Designing from the Gut

Following your gut can be your best compass.  Photo: geebee2007

Learning to follow your instincts is paramount to becoming an experienced designer.  But to learn how to do that, we need to delve into two fundamental questions: What is the purpose of a game?  What is the job of a game designer?

There are a million answers to these two questions; everyone has their own opinion of what games are, what they currently do, and what they should do.  Likewise, “game designer” is one of the most ill-defined job titles in the world, with people thinking that it means everything from just “coming up with ideas” to god knows what else.

As a designer, I’ve talked with countless people about these questions.  I believe that the clearest answers are as follows:

The purpose of a game is to create an experience for the player.  The job of the game designer is to craft that experience.

Every game provides an experience, making the player feel a certain way.  This is the core of game design; every decision flows from this core feeling, and when it is achieved, it is a beautiful testament to the power of games.  Learning to focus on this feeling and use it as your decision maker will give your games a stronger focus and a more consistent theme, and it will help pull your games out of the mediocre and into the realm of remarkable. WAIT! There is more to read… read on »