In the recipe for fun, Video Game Designers are the secret sauce. Kelly Murphy, a Video Game Designer for Walt Disney, spends his time balancing tight deadlines for game releases while ensuring Disney games are exciting to play and keep gamers' coming back for more. Read more to learn what makes a Video Game Designer such a cool job!

What is your job?

I am a Video Game Designer and part of a team that develops family-friendly video games for Walt Disney, often based on Disney motion pictures. The contributions made by a video game designer are not always so apparent, but a designer's job is critical to the development of the game and its ability to capture a player's attention. Designers are faced with deciding game logistics such as how many levels a game should have, how long a train chase should be or how many seconds should pass between firing a weapon. These details, although minute and often unnoticed by the players, create excitement and intrigue.

Why did you choose this career?

I majored in Film at the University of Utah and loved entertaining and creating something special for my audience, but video games took my passion for entertaining to another level by creating an interactive experience for players.

Explain what an average week at work is like for you.

Deadlines and game releases tend to drive the team's hours. The Disney studio uses color codes to describe peak volumes throughout the year. For example, code-yellow indicates the team is working 40-50 hours a week, which is fairly typical. The work week increases to over 60 hours a week in late summer and right before Christmas when a great deal of movies and games are released simultaneously. These hectic times at the studio are appropriately dubbed code-red.

What do you like best about your job?

Above all, I enjoy working with a team and making movies come to life with video games. Movies are a significant aspect of our culture and entertainment, but video game designers take players to another world where they can interact with the heroes they love and villains they love to hate in movies.

When you were a kid, did you like science, technology, engineering and/or math? If so, what subject did you enjoy most and why? 

I enjoyed science as a kid and studied astronomy in college, but floundered in math. I am learning scripting, which is industry speak for writing code like java, and having a stronger background in math would make this process simpler.

Was there a moment when you knew that you wanted to become a Video Game Designer? Tell us about it.

There wasn't a notable moment when I decided to become a Video Game Designer. Instead, it seems that everything leading up to my position at Disney was leading in that direction. As a kid, I played Sierra Computer Games and in middle and high school I spent hours conquering levels in Sonic the Hedgehog on Sega Genesis. In college, I actually quit a job to stay home and play a video game. A lot has changed since college, but the best video game designers have a true and unwavering love of gaming themselves.

What is the biggest challenge you face as a Video Game Designer?

Where to begin... There have been many challenges, but my own self-doubt is often the greatest obstacle.
The more you learn in the video game development world the more you realize you don't know. There is always new and better technology to supersede the technology you are most familiar with that quickly becomes obsolete.
In college, I worked as a video game tester at Microsoft, which was really my first taste of video game development. However, at Microsoft my job was finding problems with games and now, as a Video Game Designer, I have to come up with the solution to problems. The process can be quite daunting at times.

Was there a person who inspired or convinced you to get involved in your field? Who was he/she and how did he/she do it?

I have had many inspirations along the way. I was inspired by my childhood friend who followed his passion, went to work for Pixar and created his own cartoon series. Shigeru Miyamoto, the creator of Mario Brothers and Yugi Naka, the creator of Sonic the Hedgehog both played a pivotal role in shaping my approach to game design. What I appreciate about Miyamoto and Naka is that they take real-life pastimes like gardening and painting and replicate them in an artificial game world. Remarkably inspiring!

Do you have any suggestions for how undergraduate students can break into your field?

Internships & building contacts are paramount! Students could pursue an internship with an organization they hope to work for after graduation or obtain an internship with any company in the industry to gain the experience required to land their first job. Also, join a branch of the Independent Game Developers Association and start reading Gamasutra, the gaming industry's version of the Wall Street Journal.

Courses to Learn More about Your Field:

Game design is multi-disciplinary so design classes, as well as math classes are important. Graphic courses that teach software such as Photoshop and Maya are critical.

The Future of Your Field: As an industry insider, do you fear video games are on their way out?

Quite the opposite. Video Game Designers joining the industry in the next couple of years can expect to expand the entire concept of the video game. The industry is starting to develop augmented realities, speech and face recognition using biometrics and transportable games that can be played anywhere, not just from home. In fact, the video game industry is expected to surpass the music industry in terms of revenue!

Quick Bytes:

• Kelly helped create Toy Story 3, Cars 2 and Epic Mickey games.
• Kelly has a twin sister and he jokes that together they make one "normal" person.

Industry Info:

• Video Games have made their way into the medical industry as a tool to help people recover from physical injuries by gaining motor skills and coordination.
• Just like stock market crashes, there are video game crashes too. In 1983, the US experienced its first and only video game crash in history.
• Video Game Designer's pay ranges significantly based on experience. The national average is between $32,918 and $94,439
• In 1919, Walt Disney was fired from his job at a newspaper because he "lacked imagination and had no good ideas." Note to self - stay in school, don't give up. Dreams can come true.

(adapted from businessinsider.com)