Career Overlap Transition record
RecordMove

User interface designer to digital games designer

A user interface designer already meets 60% of what the digital games designer role asks for. The move turns on 9 required skills not yet in the profile.

Fig. 1 · Skill transfer ESCO v1.2.1 · directional
From user interface designer
60 % overlap
Strong match
To digital games designer
61 You already bring
9 Still to learn
96 Skills in the target role2
Learning distance Substantial retraining

55.7/ 100

1 How much of what a digital games designer is expected to do is already part of a user interface designer’s work. Directional: the figure for the reverse move differs, because moving into a speciality is not the same problem as moving out of one. 2 Every skill the digital games designer role is recorded as needing, required and optional together. What these numbers mean.

Why

Why this move works

A digital games designer role treats 9 of its required skills as things a user interface designer already does. You would walk in with these on day one.

  • analyse business requirements
  • create software design
  • define technical requirements
  • design graphics
  • design process
  • manage online content

What stands in the way is 9 required skills the profile does not yet cover. Table 3 groups them; Table 4 says which to take first.

Table 2

Table 2 · What you already bring

Of the 61 skills that carry over, these are the ones fewest other occupations ask for. A digital games designer role needs them, and most people applying for one will not have them already. This is the part of a user interface designer background worth leading with.

Skill the target role also needs Area
  • already held software interaction design information and communication technologies (icts)
  • already held Rapid application development information and communication technologies (icts)
  • already held Spiral development information and communication technologies (icts)
  • already held Waterfall development information and communication technologies (icts)
  • already held incremental development information and communication technologies (icts)
  • already held iterative development information and communication technologies (icts)

All 61 carried skills, including the 9 the digital games designer role treats as required.

Table 3

Table 3 · What you may need to learn

The 35 missing skills fall into 6 areas of the ESCO skill hierarchy, numbered in the order worth working in. Areas carrying the most required skills come first, and inside each one the required skills sit above the optional ones. Nothing here is a verdict on you: it is a list of what this particular job asks for that your current one does not.

Skill to pick up Tier
01 communication, collaboration and creativity 4 required, 3 supplementary
  • still to learn compose digital game story required
  • still to learn create concept of digital game required
  • still to learn create digital game characters required
  • still to learn specify digital game scenes required
  • optional, not held animate 3D organic forms optional
  • optional, not held create 3D environments optional
  • optional, not held operate 3D computer graphics software optional
02 arts and humanities 2 required, 16 supplementary
  • still to learn digital game creation systems required
  • still to learn digital game genres required
  • optional, not held 3D lighting optional
  • optional, not held 3D texturing optional
  • optional, not held CryEngine optional
  • optional, not held Frostbite (digital game creation systems) optional
  • optional, not held GameSalad optional
  • optional, not held Gamemaker Studio optional
  • optional, not held Havok Vision optional
  • optional, not held HeroEngine optional
  • optional, not held Project Anarchy optional
  • optional, not held RAGE (digital game creation systems) optional
  • optional, not held Shiva (digital game creation systems) optional
  • optional, not held Source (digital game creation systems) optional
  • optional, not held Unity (digital game creation systems) optional
  • optional, not held Unreal Engine optional
  • optional, not held id Tech optional
  • optional, not held principles of animation optional
03 information and communication technologies (icts) 2 required, 3 supplementary
  • still to learn computer graphics required
  • still to learn systems development life-cycle required
  • optional, not held ICT performance analysis methods optional
  • optional, not held Microsoft Visual C++ optional
  • optional, not held hardware platforms optional
04 management skills 1 required
  • still to learn formulate game rules required
05 information skills 2 supplementary
  • optional, not held estimate duration of work optional
  • optional, not held perform resource planning optional
06 working with computers 2 supplementary
  • optional, not held apply 3D imaging techniques optional
  • optional, not held create 3D characters optional
Table 4

Table 4 · Where to start

The 3 entries a digital games designer role is least likely to hire without. The ordering is computed from the skill data, not from what pays.

