic Feedback Advocate
- Multiplayer System Architect | Strategy Game Specialist | Procedural Generation Maestro | Senior Designer | 15 Years Experience
Catching recruiters' attention with your game designer 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 designer 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 designer job:
Narrating the details of your game designer 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 designer CV experience section, dive into some industry-leading examples on how to structure your bullets.
Best practices for your CV's work experience section
- Outlined the conceptualisation and development of game mechanics for 3 published indie games, demonstrating proficiency in balancing gameplay and player engagement.
- Collaborated with cross-functional teams, including artists and programmers, to integrate narrative and aesthetic elements into the gameplay, ensuring a seamless player experience.
- Implemented user feedback mechanisms and conducted playtesting sessions to gather data, enhancing gameplay based on actual user interactions and preferences.
- Led a design team through the full game development lifecycle, from initial brainstorming to post-launch support, meeting all project milestones and maintaining high team morale.
- Designed and iterated on complex game systems, utilising advanced mathematical models and algorithms to create engaging and balanced in-game economies.
- Authored comprehensive design documentation, including game concepts, mechanics, and story outlines, serving as a clear blueprint for all development stages.
- Regularly used industry-standard tools such as Unity and Unreal Engine, showcasing the ability to adapt to various development environments and requirements.
- Managed version control and workflow coordination with tools like Git and JIRA, ensuring efficient tracking of assets and tasks throughout the game development process.
- Presented game pitches and design visions to stakeholders and investors, effectively communicating the potential of game projects and securing necessary funding.
- Guided a team of 15 designers, ensuring consistent design language across all game levels, which led to a 30% increase in player retention for our flagship game 'Mythos Quest'.
- Orchestrated the integration of new motion capture technology, enhancing character realism and saving 20% of allocated budget due to increased animation efficiency.
- Piloted a user feedback loop for early game prototypes which amplified player engagement and contributed to a 50% reduction in negative reviews on the game's release.
- Led the conceptualisation and story development for 'Starlight Ventures', which sold over 1 million copies in the first quarter post-launch.
- Introduced a peer-review workflow process that cut down the prototyping phase by 25%, accelerating time-to-market for new game concepts.
- Managed cross-functional teams across narrative, art, and programming to ensure a cohesive game environment, culminating in a nomination for the BAFTA Games Award for Best Game Design.
- Developed and implemented a dynamic game difficulty adjustment system that reacted to player skill, significantly reducing churn rates by 35%.
- Spearheaded a collaboration with the marketing team to create in-game events aligned with seasonal promotions, yielding a 40% spike in microtransaction sales.
- Authored a set of best practice guidelines for level design that became the company standard, improving production consistency across projects.
- Designed an award-winning game world for 'Aether Chronicles', which generated over £5 million in revenue within the first six months after launch.
- Initiated and managed a successful partnership with an external VR studio to expand our game portfolio into the virtual reality space.
- Crafted a patented procedural generation algorithm that cut down content creation timelines by 60%, dramatically increasing studio output capacity.
- Collected and analysed gameplay data to refine the balance of 'Galaxy Defender', resulting in a strategic overhaul that saw a 80% improvement in player versus player (PVP) engagement.
- Managed the development lifecycle for 3 major game updates, directly contributing to a 120% rise in daily active users.
- Led a task force to identify and fix bottlenecks in the game development pipeline, which led to a sustained 15% improvement in productivity.
- Invented a unique game mechanic for 'Inferno Racer', which became viral on social media and resulted in a 200% jump in game downloads.
- Streamlined the character progression system for better user experience, which retained 50% more players during the critical first 30 days post-launch.
- Implemented A/B testing for new features, which allowed for data-driven design decisions that improved overall user satisfaction by 45%.
- Contributed to the level design of 'Chronicles of Elyria', helping the game to be recognized as the 'Debut Game of the Year' at the TIGA Awards.
- Assisted with the implementation of a dynamic weather system that increased the immersive quality of the game environment by 70% as reported by player surveys.
- Supported the senior design team in balancing game mechanics, leading to a more competitive and fair multiplayer experience and a 60% decrease in player complaints about balance issues.
- Advised on the monetization strategy of 'Fantasy Skies', influencing key design decisions that resulted in a month-on-month revenue growth of 25%.
- Led creative workshops that generated 5 new intellectual properties, securing funding for three high-potential projects and diversifying the studio's portfolio.
- Devised a comprehensive player retention framework that increased retention metrics by 40%, greatly enhancing the long-term profitability of key titles.
How to ensure your game designer CV stands out when you have no experience
This part of our step-by-step guide will help you substitute your experience section by helping you spotlight your skill set. First off, your ability to land your first job will depend on the time you take to assess precisely how you match the job requirements. Whether that's via your relevant education and courses, skill set, or any potential extracurricular activities. Next:
- Systematise your CV so that it spotlights your most relevant experience (whether that's your education or volunteer work) towards the top;
- Focus recruiters' attention to your transferrable skill set and in particular how your personality would be the perfect fit for the role;
- Consider how your current background has helped you build your technological understanding - whether you've created projects in your free time or as part of your uni degree;
- Ensure you've expanded on your teamwork capabilities with any relevant internships, part-time roles, or projects you've participated in the past.
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Include examples of how you adapted to new tools, environments, or work cultures, showing your flexibility.
Mix and match hard and soft skills across your game designer CV
Your skill set play an equally valid role as your experience to your application. That is because recruiters are looking for both:
- hard skills or your aptitude in applying particular technologies
- soft skills or your ability to work in a team using your personal skills, e.g. leadership, time management, etc.
Are you wondering how you should include both hard and soft skills across your game designer CV? Use the:
- skills section to list between ten and twelve technologies that are part of the job requirement (and that you're capable to use);
- strengths and achievements section to detail how you've used particular hard and soft skills that led to great results for you at work;
- summary or objective to spotlight up to three skills that are crucial for the role and how they've helped you optimise your work processes.
One final note - when writing about the skills you have, make sure to match them exactly as they are written in the job ad. Take this precautionary measure to ensure your CV passes the Applicant Tracker System (ATS) assessment.
Top skills for your game designer CV:
Game Design Theory
Level Design
Programming Languages
Game Engine Proficiency
Prototyping
3D Modelling
Animation
User Interface Design
Scripting
Gameplay Mechanics Development
Creativity
Communication
Problem-Solving
Teamwork
Attention to Detail
Time Management
Adaptability
Critical Thinking
Passion for Gaming
Narrative Skills
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If there's a noticeable gap in your skillset for the role you're applying for, mention any steps you're taking to acquire these skills, such as online courses or self-study.
Education and more professional qualifications to include in your game designer CV
If you want to showcase to recruiters that you're further qualified for the role, ensure you've included your relevant university diplomas. Within your education section:
- Describe your degree with your university name(-s) and start-graduation dates;
- List any awards you've received, if you deem they would be impressive or are relevant to the industry;
- Include your projects and publications, if you need to further showcase how you've used your technical know-how;
- Avoid listing your A-level marks, as your potential employers care to learn more about your university background.
Apart from your higher education, ensure that you've curated your relevant certificates or courses by listing the:
- name of the certificate or course;
- name of the institution within which you received your training;
- the date(-s) when you obtained your accreditation.
In the next section, discover some of the most relevant certificates for your game designer CV:
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Order your skills based on the relevance to the role you're applying for, ensuring the most pertinent skills catch the employer's attention first.
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Key takeaways
Write your professional game designer 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.
