How to Refine Your Game Design Cover Letter to Increase Your Odds (Part 2)

When you apply for game studios, you’re not always asked to include a cover letter.

However, I highly recommend you to include one, unless specifically asked not to—it’s better to have one and not need it.

Why?

Because cover letters are often the first touch point the recruiters and hiring managers have to evaluate the candidate.

This means that you have the opportunity to frame their perception of you before they even get to your resume and portfolio.

In addition to this post, I recommend you to check out rest of the series so you can improve your chances of passing the talent filters of the game studios’ hiring process:

1. How to Apply and Increase Your Odds (Part 1)
2. Game Design Cover Letter (Part 2) – this post
3. Game Design Resume (Part 3)
4. Game Design Portfolio (Part 4)
5. Game Design Tests (Part 5)
6. Game Design Job Interview Guide (Part 6)
7. Game Design Job Interview Questions (Part 7)

Now let’s dive into how you can optimize your game design cover letter.

How to Prepare and Optimize Your Game Design Cover Letter

Unlike resume, a cover letter needs a bit more personalization for each application, but you can streamline the process by creating a template as a starting point.

Start with a quick intro about why you think you are a great fit for the position and the company, and/or what makes you stand out.

Mention your reasons for applying, but don’t gush.

It’s often a plus to be a fan of their games, but the studio is looking for someone who can do a job.

That doesn’t always line up with someone who has hundreds of hours getting headshots.

Most importantly, talk about what you bring to the table?

This can be a quality or unique history that you bring to the role, or an anecdote about previous work illustrating why you’d be a valuable asset and a good fit.

Your cover letter is also a chance to show you can communicate well and are pleasant to get along with. Your resume might show you have the skills to do the job, but no one wants to work with an ass.

If you don’t have any experience in game design yet, then writing a cover letter will be tough and I highly recommend getting some personal experience making your own hobby projects before applying.

You can join upcoming game jams or take the build a game challenge.

However, if you have a good analytical mindset and can give a strong breakdown of a feature and how you might improve it, then put that in your portfolio and talk about it in your cover letter.

All in all, keep your cover letter to around 3/4 of a page.

Wrapping Up

Having these ready ahead of time will make applying to a newly posted position quick and easy. Have friends review your cover letter for typos and wording improvements.

Next part of the series, we’ll dive into how to refine your game design resume.

If you want feedback on your game design cover letter template, you can share it in the Funsmith Club Discord.