Help! How to build the basic skills for game design.

If it's game design you're interested in... then design games.

Don't design computer games, they take a lot of faff. Go design board games. Raid copies of monopoly and other board games for parts and dice. Draw up your own boards on big bits of cardboard. You can make decks of cards by buying small packs of index cards. There are also other game pieces available from companies like http://www.rolcogames.com http://www.p4g.co.uk/ http://www.dice.co.uk/ and http://www.gameparts.net/ (at least a couple of these places will sell in really small quantities and some of them do "prototyping" kits containing sample selections of components).

Writing rules is easy... playtesting them and fixing them so they work not so easy -- but this is the important part.

The skills you pick up here about designing fun and fair games transfer to computer games.

Seconded, though I also used RAD (rapid app development) tools like Java (and the basic toolkit) to make draft quality games, as well as some on paper.

What I find is a useful exercise is to make a game according to some specifications, like, it has to be about X and be conceptually realistic, or it has to do Y or you play it with one button. Lately I'm interested in blind games.

I've heard of this sort of idea before. I was actually already thinking about giving it a shot, too. Maybe starting off with a pen and paper game that's already been established, if only to better understand the structure of these sorts of things, and then trying to come up with something on my own. Still, now that I've gone someone to speak back to, I've gotta ask a few questions.

This seems to be more focused on the implementation on theories of game design, and less so on the actual guts of games, though. Which is fine, I just want to make sure I'm focusing on the right things first. The more I look into what makes a good game designer, the more I find that while these things are important, so is actually technical experience. Like understanding how to write code or how to use different programs. Not necessarily on the level of someone in a dedicated programming position, but at last enough to be of some actual help during development and to better understand the limitations and scope of projects. The only things I've been able to think of that would allow me to get better at both would be to work on mods for already established games, but I don't even know where to begin on something like that...

Side Question: As I was going over trying out pen and paper/board games, I realized that there would be one thing that would be insanely different from what I was aiming from. I'd have to be focusing on creating multiplayer experiences, wouldn't I? Don't get me wrong, it certainly doesn't hurt to be well-rounded in different game types, but I guess I have to admit that I've never had much interest in creating games that required more than one person in order for them to function well.

Seconded, though I also used RAD (rapid app development) tools like Java (and the basic toolkit) to make draft quality games, as well as some on paper.

What I find is a useful exercise is to make a game according to some specifications, like, it has to be about X and be conceptually realistic, or it has to do Y or you play it with one button. Lately I'm interested in blind games.

RAD? Draft quality? What exactly do you mean?

I agree whole-heartedly with Katie's advice... however, I know a lot of people want to get right into something on the computer, and there's no reason you can't do that fairly easily either by picking up tools such as Game Maker (there's a paid version, but the free one is fine if you're just experimenting) or Unity3d, working through some tutorials (both of them have some basic tutorials/walk-throughs to get you started) and seeing what you're able to make -- as Katie said, there is a learning curve that simply isn't there with board, card or table-top games, so I'd advise even if you do start working towards using one of these tools you do that as well. You could also consider modding or designing maps for existing games if you own any that come with simple editors.

If you've got younger siblings, you could also experiment with creating/adjusting games with them using whatever is around you -- kids are very creative, and you'd be surprised how much fun you can have with a few simple household objects if you're able to come up with a fun set of rules for a simple game.


Anything that lets you play around and practice is a great way to hone your game-designing skills.

I'd have to be focusing on creating multiplayer experiences, wouldn't I?

That's up to you -- Solitaire (and it's many variants) are card games played by a single person, and there are some board games that can be fun for a single player. Think also about designing puzzles -- these are also an interactive experience, although in most cases they don't have the formalised rule-sets of games.

I agree whole-heartedly with Katie's advice... however, I know a lot of people want to get right into something on the computer, and there's no reason you can't do that fairly easily either by picking up tools such as Game Maker (there's a paid version, but the free one is fine if you're just experimenting) or Unity3d, working through some tutorials (both of them have some basic tutorials/walk-throughs to get you started) and seeing what you're able to make -- as Katie said, there is a learning curve that simply isn't there with board, card or table-top games, so I'd advise even if you do start working towards using one of these tools you do that as well. You could also consider modding or designing maps for existing games if you own any that come with simple editors.

If you've got younger siblings, you could also experiment with creating/adjusting games with them using whatever is around you -- kids are very creative, and you'd be surprised how much fun you can have with a few simple household objects if you're able to come up with a fun set of rules for a simple game.


Anything that lets you play around and practice is a great way to hone your game-designing skills.

