Brief Introduction to Game Design

There are many, many misconceptions about what game design is. It isn't programming, art, sound, or other parts of game production. The game designer actually decides how the game is going to work, and tries to make sure that is entertaining.

"What Game Designers Do (According to the Internet)" by Liz England is an annotated compilation of (Internet) confusion about what a game designer actually does. Typically, the term "game design" is used when "game production" is meant. Unfortunately, many of the sites that are supposed to help game development wannabes are just advertisements for expensive for-profit schools and universities.

http://gamecareerguide.com/features/1335/what_game_designers_do_according_.php

Anyone can design a game to about 80%, that's not hard. It's getting to 100% that's hard.

Most game designers have designed game since they were kids. In that respect they're much like novel writers. But there are exceptions.

Certain characteristics help people succeed as game designers.

With very few exceptions, people don't get rich designing games. In fact, many people must have a full-time job, just as many novelists have full-time jobs.

People who don't believe this, should read the "lecture" I've added in the Bonus material, "A tax on people who are bad at math."

See this blog post for a measured view of indie game development: http://gamasutra.com/blogs/SarahWoodrow/20140102/206583/7_truths_about_indie_game_development.php

A game, at bottom, is a set of rules/mechanics. Especially when you're starting out, don't try to focus on story. And recognize that ideas, on their own, are worthless, because many people have had the same idea, and no one buys game ideas.

Even though there's "nothing new under the sun", you can make an idea your own. Phil Luddington recently made a useful comparison: "The idea is like your finger, we all have them, but the implementation is like your fingerprint, everyone's is unique."

Doug Hall put it another way: "Let's be honest. Most newborn seed ideas are ugly, wrinkly little wretches. If the newborn is your own, you're liable to think it's a thing of wonder and beauty. But it's going to need a whole lotta nurturing before anyone else will think so. Because it's not theirs."

As someone who thinks most newborn babies are UGLY! I especially appreciate this comparison.

The best way to learn video game design is to start with tabletop games! Here's why.

Free tools such as Gamemaker or even Unity can help make game software easier to create, if you insist on starting with software rather than paper prototypes.

A new (28 Mar 14) website, "How can I learn Gamemaker language", lists many books and other resources for learning Gamemaker. http://unluckystudio.com/how-can-i-learn-game-maker-language/

Here's a site that shows quite a few commercial games made with Gamemaker. http://makegames.pixelprospector.com/gamemaker-games

http://makegames.pixelprospector.com/ is itself a list of mostly-free development tools that help people learn game development.

Epic now offers their Unreal 4 engine on subscription for $19 a month (and 5% of gross for anything you actually sell made with Unreal). Epic's Tim Sweeney talking about changes in the Unreal engine (both in economics and in programming) http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/213647/Epics_Tim_Sweeney_lays_out_the_case_for_Unreal_Engine_4.php If you're already a programmer you might look into this, but Unreal is a top end, complex, engine.

Errata: Flynn Pierce points out:

"The free version of Unity 3D does allow you to make commercial games, as long as your annual gross revenue is less than $100,000. See http://unity3d.com/unity/faq, specifically 'Making and selling games with Unity'. This applies to all platforms."

You can't satisfy everyone, gamer preferences are far too diverse. Choose a target market and make a game for that market.

Games are for players, not for designers. And gamers want to do something, games are activities. So ask yourself, what is the player going to do?

This is a brief exercise to help you internalize the vital truth that opinions about games vary greatly, and what you like isn't necessarily what others like.

Playtesting, modification, more playtesting, more modification - this is the heart of game design.

An articulate and fascinating look into the head of a budding game designer (who took my "Learning Game Design" course . . .):

http://jeffro.wordpress.com/2014/02/19/how-game-designers-actually-think/

An attempt to summarize quite briefly what you need to know when making a game for the very first time.

Also you could read Reasons for Modest First Projects and Incremental Learning by Chris DeLeon http://www.gamasutra.com/blogs/ChrisDeLeon/20140426/215519/Reasons_for_Modest_First_Projects_and_Incremental_Learning.php

The linked article is the longest, most thorough explanation I've seen of why video game developers should start with simple projects that they have a decent chance of finishing, rather than "shoot for the moon."

He makes lots of comparisons and analogies to help make his points.

Video games owe a lot to tabletop Dungeons & Dragons, but it's instructive in its own right

Constraints contribute to good work, I think. So I tried to say what is important in designing games in one page.

