The Apps I Use to Design Games

Heya Pals!

Today we're going to be talking about game design software. There are a ton of tools out there to get your ideas in motion, but which go the furthest and which end up getting in the way?

Here's my take on the subject, I hope you enjoy!

Chapters:
0:00 - Introduction
0:49 - Getting Started with Game Ideas
2:24 - Concepting with Raster Canvases
5:38 - Media Canvases
8:08 - Figma and HTML Canvases
15:53 - Office Suites
17:53 - Game Design Docs
19:03 - Databases & Wikis
21:30 - Zettelkasten and the Holy Graile
23:07 - My Preference
25:05 - Reflection and Outro

Music:

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This video features clips from my stream. Catch it live: Mon, Tues, Thurs and Fri 1-6pm AEST.

Later, pals!

[mathisvatt]

I just had my first dev team meeting last night and one of the questions was what software we might need. Then this video popped up this morning. The gaming gods work in mysterious ways.

[d-c]

my goodness...the number of times I have been following along with your explanations and thought "man...I wish you would show a real-life example of what you are talking about to solidify this for me" and then you immediately cut to "here is something I have been working on" is insane. It is like you can read minds. You have a real gift for content creation.

[recentlydanny]

Oh, so that's what figma is, and how to use it. You have no idea how big of a problem you've just solved for me. Thank you for

[olive]

Obsidian is really good for sketching ideas down like you talked about at the beginning of the video, and then being able to index your idea using tags and relations. I initially started using it for worldbuilding like in the example you gave, but then eventually it became the index or 'wiki' for my whole main game project, containing links to other software for the stuff that Obsidian doesn't do well like moodboards etc.

[eGregiousGames]

I've been using OneNote for a couple of years now, as a dude with ADHD it's been invaluable ... slowly all of my regular documents have been getting turned into OneNote documents.

This video really planted a few seeds in my head though. They germinated for a few days as I grumbled at the thought of even more programs .... then I downloaded Figma and was pretty impressed. Then I downloaded Obsidian and was pretty wowed. I really appreciate you putting these kinds of ideas out there, this kind of design stuff I'm super interested in! Your videos are such an incredible free resource for artists and game devs.

[Syfmuna]

I really appreciate this video! I recently took a Python course offered by Google and one of the other topics they offer a course on is UX design. I browsed the curriculum and noticed they spend a good chunk of the course working in Figma. I did a very small amount of research and just kept hearing "Figma is a really useful tool", so when I clicked this video and it turns out you mention Figma, and then show what Figma can do, it was really useful! Thanks again.

[averagetrailertrash]

Have you heard about Obsidian's canvas update? It's still in beta testing, but it adds the ability to use an infinite canvas to embed images, webpages, notes, etc. They can be resized, stacked, made into flowcharts, etc.

There's no digital ink support in canvases yet, but hopefully vector drawings from the excalidraw plugin will play nice with it!

[teharchon]

Note from the future of 2024: Adobe failed to buy Figma and it remained the king of canvas design.

[steambub]

Some recommendations I use on linux: Joplin for markdown note-taking/tasks; Getting things GNOME! for tasks; Outliner for outlining; Onlyoffice for text, spreadsheets, and presentation; Minder for node-based idea flowchart; Plan by KDE for project management; PureRef for a mood board; Krita for sketching; GridlessDB for databases; Arrow for narrative planning/design.

[DanielSantana-hntz]

I'm using Milanote for make some World Building, but in some cases, it becomes too complex and hard to make simple things for my game, like mecanichs for battles etc. This video comes in the right time, thx for that, Adam 😁

[chickenpotpau]

I'm so fortunate to have found your channel just recently. I love the way you articulate your thoughts and you have really great ideas to share! Excited to continue learning from you as I explore game design and pixel art :)

[heymiokka]

scrivener is a really flexible word editor. i heard it being used for writing novels and essays. it basically let’s your write several chapters/documents at once, which can be rearranged and also have a short description you can edit in the “overview” section. shuffling the cards around can really help out, since you can basically write starting from the middle and expanding out in every direction needed.

[pierredalaya]

Man, the soundtrack ! Cool video, great explanations, but the music is the best of all. Nostalgia!

[alexandrecosta]

I believe that obsidian is your Holy Grail. It is an amazing tool to create design documents and wikis. It cannot do graphic work (only diagrams) but it excels in every other aspect. The search and indexing aspect is spot on. Give it a try!

[mxk]

I've also settled on Milanote and was so convinced by what it offered me that I bought a pro sub after just a few weeks of use. I also use a paper notebook for jotting down ideas and Trello to break down work into small, achievable chunks (it helps me to focus on the "what's next").

Before Milanote I used WiseMapping (mind mapping tool) a lot and Google sheets and docs but it all felt disconnected and untidy. I love about Milanote that it gives you a single space for almost everything in a fully connected fashion but it has its limitations.

[praus]

I’ve found myself really liking the Notes app, in iOS on my iPad. It lets you paste in pics, type, even do some sketching in the notes. Also, it’s very well indexed. It’s also synced to my phone, computer, etc. So if I have an idea and I only have my phone, I can jot it down.

[hawkinberry]

So valuable hearing your insight and experience with these tools, and how you view your workflow. Thank you!

[baus_lngo]

I'm looking to get started in UI/UX game design myself and this has helped, Thank you so much for sharing this.

[yugoanzai]

Miro is the tool I use the most nowadays. For big games I use the Miro + Notion combo. But for small games I do everything on Miro. From sketches to writing design stuff, level design, art moodboards and mockups.
When I need to create dialogues and texts that will be actually in the game with localization I use google spreadsheets with a import tool that exports everything to a csv or json format

[onerimeuse]

This is honestly game changing (... Pun not intended, but being left there anyway)I've never even considered that tech exists that can help me organize my designs. I currently have pen and paper, a messy folder full of inspirations, and Google keep for when I don't have pen and paper handy. I'm definitely gonna mess around and consolidate stuff in one of these tonight while I'm at work. Thank you!