About Game Design Novice

Game Design Novice is a game design / programming community which teaches absolute beginners how to make games. The people who write the tutorials, articles, lists, faqs, and documentation throughout GDN were once absolute novices, just like you.

We Were Absolute Beginners Too

Everyone at GDN remembers how difficult it was to get started creating games and want to use our experience to help you learn to build games as quickly and as easily as possible. After our first year online, we've proved there's a better way to get started and quickly become an advanced programmer. Perhaps one day, you too will become a regular member of GDN and be the one writing the tutorials.

Learn and Find Answers

The Game Design Novice wiki currently has over 1400 tutorials, faqs, lists and documenation for various game design tools. To find a tutorial, you should use the search box at the top / right of every GDN page. For best search results, make sure that your search includes both the name of the software you are using as well as the exact thing you are looking for.

Get Help Quickly

As a community, we help complete novices like you learn to make games not only by writing and maintaining thousands of pages of easily understandable game design / programming material, we like to absolute beginners personally through the Game Design Forum. If you ask a question here, it will most likely be answered in a short time.

Join Game Design Novice

You do not have to join to learn how to make games here at GDN.

Earn Badges

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As you accomplish various set goals, you will earn badges for your achievements. There are three ways to earn badges :

  1. You can attempt to earn as many as possible by completing the badge challenges.
  2. You will automatically earn badges when you have completed a badge challenge as you advance naturally. For example, it is almost impossible to make a 2D RPG without also creating a battle engine. Therefore, by making a 2D RPG, you will have automatically earned the Battle Engine Badge.
  3. A few badges cannot be earned by completing a game design / programming challenge, these badges are given by GDN administrators as awards.

Badges can only be earned by people who have become members of Game Design Novice.

This page has been recommended for cleanup, integration, etc.

Unless otherwise stated, the content of this page is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 2.5 License.