I had a great conversation recently with a couple of good friends, both grizzled industry veterans. A couple of quick introductions, before jumping in.

Gareth Hinds kicks off the conversation. Gareth is a creator of graphic novels, whose excellent adaptations of Beowulf, King Lear and The Merchant of Venice are not to be missed. He also has a dark, secret past as an extraordinary game artist.

Dave Konieczny is co-founder of Bithoard Games, whose recent release Blastination is one of my favorite iPhone games.

Gareth: What advice do you give to high school kids who think they want to become game designers? Is there anything like a recommended course of study as they head into college?

I recently got asked about this by two different kids.

Sean: You’re asking me? I just made stuff up as I went along, and somehow got people to pay me. But that was more than a decade ago…not sure that works anymore. };^)

Having a background in programming and art is certainly helpful from the standpoint of effectively communicating your ideas. That has certainly been a huge help to me over the years.
There will be math. Algebra, trig, statistics. You will be happy with a strong foundation in maths. The more you know the better off you’ll be.

But the biggest thing, and here is where I think art is important, they have to make themselves keen observers. They also need to read widely, travel, go for nature walks, pretty much everything but sit in a classroom/cubicle all day. Get out of the echo chamber of popular culture once and awhile.

Tell them not to get attached to ideas. Ideas are a dime a dozen. Focus on turning ideas into a product, a demo, something real.

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