Game Design 101

Game Design is the process of structuring everything about a game before bringing it through to the next stage, Game Development. Notice the difference between the two terms, where Design is planning the game out, and Development is actually building the game in its intended form. However, Game Design can intervene during development, to change things.

How To Start
Right off the bat, you can be an independent Game Designer. There is no official league to join, no official standards to sign, etc. You can start right now.

Of course to be a professional Game Designer within a company, that would mean a serious background. You can make a portfolio however, because there are always much smaller companies looking for designers.

The aim of the independent Game Designer is to:
 * Have a portfolio of games that work.

Useful Tools
Some useful tools to have in a Game Design arsenal include:


 * A pencil (To write/draw)
 * Some paper (To write/draw on)

Some bonus tools can be:
 * A computer
 * Some Game pieces
 * Tokens
 * Dice

Direction
Remember, all that Game Design is, is blueprinting how the game will work. The next step, to actually make the game tangible, is Game Development, which is equally important. But you can't have your building without a blueprint to work with.

To start:
 * 1) Come with an idea. Anything. Go take a walk around town, recall your memories, talk to people, play some games for inspiration, watch a movie.
 * 2) Jot down the idea. You don't ever want to forget your idea, and more ideas that come from it. To make sure you don't forget it, write it down anywhere, preferably a notebook, where it doesn't need a power supply or risk lost data like a computer does.
 * 3) Branch out and flesh the ideas. Naturally, you'd have a mess of ideas in a shoddy notebook, with ideas put back and forth, and nothing is made clean. Take the time to branch out how you want the game to be structured. Don't worry about game rules yet. First, see how you want your game to feel. If it's an adventure game, write up a story or draw a character. If it's a sport, don't worry about the numbers and measurements. Perhaps write a quick narrative of the vision to your game.