While I already have a few years of experience as a videogame designer, I’m not at a world-class level. I want to reach that level however, so I decided to train myself. A sprinter trains himself by running a lot; a game designer trains himself by designing a lot of games. This blog will hold the resulting designs.

Here’s how it works. At the beginning of each week, I choose a random theme (eg. “Space Race”) and a random platform (eg. “Nintendo DS”). I must then come up with an interesting game concept that fits the theme and is appropriate for the platform before the end of the week (eg. a game about a space race for the Nintendo DS). As the week progresses, I plan on posting some bits of informations about how things are shaping up. The end result should be a description of the main characteristics of the game, that give a good idea of the overall vision of the game — what’s called a “pitch” in the business.

I hope to keep to that plan. I’m currently looking for work so I have more free time available for this, but even when I get back to work I’ll try to find time for this training. So come back often and look at how things progress! If you like or dislike something you see here, just leave a comment or send me an email.

About Me

My name is Pierre-Alexandre Garneau. During my 5 years of experience as a programmer and game designer, I shipped 17 games on PC, mobile, set-top boxes, GBA and DS. I started working in gaming as an indie developer, then moved to a studio working mostly on mobile games (Humagade) where I climbed to the role of design director. I then worked as a designer at the Montreal office of Gameloft, a major developer and publisher of mobile games. I am currently looking for work.

Outside work, I have written an article for Gamasutra (“Fourteen Forms of Fun”) which was used as training material at some major studios, and as reference in some academic theses on gaming.

You Want to Use a Design?

So, you really like one of the game concepts on this site and would like to make a game out of it? Great! I’d love to see that happening!

These game designs aren’t entirely free, however. I love sharing my ideas with the world, but if you’re going to sell a game based on them and make a ton of money, I think it’s fair for me to get some of that money for my efforts.

If you want to make an actual game based on the ideas on this site, just contact me and I’m sure we’ll be able to work something out — even if it’s for a freeware game. I really don’t want to rip anybody off, but I don’t want to be ripped off either. If nothing else, I’d like to know where my ideas end up being used.

For companies willing to pay for it, I’m also available to turn those short pitches into full-fledged design documents and to help with the other tasks related to the design. I’m also available to work on other design work unrelated to what’s on this site.