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The succession of layoffs at AAA game studios might seem to have no bottom, but jobs data shows that theres still plenty of opportunity outside of Ubisoft. The demand for game designers has increased over the past year in industries outside traditional gaming. According to a Fast Company analysis of 176,000 job listings gathered from Google Careers between fall/winter 2023 and fall/winter 2025, the percentage of postings for game designers rose significantly in several non-gaming sectors in the past year. This came at a time when listings for game designers within the gaming industry itself experienced only a modest, 4% increase. The technology sector, which accounted for 41% of all game designer listings in 2024, increased its share by 20%; tech represented 61% of all game design postings in 2025. The most dramatic shift occurred in the education industry, where the share of game design job postings soared from 9.12% to 28.81% of all listings. The media and publishing arena also showed increased demand, with its share climbing from 4.18% to 9.30%, a 122% surge. Then there are sectors that seem even further afield from gaming, which are also increasingly hiring game designers as well: electronics (rising 2.38% to 7.23%) and hospitality and tourism (from 3% to just under 6%). !function(){"use strict";window.addEventListener("message",(function(a){if(void 0!==a.data["datawrapper-height"]){var e=document.querySelectorAll("iframe");for(var t in a.data["datawrapper-height"])for(var r,i=0;r=e[i];i++)if(r.contentWindow===a.source){var d=a.data["datawrapper-height"][t]+"px";r.style.height=d}}}))}(); Game designers help companies level up Game designers are unique in the design world for their ability to create whimsy, engagement, and some type of narrative progression. Its a formula that perhaps no company understands better than Duolingo, the gamified language learning app with 116 million monthly active users, 9.5 million paying subscribers, and $748 million in revenue in 2024. Unsurprisingly, when it comes to hiring, the company actively seeks out game designers, specifically. While were not actually building games, we see that there are some good synergies, says Liz Talley-King, the companys vice president of talent acquisition. The design elements, the product design elements, the stickiness factor, the joyful and fun productsits one of the reasons why we continue to tap into [that] talent. Digital learning platform Stride also seeks out the expertise of this cohort to enhance its educational offerings. Who better to hire than a game designer, who lives and breathes immersive worlds and can craft engaging content for all ages? asks Nikoya McCoy, the companys chief learning officer. She says that game designers are particularly adept at keeping students engaged, since they understand how to design experiences that capture attention for long periods of time. They play a huge part in the brainstorming and design process,” McCoy adds, “and their creativity and problem-solving abilities are invaluable.” Stride notices higher engagement and satisfaction rates when game designers help create the content. Using games for change Game designers will tell you that they don’t just create games, they design experiences. And sometimes those experiences can influence behavior, leading to real world impact. Larissa May, founder of #HalfTheStory, a nonprofit focused on fostering digital wellness among youth, says that, ironically, the same game design principles that often keep users hooked can also play a pivotal role in helping young people develop healthy, boundary-establishing relationships with technology. “We needed games that would act as a Trojan horse to get kids to act differently in the digital world,” May says. One example is Crash Out, a role-playing game that uses a Jenga tower to represent digital well-being. Wade Kimbrough, head of game design at #HalfTheStory, explains that when the tower falls, their character crashes out, leading to a conversationwhat if this were real life? Could you rebuild trust and relationships as easily? What consequences would a comment or post have in the real world? That reconciliation of the game and reality creates a eureka moment that can lead to behavior change. More broadly, he adds, by making a game analogous to a real-world system, you can see how players think about that system and how they approach problems. The future will be gamified The rising demand for game designers across industries may simply be a strategic response to the evolving needs across the business landscape. So many young people spend so much time gaming that they may be starting to expect the same level of interactivity and engagement in everything, from education to finance and entertainment. Interestingly, academia and retail showed movement in the opposite direction. Job listings for game designers in these fields declined year over year. With more people entering college who grew up using Duolingo, however, and new products like gamified candy now all the rage, perhaps next year well see more universities and e-commerce sites press start on hiring game designers. This article is part of Fast Companys continuing coverage of where the design jobs are, including this years comprehensive analysis of 170,000 job listings.
