What is the difference between Game Designers and Game Developers?
As stated on the website's home page, Video Game Designers are responsible for the ideas behind a Video Game. They create elements of a game like the story, characters, and concepts for how the game will be played. Teams of game designers may be made up of writers, artists, animators, and occasionally testers. Additionally, Game Designers can often work without having to know how to program a game, since their job is primarily focused on the creative aspects of making video games, although knowledge of computer programming and game development engines may be helpful for certain roles, such as Video Game Testers.
The work of Video Game Developers primarily revolves around the technical aspects of a game. They are responsible for programming the game's controls, bringing the Game Designers' vision to life, and polishing a game by fixing bugs reported to them by the game's testers. Unlike Game Designers, Video Game Developers must have a proper understanding of how to program a game and know how to efficiently use game development engines like Unity, Godot, or Unreal Engine. Video Game Developers will occasionally need to know multiple programming languages, such as JavaScript, C++, and Python. Game Designers must have problem solving and technical skills.