Hi, I have absulotely no experience in game design beside playing them alot. My background is the following: Web Programmer Web Design Network Technicien I have, althought I consider web programming more like Scripting than real programming, a good idea what programming is about. I do web grafics from time to time and I am not too bad at it but I dont consider myself an Artist. I have a course in Network Technicien I understand the concepts how it works, server clients, protocols etc... Althought I dont know these things FULLY I think that knowing them partialy puts me in a good place for Designing a game and answering the programmers questions and leading the artists in the right directions. I am putting everything down about a game I would like to get realized. I still have ALOT to write about tho. I''ve been reading theses forums and its been kind of discouraging and encouraging at the same time. My first idea was the write the document the best I can and then present it to a company to get it built. Would that be a waste of time? Should I instead recruit programmers and artists and get the project going myself? knowing I have no money to spare... Recruiting programmers not knowing if its their first crack at this and poorly coding it. Anyway i''m babbling I guess. I''m still thinking about how to go about this while writting my Game Design Doc. Anyone has advices? Thanks Qjahe

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I''ve been reading theses forums and its been kind of discouraging and encouraging at the same time. My first idea was the write the document the best I can and then present it to a company to get it built. Would that be a waste of time?

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I was with you right up until this last part. There is a common misconception among inexperienced designers that one can simply write a game design document and then sell it to a company. To my knowledge, this has never happened.. not ever. The games industry doesn''t work quite like the film industry, where talented script writers can make a lot of money. Game companies have plenty of ideas and can produce games just fine without spending money on other peoples'' ideas, no matter how well they''re fleshed out.

But hope is not lost! I would highly recommend developing your game yourself. Building and managing a team over the Internet is fantastic experience, though much more difficult than it sounds. Also, you''ll learn a lot about the design process.

However, it will help a lot to really understand game design. Simply playing a lot of games doesn''t really qualify one to be a game designer. There are a few good books out there, and plenty of online resources; and of course GameDev has dozens of great resources that I''d advise checking out.

I didnt had in mine to actualy SELL the Design Doc to a company. I was more thinking of going to a company with it, they read it if they like they let me Direct the team in the making of it.

In the end I dont even care to get paid for it. I just want to get my game made. cuz I know I would play it like crazy.

And I think that playing alot of games actualy helps you see what can and cant be done. What people like and what people dislike. Different approachs that other game designer took.

Reading books on designing games? O.o You serious? for what exactly?

Actualy my question was more the following:

Should I get my game engine built up or use an already existing engine?

Qjahe

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Original post by Qjahe
I didnt had in mine to actualy SELL the Design Doc to a company. I was more thinking of going to a company with it, they read it if they like they let me Direct the team in the making of it.

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Commercial developers and publishers don''t buy game ideas or even accept them for free. Nor will they allow someone with no game development experience to direct a game development project.

For a full explanation of why see http://www.obscure.co.uk/faq_idea.shtml. You have three options
i. Get the necessary qualifications and then an entry level job in the industry. Work on other people''s games to get experience and then in a few years you may get a shot at making your game.
ii. recruit a hobby team to do the game in their free time (easy to start but hard to get finished as people get bored and leave).
iii. Build a business plan and raise finance to start a company - trouble is without industry experience VCs wont fund you.



Dan Marchant
Obscure Productions (www.obscure.co.uk)
Game Development & Design consultant

my advice is learn programing, build a tech demo. and get some polishment from other artist, musician etc.

then release it for free or small price.

or make a demo and show to a game publisher, and hopefully they will like it, and publish your game.

First, regarding to your question, I think you should use an existing engine to make your life easier. However I would advise to first learn to make a simple engine, just to get to know how things work.

If you can get a steady team in the net, I think you should go for that. Consider to learn a little about every aspect of game development, because you don''t know how reliable your team is, and you don''t even know if you will get a team with every skill you need.

There is a help wanted forum here in GameDev if you want to try.

And just a final advise, if your game is complex... seek a lot of help and don''t plan to do it too quick. Don''t make it your first game.

Get and engine and play with it. Make a simple game with it. Build up a database of things about the game you just made that you would like for the game you really want to make. When you have in your database everything for your game, assemble all the pieces and make your game. I''m telling you this because I think this is your first game, and doing a complex game for your first game is a no no.

Playing games doesn''t necesarily mean that you can design games.. how ever I''m pretty sure that if you don''t play games you won''t be able to design them