Game Design Guide

About

Game Design Guide is a structured, free knowledge base for game designers of all levels, espessialy for beginers.

This site focuses on design thinking: understanding systems, identifying problems, and building the ability to reason through game challenges.

Also, this site is a personal research project, built with AI to save time and focus on what matters. I update the guide as I go - when I have time and energy. You're welcome to explore it, but it's not a commercial product, and not a substitute for full design education.

What you’ll find here

• Intro — foundational questions: what games are, why people play, what game design means, and how to begin. Perfect starting point if you're new.
• Theory — deep dives into what games are made of: systems, mechanics, player experience.
• Analysis — design-focused breakdowns: how to study features, spot UX flaws, read player behavior, and interpret data.
• Practice — templates, frameworks, and some articles to help to move from idea to implementation.
• Specialties — overviews of game design roles and what each of them requires.
• Terminology — precise definitions of key terms, with context and practical relevance.
• Articles — various short topics that may be relevant in the AI era and the shift away from operator-style game design.
• Tools — a curated library of software and techniques used in real development.
• Bibliography — essential reading to expand your thinking beyond the site.

Also, you can find on this page Planning, Changelog and Suggestion Form.

Updates will be made as version updates, not in live mode.

About me

My name is Evgenia, and I’m Game Designer with 7 years of experience in the gamedev industry. After a while I became confident enough to start my pet project in my spare time, but I lacked systemic knowledge. And from my notes and collection of useful information, a full-fledged guide was created thanks to AI and my free time.