Why Breaking Into Game Design Feels Impossible and what actually works
The uncomfortable truth about entry-level design, and how to overcome it.
The Frustration Nobody Prepares You For
You’ve done everything right.
You’ve studied game design. You’ve played critically, analyzing mechanics and systems with a designer’s eye. You’ve consumed every GDC talk, read every industry blog, joined every Discord server. You’ve built prototypes and participated in game jams and assembled what you believe is a solid portfolio.
And yet, the rejections keep coming. Or worse—silence. Application after application disappearing into the void.
Meanwhile, you watch friends in other disciplines land positions. The programmer who can point to code. The artist who can show renders. The animator who can demo a reel. They submit their work, prove their skills, and get hired.
Other positions: Show your work, prove your skills, and you’re in.
It’s not easy for them—competition is fierce across all game development roles. But the path is clear. The evaluation is straightforward. Build things, show things, get hired.
But game design? It’s different.
And if you’re feeling like breaking in is nearly impossible, you’re not imagining things. There are structural reasons why game design is uniquely difficult to enter—reasons that have nothing to do with your talent or potential.
Understanding these reasons is the first step toward overcoming them.
The View From Inside
Let me share some perspective.
Having lived through four studios—from scrappy startups to established developers—and consulted on over 38 indie and AAA projects, I’ve seen the hiring process from every angle. I’ve been on hiring committees. I’ve reviewed portfolios. I’ve championed candidates and watched others get passed over.
And I’ve noticed something that applies almost universally:
Most studios rarely take on pure junior designers.
Not because they’re cruel. Not because they don’t believe in developing talent. Not even because there aren’t promising candidates in the pipeline.
The reasons are structural—baked into how game development works and how design functions within it.
Why Studios Hesitate to Hire Junior Designers
Let’s examine the specific challenges that make entry-level design positions so rare.
Your Decisions Impact Every Department
Think about what a game designer actually does day-to-day.
You’re not working in isolation. Every design decision ripples outward:
| Your Decision | Impacts |
|---|---|
| Add a new enemy type | Art needs concepts and models, animation needs movesets, programming needs AI, audio needs sound effects, QA needs test cases |
| Change the upgrade system | UI needs new screens, economy designers need rebalancing, narrative might need adjustments, localization has new strings |
| Adjust difficulty curve | Level design needs restructuring, analytics needs new metrics, player support needs updated guides |
| Add a new mechanic | Everyone |
Your Work Is Hard to Showcase in a Portfolio
Here’s a challenge unique to design:
A programmer can show you code. An artist can show you renders. A sound designer can play you audio. These artifacts are tangible, directly evaluable, and clearly attributable.
But what does a designer show?
- The output of design is often invisible. It’s the feeling of a game, the balance of systems, the flow of an experience. These emerge from countless decisions, many of which are hard to isolate or demonstrate.
- Design work is often collaborative. On shipped titles, how do you prove which decisions were yours? The feature your team shipped—how much was your vision versus the lead’s direction versus programmers’ implementation constraints versus playtesting feedback?
- Documents don’t demonstrate feel. You can write a beautiful GDD, but that document doesn’t prove the game would actually be fun. Studios have seen countless well-written design documents produce mediocre games.
This evaluation challenge puts junior designers at a disadvantage. Seniors have shipped titles and track records. Juniors have… what, exactly?
Your First Role Might Be Different
Here’s a reality many aspiring designers don’t want to hear:
Your path into design might not start in design.
The most common entry points we see:
- QA (Quality Assurance)
Testing games teaches you how they break—and by extension, how they work. Many successful designers started by filing bugs, learning systems inside-out, and demonstrating design thinking in their feedback and suggestions. - Level Design
More positions exist for level designers than pure systems or game designers. Level design is design—you’re still crafting player experiences—but it’s more concrete and portfolio-friendly. - Production or Associate Roles
Some designers enter through production, learning how games are made before transitioning to making design decisions themselves. - Community or Player Support
Understanding player needs firsthand provides valuable perspective that translates into design empathy.
These aren’t failure paths. They’re common paths. Many senior designers at major studios started in QA, level design, or adjacent roles.
The Trust Problem
Underlying all of this is a fundamental issue:
Design requires trust.
When a studio hires a junior artist, they can evaluate the work before it ships and provide direction. A junior programmer’s code can be reviewed and corrected. The feedback loop is tight.
But design decisions often don’t reveal their quality until much later—sometimes not until players experience the final product. By then, resources have been spent. Schedules have been committed. The cost of being wrong is already paid.
Studios need proof you can think like a designer before they’ll trust you with decisions that affect the whole team.
This is the core challenge. Everything else flows from it.
The Proof Studios Actually Need
So how do you provide that proof? How do you demonstrate trustworthiness when you haven’t yet been trusted?
Through our work with thousands of aspiring designers, we’ve identified six elements that consistently move candidates from “risky unknown” to “worth taking a chance on.”
1. Show Your Design Philosophy
Every experienced designer has a lens through which they view their work. A set of values and priorities that guide their decisions. A perspective on what makes games meaningful, engaging, or fun.
