I'm currently in the game industry, but looking to switch roles.

[hyawatha15]

Summary (for those that don't feel like reading all of this lol): How should I go about asking the company president or lead artist (company size is about 30, so its pretty small) about switching roles as an artist without making it seem like I didn't enjoy my time here already as a designer. I definitely don't want to make it seem like I didn't enjoy working with the other designers and don't want to feel like I'm stepping on anyone's toes.

As the title explains, I'm not new to the industry, but I'm looking for some advice. I'm currently a level designer (I've also been doing game design here as well) at a game studio working on an unannounced title.

Background info: Through my career in the industry, I started as a tester for 3 months, then got a design job shortly after. Before I even started school for game development, I knew I liked every aspect of the game development process because I worked on a few games on my own doing all of the work. When I went to school, I had a choice of what I wanted to focus on in my second year, so I chose art and design. Because of that, I found that I enjoyed art the most, but had to take any job I could get, which is why I'm doing design work right now.

Current situation: The company I'm working at focuses mainly on technical work (~75% of the employees here are programmers) and have been around for a few years. The game I'm working on is their first original title and has just passed the Content Complete stage and I've got about one month left here (unless they get a new game to work on).

I'm very confident with my skills as an artist and would like to pursue that role. How should I go about asking the company president or lead artist (company size is about 30, so its pretty small) about switching roles as an artist without making it seem like I didn't enjoy my time here already as a designer. I definitely don't want to make it seem like I didn't enjoy working with the other designers and don't want to feel like I'm stepping on anyone's toes.

[tsloper]

"Show, don't tell."

Don't just say you want to switch roles. Prove to them by your actions that you would be more valuable and more productive in that other role.

[jqueeng02]

Can't you just officially apply for that position that you really want? You can always talk to your superior about career growth.

[miniclipcity]

good point jqueeng02..