Inside the Mind of a Video Game Designer

When six year old Marcellus Barnes II received his first video game system, the Nintendo, it was far from his mind that one day he would be designing the very games that he loved to play.
Barnes now 27 years old is a game designer for the gaming company Rockstar in San Diego California. He was exposed to video games by watching his older sister play. "I watched my sister play games, she had an Atari. I wanted to play because it looked like fun, but she never let me."
Older sister Tekenya Barnes recalled the time he cried because he wasn't allowed to play her game.
"He fell out on the floor kicking his legs, I'm his big sister so of course I didn't let him play, he could only watch."
Watching his sister play this fun game made him want one even more. His wish of having video games came true on Christmas Day. He received the Mario Brothers game. Since then, Barnes has owned over seven gaming systems, the X box 360 being his latest one. "I had the Wii but I sold it because I got tired of the games."
His passion for video games came from playing the games. He couldn't name a favorite game of his. "Can't name a favorite game, to many of them."
When playing Mario Brothers or Sonic while younger he never imagined designing games. "I thought only the Chinese did that crap, said Barnes."
Although Barnes has his dream career he didn't always know what he wanted to do. His mother Robin Barnes recalled, "He was doing bad in school getting D's and F's, he was in a point in his life that had no direction." "One time he said he would enlist in the army." In high school Barnes discovered that he had a natural talent for drawing. "Back then I use to tag buildings and stuff like that." After high school he attended Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design where he received his first class in learning how to design 3D characters. Right after college he was hired to work at Midway Games in Chicago, Illinois.
Surprisingly Barnes didn't always want to be a game designer. He said, "I wanted to be a comic book artist because I like to draw stuff." Having what most people would perceive as a glamorous and fun career is nothing close to Barnes' perception of his job.
To most gamers, working with video games as a career might seem cool and fun, but to Barnes the excitement he once began out with has depleted.
"The most interesting part of my job is seeing my stuff in the game. Going home, I don't find it interesting anymore. I'm tired of it, been doing it for seven years,"said Barnes.
His perception of a game designer shows people that there are negative aspects about his job. He revealed some not so glamorous aspects about designing games. He said, "Takes to long to make a game. It's a lot of stuff you got to do to get the game right, it takes years. Building the character, coloring, then you go to spend half the day making sure it works right, and once the Art Director approves it then your done."
Designing games aren't all that glamorous and fun. People wanting to go into this field needs patience and time to do tedious work. Barnes said, "I spent four and half years on an undisclosed western title." "People wanting to get in the industry need to know exactly how long its going to take to get it done, most people think you play video games all day." Since working as a game designer he has had some good moments as well.
His favorite gamed he designed was Midnight Club 4. "I liked the game because you get to customize your car, run people off the road, stuff like that," said Barnes.
"The greatest aspect about being a game designer is you get to work with art all day."
When asked if he would play games past the age of 60 he said, "yup, I've been playing for over 20 years, why would I stop then?"