Everybody learns differently, obviously (and if you've ever had to manage a team, you'll be painfully aware of this!) Personally, for me the only way to learn is to do the thing. Tutorials, books, etc., just don't work for me -- I have to be working on a real project, even if it's just something I've made up.

I guess there are advantages and disadvantages to any method of learning though, but I think that making the mistakes and working out the solutions for yourself beds in the knowledge at a far deeper level than simply taking a book's word on what to do and not to do.

[READ THIS]

Right so, although I do like bursting bubbles, I won't burst this one too much. Most of the people commenting are kind of accidentally lying to you, the reality is most of these methods just straight out won't work. There's a multitude of things you can do to learn about design and most of them are actually not game related.

See the thing is, most people when they want to learn about creating games, think the trick to learning about that process is by - creating games or writing sheets. I really, really disagree with that thought process.

In my experience, the trick is that you need to learn outside knowledge, learn about film, music, art, drama and writing. Honestly it is crazy, how many times, my studies of film and drama have actually been the initial structure I've had to use when I've had to create the foundations for a mod or simply explain a process to a studio. In my experience, I've found Pablo Picasso and Quentin Tarantino as great people to learn from when it comes to studying Film or Art. Picasso because of the way he views his world and Quentin because of how bold and different his approach is to creating a movie.

It's also best you avoid other people's methods for creating a sheet or making a game, because honestly - not only will your product end up worse, you'll lose an opportunity to develop your own confidence and learn something. Creating art requires you to take a very different approach then other people, you need to find a unique path that provides you with information that other people do not have and a vision that nobody else can think of. Because there is a similarity to creating games and cooking, the best cooks create things that are different and beautiful, bad cooks follow recipes and stay within the confines of cooking 'standards'.

But this should be something you want to do in the end, because there's no point spending your whole life learning about Design if this isn't the thing you live and breathe for. You need to ask yourself if this is something you could love, something that you think you have a passion for. This is a job you will be doing every single day for the rest of your life, it will essentially define who you are because you put so much time into it, so the last thing you want to do is to go down a road not meant for you. Figure out if you were meant to Design Games or if it's just because you want to do something 'fun', because most people get into games simply because they like playing games, which is not really a good reason to get in the first place, since basically the entire world likes playing games - there has to be a lot more to it then that.

Three words: Just do it.

If you don't like the experimental way, you should base your game design on existing,working design. This sounds like cloning, but to be honest, when you design a new car, do you invent the wheel and engine every time or doesn't you take existing, proofen concept as foundation ? The final game design of a working and enjoyable game is eventually a compressed version of someone else experiences, experiences which you should utilize to create something new and experiences which would likely not be gained by a single game designer.

I just want to chime in a bit more with what Ashaman said.

This is a very real thing, and actually has a lot of historical context. In earlier eras (like Shakespeare's time) "standing on the shoulders of giants" was a term that defined how people wrote. It suggested that building on what came before showed more education, and only served to improve what came before. Think of it like quoting or fan references, except it was pretty much on the scale of encouraged plagiarism. It's only more recently with the popularity of seeking to change the world on an individual level that mindsets have changed.

But despite it having changed, a lot of games are small tweaks from other games, and both are awesome. So, DO try maybe changing it from something else, but find something you love to play that's maybe on the easier side to make (arcade games?) and try some variations out. Do something small that you don't think has been done before on top of a familiar game. Like make a simple 2d racer where you can upgrade abilities in unique ways. Make a small version and see if people think it's interesting.

My advice is read about the career and practice its required skills

I have this book by Brenda Romero, Challenges Game Designers and I really like it as a way to practice game design. It gives some pointers and advice but really just presents you with different design challenges that you can do. Some are big, some are small so it can depend how much time you want to spend on each but its useful practice. I even did a few of them with her when she ran workshops at our college last year.

I started designing by the suggestion of my friend, through friends I learn how to pixelate, I also browse deviantart and look at 1000's of examples and designs.

I toy around on paint and photoshop until I get the images just right. I have been doing this for about 3 years and polished my style with years of testing and practice, although I'm sure a book or two would've helped.