Game design is the process of designing the content and rules of a game. The process of creating a game can take hundreds of hours depending on the extent of the project. It usually consists of at least four members who have very distinct roles, but often it is a collaboration of equal effort. The basic roles include the programmers, the game designers, and the artists.

Some types of game design involve integration of many varying disciplines. Video game design, for example, requires the co-ordination of:

• Game mechanics
• Visual arts
• Programming
• Production Process
• Audio
• Narrative

All of the above have designs elements to them, which makes the clear and concise definition of video game design difficult. The complex nature of video game development arises because of interdependencies between these design disciplines. Decisions made in one area tend to create constraints in others. For example, art specifications can conflict with technical constraints, or the design might appear coherent overall, but be impractical to build.

Of course there are the two basic obvious diffrences of complexity such as a 2d or 3d game, but beyond that there are numerous types such as RPG, FPS, MVO, and RTS to name a few. Here's a website that describes the differences of each type. Compare and contrast the types of games. Decide on the type that you want to create and proceed to exploring engines and the software you would like to use.

Activities within games vary tremendously. Some example activities include the following: Racing, Commanding, Building, Collecting, Shooting, Trading, Connecting, Escaping, Finding, Hiding, Solving puzzles, Stunts, Role Playing, Learning/Education, Action, Adventure, etc.

The typical "textbook" approach is to start with a concept or a previously completed game and from there create a design document. This document is intended to map out the complete game design and acts as a central resource for the development team. This document should ideally be updated as the game evolves throughout the production process.

The first part of creating a game is the story. Type your script first. Read "Bring your World To Life" to help you think about the significance of your story.
Include in your script the plot, setting, theme, characters, quests, conflicts, goals, challenges, and any other pertinent information that will help the reader fully understand and visualize the environment from the little details of a flower on the landscape to a mole on a game players face.

A game engine is a software system designed for the creation and development of video games. There are many game engines that are designed to work on video game consoles and desktop operating systems such as Microsoft Windows, Linux, and Mac OS X. The core functionality typically provided by a game engine includes a rendering engine (“renderer”) for 2D or 3D graphics, a physics engine or collision detection (and collision response), sound, scripting, animation, artificial intelligence, networking, streaming, memory management, threading, and a scene graph. The process of game development is frequently economized by in large part reusing the same game engine to create different games.

3D

In the early era of home computers and video game consoles in the early 1980s, a single programmer could handle almost all the tasks of developing a game. However the development of a modern, commercially-viable video game involves a wide variety of skill-sets and support staff. As a result, entire teams are often required to work on a single project. A typical present-day development team usually includes:

• One or more producers to oversee production
• At least one game designer
• Artists
• Programmers
• Level designers
• Sound engineers (composers, and for sound effects and voice acting)
• Testers

Some members of the team may handle more than one role. For example, the producer may also be the designer. Often in bigger game companies the development team is overseen by managers such as art directors, technical directors and design directors. Directors work mainly as personnel managers and usually do not directly influence the product, but more to ensure that everyone in the team works coherently. Directors usually do resourcing but can also be considered people to consult with regarding various issues during game development.

2D

This website summarizes the steps to learn the basics of 2d games and coding.
RPG games are 2D. They basically consists of graphic elements such as Sprites and codes such as functions that tell the program what to do.
Here's a website that has several tutorials for RPG Maker. Here's a link with the beginner tutorial. There's a video on the Z:drive also.

To create Flash based games go to the bottom of this website and explore the type of game you want to learn how to design.

Start considering the audio side of your production. It's a huge part of it all. Create your own sounds and music in our lab or use Creative Commons.