Funny you mention it, I've seen quite a few people using the Unity engine. I used to have a friend a few months back who had just finished her degrees in both game programming and production, and she seemed to really know her way around that engine. I think the company that picked her up as an Intern used it, too. I think the school I go to uses it in the classes, and I noticed that the project my room mate is working on also uses Unity. Out of curiosity, is there any specific reason why Unity seems to be so popular?

I tried using Game Maker before, but I had a pretty frustrating time trying to get it to work properly. It's been a couple of months, though, so I'll give it another shot for sure. Thanks.

[quote name='Naota_391' timestamp='1309604286' post='4830286']
I'd have to be focusing on creating multiplayer experiences, wouldn't I?

That's up to you -- Solitaire (and it's many variants) are card games played by a single person, and there are some board games that can be fun for a single player. Think also about designing puzzles -- these are also an interactive experience, although in most cases they don't have the formalised rule-sets of games.

[/quote]

Hm. I've never seen a single player board game, before. Would you happen to know of any examples of this sort of thing that particularly stand out?

Ah! I actually just had a stroke of inspiration on the board game front. Trying to work on getting a decent sleep schedule again, so I won't be able to get tinkering with it until tomorrow, but still. Thanks a lot! Any other advice would still be incredible, but I'm glad I've at least got something to start working on.

Out of curiosity, is there any specific reason why Unity seems to be so popular?

1. They recently made the basic version free -- it still has many of the features, and you're allowed to earn money with what you create -- for many people this also presents the opportunity to try it out and see if they're able to get their idea working, at which point they can pay for another version and only have to upgrade their already working project.
2. The pricing is very reasonable compared to other options if you do need one of the paid versions for whatever reason.
3. It provides a pretty solid and modern feature set in a reasonably stream-lined and user-friendly package.
4. It comes with good documentation and plenty of community support.

Unreal have also recently released the free Unreal Development Kit, which is also quite popular for similar reasons -- both of these packages are solid, professional quality offerings that you can play with for free.

[color="#1c2837"]Hm. I've never seen a single player board game, before. Would you happen to know of any examples of this sort of thing that particularly stand out?[/quote]
Unfortunately no examples come to mind, sorry. Mahjong is a table-top game/puzzle played with small tiles that is designed for one player; note that this is not the same as the multiplayer chinese game that sometimes goes by the same name.

If you haven't seen single-player board games -- go ahead and try making one! You will learn a lot either way by play testing, deisgning the events, rules, mechanics etc.

You can't actually shy away from multiplayer -- the madness of single-player is well over, and most companies now try to focus on community/multiplayer experiences. Humans, at their core, as social creatures, and even if they do not feel like being with other people 100% of the time, it is still a very significant need. Observe games such as Bioshock II (which went multiplayer) or Fear 3 (coop multiplayer) or Hunted (basically, ONLY coop is good in this game). The world is moving forward and you, as a designer, have to keep up

I second the opinion about Unity3D -- I come with a basic C++ background (knowing only a few simple rules about algorythm) and I'm very satisfied with it. Thanks to the multitude of tutorials, support and Unity's innate friendlyness, it's a great start for designers that wish to get their feet wet in programming.

I am also quite sure that you won't waste any time by just thinking about design -- and getting used to "things going slow". Making games isn't a fast process -- I learned that while dabbling with Unity3D. There is a multitude of things to be discovered by just trying to make a block move without clipping through everything xD

"Would you happen to know of any examples of this sort of thing that particularly stand out?"

My ex-husband was very avid player of "Struggle for the Galactic Empire" and also the solitaire mode of "Race for the Galaxy"

It's actually reasonably common for wargames to either be playable or completely designed as single-player; "Where There is Discord" (based on the 1982 Falklands War) being one which I happened to come across a discussion of recently.

I likely won't be able to start until next semester. It's frustrating to think that I'll have to wait several more months when I was already so excited to actually get started on my future. I've decided, however, that just because I won't be able to go to school this semester, that doesn't mean I can't do anything to get started now.

Of course, the problem with this is obvious: I have no idea where to begin.

Read FAQ 12: http://www.sloperama.com/advice/lesson12.htm

[quote name='JoeCooper' timestamp='1309604235' post='4830284']
Seconded, though I also used RAD (rapid app development) tools like Java (and the basic toolkit) to make draft quality games, as well as some on paper ...

RAD? Draft quality? What exactly do you mean?
[/quote]

Like this. (Video and download link included.)

I wanted to see if an idea would be playable and work as a game. So I threw it together quickly (3 days).

I did this by reusing code, specifically not worrying about future scalability, not worrying about reusing the code later, and using whatever tools were easiest rather than thinking about platforms or users. Just puke it out. (The sign dictionary used was also handy, as was the code to load and display it.)

I used Java but anything will do. Unity, some "Game Maker" kit, ZZT, whatever.

And of course if you can't program you can use pen and paper.