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Wood is, by far, the most common material used in the U.S. for single-family-home construction. But wood construction isnt engineered for long-term durability, and it often underperforms, particularly in the face of increasingly common extreme weather events. In response to these challenges, I believe mass-produced concrete homes can offer affordable, resilient housing in the U.S. By leveraging the latest innovations of the precast concrete industry, this type of homebuilding can meet the needs of a changing world. Woods rise to power Over 90% of the new homes built in the U.S. rely on wood framing. Wood has deep historical roots as a building material in the U.S., dating back to the earliest European settlers who constructed shelters using the abundant native timber. One of the most recognizable typologies was the log cabin, built from large tree trunks notched at the corners for structural stability. In the 1830s, wood construction underwent a significant shift with the introduction of balloon framing. This system used standardized, sawed lumber and mass-produced nails, allowing much smaller wood components to replace the earlier heavy timber frames. It could be assembled by unskilled labor using simple tools, making it both accessible and economical. In the early 20th century, balloon framing evolved into platform framing, which became the dominant method. By using shorter lumber lengths, platform framing allowed each floor to be built as a separate working platform, simplifying construction and improving its efficiency. The proliferation and evolution of wood construction helped shape the architectural and cultural identity of the nation. For centuries, wood-framed houses have defined the American idea of homeso much so that even today, when Americans imagine a house, they typically envision one built of wood. Today, light-frame wood construction dominates the U.S. residential market. Wood is relatively affordable and readily available, offering a cost-effective solution for homebuilding. Contractors are familiar with wood construction techniques. In addition, building codes and regulations have long been tailored to wood-frame systems, further reinforcing their prevalence in the housing industry. Despite its advantages, wood light-frame construction presents several important limitations. Wood is vulnerable to fire. And in hurricane- and tornado-prone regions, wood-framed homes can be damaged or destroyed. Wood is also highly susceptible to water-related issues, such as swelling, warping, and structural deterioration caused by leaks or flooding. Vulnerability to termites, mold, rot, and mildew further compromise the longevity and safety of wood-framed structures, especially in humid or poorly ventilated environments. A modular, precast system of concrete rings can be connected in different ways to build a range of models of energy-efficient homes. [Image: Pablo Moyano Fernández, CC BY-SA] The case for concrete Meanwhile, concrete has revolutionized architecture and engineering over the past century. In my academic work, Ive studied, written, and taught about the materials many advantages. The material offers unmatched strength and durability, while also allowing design flexibility and versatility. Its low-cost and low-maintenance, and it has high thermal mass properties, which refers to the materials ability to absorb and store heat during the day, and slowly release it during the cooler nights. This can lower heating and cooling costs. Properly designed concrete enclosures offer exceptional performance against a wide range of hazards. Concrete can withstand fire, flooding, mold, insect infestation, earthquakes, hail, hurricanes, and tornadoes. Its commonly used for home construction in many parts of the world, such as Europe, Japan, Mexico, Brazil, and Argentina, as well as India and other parts of Southeast Asia. However, despite their multiple benefits, concrete single-family homes are rare in the U.S. Thats because most concrete structures are built using a process called cast-in-place. In this technique, the concrete is formed and poured directly at the construction site. The method relies on built-in-place molds. After the concrete is cast and cured over several days, the formwork is removed. This process is labor-intensive and time-consuming, and it often produces considerable waste. This is particularly an issue in the U.S., where labor is more expensive than in other parts of the world. The material and labor cost can be as high as 35% to 60% of the total construction cost. Portland cement, the binding agent in concrete, requires significant energy to produce, resulting in considerable carbon dioxide emissions. However, this environmental cost is often offset by concretes durability and long service life. Concretes design flexibility and structural integrity make it particularly effective for large-scale structures. So in the U.S., youll see it used for large commercial buildings, skyscrapers and most highways, bridges, dams, and other critical infrastructure projects. But when it comes to single-family homes, cast-in-place concrete poses challenges to contractors. There are the higher initial construction costs, along with a lack of subcontractor expertise. For these reasons, most builders and cntractors stick with what they know: the wood frame. A new model for home construction Precast concrete, however, offers a promising alternative. Unlike cast-in-place concrete, precast systems allow for off-site manufacturing under controlled conditions. This improves the quality of the structure, while also reducing waste and labor. The CRETE House, a prototype I worked on in 2017 alongside a team at Washington University in St. Louis, showed the advantages of a precast home construction. To build the precast concrete home, we used ultra-high-performance concrete, one of the latest advances in the concrete industry. Compared with conventional concrete, its about six times stronger, virtually impermeable, and more resistant to freeze-thaw cycles. Ultra-high-performance concrete can last several hundred years. The strength of the CRETE House was tested by shooting a piece of wood at 120 mph to simulate flying debris from an F5 tornado. It was unable to breach the wall, which was only 2 inches thick. Building on the success of the CRETE House, I designed the Compact House as a solution for affordable, resilient housing. The house consists of a modular, precast concrete system of rings that can be connected to form the entire structurefloors, walls, and roofscreating airtight, energy-efficient homes. A series of different rings can be chosen from a catalog to deliver different models that can range in size from 270 to 990 square feet. The precast rings can be transported on flatbed trailers and assembled into a unit in a single day, drastically reducing on-site labor, time, and cost. Since theyre built using durable concrete