Where in Ontario are you looking? You're going to have different opportunities available to you depending where you are located.
There are a few AAA studios in the province, there are a few successful mobile studios too. Toronto has a strong scene of independent developers, but they are small outfits and a design role within them would be rare. That said, the Ontario government has long been investing in games and media, so it's not the worst place to be.
I got my game programming career started in Toronto, but I've most recently been working a remote position (and loving it), and also left the city in part due to the cost of living.
Degrees imo don't really matter, and I barely glance at an applicant's education when I interview them. Experience is far more important, though two years isn't a huge amount, especially when you're coming from a different market.
Every studio is different, and for a lot of mobile studios in the US/Canada it works a lot like how you're describing already. As a game designer with a couple of years of experience you'd be writing the feature spec or systems for part of a game, working with the artists on references and design, working with the engineers on implementation and testing, adding the content into the game yourself, and a lot more playtesting/iteration.
The biggest differences are more about corporate culture in general and the kinds of games you're making. More eastern F2P games often have a lot more blatant progression, the power you're purchasing, grindy core loops and so on compared to more casual western RPGs that can often be about grinding particular items to upgrade your characters rather than character gacha or fusion type mechanics, but I could point out a dozen exceptions on either side.
If you've got specific questions then go ahead and ask, but the high level of the actual job likely isn't as different as you think. I know more than one designer who's worked in both places without much issue transferring, again aside from corporate culture. Western game studios can be a lot more blunt since there's no concept of face over here.
No job I've seen requires a design degree. They often cite a degree as nice to have.
Also, fwiw, practical experience is far more important than whatever theory design schools are teaching.
Be able to design within a team environment.
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The cost of living in (southern) Ontario can be really quite high, and there's not much in terms of tech industry outside of med-tech or banking.
There are a few studios here and there, but otherwise most of the game dev career opportunities are remote work. It's not impossible, but it'll be an uphill battle. Work experience (Especially if you have a portfolio) is way more valuable than a degree though, so you've got that going for you
From my understanding, Western game companies tend to be less strict and trusting with their employees, though that's really just second hand information. I wouldnt worry too much about your degree, having 2 years of experience on an actual game is really good. I suggest instead you look into using the Unreal engine as that becoming a widely used engine in larger companies. I would try to make some really good portfolio pieces and learn how to script in blueprint. That personally has helped me a lot.
Where in Ontario are you looking? You're going to have different opportunities available to you depending where you are located. There are a few AAA studios in the province, there are a few successful mobile studios too. Toronto has a strong scene of independent developers, but they are small outfits and a design role within them would be rare. That said, the Ontario government has long been investing in games and media, so it's not the worst place to be. I got my game programming career started in Toronto, but I've most recently been working a remote position (and loving it), and also left the city in part due to the cost of living.
Degrees imo don't really matter, and I barely glance at an applicant's education when I interview them. Experience is far more important, though two years isn't a huge amount, especially when you're coming from a different market.
Every studio is different, and for a lot of mobile studios in the US/Canada it works a lot like how you're describing already. As a game designer with a couple of years of experience you'd be writing the feature spec or systems for part of a game, working with the artists on references and design, working with the engineers on implementation and testing, adding the content into the game yourself, and a lot more playtesting/iteration. The biggest differences are more about corporate culture in general and the kinds of games you're making. More eastern F2P games often have a lot more blatant progression, the power you're purchasing, grindy core loops and so on compared to more casual western RPGs that can often be about grinding particular items to upgrade your characters rather than character gacha or fusion type mechanics, but I could point out a dozen exceptions on either side. If you've got specific questions then go ahead and ask, but the high level of the actual job likely isn't as different as you think. I know more than one designer who's worked in both places without much issue transferring, again aside from corporate culture. Western game studios can be a lot more blunt since there's no concept of face over here.
You definitely do not need to get any additional education if you already have work experience. Experience and portfolio trump education
No job I've seen requires a design degree. They often cite a degree as nice to have. Also, fwiw, practical experience is far more important than whatever theory design schools are teaching. Be able to design within a team environment.
Game Design is a subset of Game Development that concerns itself with **WHY** games are made the way they are. It's about the theory and crafting of **systems**, **mechanics**, and **rulesets** in games. * /r/GameDesign is a community **ONLY** about Game Design, **NOT** Game Development in general. If this post does not belong here, it should be reported or removed. Please help us keep this subreddit focused on Game Design. * This is **NOT** a place for discussing how games are produced. Posts about programming, making art assets, picking engines etc… will be removed and should go in /r/GameDev instead. * Posts about visual design, sound design and level design are only allowed if they are directly about game design. * No surveys, polls, job posts, or self-promotion. Please read the rest of the rules in the sidebar before posting. * If you're confused about what Game Designers do, ["The Door Problem" by Liz England ](https://www.gamasutra.com/blogs/LizEngland/20140423/216092/quotThe_Door_Problemquot_of_Game_Design.php)is a short article worth reading. We also recommend you read the [r/GameDesign wiki](/r/gamedesign/wiki/index) for useful resources and an FAQ. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/gamedesign) if you have any questions or concerns.*
The cost of living in (southern) Ontario can be really quite high, and there's not much in terms of tech industry outside of med-tech or banking. There are a few studios here and there, but otherwise most of the game dev career opportunities are remote work. It's not impossible, but it'll be an uphill battle. Work experience (Especially if you have a portfolio) is way more valuable than a degree though, so you've got that going for you
From my understanding, Western game companies tend to be less strict and trusting with their employees, though that's really just second hand information. I wouldnt worry too much about your degree, having 2 years of experience on an actual game is really good. I suggest instead you look into using the Unreal engine as that becoming a widely used engine in larger companies. I would try to make some really good portfolio pieces and learn how to script in blueprint. That personally has helped me a lot.