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[Bones]

So your advice is just to play them and make them? No advice on how to critically deconstruct them?

Playing them is probably the greatest form of critically deconstructing them.
Since learning how games and AI is constructed, I can't help but play a game and understand all the design mechanics of the game.
I understand how things are moving around the level and I get how everything in general works.
(though reading the previous posts I understand that this convo was about board games not video games)

To be honest the only way I can really understand how a game works is to see it with my eyes, either via video play through or actually playing through a game myself.

If you are looking for some good design links, this has been the best collection of links I've found, and I got this from the GameDev sub-reddit.

http://www-cs-students.stanford.edu/~amitp/gameprog.html
Plenty of info on these subjects to name a few.

• Shortest Paths
• Artificial Intelligence
• Game Design
• Tile Based Games
• Hexagonal Grids
• Object Oriented Programming
• Adventure Games
• Scripting Languages
• Economics

[Derek]

Figuring out the game's intent (fast-paced action, hard problem-solving, immersion in a fantasy world or story, subverting the player's expectations, making the player feel joy/sadness/fear, etc.) is a good place to start thinking about it. From there try and see how all the different aspects of the game (graphics, audio, writing, rules) work together to realize that goal... or not.

And in a truly bad game perhaps there's no intent at all, and it's important to realize that, as well.

[DinofarmGames]

No, I think that a program should include lots of playing these games, creating our own games, and in-depth analysis of all.  There are already some good methods established for analyzing game mechanisms.  I just wanted to chime in and say that such a program absolutely must contain, if not be mostly based on, European boardgames of the last 20 years.  The reason for this is that I think they are kind of lightyears ahead of almost any digital games, in terms of gameplay mechanisms.

[cplhasse]

Lots of fucking math. Algebra/Geometry mandatory, Trig highly recommended.

Isn't that pretty much standard college math?

[Zaphos]

Lots of fucking math. Algebra/Geometry mandatory, Trig highly recommended.

Isn't that pretty much standard college math?

It's standard high school math ... standard college math would be linear algebra and calc.

[cplhasse]

Derp, yeah that's what I meant. Always get the american school system wrong, sorry.
Anyway, point was, it's not a lot of math

[EdgeOfProphecy]

I would suggest learning Calculus if you haven't.  I find it pretty useful in game design.  Specifically, being able to use derivatives and integrals to manipulate curves.  I use definite integrals to put difficulty progression curves to work in some of my games.

I'm about to go to lunch, so I'll give you a quick overview of other topics I feel are really useful.

Games are, ultimately, an experience that players have.  All parts of the game, from art to gameplay to sound to how the controller feels in your hand matter in this experience.  I think the key to making very good games is being able to consider how all of these parts combine and influence the emotions of player.

If your goal is to operate as creative lead, or to operate as a one-man-band/indie, it's very useful to have a broad base of knowledge on many topics that crop up in games.  You don't have to be masters of these, but you need to know enough to figure out how they work.  Useful topics include.

Sound design
Music theory
UI Design
Typography
Animation
Art theory
Art history (if you can get a good one, this class is really valuable since it should also teach you solid decomposition skills as you analyze pieces)

These are all independent of game mechanics, but incredibly important for how a game feels to a player.  While you may not be able to do all of the above, being able to understand them (and how they relate) is key to orchestrating the development of an effective game.  I can't draw, but I understand, psychologically, how art works and how it is constructed.  This lets me see where art is deficient in a game and work with real artists to help connect their desires to overall creative vision.

As for game mechanics, pay attention to how they tie into the above.  It's hard for me to really articulate how you go about learning what mechanics are good and bad, because it's something I've been thinking about since I was a kid.  Just be reflective.  Think about a mechanic, think about what it does to you when you experience it.  If a game is frustrating or if you think it sucks, figure our what, specifically (and it may be an intricate combination of factors), is causing that.  Think about what you would do differently.  I wish I could be more helpful here, but sadly I can't right now.  Just play a lot of games and think about them.  Play them to win and try to break their systems.

[Hplus]

Thanks, everyone. I'm thinking I'm going to focus on
1- making games, especially on teams
2- playing and critically deconstructing/talking about/writing about games
3- brushing up on sound and music, since that's my main weakness in making games on my own