So You Want to Be a Game Designer Guide

Hello and welcome to our first designer round table!
For each round table, I present a question to the members of the FFG card game team and compile the best parts of their answers here. Here’s our first question:
Many people who play games are also aspiring game designers. What is the most valuable piece of advice you would give to an aspiring game designer?
Leading off, we have Michael Boggs, our Android: Netrunner designer, who expresses the importance of just getting started and diving right in:
Michael: Stop making excuses.
Get a pencil, get some paper, make a game. Show it to your friends and family. Go to your local game store and ask if they host design events. If they don’t, start one. Find other designers. Play their games. Have them play yours. Take notes. Listen to the things that they say are bad. Listen to the things that they say are good. Go home, get some new paper, make changes. Have no sacred cows. Change everything if you have to. Make the funnest game that you can.
The Lord of the Rings: The Card Game designer Caleb Grace zeroes in on how to focus your attention at the very beginning of the process:
Caleb: Start with a clear vision.
Think about what type of game you want to design before you get started. Ask yourself some important questions and write down your answers. What are the key elements of your game? What kind of experience do you want people to have when they play? How long will an average game take? The answers to these questions are your vision, and this vision will guide the entire creative process.
Without a strong vision, it’s easy to get lost in the minutiae of game design. A clear vision will keep you from losing your way.
Maybe you don’t yet have an idea for a fully realized new game, but you still want to practice and build your design skills. Legend of the Five Rings: The Card Game designer Tyler Parrott shares a great tip:
Tyler: While it’s easy to say, “Make a bunch of games,” it can be much harder to actually create something from nothing. The best place to start is to take a beloved game and create a new expansion for it. Build a custom scenario or campaign for Arkham Horror: The Card Game or The Lord of the Rings: The Card Game. Make a custom A Game of Thrones: The Card Game or Legend of the Five Rings: The Card Game expansion to play with your friends. Create mechanics and statistics for a new set of miniatures for Star Wars™: Legion (you don’t have to actually make the miniatures unless you want to!) or play a game of Cosmic Encounter using aliens you created.