Do u think game design is really a field one can study?
No offence, it just seems to me like a pseudo science.
I know there are some kinds of study programmes and stuff.
I just think it is way better for people to be experienced in coding, do graphics as a hobby and study psychology (or something related) instead.

For 3d math and some 2d you need to learn some serious math. Games often use lots and lots of data. So algorithms for handling lots of data efficiently is very important. They are often building real-time (deterministic) simulation systems. Networking theory on top of this, especially for MMO platforms. All of this they have to squeeze into 30 fps at least for non-turn based games. Just syncing audio and graphics reliably is a feat. A lot of what I learned in game programming I applied to control system to control real systems. It is definitely not a small subject and quickly expands to expertise for each element of the process. One could probably spend years just studying ways to produce convincing AI behavior in games. The graphics pipeline is another monster of a topic. It just goes on and on.

@Demolishun yeah but game designers are not expected to be experts in all those fields

What do the people who are successful at game design say?

Game design can make or break the quality of the game. It’s not just the programming behind, it’s the overall user experience as well. It has to be entertaining and easy to pick up and play

There is more to game dev/design than practically any other field. I believe the only one that surpasses it in complexity is the entirety of biology: genetics, virology, chem and organic chem, bloodwork, anatomy, medicine, surgery, etc.

So yes, it is absolutely something you need to study (and study, and study, and apply, and practice) to do well.

Just what does making a great game involve? Here’s a list:

• Premise. (The core idea)
• Market research. (will anyone play it?)
• Story writing.
• Character design.
• Worldbuilding.
• Art.
• Modeling.
• Animations.
• Camera work.
• Mapping.
• Mechanics.
• Psychology/motivations.
• Immersion.
• Balance.
• Controls.
• UI and UX.
• Engine (and all it entails).
• Netcode.
• Security.
• Graphics.
• Shaders.
• Hardware support.
• Performance.

Notice how few of these are code-related? This list also doesn’t include overhead, such as management, accounting, marketing, publishing, support, billing, legal, ….

I read some books on game design. When I saw them use "fun" as a term, I stopped reading.

And pls don't confuse game development and game design. I'm speaking only about game design as a discipline.

A good question… if you mean study as “in school” I doubt it, if you mean in a more general term, I’d say one can study it by playing games and observing closely how and why things are placed like they do and how other people behave in relations to it… the trick is that game design is an evolving field, so one must not stop studying after they produce a good design: an innovation or a change in the way a previous feature is used is… always behind the corner.

This is gonna sound like a meme, but I really think a good game designer needs to love games: if you approach what I just said without interest in games you will not dig deeper and find that specific features are designed specifically for small but noisy groups (e.g speedrunners), which is very unproductive to ignore!

📌

@Root I think lots of items from that list, things like storywriting, texturing, modeling and even the basic scripting/coding itself regarding gameplay rules are difficult to teach in a theoretical sense — people who create game assets tend to be self-taught, out of passion.

But that is considering you already have the tools.

Building the tooling, the engines, that does get academical very quickly.

If you hear the devs from Path of Exile (custom, very tailored engine) talk about light transport research and map generation algorithms, it's pretty clear they've studied in related fields.

Building a game on top of existing Unity/Unreal engine requires nothing but passion, practice and determination though. And a parental basement to live in, because you're most likely not going to earn even minimum wage.

@bittersweet It is difficult to learn most of those from classes( you’re absolutely right. But studying isn’t just school. If you really want to get into game dev, the best way to learn is by playing games. That’s your study material. And making your own, of course :)

I would also recommend taking to devs, reading what books you can, and interning at a studio if possible.

@Root And because the field is so broad, you either need to mask your deficiencies by carefully selecting your genre, or find a larger team.

In other words, make a 2D platformer or visual novel if you're great at drawing textures, stick to an abstract geometric puzzle game if your art skills aren't great, etc.

I think if you're planning to go at it alone, the ability to simplify is the best skill you can have.

@Root And if you're teaming up with other amateur game devs or asset artists, set up some fair expectations.

My girlfriend has done voice acting for a bunch of indie games for free, but it's super important to be clear and honest about whether it's volunteering, hourly rate, priced per x words, or based on percentage of game revenue.

For most work she did it for fun because she liked the projects, and fully realizing the games would not make a profit at all.

But she still has a simple contract stating "volunteering work, unless the game makes more than x revenue in which case x fee will be charged"

@Atahensic If the gameplay isn't fun, then what is the point? Many game designers shoot for 30 seconds of fun. Once they get that sweet spot in a game, they repeat it through out the game. You can also design a game to be addictive and can find the addiction sweet spot by doing A-B testing. I talked to a guy who figured this out for his app. Then he purposely avoided that spot in his game so it wouldn't cause people to play for too long.

I am kind of confused whether you mean the technical part (which isn't simple, for sure) or the more "what experience do you want" part, which I still think has some complications to it if you are building a commercial product specifically

@Demolishun my point is not whether it is fun, but whether a discipline that uses questionable terms like "fun" is a discipline worth studying formally (college etc.). In an analogical context, I would say game design is still an alchemy and not a chemistry.

@Atahensic The same can be said for programming. Yes there are definitely better ways to do things, but there are nearly infinite paths to accomplish the same task. Especially with different techs applied. For instance it takes experience and art to figure which language is better for specific tasks. Everything has tradeoffs. For game design managing people can be a big part of this. That is definitely an art unto itself.

Maybe the hard part about game design is that it tends to be more art than science. Many professions start out very science based, but when advancing in your profession you tend to learn the art side of things. A good example of this is layout of traces on circuit boards. The tools only get you so far. Rules of electronics dictate a lot of what you can do. However, ultimately the layout (even with autorouters) ends up being completely creativity based. Your right, a lot of this cannot be taught easily.

You might look at some places offering game design curriculums.