BBGameDesign

game design is not hard

posted on February 21 with 2 responses

Perhaps you are reading this blog because you are looking for some inspiration, tips or guidance in game design. That’s very good but sometimes I meet people (on bbgamezone for example) who want to know how to design a game. This is a silly question. Game design is not hard. You only have to do it.

This is just a very short blog post to remind you that game design is not hard. There is no right way to design a game. There is no magical success formula or machine to master. If you have played a game you can design a game. Off course it won’t be a good game design, yet.

You don’t have to learn game design and you can’t master it. You can only improve.

The first tip I can give you is to know how a game is made. Start creating a very small game yourself (the click me challenge) or participate in an other game development project.

The second tip is to stop reading about game design. You know what is or isn’t possible because you know the process of developing a game. Design a game by not following any rules. Don’t read any articles on what game design is, what you should or should not do, or take any other advice. You’ll only get better by doing it yourself.

The last tip for today is “don’t stop”. Don’t stop designing games. Try different ideas and write them down. You don’t have to turn every design into a game, just keep the ideas coming. Criticise your own designs but don’t question your own skills, because you know you can only get better in game design. Try play testing your games on paper, if possible.

Posted in Game Design

  • http://www.spacesector.com/ Adam Solo

    I partially agree with you. Game design is far from being a science. So you actually don't learn “Game Design” as you say, we learn just the basis to start doing better games.

    But unless you have tons of free time or experient mentors it's always better to read some books and articles the get the basics before jumping into any task. And by the way never assume that just because you can use something well you are qualified to design that something.

  • Captain

    I agree with you Janne that game design is not hard…what is hard I think is finding the motivation and dedication to sit down and actually hammer out code.

    In fact, I'm pretty sure you can be a game designer without coding much at all (the don't stop tip.) I have pages of unique, different designs and modules that have never been implemented in any live game. I know that they could be translated into code, but there is honeslty no reason for me to do that. I can continue to develop and refine the designs as they exist on paper.

    So, I guess my point is that I'd really like to agree with the final point. From my experience as a programmer it is always a much better idea to spend 60-70 % of your development time on planning and the rest on actually implementing it.