Basics of Game Design
New to game design/development? We've got you covered!
There are many questions about where to start in the game development journey. Things like:
- How do I go from what’s in my head to a game (or prototype)?
- How are games actually put together?
- How have others making games approached game design topics?
- What is the first step to getting started? What are good tutorials on building games?
- Where should I jump in?
- What engine should I use?
Luckily, there are tons of resources out there to get you started! To help narrow it down for you, we have listed a few of our favorites here for some of the above questions. These are just starting places to get you thinking about game development in general - sometimes long before writing any code or diving into an engine!
Getting into the headspace
To tackle the first 3 questions above - let’s dive into Game Maker’s Toolkit (GMTK). GMTK has an excellent series breaking down many concepts surrounding game design, showcasing how existing games or practices can help inform what you’re making. Here are some key videos and playlists to get you started, but we highly recommend viewing all of them!
Game Design 101
- Can we make talking as fun as shooting? Link to video
- How synergies make Slay the Spire fun: Link to video
- Roguelikes, persistency and progression: Link to video
- What makes a good puzzle? Link to video
- How games use feedback loops: Link to video
Your first adventure
Now that you’re thinking like a designer, how do you actually get started? Well the best way to get started is by making some small games! Maybe some classics like Tetris or Snake, or to just extend a tutorial you find fun to put together. There are many good sources out there for this, and here we have included some playlists here to check-out and work through.
Brackeys
Brackeys is a wonderful guide for learning how to build just about any type of game you could want! Here are just some of our favourites:
- How to make a video game: Link to playlist
- How to make a 2D platformer in Unity: Link to playlist
- In-game options menu in Unity: Link to video
- Start menu in Unity: Link to video
Game From Scratch
Game From Scratch covers every step of the game development journey, from simple tutorials in coding languages to deep dives into all of the available game engines out there! We’ve included some Game From Scratch resources that can help you navigate which engine might be right for you to start with:
- Choosing a game engine in 2021: Link to video
- Easiest game engines 2021: Link to video
- Game engines by language: Link to playlist
A new journey - accessibility & gaming
Great! You’ve got some of the basics down, but what really brought you here is to understand better how to make games accessible. Accessibility in game design is a growing conversation - and rightly so! More people playing games is always better, and designing with accessibility in mind can create benefits for all players.
Check out this example from the creators of Borderlands 3 of how accessibility can be baked into a game and make a difference for everyone.
For a great overview guiding accessible game design see this talk from Tara Voelker @LadieAuPair at GDC 2015:
GMTK also has a whole playlist dedicated to designing for accessibility