What is Game Design?

Before we answer this question, we must first ask another question that is essential to get the answer you are looking for.

Source: Pexels

What is a game?

There are many definitions of a game. Examples of popular definitions are "a play activity with rules that involves conflict" and "a game has “ends and means”: an objective, an outcome, and a set of rules to get there". According to Roger Caillois a game always has six properties.

• Playing is optional or "free"
• Separate, fixed in space and time in advance
• Uncertain outcome
• Unproductive (creating neither good nor wealth)
• Governed by rules
• Make believe

Is it really that simple? No, there are many conflicting beliefs to what makes a game. Many would agree with them properties and there will also be others that completely dismiss some points. Through research on games and peoples definitions on them, we can see many common elements that games include. 

• Games have rules
• Games are an activity
• Games have goals
• Games involve decision making
• Games are voluntary
• Games are artificial
• Games have an uncertain outcome

Now that you have this information, would you be confident in answering this question? Was it really that basic? Now, what if I asked you this.. Is a puzzle a game? Is an adventure book a game? These both have all of these elements and yet some famous game designers would answer no to both of these questions. Katie Salen and Eric Zimmerman make the argument that puzzles are simply subsets of games and don't fall into the same category. 

As you can see, there is still a lot to be defined when it comes to answering the question "what is a game"?. For a further analysis on this question, make sure to visit this article. I personally found this article very informative as it gives a deep analysis on criteria and gives and answers a lot of thought provoking questions. I also did some research into the history of games which I found very interesting to see our development from where we began to where we are now. It really puts it into perspective just how far we have came after you read through game history

Now, this leads us to the question, what is game design? 

A great definition of game design is "game design is a large field, drawing from the fields of computer science/programming, creative writing, and graphic design", I found this definition on a website for students. 

There are many types of design including

• system design
• level design
• content design
• user interface design
• world-building
• story writing

Game Design does not involve programming, art or animation, or marketing, or any of the other myriad tasks required to make a game. This is known as game development, design is simply one part of development. Game Design is incredibly broad, here are some analogies to what makes a game designer and what they do. 

Game designers are artists, architects, party hosts, educators, gods and lawyers. Do you agree with this statement? I personally feel that these are accurate analogies when you really think about them and they make an interesting debate. Think hard about each comparison and you will find that although they may seem over the top at first, they are very valid points.

Lastly, game design also has a lot of iteration and risk. The purpose of iteration in game design is to lower risk. Here are some examples of risks that game designers try and figure out. There is design risk, will the game be fun? There is implementation risk, will they be able to build the game? There is also market risk, even if the game is great, will people buy it?. The greater the risk, the more more important iteration is. Iteration is what makes a great game designer stand out from the others. 

If you have any interest in making a game, make sure to check out this youtube video to get some more information on how to start making a game!