- Just discovered the new Games and Men blog, which is a relatively anonymous developer's look at the game biz, and there's an informative new post on 'How to become a Game Designer? - My experience' just posted - well worth sharing.

The first point, on 'requirements': "There is no precise set of requirements for becoming a game designer. Most designers come from different fields of computer arts, programming or directly out of QA and I could totally see people from science or psychology fields orienting themselves in the video game field. In fact, the more diverse are your knowledges, the better."

Interestingly, the author is working in a niche of the biz that is less remarked-upon: "I'm working for a company that develops educative games for young children. I have not heard about a lot about these companies as there is few of them but from where I work, I can tell that the quality of life in these environment is much higher than with the big players."

The Montreal-based dev concludes: "First of all the company is much smaller, which gives place for more discussion and employee empowerment. I'm not doing any overtime and if ever I have to (in exceptional occasion) I'm paid for it. My bosses care about their employees and the environment is much more relaxed. I'm really enjoying my experience so far and the games are of tremendous quality." Overall, though quite general, the piece is a neat introduction.