It sounds like a career that’s too good to be true. Yet it is also a very serious business. One of the fastest growing professions is in video game design. Then again, who’d have thought that after 30 years a little game called Pong would eventually become a multi-billion dollar business? This industry has grown and is complicated enough now that students attending traditional college and degree programs online take many different types of classes.

Actually, becoming a game designer takes an interesting mix of degrees. A designer needs to go to school and take a combination of both Computer Science and some form of Business Administration. Whether they do it from a brick and mortar campus or through an online college is becoming almost superfluous. A game designer has to have a lot of hands-on skill with computers anyway.

The reason is, on the business side, a good designer has to suss out hot ideas or properties that can be turned into games. He or she also has to decide what format (such as Microsoft’s X-Box, Sony’s Playstation, the Wii, or the Internet) would be the best way to deliver the game. From there, the designer has to find the right mix of programmers, animators and marketing people to put the entire package together and get it to market.

To call the career extremely hot is a bit of an understatement. The Bureau of Labor Statistics did a report back in 2006. At that time, the report showed that nearly two thirds of all American households played video or computer games in some capacity. At the time, the Bureau projected that job growth in the field would be an extraordinary 30% by 2018.

Some more recent reports find that growth might have been stunted due to the current recession. Others have shown that the industry is rapidly adapting to meet current demand. One thing that’s helping the industry grow is game rentals through such organizations as Blockbuster or Netflix, as opposed to family gamers out-and-out buying product. New tech, such as Apple’s iPad, is expected to also have an effect, although at this moment it’s way too soon to tell.

As for affording an education, the field has avenues most would not think of. As the profession does involve computer science, it is not only eligible for standard Pell and state grants, but also one can go to the National Science Foundation and apply for S-STEM scholarships. Many private corporations, such as Microsoft, also have set up their own financial aid programs to help budding designers. As such, it’s a good idea to do a little research through search engines such as Google, as well as talk to a college financial aid officer.

One thing that proves how serious a business game designing has become is the salary. The Bureau reports a designer fresh out of school usually starts at $37,000, and the average salary for experienced personnel is over $60,000. With such possible benefits as health insurance, retirement and investment packages and possible profit sharing, the total packages can go into the $100,000 range.