Think Like a Game Designer: The Step-by-Step Guide to Unlocking Your Creative Potential

By: Justin Gary

Narrated by: Justin Gary

Do you love gaming? Do you have ideas for games of your own and want to learn how to produce them professionally?

Longtime game designer Justin Gary has the answers you seek. After 20 years in the gaming industry, creating such games as Solforge, Ascension, and the World of Warcraft Miniatures Game, Justin is now sharing all his secrets in Think Like a Game Designer. Best of all, Justin’s secrets are really simple, practical, and common sense steps you can take yourself.

Justin will walk you through each step and provide exercises for you to formulate your own game concepts and bring them to fruition.

In Think Like a Game Designer, you will learn how to:

• Overcome mental blocks to great creative work
• Understand players’ emotional reactions and evoke the right ones
• Brainstorm ideas and then refine them into useable ones
• Follow the six steps of the core design loop for successfully designing a game
• Capitalize on the excitement of Big Moments in a game
• Get a job in the game industry and get your games published
• Remove the grind of gaming or use it to your advantage
• Integrate monetization into your designs
• Deliver an enjoyable experience to your players so your game stands the test of time

Whether you want to create video games, board games, or just discover how a true creative mind works, it’s all here in Think Like a Game Designer. It’s time to take the first step toward your game designer dream. Are you game?

©2018 Justin Gary (P)2021 Justin Gary

A perfect guide to start.

The book explore the step by step process to build a game Giving key insights for each theme described. Very inspiring to know what to do.

Insightful easy listen

Very insightful and engaging dive into designing your own games by a veteran who made it through doing, without formal education. Lots of aiding resources as well. I would still get the physical book to flip through the pages as needed.

not a game designer, but still applicable

I'm just a regular fiction author but this book helped give me tips and motivation for my next project and maybe even picking up old projects to make better.

Excellent Book for game designers

This book is straight-forward and super helpful. As a game designer, I cannot wait to implement the many techniques described in this book.

Gaming Inspiration

As a lifelong gamer, and game development hobbist, I found many aspects of his creation process insightful. I wish more time had been spent diving into a few topics in more detail, but it was a great process for getting started with game development.