One of the most common questions I get from aspiring game creators is, "Where do I even begin?" The answer might seem obvious, but it's always the same: "Start by playing games."

"Well, duh!" you might think. Of course, you've played games. You know what games are, and you've likely spent countless hours immersed in various virtual worlds. So, what exactly do I mean by this seemingly simplistic advice? Let's dive into the art of playing games with the purpose of making one someday.

The core difference is the intent. Generally, games are a medium of entertainment, and like everyone else, you probably enjoy them because they entertain you at some level.

When you play a game with the intent of making one, you should focus on how the game would (or wouldn’t) entertain others. This difference in perspective makes the same act of playing games a distinct experience.

So, if you want to start learning about games, let me outline some actionable steps for you to approach this process.

🧭Find a game

If you want to play a game with the intent of making one, be intentional about your choice. The platform or genre doesn't matter—it completely depends on you. You can choose a game from a platform or genre you like, or even one you dislike.

You might have a specific task at hand, which will guide your selection. If not, feel free to explore.

Always remember, the goal of this exercise is to gain a broader understanding of design choices in different products.

🕹️Play

Focus on all your experiences while playing. Games are interactive, and the best way to understand this is by experiencing it yourself.

Reflect on what you feel while playing:

Did the game teach you the controls well?

Is it too easy? Or too tough?

Are there too many clicks required in the interface to start playing?

How does it make you feel? Happy, sad, frustrated, indifferent?

Do you feel like you want to explore further?

Is the game delivering what you expected, or is it a surprise—good or bad?

Games are a form of art that, with their interactive nature, can make different people feel different things. If you want to build games, it's important to first understand how games make you feel. And you can start by simply playing them.

✒️Record

Note down all the feelings and experiences you had while playing. Notes are a great way to collect your thoughts. These can be just for your eyes only, but keep them.

Write down what you liked, and more importantly, what you disliked about the experience. Note how a particular piece of animation felt really nice, or how not being able to get enough currency to progress was frustrating.

There is no right or wrong answer. If you’re noting what you felt, your notes are valid.

🔎Refer to more

Any game you play will have tens, if not hundreds, of similar games available. Try to find and play some of these.

Engage with multiple similar products to compare your earlier notes. This will help you see if any of the items you noted have been addressed better or worse in other games.

This is a great way to validate your thoughts and deepen your understanding of the genre or mechanics of the game.

Continue making more notes, listing your likes and dislikes. Compare these with your previous notes.

Over time, as you collect your thoughts on more games, you'll build a valuable library of insights that will help you better understand what works and what doesn't.

📈Research public opinion

All the tasks up until now were in your personal capacity. Now that you have your thoughts gathered, start looking for public opinion about the game or genre you're exploring.

You can do this in different ways, such as:

Checking the reviews on store listings and blogs.

Finding subreddits or Discord servers related to the game/genre and going through the discussions.

Looking for deconstructions of the game.

Checking the game’s social media pages and reading through the comments.

Looking at download trends and rankings of the game.

The reason you do this step after the earlier ones is to avoid biasing your thinking process. Use this step to understand the opinions of other people.

It's possible that you might have a completely different outlook compared to the comments you read online, and that's perfectly fine.

💭Reflect

Once you’ve collected your thoughts and public opinion, it’s time to reflect and understand.

Compare the different games you played. Use this part of your process to answer some questions for yourself.

Can you find if some of the problems you noticed in 'game X' were solved by 'game Y'? How?

Did you find similarities across all the games? Why do you think that is? Can public opinion research help you understand this?

Why does a certain mechanic or feature exist in the game? Could there be a specific reason for it?

Challenge yourself to find the problems and solutions in the different games you experienced.

Is there something from any of the existing games that you could improve? How?

Is there anything that could make one game better than the other? What could that be?

Is there a common issue you see in these types of games? What could be the solution according to you?

After all, a good solution equals good design, and you need a good problem to find a good solution. Using this approach, you can build a problem- and solution-oriented thinking process.

🔁Repeat

All of the above is not a one-off activity; it’s something you can continually practice. The more you repeat this process, the more you'll improve. When you build the habit of playing games, understanding them, and thinking about how to improve them, you'll gradually unlock your “thinking muscle,” as I like to call it, and that will serve you well.

One thing I’ve noticed among the amazingly talented individuals I’ve worked with is that they excel at thinking. The way you approach problems is the essence of being a good designer and a good thinker.

To read more about my thoughts on creating and solving problems, check out another one of  my posts on this topic here!

💡Pro Tip: YouTube

It’s understandable that you can’t always play every game. A great resource for seeing how games work is to check out gameplay videos on YouTube. You can easily find various gameplay videos, even for specific features in a game. Watching these can help you gain insights and is an excellent way to expand your reference library.

❗Important note

There are simply too many games out there, and each can take hours to complete. When playing any game, don’t view it as something that requires extensive time before you can start understanding and recording your thoughts.

You don’t need to sit day and night to “complete” the game. Instead, timebox yourself and play for a limited period. After each session, take notes on your experience. You can apply this approach to multiple games.

For example, if you plan to try five games in a specific genre, you could play each one for an hour throughout the week. By the end of the week, you'll have insights from the first hour of experience for all five games, allowing you to compare your likes and dislikes effectively.

📝TL,DR

This post has been an exploration of my approach to understanding games, articulated in words. This method has proven helpful for me. Do you find it makes sense, and could it assist you in addressing your design challenges?

If you found this useful and are interested in more game design insights, feel free to subscribe to my Substack here. This post was originally posted here.