Each entry opens a course search for that skill. Career Overlap earns nothing from these links.

Appendix

Appendix · The rest of the record

All 61 skills that carry over
Skill Type
  • already held analyse business requirements skill
  • already held create software design skill
  • already held define technical requirements skill
  • already held design graphics skill
  • already held design process skill
  • already held manage online content skill
  • already held task algorithmisation knowledge
  • already held use markup languages skill
  • already held web programming knowledge
  • already held ABAP knowledge
  • already held AJAX knowledge
  • already held APL knowledge
  • already held ASP.NET knowledge
  • already held Agile development knowledge
  • already held Assembly (computer programming) knowledge
  • already held C# knowledge
  • already held C++ knowledge
  • already held COBOL knowledge
  • already held CoffeeScript knowledge
  • already held Common Lisp knowledge
  • already held DevOps knowledge
  • already held Erlang knowledge
  • already held Groovy knowledge
  • already held Haskell knowledge
  • already held ICT security legislation knowledge
  • already held Java (computer programming) knowledge
  • already held JavaScript knowledge
  • already held Lisp knowledge
  • already held MATLAB knowledge
  • already held ML (computer programming) knowledge
  • already held Objective-C knowledge
  • already held OpenEdge Advanced Business Language knowledge
  • already held PHP knowledge
  • already held Pascal (computer programming) knowledge
  • already held Perl knowledge
  • already held Prolog (computer programming) knowledge
  • already held Prototyping development knowledge
  • already held Python (computer programming) knowledge
  • already held R knowledge
  • already held Rapid application development knowledge
  • already held Ruby (computer programming) knowledge
  • already held SAP R3 knowledge
  • already held SAS language knowledge
  • already held Scala knowledge
  • already held Scratch (computer programming) knowledge
  • already held Smalltalk (computer programming) knowledge
  • already held Spiral development knowledge
  • already held Swift (computer programming) knowledge
  • already held TypeScript knowledge
  • already held VBScript knowledge
  • already held Visual Basic knowledge
  • already held Waterfall development knowledge
  • already held application usability knowledge
  • already held augmented reality knowledge
  • already held computer programming knowledge
  • already held incremental development knowledge
  • already held interactive media knowledge
  • already held iterative development knowledge
  • already held manage localisation skill
  • already held software design methodologies knowledge
  • already held software interaction design knowledge
26 supplementary skills, helpful but not required
Skill to pick up Tier
  • optional, not held 3D lighting optional
  • optional, not held 3D texturing optional
  • optional, not held CryEngine optional
  • optional, not held Frostbite (digital game creation systems) optional
  • optional, not held GameSalad optional
  • optional, not held Gamemaker Studio optional
  • optional, not held Havok Vision optional
  • optional, not held HeroEngine optional
  • optional, not held ICT performance analysis methods optional
  • optional, not held Microsoft Visual C++ optional
  • optional, not held Project Anarchy optional
  • optional, not held RAGE (digital game creation systems) optional
  • optional, not held Shiva (digital game creation systems) optional
  • optional, not held Source (digital game creation systems) optional
  • optional, not held Unity (digital game creation systems) optional
  • optional, not held Unreal Engine optional
  • optional, not held animate 3D organic forms optional
  • optional, not held apply 3D imaging techniques optional
  • optional, not held create 3D characters optional
  • optional, not held create 3D environments optional
  • optional, not held hardware platforms optional
  • optional, not held id Tech optional
  • optional, not held operate 3D computer graphics software optional
  • optional, not held principles of animation optional
  • optional, not held estimate duration of work optional
  • optional, not held perform resource planning optional
34 held skills the digital games designer role does not ask for
Skill Type
  • not needed by the target role Adobe Illustrator knowledge
  • not needed by the target role Adobe Photoshop knowledge
  • not needed by the target role Agile project management knowledge
  • not needed by the target role GIMP (graphics editor software) knowledge
  • not needed by the target role ICT accessibility standards knowledge
  • not needed by the target role ICT project management methodologies knowledge
  • not needed by the target role Microsoft Visio knowledge
  • not needed by the target role Process-based management knowledge
  • not needed by the target role SketchBook Pro knowledge
  • not needed by the target role Synfig knowledge
  • not needed by the target role World Wide Web Consortium standards knowledge
  • not needed by the target role assess users' interaction with ICT applications skill
  • not needed by the target role build business relationships skill
  • not needed by the target role business process modelling knowledge
  • not needed by the target role cognitive psychology knowledge
  • not needed by the target role create website wireframe skill
  • not needed by the target role design user interface skill
  • not needed by the target role develop creative ideas skill
  • not needed by the target role draw design sketches skill
  • not needed by the target role graphics editor software knowledge
  • not needed by the target role human-computer interaction knowledge
  • not needed by the target role interact with users to gather requirements skill
  • not needed by the target role lean project management knowledge
  • not needed by the target role natural language processing knowledge
  • not needed by the target role perform online data analysis skill
  • not needed by the target role quality standards knowledge
  • not needed by the target role screen reader knowledge
  • not needed by the target role software UI design patterns knowledge
  • not needed by the target role test system accessibility for users with special needs skill
  • not needed by the target role translate requirements into visual design skill
  • not needed by the target role use an application-specific interface skill
  • not needed by the target role use methodologies for user-centered design skill
  • not needed by the target role use query languages skill
  • not needed by the target role web based collaborative platforms knowledge
23 gaps that are knowledge rather than practice

