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Knowledge is Power - Learn Digital Design

video game tutorials and guides
These archives include all posts related to learning video game design, game development, and art as it applies to games and apps.

We've included our own in-depth tutorials and guides, as well as links to some of our favorite online resources for you to continue your education. You can find recommended game design college programs here.

If you're brand new to game design and development start with the posts listed below, these are our most popular articles from this category. Once you get a basic idea of what you're looking for, then you can navigate through the rest of our posts.

If you’re new to the game and are unsure of what tools or software to get started with, I suggest reading the two posts below and go from there. They will give you a good sense of the industry and point you in the direction of further learning.

Some Popular articles from this category:

  • 10 Essential Video Game Design Books: The 2021 Student Edition
  • The Beginners Guide to Video Game Development in 2021 (Step by Step)
  • Use Sprite Character Generators to Create Characters

Texture Packager and Learn to Make Resource Packs

Texture Pack

While playing classic games like Minecraft can be visually stimulating, the lengths to which someone can spice up the graphics are impressive. For Lord of the Rings fans out there, people used mods and texture packs to create a life-sized replica of the Mines of Moria, a staggeringly large underground environment seen in the franchise. […]

Written by Bryan Wirtz - Updated on January 23, 2023

Improve Your Design Skills with Unity Playmaker

Unity Playmaker

When choosing a game engine, the future game developer must pick something that works for them. Are you more into big-budget blockbusters with brain-busting action and a bevy of brilliant visuals? Maybe choose something with impressive horsepower like the Unreal Engine. However, if you are just starting out, there are quite a few options to […]

Written by Bryan Wirtz - Updated on January 23, 2023

Getting Started With Roblox Scripting

Roblox Coding

Game development used to seem like a far-fetched idea that only big studios could undertake. What if you wanted to create your own game, according to your rules? Furthermore, what if you wanted to share your awesome new game with a bunch of other like-minded gamers and game developers? There’s some good news: the Roblox […]

Written by Bryan Wirtz - Updated on January 18, 2023

Don’t Get Stuck In A Game Loop: The Importance of A Well-Defined Core Gameplay Loop

Game Loop

What Is a Game Loop? The game loop refers to the overall flow of the game program. It is referred to as a ‘loop,’ as the program keeps looping infinitely until manually stopped. As you can probably imagine, there is a ton of variety in game loops and which games loop in specific frames per […]

Written by Bryan Wirtz - Updated on January 18, 2023

Shaders in Game Design: Origin, Basic Design Types, and How to Create Your Own

Graphic Shaders

Overview What Are Shaders in Games? When you see the term ‘shader’ about a video game, it’s a program used to render different pixels. Shaders in games are used when detailing shadows, lighting, texture gradients, and more. However, they can do a lot more than just their namesake. You can often see shaders being packaged […]

Written by Bryan Wirtz - Updated on January 26, 2023

Deferred Rendering Is Here To Save The Day!

Deferred Rendering

What is Deferred Rendering? Deferred rendering is when rendering isn’t part of the first part of the animation pipeline, saving it instead for the very end. Think of post-production effects in movies added after filming. Deferred rendering offers valuable opportunities for animators, as it can cut down the amount of needlessly complicated work by a […]

Written by Bryan Wirtz - Updated on January 15, 2023

Board Game Design Tutorials and Start Guide

Board Game Design

You can probably picture it: a cold, dark night. A violent thunderstorm has taken out the power, and you and your friends are forced to make your own fun without the aid of electronics. This is where the reliable backbone of entertainment comes in: board games. Whether it’s chess or Settlers of Catan, board games […]

Written by Bryan Wirtz - Updated on January 26, 2023

Special Effects Artist: Job Description and Career Roadmap of An SFX Makeup Artist

SFX Artists

SFX and VFX: What’s the Difference? Purpose of Special Effects They are there to illustrate to the audience the creator’s intention of creating a different world in which fantastic things can happen. This is done through various things like simulated weather, complex animatronic beasts, or grisly, gory effects in a horror movie. Visual Effects in […]

Written by Bryan Wirtz - Updated on September 27, 2022

Make Your Own Green Screen

How to Make A Green Screen

You’ve probably heard the term ‘Green Screen’ quite a lot, and you’re probably somewhat familiar with what it is; a flat, green fabric placed in the background that you can impose an image on. Interestingly, ‘green screen’ is actually a bit of a misnomer, as the whole process itself is called ‘Chroma Key Compositing’ or […]

Written by Bryan Wirtz - Updated on January 3, 2023

Teaching Kids to Make Video Games: Start With Kid-Friendly Programming

Video Game Development for Kids

I will never forget the day that I saw my young cousin glued to his iPad, playing Angry Birds. We were on vacation and my family was begging him to put the iPad down and join in the family fun. But he would not be swayed; he felt the call of the birds. That was […]

Written by Bryan Wirtz - Updated on January 26, 2023

Isometric RPGs For A More Immersive Gaming Experience

Isometric Games Review

The 1990s were a great time for RPG computer games. Something that many had in common was that they shared one thing in common: an isometric camera view. This allows for a more comprehensive camera view. Isometric games are those that view gameplay and the game world through a camera angle that isn’t top-down, but […]

