Game Design Essentials: Tools, Theories and Techniques
What you'll learn
- Learn to design games understanding all their constitutive parts and how they connect with each other
- Learn to play games like a game designer (Analytical play)
- Understand Systems Thinking to understand our world and existing games to transfer those experiences into your own games
- Use the Design Thinking method to improve your design process
- Use psychology to understand your players and create more directed experiences
- Create spreadsheet simulations to balance your games
- Use GDD and pitching to communicate with your team and different stakeholders
Requirements
- Be able to access a text editor, slides presentation and spreadsheets
- Having scrap paper and dices would be nice, since we are going to make some board games!
Description
This course offers a comprehensive framework to understand and practice game design.
At the end of this course, you will have the tools and thinking process to understand why some games are fun and keep players playing for a long time, while others fail.
WHAT YOU WILL LEARN...
Understand the role of the game designer and other roles in game development
How to keep improving as a game designer and what skills you need
What are game parts, mechanics and dynamics and understand the language of games
Harness the power of Design Thinking to better Empathize, Ideate and Prototype your games.
Use Psychology to understand your players and how they perceive your game
What is a GDD
What is a game pitch
How to communicate your game idea to your team
How math and probability work in board and video games
Create game models using Google Spreadsheets to test your game early
Use random, procedural generation and systems thinking to create systemic gameplay to design games that are interesting to play and watch.
Analyze real and game systems to create meaningful games by relating players to their surroundings and experiences
HOW WILL YOU PRACTICE WHAT YOU HAVE LEARNED
You will create a card game from a humble beginning all the way to a unique and engaging game.
Each activity is designed to practice what you have just learned.
The card game will be uniquely modified by you, so you can keep working on it even after the course ends.
What is NOT included in this course...
Programming languages
Art asset creation
Who this course is for:
- Any person who wants to understand how to create engaging and meaningful experiences
- Beginner game designers who wants to acquire more specific, hands-on knowledge and experience
- People related to game developent who wants to transition to a game designer role
Instructors
- 4.4 Instructor Rating
- 520 Reviews
- 4,365 Students
- 2 Courses
I'm Gabriel Chauri. I'm a passionate game designer with several years of professional experience. I like to create experiences that players will enjoy and share and most important of all, that will make them think and see the world in a different way. I also like to teach and mentoring. I've participated in several games jams as a jammer and as a mentor and I've teached different disciplines (like music theory and game design) for +6 years.
- 4.4 Instructor Rating
- 520 Reviews
- 4,365 Students
- 2 Courses
Game Design Thinking was created to deliver a centralized, high-quality standard education in game design, so you can create compelling and meaningful experiencies through your games.
Through our courses that combine theory and practice, we will give you the tools so you as a game designer develop the correct mindset and framework that will allow you to create longlasting and meaningful games that players will enjoy.
In Game Design Thinking, we are firm believers that games have the power to change the world for the better and that we as game designers, have the responsability to make these changes happen.