Knowledge gaps usually close through study. Practical skill gaps usually need something you can point at.

Skill to pick up Tier
  • still to learn digital game creation systems required
  • still to learn digital game genres required
  • still to learn computer graphics required
  • still to learn systems development life-cycle required
  • optional, not held 3D lighting optional
  • optional, not held 3D texturing optional
  • optional, not held CryEngine optional
  • optional, not held Frostbite (digital game creation systems) optional
  • optional, not held GameSalad optional
  • optional, not held Gamemaker Studio optional
  • optional, not held Havok Vision optional
  • optional, not held HeroEngine optional
  • optional, not held ICT performance analysis methods optional
  • optional, not held Microsoft Visual C++ optional
  • optional, not held Project Anarchy optional
  • optional, not held RAGE (digital game creation systems) optional
  • optional, not held Shiva (digital game creation systems) optional
  • optional, not held Source (digital game creation systems) optional
  • optional, not held Unity (digital game creation systems) optional
  • optional, not held Unreal Engine optional
  • optional, not held hardware platforms optional
  • optional, not held id Tech optional
  • optional, not held principles of animation optional
Index

Other moves recorded from user interface designer

Full index of moves from user interface designer

FAQ

Common questions about this move

Can a user interface designer become a digital games designer?

Yes, and it is a substantial move. A user interface designer already covers 60% of what a digital games designer is expected to do: 61 skills carry over, 9 of which the digital games designer role treats as required.

What skills does a user interface designer need to become a digital games designer?

9 required skills are missing, plus 26 optional ones. They fall into 6 areas of the ESCO skill hierarchy, led by communication, collaboration and creativity. The single most important is compose digital game story.

How hard is the move from user interface designer to digital games designer?

Its learning distance is 55.7 out of 100, which is the substantial band. That accounts for both how much is missing and how specialised those skills are.

Note

How this record was compiled

Both occupations are taken from ESCO, which lists the skills and knowledge each occupation is expected to have and marks every one required or optional. Nothing here is a prediction about hiring, and nothing here knows that a particular employer wants a particular certificate. Treat Table 3 as a starting point for your own research rather than a syllabus. The full method states what these figures can and cannot tell you.