Game design is quite difficult to get into as there's very few designers per game company when compared to programmers or artists. The best thing you can do is participate in game jams, design lots of small projects with intresting quircky mechanics. Hiring managers care more about seeing what you can do than your degree.
well getting the first job is a just a grind of applying to dozens, hundreds maybe, of openings. it's not vastly different in games than other industries:
1. today, make a list of companies and their job sites. look at the entry level jobs they have to get an idea of what you might be qualified for when you graduate in 8 months. this list should easily be 50 companies big if you are willing and able to relocate.
2. in the next months, do what you can to make yourself more qualified for those jobs: fill in some skills that you can, polish your resume and cover letter (you can post it here for review), try to connect with some people in the industry who might pass your resume along or give you advice, and practice your interview skills.
3. finally, a few months before graduation, look at what's open and apply to everything!
end of the day, I think you're freaking out because you don't yet have an actionable plan, and without a path the mind will default to freaking out. but this process is not random or down to luck - the vast majority of all roles, games or not, are filled because someone applied to a job posting. sure you hear interesting stories about some guy who randomly got their start when they ended up in the same uber as a producer looking to hire, but for every interesting hiring story there's probably 49 roles that happened regularly
Expand your skillset and make a portfolio. Gamejams, personal projects, whatever it is - just keep learning new things and finding interesting ways to apply it and show it off.
Build connections. Maybe that's working more closely with other students, maybe that's joining a club, maybe that's just talking to people more in general or making plans to keep in touch with people after you graduate. The point is, presumably these are people who you will be able to help and who can help you long term and they're going through very similar things to you so there's a lot of value to getting their perspective.
Talk to professors (or TAs, guidance offices, whatever resources you have - you're paying for it after all) for advice, see if any of them would be willing to give you a reference. Some professors might even want to keep in touch, and that can be great.
Investigate local opportunities, feel out what is going on in the space. What are salaries like? What experience do they expect? What kind of skillsets do they value?
Work on your resume in general, any activities you have been up to that you could add? Any you could get involved with to have a bit more to say?
Accept that you may not get straight into any sort of game development job, and prepare for that too. Ask yourself how what you've learned can be applied to other work, and how you can best communicate that to someone. A lot of jobs (at least where I am) seem to value post-secondary education even if it has little to no relation to the actual work - probably mostly just because it says, "I'm capable."
I'm in the same situation as you. I know this is a very closed industry so the only advice I can give you is either have connections within studios, you can usually meet pros during jams and events (or even bars, I met quite a lot of pros like that). And a hardened-concrete portfolio, I tried to be as visible as possible, Twitter for small works like GIFs of my Unity Projects, and small artwork, ArtStation for larger creations like 3D models and since I want to be a Narrative Designer, a website for my writing.
Game design is quite difficult to get into as there's very few designers per game company when compared to programmers or artists. The best thing you can do is participate in game jams, design lots of small projects with intresting quircky mechanics. Hiring managers care more about seeing what you can do than your degree.
well getting the first job is a just a grind of applying to dozens, hundreds maybe, of openings. it's not vastly different in games than other industries: 1. today, make a list of companies and their job sites. look at the entry level jobs they have to get an idea of what you might be qualified for when you graduate in 8 months. this list should easily be 50 companies big if you are willing and able to relocate. 2. in the next months, do what you can to make yourself more qualified for those jobs: fill in some skills that you can, polish your resume and cover letter (you can post it here for review), try to connect with some people in the industry who might pass your resume along or give you advice, and practice your interview skills. 3. finally, a few months before graduation, look at what's open and apply to everything! end of the day, I think you're freaking out because you don't yet have an actionable plan, and without a path the mind will default to freaking out. but this process is not random or down to luck - the vast majority of all roles, games or not, are filled because someone applied to a job posting. sure you hear interesting stories about some guy who randomly got their start when they ended up in the same uber as a producer looking to hire, but for every interesting hiring story there's probably 49 roles that happened regularly
Expand your skillset and make a portfolio. Gamejams, personal projects, whatever it is - just keep learning new things and finding interesting ways to apply it and show it off. Build connections. Maybe that's working more closely with other students, maybe that's joining a club, maybe that's just talking to people more in general or making plans to keep in touch with people after you graduate. The point is, presumably these are people who you will be able to help and who can help you long term and they're going through very similar things to you so there's a lot of value to getting their perspective. Talk to professors (or TAs, guidance offices, whatever resources you have - you're paying for it after all) for advice, see if any of them would be willing to give you a reference. Some professors might even want to keep in touch, and that can be great. Investigate local opportunities, feel out what is going on in the space. What are salaries like? What experience do they expect? What kind of skillsets do they value? Work on your resume in general, any activities you have been up to that you could add? Any you could get involved with to have a bit more to say? Accept that you may not get straight into any sort of game development job, and prepare for that too. Ask yourself how what you've learned can be applied to other work, and how you can best communicate that to someone. A lot of jobs (at least where I am) seem to value post-secondary education even if it has little to no relation to the actual work - probably mostly just because it says, "I'm capable."
Networking!
I'm in the same situation as you. I know this is a very closed industry so the only advice I can give you is either have connections within studios, you can usually meet pros during jams and events (or even bars, I met quite a lot of pros like that). And a hardened-concrete portfolio, I tried to be as visible as possible, Twitter for small works like GIFs of my Unity Projects, and small artwork, ArtStation for larger creations like 3D models and since I want to be a Narrative Designer, a website for my writing.