Studios want to see yours.
Not because you need the “right” philosophy—there isn’t one. But because having a coherent philosophy signals:
- You’ve reflected deeply on the craft
- You can articulate your thinking
- You’ll bring consistency to your work
- You can be evaluated for fit with the studio’s values
How to demonstrate this:
- Write about it. Blog posts, portfolio statements, or Twitter threads that reveal how you think about design
- Apply it visibly. Each portfolio project should reflect your philosophy in action
- Discuss it fluently. In interviews, be prepared to explain what you believe and why
Example philosophy elements:
| Philosophy Focus | What It Might Sound Like |
|---|---|
| Player expression | “I believe players should author their own stories through mechanical choices” |
| Accessibility | “Great design removes barriers without removing depth” |
| Emotional impact | “Mechanics should serve emotional arcs, not just challenge” |
| Systemic emergence | “The best moments come from systems interacting unexpectedly” |
2. Demonstrate Empathy for Players
Design is fundamentally about other people.
Not about what you think is fun. Not about what you would enjoy playing. About what players—diverse, unpredictable, often different from you—actually experience.
Studios need to know you get this.
Designers who lack player empathy create work that satisfies themselves while confusing, frustrating, or boring actual players. They defend their vision when they should be listening. They optimize for elegance when they should optimize for experience.
How to demonstrate this:
- Document playtesting extensively. Show how you observed players, what you learned, and how you adapted
- Include diverse perspectives. Discuss how different player types (casual vs. hardcore, novice vs. expert) experience your work
- Acknowledge your blind spots. Demonstrate awareness that your perspective is limited
- Show player-driven iteration. Let your portfolio reveal decisions made because of player feedback, not despite it
What this looks like in practice:
“During playtesting, I noticed players consistently missed the tutorial prompt for the dash mechanic. I assumed the visual indicator was sufficient, but observation proved otherwise. I added an audio cue and brief controller vibration, and completion rates for the first challenge increased from 67% to 94%.”
This kind of documentation proves you care about player experience over designer intention.
3. Show Experience Iterating on Multiple Ideas
One good idea might be luck. A pattern of development shows skill.
Studios want evidence that you can:
- Generate multiple potential solutions
- Evaluate tradeoffs between approaches
- Select directions based on reasoning, not attachment
- Improve through successive refinement
- Kill ideas that aren’t working
This is what professional design actually looks like. Not brilliant first drafts, but methodical improvement through cycles.
How to demonstrate this:
- Include iteration history in portfolio pieces. Version 1, version 2, version 3—with explanations of what changed and why
- Show alternatives you considered. Present the options, explain the tradeoffs, justify your choice
- Document dead ends. Ideas you explored but abandoned teach as much as successes
- Highlight multiple projects. Breadth demonstrates repeatable process, not one-time inspiration
Iteration documentation format:
| Versions | Documentation |
|---|---|
| Version 1: [Description] | Problem Identified: [What wasn’t working]
Change Made: [What you adjusted] |
| Version 2: [Description] | Problem Identified: [What wasn’t working]
Change Made: [What you adjusted] |
| Version 3: [Description] | Result: [How the experience improved] |
| Key Learning: | What this process taught you |
4. Execute Designs to a High-Quality Standard
Theory and documentation only go so far. At some point, you need to prove you can make things that actually work—and work well.
High quality doesn’t mean AAA polish. It means:
- Mechanics feel responsive and satisfying
- Systems function as intended without breaking
- The player experience matches your stated design intent
- Edge cases have been considered and addressed
- The work is finished, not abandoned
How to demonstrate this:
- Playable builds that reviewers can actually experience
- Video documentation showing smooth, polished gameplay
- Attention to feel in the small details—timing, feedback, responsiveness
- Completeness over ambition—finished small experiences beat unfinished large ones
What studios look for:
| Quality Signals | Red Flags |
|---|---|
| Polished core mechanics | Impressive scope, broken execution |
| Thoughtful edge case handling | “Known issues” lists that indicate incompleteness |
| Consistent experience throughout | Quality that drops off after initial areas |
| Clear player communication | Confusion about objectives or controls |
5. Maintain a Consistent Approach in Your Process
Random brilliance is less valuable than reliable competence.
Studios need to trust that you’ll show up on any given day and make progress. That you have methods that work regardless of inspiration. That your quality isn’t dependent on circumstance.
How to demonstrate this:
- Multiple portfolio pieces that show similar approaches and quality levels
- Clear methodology that you can articulate and repeat
- Documentation habits that persist across projects
- Regular output visible through game jams, blog posts, or ongoing work
Consistency indicators:
- Portfolio pieces feel coherent—like they came from the same designer
- Process documentation follows similar formats
- Quality level is predictable across projects
- Work output is regular, not sporadic
This consistency signals professionalism. It suggests you’ll be a reliable team member who delivers predictably.
6. Highlight Your Experience in the Space
Finally, demonstrate that you understand the industry, the context, and the specific area you’re targeting.
