Want to become a game designer? Start here.
The ultimate resource for aspiring game designers
When I tell people I’m a game designer, the most common response is something like: “That sounds amazing. How do you become one?” The question is simple, but the answer isn’t. Game design is a craft that spans disciplines from psychology to economics, from narrative to systems thinking.
This guide isn’t about how to design games (it would take much more than one article to teach that). It’s about how to learn game design. Whether you’re a college student considering a career path, a professional looking to transition industries, or simply someone with a passion for games and ideas to share, these resources will help you level up your skills.
Books: The Designer’s Bookshelf
Starting with books might seem old-school in the digital age, but the best game design knowledge has been captured in these foundational texts:
For Complete Beginners
Game Design Workshop by Tracy Fullerton is my go-to recommendation for anyone starting from zero. This book doesn’t just talk about game design; it walks you through actually making games, step by step. What sets it apart is its workshop approach: each chapter ends with exercises that build your skills progressively. I assign this in my first-year classes at Northeastern, and students who follow along faithfully always create something playable by the end.
The Art of Game Design: A Book of Lenses by Jesse Schell takes a unique approach that I find extraordinarily valuable. Rather than prescribing a single methodology, Schell provides over 100 “lenses” or perspectives through which to view your design. These range from “The Lens of Emotion” to “The Lens of the Puzzle” to “The Lens of Technology.” The book flows beautifully, with each concept building naturally on the last. It’s accessible enough for beginners but deep enough that I still reference it after years in the industry.
For Skill Building
Challenges for Game Designers by Brenda Romero and Ian Schreiber is exactly what it sounds like: a collection of challenges that develop specific game design skills. What I love about this book is that it focuses on non-digital design, meaning anyone can dive in without programming knowledge. Each challenge targets a specific design skill, from balancing economies to designing for different player types.
A Pattern Language for Game Design by Christopher Barney (my colleague at Northeastern) brings the architectural concept of pattern languages to games. If you’re not familiar with pattern languages, they break down complex systems into constituent patterns that can be recombined in various ways. Barney catalogs these fundamental patterns in games, providing a vocabulary and framework that helps designers see the underlying structures in seemingly different games.
For Advanced Designers
Characteristics of Games by Richard Garfield, Skaff Elias, and Robert Gutschera is a bit like a game design college course in book form. Written by the creator of Magic: The Gathering, it deeply analyzes what makes games work, with particular attention to multiplayer dynamics. This is especially valuable for tabletop designers or anyone building games with complex player interactions. The book doesn’t teach you how to design so much as it helps you understand why existing designs succeed or fail.
Rules of Play by Katie Salen and Eric Zimmerman is the closest thing game design has to a theoretical textbook. It’s dense but rewarding, organizing game design concepts into schemas like Rules, Play, and Culture. I don’t recommend this as a first book, but once you’ve got some experience, it helps provide a vocabulary and framework for thinking about design at a higher level.
Frameworks and Papers: The Theory of Design
Beyond books, certain frameworks and academic papers have become foundational to how we teach and practice game design:
The MDA Framework (Mechanics, Dynamics, Aesthetics) by Robin Hunicke, Marc LeBlanc, and Robert Zubek is perhaps the most cited framework in game design. This short paper provides a way to understand how game mechanics (the rules) create dynamics (the emergent behavior) which lead to aesthetics (the emotional responses). It’s foundational to player-centric design, reminding us that players experience a game backward from how designers create it. The paper is freely available online, and understanding it is practically a prerequisite for working in the industry.
Player-Centric Design, championed by Tracy Fullerton, is less a paper and more a philosophy that runs through modern game design. The core principle is designing from the player’s experience backward, rather than from features forward. This approach is now standard practice, but it’s worth understanding explicitly rather than implicitly.
Game Feel by Steve Swink (both a book and a concept) explores the moment-to-moment sensory experience of playing games. While it focuses more on digital games with direct control, the principles apply broadly. Understanding how tiny details of timing, animation, and feedback create the visceral experience of play is crucial for any designer.
Free Online Resources: Learning Without Breaking the Bank
You don’t need to spend a fortune to learn game design. Some of the best resources are available for free:
GDC Vault contains hundreds of talks from the Game Developers Conference. While many require a paid subscription, a significant number of excellent presentations are available for free. Particularly valuable are the classic game postmortems, where veteran designers break down how they created iconic games, what worked, and what failed. For aspiring designers, these real-world case studies are gold.
Extra Credits* on YouTube provides bite-sized explorations of game design concepts. What I like about this series is that it makes complex design ideas accessible without oversimplifying them. The episodes on topics like “The Skinner Box,” “Perfect Imbalance,” and “The Magic Circle” are particularly valuable starting points. I’ve used these in my classroom for years to spark discussion.
