15-1255.01 · Learning planner
Video Game Designers: a task-based learning plan
Design core features of video games. Specify innovative game and role-play mechanics, story lines, and character biographies. Create and maintain design documentation. Guide and collaborate with production staff to produce games as designed.
Explore the complete task inventory first →
Understand the profile before choosing priorities
The table shows the ten highest importance ratings among 29 skills with usable ratings. Skills tied on importance can share a rank. Importance (1–5) and level (0–7) describe different dimensions. A level of 4 is not 4/7 of a course, and neither scale is your personal score. Source dates refer to the underlying rating, not the database release date.
| Skill | Importance / 5 | Level / 7 | Rating date |
|---|---|---|---|
| Programming | 4.00 | 3.88 | 08/2022 · Analyst |
| Active Listening | 3.88 | 3.88 | 08/2022 · Analyst |
| Reading Comprehension | 3.75 | 4.00 | 08/2022 · Analyst |
| Critical Thinking | 3.75 | 3.88 | 08/2022 · Analyst |
| Complex Problem Solving | 3.62 | 3.88 | 08/2022 · Analyst |
| Judgment and Decision Making | 3.62 | 3.62 | 08/2022 · Analyst |
| Active Learning | 3.50 | 3.62 | 08/2022 · Analyst |
| Time Management | 3.38 | 3.50 | 08/2022 · Analyst |
| Systems Analysis | 3.38 | 3.25 | 08/2022 · Analyst |
| Writing | 3.25 | 3.88 | 08/2022 · Analyst |
Anchor the plan in an actual task
Choose one reported task you want to understand better. Then choose one to three skills and describe an appropriate learning activity, evidence you will review and a date. For practical work requiring authorization, choose relevant coursework, observation or supervised training.
Programming
Writing computer programs for various purposes.
Read the scale examples
These generic examples illustrate the level scale. They are not required activities for video game designers.
Level 4: Write a statistical analysis program to analyze demographic data
Level 2: Write a program to sort objects in a database
What input/output behavior and edge case would you use to check a small program?
Active Listening
Giving full attention to what other people are saying, taking time to understand the points being made, asking questions as appropriate, and not interrupting at inappropriate times.
Read the scale examples
These generic examples illustrate the level scale. They are not required activities for video game designers.
Level 4: Answer inquiries regarding credit references
Level 2: Take a customer's order
What would you ask the other person to clarify, and how would you confirm you understood?
Reading Comprehension
Understanding written sentences and paragraphs in work-related documents.
Read the scale examples
These generic examples illustrate the level scale. They are not required activities for video game designers.
Level 4: Understand an email from management describing new personnel policies
Level 2: Read step-by-step instructions for completing a form
Which instruction, constraint or exception in a document would you need to explain accurately?
Critical Thinking
Using logic and reasoning to identify the strengths and weaknesses of alternative solutions, conclusions, or approaches to problems.
Read the scale examples
These generic examples illustrate the level scale. They are not required activities for video game designers.
Level 4: Evaluate customer complaints and determine appropriate responses
Level 2: Determine whether a subordinate has a good excuse for being late
What assumption could change your conclusion, and what evidence would you check first?
Complex Problem Solving
Identifying complex problems and reviewing related information to develop and evaluate options and implement solutions.
Read the scale examples
These generic examples illustrate the level scale. They are not required activities for video game designers.
Level 4: Redesign a floor layout to take advantage of new manufacturing techniques
Level 2: Lay out tools to complete a job
How would you separate the problem into parts and compare possible explanations?
Judgment and Decision Making
Considering the relative costs and benefits of potential actions to choose the most appropriate one.
Read the scale examples
These generic examples illustrate the level scale. They are not required activities for video game designers.
Level 4: Evaluate a loan application for degree of risk
Level 2: Decide how scheduling a break will affect work flow
Which options, constraints and consequences would you compare, and what could change the choice?
Active Learning
Understanding the implications of new information for both current and future problem-solving and decision-making.
Read the scale examples
These generic examples illustrate the level scale. They are not required activities for video game designers.
Level 4: Determine the impact of new menu changes on a restaurant's purchasing requirements
Level 2: Think about the implications of a news article for job opportunities
What new information would change your approach, and how would you record the change?
Time Management
Managing one's own time and the time of others.
Read the scale examples
These generic examples illustrate the level scale. They are not required activities for video game designers.
Level 4: Allocate the time of subordinates to projects for the coming week
Level 2: Keep a monthly calendar of appointments
What needs to happen first, where is the deadline, and what would you do if time runs short?
Systems Analysis
Determining how a system should work and how changes in conditions, operations, and the environment will affect outcomes.
Read the scale examples
These generic examples illustrate the level scale. They are not required activities for video game designers.
Level 4: Determine how a new piece of equipment will affect production rates
Level 2: Determine how loss of a team member will affect the completion of a job
What inputs, outputs and dependencies would you map before proposing a change?
Writing
Communicating effectively in writing as appropriate for the needs of the audience.
Read the scale examples
These generic examples illustrate the level scale. They are not required activities for video game designers.
Level 4: Write an email to staff outlining new directives
Level 2: Write down a guest's order at a restaurant
What document would another person need, and how would you check that they could act on it?
Review the result
Your plan should explain why the selected skills matter for your chosen task, what you will do next and what evidence you will examine. Revisit the plan after that activity. Completing a worksheet or matching an occupation’s ratings does not establish professional competence.
Keep your worksheet
Download before leaving this page. Unsaved writing remains only in the page and is cleared on refresh. Notes and learning actions are not sent to a server. This guide describes an occupation and supports study planning; it does not provide clinical, legal or equipment-operating procedures.
Source and practice material
Occupational context uses the O*NET® 31.0 Database from the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration, under CC BY 4.0. View the occupation.
Skill Workbench selected and adapted the occupational information and added its own fictional cases, calculations, guidance and worksheets. USDOL/ETA has not approved, endorsed or tested these additions. O*NET® is a trademark of USDOL/ETA.