Video games have come a long way since 1985’s Tetris. Modern games may feature complex stories, realistic graphics, and professional voice acting. Some look more like movies! That doesn’t happen by itself. Here are five of the most important jobs in video game design:

Designer

The designer is like the director on a film set. Designers bring the big ideas or the vision. They dream up the game’s world and its rules. As you can guess, lots of creative people want this job.

Developer

Developers are also called “programmers.” They write the game’s code. This code makes everything work. Want a character to jump? Someone has to write code to make that happen. Developers execute the designer’s vision.

Artist

Fun isn’t everything. Looks matter too. So games need artists. Artists design every character and object you see in a game. Then animators make those designs move. Without artists and animators, all games would still look like Tetris—just colorful squares!

Writer

Many video games tell stories. Those stories need writers. Writers don’t just come up with plots. They also create dialogue for the game’s characters. Some games have as many words as a novel.

Tester

Testers play games to make sure they work. Whoa! Playing video games as a job? Don’t get too excited. Play testing is hard work. Testers must find every possible glitch. They play the same levels over. And over. And over.

It takes a team to make a modern game. Everyone brings skills and ideas. But when they work together, they can make something amazing.