Following the "six word stories" format, I asked readers of my blogs to say six words about game design. Here are some of the best.

A brief answer to this question, written originally for Quora.

I don't use the word "theme" any more, because it has so many meanings (often very different) that I don't know whether my listener or reader will understand me. Here's the low-down, and suggested alternatives.

Tastes in games vary so greatly that it's impossible to make a universal list. There is no universal "fun", there are so many ways that people enjoy games. So here's my list for hobbyist games, games for adults that play games as a hobby. Part 2.

This won't settle the questions posed here. My take is that there are all three of these in game-making, but art is a small part, whereas the others are major parts.

This is a simple exercise in game design. The Nine Structures are fully explained in my "Learning Game Design" course, which is five times longer than this Brief Intro course.

Jason Miller asked if I meant you to reset the game to its original structure before making another game, or to build on your changes. The former gives you a clearer view of exactly what your single change does to the game. However, the other way, changes building on one another, can also be interesting, if you want to do it. It will help you see how more than one change implemented serially can result in yet more unintended consequences. What you want to avoid, if you can, is making several changes at once, because then you don't know which change (or combination) caused what.

This is a summary, not something involving new thoughts. But people like to have summaries.

Teachers and advisers all suggest that beginners need to undertake much smaller projects than they think they can manage. Otherwise they'll end up with a string of partly-done projects. That's a bad idea, because employers and publishers are only interested in complete games.

On the other hand, beginners can experiment in ways that don't increase the length/size of the project. The time to experiment is when you're just starting out, not when many people and lots of money depend on your design.

(Thanks to Ian Schreiber for pointing this out - on Facebook!)

Pro game designers, especially tabletop designers, work on many games concurrently (in the same year, for example). Dilettantes work on one.

In video games, designers work on a lot until the point that their studio commits to one, then they usually work on that one along until it's done.

This is a discussion of the various computerized platforms running video games.

And now we've added Virtual Reality.

Although I was initially skeptical, I've found that twitter has some advantages.

You might also read "To Tweet or not to Tweet: Social media and the indie"

By Keith Andrew http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2014-09-22-to-tweet-or-not-to-tweet-social-media-and-the-indie

"The day I realised a news announcement made direct on Twitter got more eyeballs than some of the mid tier games sites...that was the day I realised the power and opportunity Twitter holds for me." -Developer of Thomas Was Alone

Many aspiring designers, and some who have been at it a long time, think of themselves as writers rather than game designers. This is a discussion of how the two differ. (And my advice - become a game designer first, even if you can be a fiction writer for games later.)

Conclusion and what you can do in the future.

My courses are at https://courses.pulsiphergames.com as well as on Udemy. "Learning Game Design" is an obvious follow-up to this course, and "How to Design Levels/Adventures for Video and Tabletop Games" may appeal to many of you. LGD is 6 times larger than this class (not counting bonus material), and Levels/Adventures is nearly 4 times as large.

"Get a Job in the Video Game Industry" may also be appropriate.

I've strung together all the slides used in the lectures so that you can download them as notes, if you wish.

I've added this discussion of probability and the immense unlikelihood that you'll get rich making games, for the possible benefit of those who just cannot believe what I've said in "I'm going to get rich" NOT.

You're much, much more likely to become a wealthy pro athlete, or win a big lottery pot, than you are to make a million from a game as a game designer.

Lew's online courses and information sources

Why write a book in the 21st century, an era when people rarely read non-fiction books? And why a game design book? Here's why…

What makes my game design book unusual or unique.

Classic games provide interactivity with people, puzzles (including most single-player games) provide interactivity with the game (and sometimes, not much of that).

Slides that go (more or less) with the previous audio. When I speak at a convention I don't follow the slides, which are made for people who cannot come to the actual presentation.

Magic: the Gathering dominates this category, but there are other games, often not collectible, involved.

From Origins Game Fair, Columbus, OH 2007. Begins abruptly, as I had just remembered to turn on my MP3 player to record.

This is a discussion of the steps involved in designing a game. Many people follow some of all of these steps, whether consciously or not. It will be covered at length in my Learning Game Design class, but was far too much to include in this brief class.

Slides made to accompany the Origins 2007 talk - but I don't follow slides as I talk, these were made as notes, and to help those who couldn't attend the talk.