Personally I see a game designer as someone who lays out or executes the core mechanics and ideas of a game, or designs scenery for a game.
To start as one, simply start where you would like. Everyone here has their own pros and cons in terms of game design, whether it be programming, building, animating, 3D Modeling, no one here is perfect, and we embrace that. If you want to start by making gameplay, learn how to program in LUA, if you want to make some neat builds, use F3X or use the default ROBLOX Editor. If you want to create UGC concepts, use blender. Do what makes you happy.
I’ve been attempting to make games since 2013, I started by using free models in the old Happy Home in Robloxia map and showing them to my real life friends, but slowly learned how to use the ROBLOX engine to make builds even better, aswell as using outside programs like blender to 3D Model.
A good tip is to start slow, and continue practicing overtime. Everyone starts slow on small projects, but we gradually learn new things as we make more advanced projects overtime. And the biggest thing to know is Do not be afraid to ask for help.
Game design begins with the drive to create games. Have a vision for what you want to share with the world. Then get started. To bring your vision to life you’ll need experience with building or scripting, if not both. It’s unusual for there to be a dedicated “designer” on a development team who doesn’t contribute to the building or scripting. Once you are able to create something that is playable, then you will be ready to start designing. Try, fail, and try again. It won’t be right the first time, nor the second time, nor the tenth time. Bring friends, or even better find random people, to test your game and write down everything they say to the letter. As a designer, you are entirely at the mercy of the players. Find out what they want, and then give it to them.
Game design for me is, in short, the science of fun. It’s knowing what gets a response from the human brain and abusing that knowledge to trick your players into enjoying themselves. Because of this, game design kinda bleeds into every other industry profession because every element is a tool to affect a player with.
Design cuts across a ton of different fields and there isn’t any specific place to start learning. Psychology, philosophy, politics, economics - any subject that deals with human behaviour/perception is a valid background to build on. That being said there’s resources out there to help you dive in. Just on youtube: extra credits, game maker’s toolkit and GDC design talks all have pretty neat lessons to teach.
I’ve been specialising in design since 2015/16. It’s a lot of trial and error but over time I’ve carved my own design philosophy that holds up as far as I can tell.
Yes I have some Tips:
“Restriction breeds creativity” is a quote from Magic the Gathering’s lead designer that I definitely agree with. It is better to go in with as many self-imposed rules as possible, because rules can either be verified or falsified which lets you amend or remove them over time. Going in with no rules means your methods aren’t falsifiable.
Design is a mix between objective science and subjective feeling. Do not confuse the two when they come up or you’ll find yourself being overly comitted to seeing opinion as a hard law, or dismissing a hard law that doesn’t match your opinion.
Study everything. Literally everything. It’s all relevant, it can all inspire you, it can all prove your current methods wrong.
Edit: I noticed you added a couple so here we go:
A professional designer’s role in a team is to communicate a vision to their coworkers who can bring it to life. To this end, designers need to be consice but thorough in their explanations and be pretty good at documenting their designs and what they require of others.
Programming/building skills are not an obligation of design, but a basic knowledge is recommended if you want to communicate effectively with the builders and scripters you hire. If you’re working on your own then you do kinda need to know that stuff because who else is going to do it for you?
I wanted to directly answer this question, as I’ve been asked this many times. Everyone starts somewhere - nobody is born a natural coder, builder or designer. What I would recommend is to start building up some projects of your own, and figure out how to make what you want (e.g. UI, a certain functionality, a nice-looking castle, etc.) and go from there.
I’m definitely more of a project-oriented learner, so I have a bias towards that style. In general, I’d recommend taking on a couple of tutorials if that’s more of your thing and going from there. Post often, and get feedback.
I love scripting, and that’s what I’m the best at. But I’m trying to learn building, 3D modelling and UI design. The beautiful thing about the platform is that the barrier for learning is so low, and the possibilities are endless.
@NINJAMASTR999@teslobo@Conejin_Alt@ScytheSlayin@ernakou@LargeMakesStuff Thanks for the feedback and the tips I am going to try to see if I am getting everything right and not misunderstanding things so feel free to tell me.
A Game Designer is someone who can do more than one thing like building or scripting or make GFX ect… It is also someone who knows how to be have a plan within there head and plan it out. It all so someone who can tell when something seems out of place or if you need to add detail something more.
Tips, You need to have a good understanding of what you are making start out with a small project and build your way up.
Now I have to ask you something. Can a Game Designer just be someone who helps out with another games like make sure the game is going smoothly? And like Detail of a game?
Since there is a lot of great advice in this post, I’m just going to help you with the last question: “What if I can’t script or build well?” So for scripting (and a lot of various other game design things) I suggest looking at CK Studio +. It’s a free plugin that helps you out with learning to script, build, and monetize games (while still making it fun to use). I personally am using this, and I have found it extremely simple and fun to follow.
Additionally I feel like some bits are off about the definition of game designer you’ve come to. At its core, game design work involves 0 building and 0 scripting.
For an example I suppose:
The scripter builds the guns
The builders make the map where you shoot people
The designer balances the stats of the guns, and ensures the map influences the game in the intended way (e.g where the sight lines are, where the cover is, how far players are from objectives).
The designer decides on an experience and the other disciplines are used to make it reality.
A game designer to me would be someone that has an idea for a game and then forms instructions and actions to make the idea into a finished project. These instructions can be acted on alone by the designer or if they have the resources through a team being directed by them.
To be a designer you must take good notes on your project and make sketches/examples that are clear enough to be acted on. I’ve had jobs where the company had an engineering team… every complicated task is drawn out on a whiteboard with magic marker and simple drawings. Notes and whiteboards make a huge difference in wrapping your mind around big tasks, even if the notes are only for you.
You must do well under pressure, a good leader, and be aware of deadlines. Really you can learn to do anything you want in life including those skills if you think you are lacking.
A game designer in my mind has a “bird’s eye view” of the entire situation. Kind of like a showrunner on a TV show.
Thank, you everyone so much for the help I will try these things and do my best. If you have more ideas or things to try or add feel free to put them done here.
If you have more ideas or things to try or add feel free to put them done here.