Written by Bryan Wirtz - Updated on January 3, 2023

Learn How to Create An io Game From Scratch: The 7 Things You Need to Know

io Game Development

What is an io game? You may be asking yourself that very question, and to be frank, it is a little unclear as to what it means. But that doesn’t mean you can’t take advantage of the genre, which is a form of browser-based games that are free to play and are more casual in […]

Written by Bryan Wirtz - Updated on January 18, 2023

Intro to Multiplayer Games and How to Create Your Own

Create Your Own Multiplayer Games

I will never forget when Halo 2 was announced; everyone in the gaming community let out a collective scream of excitement and anticipation. We were eagerly awaiting not only the sequel to Master Chief’s first solo adventure but more importantly, we were waiting for the sequel to the excellent multiplayer. Days and nights, my friends […]

Written by Bryan Wirtz - Updated on January 23, 2023

What Makes Clicker Games Awesome

How to Make a Clicker Game

I hate to suggest that our readers would be doing anything at school or work but what they are supposed to be doing, but let’s just form a hypothetical scenario: You are in class, you are bored out of your skull, and you still have hours to go. You come across something a little different. […]

Written by Bryan Wirtz - Updated on January 12, 2023

Game Balance: Learn to Find the Right Odds

What is Video Game Balance

I was playing an online match of Age of Empires II with a friend one night. We would choose our favorite civilizations: my friend with the Mongols, me with the English. We chose these particular teams due to their special units. The Mongols used insanely powerful horse archers, and the English units were formidable English […]

Written by Bryan Wirtz - Updated on January 12, 2023

5 Javascript Game Development Tutorials

Javascript Tutorials

Ever since 1995, JavaScript has been an essential part of the internet. Along with HTML, JavaScript has been instrumental in bringing web pages we browse to life, allowing aspects to be interactive. It’s easily one of the most widely used and most important programming languages that we have ever come across in our daily internet […]

Written by Bryan Wirtz - Updated on January 23, 2023

World Machine: Terrain & Height Map Generator

terrain generator

Create Terrain and Height Maps In 2007, I know I was not alone in being surprised and impressed by the way the first Mass Effect turned out. Good story, good customization. All that aside, some of my favorite parts were exploring far off planets. To do this, the player would open the star map and […]

Written by Bryan Wirtz - Updated on January 26, 2023

The Pros and Cons of Ambient Occlusion and How to Use It Effectively

what is ambient occlusion

If you are familiar with gaming at all, you have probably seen this term in the ‘options’ of some games’ graphics settings. Usually either turning it on or off or choosing different intensity levels. It sounds like a fancy term, but it really isn’t that mysterious. As far as I’m concerned, it is a setting […]

Written by Bryan Wirtz - Updated on January 23, 2023

The Growth of Hyper Casual Games

How to Make Hyper Casual Games

Hyper Casual Games 101 While it may not seem like it, Hyper Casual (HC), is a genre that’s starting to stand in its own right and while it may be a bit confusing to find the line between HCs and Casual games, that’s exactly what we’ll attempt to do. For the most part, HC games […]

Written by Bryan Wirtz - Updated on January 3, 2023

Making Your Own Video Game Engine: The Beginners Guide

How to make your own game Engine

When I first started gaming, I definitely took for granted what all went into creating them. I simply thought people got together in a secret room, made graphics, and put them together. Little did I know that even some of the simplest animation and games be Herculean tasks for developers. Much more goes into a […]

Written by Bryan Wirtz - Updated on January 23, 2023

The Downloadable Content Guide: Explore the Types of DLC

What is DLC - Downloadable Content Guide

Do you find yourself staying up late at night trying to beat a game? You put countless hours into beating it: collecting items, maxing out stats, and finding all the secrets it has to offer. Soon after, you beat the game. However, maybe the ending isn’t satisfying, or you crave more gameplay and content. What […]

Written by Bryan Wirtz - Updated on January 12, 2023

How to Create a Board Game, The Smart Way

learn to make a board game

Back in 2008, a young man named Adam Poots was awaiting jury duty. Like most jury duty experiences, it was dragging through the day, with no guarantee of even being picked in the end. To pass the time, he perused a manual for a role-playing game. He was struck with an idea while reading: not […]

Written by Bryan Wirtz - Updated on January 23, 2023

13 Ways To Monetize Your Mobile Games

How to monetize your mobile game

I will be the first person to admit that I am addicted to Words with Friends. It really isn’t healthy: I will stare at my game board on my phone for long periods of time trying to get the very best word out of my 7 letters to grind my opponent into dust. After inevitably […]

Written by Bryan Wirtz - Updated on January 3, 2023

Why Game-Based Learning: Pros, Cons and How It Helps Students Retain Basic Knowledge

Is Game-Based Learning the Future of Education

I remember days gone by at elementary school when we would all file into the computer lab. We would all get a computer and boot up educational games like Math Blaster and Oregon Trail. Although these were very primitive titles, with the educational aspect, (in my view), taking the backseat to the fun, they still […]

Written by Bryan Wirtz - Updated on January 15, 2023

Game Icons: Guidelines and Designing Your Game Icon

guide to video game icons

In a world of snap decisions, first impressions, and endless visual stimuli vying for our attention, there had to be a way for game devs to quickly grab your attention. One solution: the game icon. Game icons show up on all kinds of platforms: They’re on your computer desktop or menu bar, representing the games […]

Written by Bryan Wirtz - Updated on January 12, 2023

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