While chatting with some other game-making types a while back, I made a bold statement about game design. A good game designer (I proclaimed) needs to have not one, but two main skills: the ability to design (duh), and the ability to communicate that design to others.
It doesn’t matter if you’ve created the best board game since (insert your favorite board game here and don’t say Monopoly or I’ll break your legs), if no one can make sense of your rules, no one will play it.
Here’s a diagram:
Communication is even more important in video game design. In digital, you don’t write rules for players, you write documentation for programmers, who use their cyber-wizardry to transform those documents into computer code, the results of which appear for the players to see and interact with.
Another diagram? Okay:
As you can see, there are more steps between the brilliant game you have in your head and the game that the players actually experience. More steps means more places for your design to get lost in translation. So while excellent communication is important in tabletop, it’s absolutely essential for video games.
Am I saying you need an English degree to design games? Of course not (though my English degree has certainly come in handy). Just be aware that designing the game is only one side of the coin.
