So, you want to be a game designer? Maybe you only want to make games for a hobby or maybe you want to become a part of a professional game development company. Either way, Game Design Novice can help you.

First you have to realize that you're not going to make your first game in a day. You're also going to have to realize that the first 10 games you will make will be absolutely terrible. We realize this and welcome these terrible games. We know that you're going to make a good game someday, probably sooner than later.

Also, nobody's going to make your game for you. Game Design Novice members are interested in game design as well as game programming. You will be expected to make your own games yourself. You will not be able to hand a "design document" to someone and expect them to make it. However, we will help you through the rough spots. If you're having trouble getting a cannon to fire right, expect almost immediate help. Just don't ask someone to make a boss for a game you didn't even make yourself. We're here to help you with the details. Our tutorials will teach you the rest.

Game Design Community

Game Design Novice is a community. We like people to ask questions and we like to give answers. If ever need help with anything, you will always find people willing to take the time to help you in the forum. We're a patient, helpful bunch. We want you to succeed because we know you have potential as a game designer and will amaze us later down the road.

Join

First, join this wiki. It it's free, only takes a minute and you don't even have to leave this page.

1. At the top of the page, near the search box you will see create account or login.
2. Click on create account.
3. Follow the instructions.
4. Congratulations, you're now a member!

Introduce Yourself

The first thing you should do is introduce yourself. New members are always warmly welcomed, especially complete novices with no programming experience. When you introduce yourself, you should tell us a little about yourself and what kind of game you want to make. That way we have enough information to help you get started.

Go ahead and do this now. You do not need a membership to post on the forum. We have a forum reserved so you can tell us how can we help you?

Choose Your Destiny

Alright, with that said, it's time to make the most important decision you've made in your game design career :

What are you going to use to make games with?

For starters, if you've never programmed before, you are going to have to learn to program. There's no way around it, but don't worry, learning to program is easy. The difference between learning to program and using a point-and-click game creation program is vast.

If you use a point-and-click game maker, you will be making crappy "games" within an hour. The downside is that people who use these game creation programs usually never learn the fundamentals of either game design or game programming and never make anything decent. After the first 10 terrible games, they are still making terrible games.

If you learn to program, your first week or two will be spent on the basics. After that, you'll find yourself moving incrementally towards the game you want to make. Each new game will become your "latest greatest masterpiece." And then, you'll find yourself making a better game.

What You'll Need

You can get started immediately. It's time to choose a game creation tool.

We recommend :

PlayBasic

PlayBasic is a solid game programming language that has a free learning edition.

Basic4GL

Basic4GL is a BASIC-dialect that uses OpenGL