*NOTE: Extra Creditz has rebranded to Extra History and now provides (really entertaining) history content on YouTube. But the old game design videos are all still up! Just scroll the the bottom.
Game Maker’s Toolkit by Mark Brown offers deeper dives into specific games and mechanics, analyzing why they work. His “Boss Keys” series on Zelda dungeon design or his breakdowns of games like Dark Souls provide practical examples of design principles in action. The production value is exceptional, and Brown has a knack for clearly articulating complex design decisions.
Ludology Podcast hosted by Gil Hova and Emma Larkins explores tabletop game design specifically. For those interested in board games, card games, or RPGs, this podcast features interviews with leading designers and deep dives into specific mechanics and approaches. The back catalog is extensive, so you can find episodes on virtually any tabletop design topic.
Communities and Networking: Finding Your People
The single most valuable resource for an aspiring game designer isn’t a book or video; it’s other designers. Our craft advances through collaboration and shared knowledge:
Local Meetups are the best entry point. Sites like Meetup.com usually have game development groups in most major cities. These gatherings typically welcome newcomers and offer opportunities to playtest your designs and meet potential collaborators. When I first started as a game designer in my native Boston, the Boston Game Makers Guild became my creative home*, and I eventually joined their board of directors. Look for similar groups in your area.
*QUICK ASIDE: I actually think I owe my whole career to the Boston Game Makers Guild (GMG). Connections I made to other designers here led to my first professional jobs and exposure in the Boston Globe and even TED. Don’t neglect local networks!
Online Communities* like the r/gamedesign subreddit, Game Design Stack Exchange, and the Game Design Discord server provide places to ask questions, share your work, and learn from others. While the signal-to-noise ratio varies, these communities typically have experienced designers willing to share knowledge.
*NOTE: I used to go to Twitter (uh, X?) for these things, but in my opinion that app is now unusuable. If you know of other good networks, please share them in the comments.
Game Jams like Global Game Jam or Ludum Dare offer intensive, time-limited challenges to create games around specific themes. These events are perfect for applying what you’ve learned, building a portfolio, and connecting with other creators. Many designers (myself included) have formed lasting professional relationships through jam collaborations.
Industry Events beyond just GDC include smaller, more accessible conferences like PAX Dev, IndieCade, and numerous regional events. While attending can be costly, many offer volunteer opportunities in exchange for admission. The connections made at these events can be transformative for your career.
If you are a tabletop designer, conventions like PAX Unplugged, Essen Spiel, and GenCon are actually famous for providing an environment where aspiring designers can walk right up to the president of a major company and pitch a game. (Email them first, please)
Learning Through Making: Just Build Something
The harsh truth about game design is that no amount of reading or watching will substitute for actually making games. The resources above provide knowledge, but application creates understanding:
Free Game Development Tools have revolutionized who can make games. For digital games, engines like Unity, Unreal (both with extensive free tiers), and completely free options like Godot remove technical barriers. For non-digital design, print-and-play templates and services like The Game Crafter make it feasible to create physical prototypes without huge upfront costs.
Game Design Exercises can help build skills even when you’re not creating complete games. Try redesigning an existing game to achieve a different emotional response. Analyze your favorite game’s economies on paper. Design around extreme constraints (a game that uses only one button, a game that can be played while cooking). Each exercise builds different design muscles.
Thinking Like A Game Designer (all the time) keeps your design muscles strong. I hardly ever watch a movie, read a book, or learn a new fact WITHOUT thinking “how would I make a game of this?” Some people do this naturally, but it’s a skill that can actually be practiced. And it’s the number one skill of all successful game designers.
Finding Your Path
No two game designers have identical career paths, and that’s part of what makes this field exciting. Some designers come from programming backgrounds, others from writing or art, still others from fields as diverse as psychology, economics, or education.
What unites successful designers isn’t their background but their approach: a combination of analytical thinking, creative problem-solving, and a deep curiosity about how people play and why. The resources above will help you develop these qualities, but the most important resource is your own dedication to the craft.
The world doesn’t need more games; it needs better games. Games that surprise us, challenge us, connect us, and maybe even change us. If you’re willing to put in the work to master this craft, those are the games you’ll create.
And when you do, please reach out and let me know. I’d love to play them.
Sam Liberty is a gamification expert, applied game designer, and consultant. His clients include The World Bank, Click Therapeutics, and DARPA. He teaches game design at Northeastern University. He is the former Lead Game Designer at Sidekick Health.
