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By Mark Damon Hughes <kamikaze@kuoi.asui.uidaho.edu>

   "Here's the situation--I'm 15 years old. I have the technical knowledge to write a pretty good game. (Good in the sense that it will be fun, not the-next-quake2-good.) The thing is, I have very little idea as to how to design, say, an adventure game. I have the basic concept down, and a general idea on where the story is going. What next? Any help would be appreciated." -Jeremy Penner

   That's the billion-dollar question. There's no easy answer to it, except: "design games". Your first designs will suck. They will suck *HARD*.

   The key thing to understand here is that a "good game" has almost nothing to do with how good the programming is. Marginal code and a good design are infinitely better than terrific code with terrible design...

   If you're not a designer by nature, find one, let them do all the design work, and try not to interfere.

   Here's some warning signs that you might be a budding game designer:

• Your designs suck hard, but your immense ego won't let you acknowledge that, and you'll develop a deep and abiding loathing for those who review or playtest your games. Don't use friends for this if you can help it (this may or may not be a problem for you - many programmers have no friends).
• You find yourself unable to stop designing all the time.
• Your immediate reaction to all new games is either "Pretty graphics, but the gameplay sucks - I could do better." or "Wow, it has a level editor? I could make stuff with this!"
• Your ego crushes lesser beings underfoot, then complains that they're staining your shoes. (why the connection between ego and designer? I suspect it has to do with wanting to impose your ideas of fun on other people).

   However, not all programmers are or ought to be designers, any more than they are or ought to pretend to be artists, musicians, sound editors. Some have many skills, but many have only one, and it's nothing to be ashamed of.

   Okay, assuming you're still interested in design, it helps to start very small - adventure games are hideously complex. Start with a videogame, possibly just modifying a classic game. Designing pencil-and-paper board and roleplaying and wargames is an excellent way to start, since you don't have to worry about the programming, you just write some rules, maybe make some counters and a board, and playtest it.

   What to do next depends on what kind of software design & programming skills you have - the actual process from design to working program is exactly the same as for any other program, though there are some challenges in making code fit a design rather than the other way about.