Meaning, you can only design a game that doesn't fully exist yet. Design is the act of envisioning a game that doesn't exist, then development is the accompanying act of making that vision come into existence.

That's the word! Development!

So you have Game Design and then you have Game Development. I think this is where I was aiming when I asked if there are any game makers/designers. I guess it is only natural for someone to come to GameDev (Game Development) to ask questions about "developing" games. So perhaps naturally you wouldn't have so many people asking questions about "designing" a game.

Talking about Game Design is a whole other conversation than talking about Game Development. And perhaps it is just a confusion of the two terms as to why I see more development posts rather than design posts.

Perhaps the term "Game Maker" then is the combination of both designing and developing a game.

I was only seeing half of it though.

Even then, I can't see one without the other. Either way you wouldn't have a game if the other isn't there, because Game design is not only choosing the correct design for your game idea, but actually having a design in the first place for your game.

I mean, an iPad has a specific design to make it as efficient as it is. I could just get the cheapest parts and slap a display on a piece of metal and use a car battery to power my custom made tablet, but not much consideration would have gone into that design other than the fact that I would blow up the whole block as soon as I tried to press the power button. haha. And would it even be a tablet then?

That is why I know my "game" isn't a game. I just have models and animations and lights and a program, but I have no real game design (as is portrayed in the "Art of game mechanics" panel I posted).

Have you ever wondered where ipads get their designs from?

Photography by: CC-BY-SA-3.0/Matt H. Wade at Wikipedia

Have you ever wondered where ipads get their designs from?

haha. I wouldn't doubt it.

Perhaps the term "Game Maker" then is the combination of both designing and developing a game.

Well, none of us here (and none of us in the industry) use the term "Game Maker" except in reference to the software GameMaker. You're the one who used the term to mean something else (which is why I had to ask what you meant).

Yeah, to back up what Tom said -- in my experience in the industry:

• Game designer = a specific role: the people who design the game mechanics. People who make rules for board games, etc, are also game designers.
• Game developer = anyone who works on creating the game, including coders, artists, producers and also the designers.
  • Game programmer, game artist, game designer, etc, etc = a specific type of game developer.
• Game maker = the name of a specific game engine.
• Game theory = is a branch of mathematics with not much to do with (what we call) games.
  • I'd call what you're talking about "the study of game mechanics", or simply "game design".
  • Game theory is not a core skill that a game designer must have... However, it may be an interesting subject for a game designer to be familiar with though -- it gives you mathematical tools that lets you determine the best course of action given a set of rules and consequences, so maybe you can use it to help figure out if your game is "balanced" or not, or to discover the optimal strategies.

You have some building blocks, now you want to make a game.

We cant just tell you, you have to decide some particulars before we can even give advice or expand on the ideas.

You can talk all you want about game theory, but that element is still only a tiny part of what a game is.

Its like talking atoms when you are trying to build a human being.

YOU now have to start building up an idea of a game FOR YOURSELF to make - get out the paper and start making an outline, fill in bits, see what fits, THEN come back here to run it past us to get more ideas to fill in gaps or to improve your plan.

Its still only a start, because there is so much to do beyond that.

Have you ever wondered where ipads get their designs from?

Photography by: CC-BY-SA-3.0/Matt H. Wade at Wikipedia

See theres an idea for a game - a nice limited map - the boat - dropped by a wormhole into the 'Stupid Dimension' and the passengers on board have to learn to survive. Being in the 'Stupid Dimension', the game doesnt have to try to simulate reality overly closely and lots of corny cliches can be applied with a proper excuse...

Maybe the OP can now get to work ??

See theres an idea for a game - a nice limited map - the boat - dropped by a wormhole into the 'Stupid Dimension' and the passengers on board have to learn to survive. Being in the 'Stupid Dimension', the game doesnt have to try to simulate reality overly closely and lots of corny cliches can be applied with a proper excuse...

Maybe the OP can now get to work ??

Hehe you have just described:

Actually, game theory has very little to do with making games.

The prisoner dilemma, for example, is a case in point of logic that identifies a dominant strategy. Using this to design a game would lead to very poor gameplay...

Or did you mean game design theory? These are radically different.