This doesn’t mean you need shipped AAA titles. It means:
- Genre knowledge: Deep understanding of the type of games you want to design
- Market awareness: Knowledge of what’s succeeding, what’s failing, and why
- Tool proficiency: Familiarity with industry-standard engines and workflows
- Studio research: Understanding of specific studios’ philosophies and output
- Community engagement: Participation in design discussions and networks
How to demonstrate this:
- Targeted portfolio pieces that show understanding of your target studios’ work
- Thoughtful analysis of games in your target genre
- Relevant tool proficiency demonstrated through your prototypes
- Community presence through Discord engagement, blog posts, or jam participation
- Industry knowledge displayed through articulate interview conversations
The Transformation: From Outsider to Obvious Hire
Let’s synthesize what we’ve covered.
Studios hesitate to hire inexperienced designers because:
- Design decisions impact entire teams
- Design work is hard to evaluate in portfolios
- Design requires trust that’s risky to extend
- Most studios need designers who can contribute immediately
The way to overcome these barriers is to prove you already function like a designer:
| What Studios Fear | How You Address It |
|---|---|
| “They can’t think at a design level” | Show your design philosophy clearly |
| “They don’t understand players” | Demonstrate empathy through playtesting documentation |
| “They might be a one-idea person” | Show experience iterating on multiple ideas |
| “They might not execute well” | Execute designs to a high-quality standard |
| “They might be unreliable” | Maintain a consistent approach across projects |
| “They don’t understand our space” | Highlight your experience and knowledge in the area |
Show studios that you already act like a designer. They’ll start treating you like one.
This is the path from outsider to obvious hire.
The Practical Application
Understanding is worthless without action. Here’s how to apply these principles:
Immediate Actions (This Week)
1. Audit your current portfolio against all six elements
| Element | Current Evidence | Gap | Action Needed |
|---|---|---|---|
| Design philosophy | |||
| Player empathy | |||
| Iteration experience | |||
| Execution quality | |||
| Consistent process | |||
| Space experience |
Be honest about where you’re weak.
2. Add a design philosophy statement to your portfolio
Even a brief paragraph helps. What do you believe about games? What guides your design decisions? What experiences are you trying to create?
3. Identify your strongest project and add iteration history
Take your best piece and document how it evolved. What problems did you solve? What versions did you go through? What did you learn?
Short-Term Focus (This Month)
4. Conduct and document a structured playtest
Get someone to play your work while you observe. Take notes. Document what you learned. Make changes. Document those too. Add this to your portfolio.
5. Polish one piece to a high-quality standard
Choose your most promising project and invest in making it excellent. Every rough edge smoothed. Every piece of feedback addressed. Let this be your showcase piece.
6. Engage in your target communityJ
oin relevant Discord servers. Participate in discussions. Give feedback to others. Build relationships. Become known before you need opportunities.
Medium-Term Investment (This Quarter)
7. Create a studio-targeted portfolio piece
Research your dream studio. Analyze their games. Create something that demonstrates you understand their design philosophy. Document your reasoning.
8. Establish consistent output rhythms
Commit to regular creation—weekly prototypes, monthly jams, quarterly polished pieces. Build the track record that demonstrates reliability.
9. Consider adjacent entry paths
If pure design roles aren’t opening, explore QA, level design, or production positions at target studios. Getting inside the industry is often easier than getting directly into design—and internal transitions happen constantly.
The Mindset Shift
Here’s the fundamental reframe:
Stop thinking about what you deserve based on your passion and potential.
Start thinking about what you can prove—right now, with evidence—that you bring to a team.
The studios that seem like gatekeepers aren’t trying to exclude you. They’re trying to make safe bets with their limited resources. They’ve been burned by inexperienced designers before. They need reasons to believe you’ll be different.
Your job is to give them those reasons.
Not with promises. Not with enthusiasm. Not with credentials.
With proof. With work. With evidence that you already think, act, and execute like a designer.
Show studios that you already act like a designer. They’ll start treating you like one.
This isn’t about faking it. It’s about becoming it—through deliberate practice, rigorous documentation, and consistent output.
The path into game design is hard. But it’s not mysterious. The studios have told us what they need. The designers who break through have shown us what works.
Now it’s your turn to demonstrate what you can do.
Ready to understand where you stand and what roles might fit your skills?
Take the Game Careerz Assessment to get personalized insights into your path forward.
- Read more: Why you need a portfolio, not just ideas.
- Read more: How to set your career goals
- Read more:How to stand out without shipping games
- Read more:What you learn in school vs. What you need to get hired
- Read more: Why junior design roles are so rare
Read more: 5 Game Design Mistakes and What To Do Instead. - Read more:Why degrees alone don’t get you hired, and what to do about it
- Read more:Why most designers fail game design interviews
- Read more: How to structure your design answers in interviews
- Read more: 3 common soft-skill interview questions
- Read more: Game Dev Portfolio Guide
Additional Resources
- Find Gaming Jobs
- Discord Communities
- Top Game Career Podcasts
- Buy Game Careerz Job Passion Type Indicator (JPTI) Assessment
and find job types and roles that are a perfect fit especially for you.
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