forms, the house can be easily mass-produced. When precast concrete homes are mass-produced, the cost can be competitive with traditional wood-framed homes. Furthermore, the homes are designed to last far beyond 100 years (much longer than typical wood structures) while significantly lowering utility bills, maintenance expenses, and insurance premiums. The project is also envisioned as an open-source design. This means that the molds, which are expensive, are available for any precast producer to use and modify. The Compact House is made using ultra-high-performance concrete. [Image: Pablo Moyano Fernández, CC BY-SA] Leveraging a network thats already in place Two key limitations of precast concrete construction are the size and weight of the components and the distance to the project site. Precast elements must comply with standard transportation regulations, which impose restrictions on both size and weight in order to pass under bridges and prevent road damage. As a result, components are typically limited to dimensions that can be safely and legally transported by truck. Each of the Compact Houses pieces are small enough to be transported in standard trailers. Additionally, transportation costs become a major factor beyond a certain range. In general, the practical delivery radius from a precast plant to a construction site is 500 miles. Anything beyond that becomes economically unfeasible. However, the infrastructure to build precast concrete homes is already largely in place. Since precast concrete is often used for office buildings, schools, parking complexes, and large apartments buildings, theres already an extensive national network of manufacturing plants capable of producing and delivering components within that 500-mile radius. There are other approaches to build homes with concrete: Homes can use concrete masonry units, which are similar to cinder blocks. This is a common technique around the world. Insulated concrete forms involve rigid foam blocks that are stacked like Lego bricks and are then filled with poured concrete, creating a structure with built-in insulation. And theres even 3D-printed concrete, a rapidly evolving technology that is in its early stages of development. However, none of these use precast concrete modules (the rings in my prototypes), and therefore require substantially longer on-site time and labor. To me, precast concrete homes offer a compelling vision for the future of affordable housing. They signal a generational shift away from short-term construction and toward long-term valueredefining what it means to build for resilience, efficiency, and equity in housing. This article is part of a series centered on envisioning ways to deal with the housing crisis. Pablo Moyano Fernández is an assistant professor of architecture at Washington University in St. Louis. This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
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Workplaces in the United States are remarkably conflict averse. Many people dont even like to give criticisms to someone else directly, let alone to hash out a disagreement over a path forward or address a conflict of values. As a result, we kick many conflicts down the road in ways that create problems. We lead people to believe we agree with them when we dont and we fail to address small concerns early on, when they can be fixed. This failure to act can turn a molehill into a mountain. That said, it is not always good to engage conflict directly or immediately. Here’s what you can do to make those conversations productive. Let the heat die down When you first become aware of a conflict, there is often an emotional reaction that goes along with any contradiction or disagreement that you may recognize cognitively. This duality to a conflict reflects the distinction made in psychology between hot (that is emotional) states and cool (that is cognitive) states. A strong emotional reaction comes along with energy. That energy drives you to want to act. Unfortunately, when the energy level is quite high, you may act without reflecting deeply on what youre doing. In order to make your disagreements as productive as possible, it is best to wait for any initial energy associated with the disagreement to subside. That way, you can focus your discussions on having a good give and take. In addition, it can be valuable to take the time to think through both what you want to say to someone else as well as what youre hoping to accomplish from the interaction. What is there to be gained? Addressing conflict is inherently difficult. It is hard to do, and it can put strain on a relationship in the short-term. So, there has to be some benefit to going through the process. When youre exploring whether to engage directly with someone about a disagreement, you want to highlight what you hope to gain from the conversation. Start by highlighting your ideal end state. Are you trying to make someone else aware of a problem they might not know about? Are you trying to influence someones behavior? Are you trying to change a decision that was made in the past? Once you have a sense of what youd like to accomplish, you can then plan a structure for the conversation to help you reach that goal. Part of that plan involves finding a way to tell the individual youll be talking with what you want. That is, the ideal conversation around a conflict is not one that just highlights that there is a problem, but also charts a path forward. It is important to bring a constructive mindset to difficult conversations. You may not know what the solution to a problem is, but you should plan to explore potential solutions. You can ask others for help generating ideas. If you are raising a problem with someone for the first time, it is also possible this discussion may catch them by surprise (or even lead to an emotional response). So, be prepared to schedule another time to talk later when the other party is ready to explore solutions. Be open When you initiate a conversation around a difficult topic, you know your side of the story. You also have your sense of what youre hoping to accomplish. You are probably missing key information as well. Thats one reason why you want to have a conversation. In order to make it a true discussion, though, you have to be willing to learn and potentially change your mind as a result of what you hear. That openness can be difficult. Conflicts can lead to a sense that you have to win the discussion by bringing the other person over to your way of thinking about things. The goal of a difficult conversation isnt to win. It is to reach an accommodation to address the source of the conflict. That solution is likely to involve compromise on your part. You should prepare yourself mentally that youre not going to get everything you want before the discussion starts, so that you dont dig your heels in and get in the way of a path forward.
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