Boredom, inverted.

Hi, I’m InvertedVertex, one of the writers for the TDA blog. I’m a hobbyist game designer, and I’ve been actively working on games for about 3-4 years now. I like making games that are simple to learn and setup, while keeping them highly interactive and engaging. On here, I would write 2 types of posts:

1. Posts aimed at sharing the experiences and lessons learned through working on games, mine or otherwise. These would be aimed at newer designers, with different ‘difficulty’ levels depending on the current topic.
2. Posts that take on a more traditional blog style, with more specific examples and issues, meant to encourage discussion and serve as both progress tracking for the projects I’m working on and as a way to get more people engaged with them.

I’ll talk more about my projects – past or present – in other posts, but for starters I want to take a bit of time and talk about a topic that’s pretty wide and subjective, but nevertheless interesting:

Why design ?

This is one of those questions where you’d get 12 different answers from 10 different people. From experience, the reason for making games can vary completely from designer to designer, and that’s what’s I find so interesting about it. Making a game from scratch is no small endeavour, and one needs to know their motives before embarking on the journey. Some people do it as a means of creative expression, some enjoy the challenge, others want to make the best game ever, while some (myself included) want to make games that they want to play themselves. But with things like this, the answers are never so clear-cut. As you gain experience, your priorities and opinions on things can change, and you can find yourself enjoying a completely different aspect of the process than when you started. But that’s the point, right? As long as you enjoy what you’re doing, you don’t need to know the exact reason for it, but I think it’s a good thought exercise nonetheless. It can help you keep your direction with your designs, especially if you’re just starting out or feel like you’re lacking focus.

So, ask yourself this question, give it a bit (or a lot) of thought, and let us know. I’d love to know your thoughts on the matter, and discussion is always welcome and encouraged.

Next post we’ll start looking at some of the broader concepts in game design, and how one would go about actually starting a game of their own in the first place.
Until then, have a song that’s been stuck in my head for a couple of days now:

This is InvertedVertex, signing off.