The first video games were designed in the 1960s and 1970s by programmers for whom creating games was a hobby, since there was no way to sell them or earn money from creating games (the games required large mainframe computers to play). Some were made by electrical engineers as exhibits for visitors to computer labs , others by college students who wrote games for their friends to play .

Some of the games designed during this era, such as Zork, Baseball, Air Warrior and Adventure later made the transition with their game designers into the early video game industry.

Early in the history of video games, game designers were often the lead programmer or the only programmer for a game, and this remained true as the video game  industry expanded in the 1970s. This person also sometimes comprised  the entire art team. This is the case of such noted designers as Sid Meier, Chris Sawyer and Will Wright. A notable exception to this policy was Coleco, which from its very start separated the function of design and programming.

As games became more complex and computers and consoles became more powerful (allowing more features), the job of the game  designer became a separate job function, with the lead programmer  splitting his time between the two functions, moving from one role to  the other. Later, game complexity escalated to the point where it  required someone who concentrated solely on game design. Many early  veterans chose the game design path eschewing programming and  delegating those tasks to others.

Today, it is rare to find a video or computer game where the  principal programmer is also the principal designer, except in the case  of casual games, such as Tetris or Bejeweled. With very complex games, such as MMORPGs,  or a big budget action or sports title, designers may number in the  dozens. In these cases, there are generally one or two principal  designers and many junior designers who specify subsets or subsystems  of the game. In larger companies like Electronic Arts,  each aspect of the game (control, level design or vehicles) may have a  separate producer, lead designer and several general designers.