Game Design Curriculum
Game design (whether computer or even board games) is a valuable topic to learn even if you never make a real game. If you make any kind of <i>thing</i> that people use, learning a little about how to think like a game designer can help you make things that are more rewarding and pleasant to use.<p>One way to think of videogames is that they are <i>useless software</i>. Imagine a word processor that couldn't save or print files. Or a compiler that didn't generate executables that ran on any machine but your own. Why would anyone ever use such a pointless thing?<p>Well, games are in many ways exactly that. They don't really touch any part of the outside world or produce anything materially useful. They're self contained. So why do people sink time into them even though they can't get anything tangible in return? It's because the process of using the software itself—playing the game—is so <i>intrinsically</i> enjoyable.<p>If you can learn a little bit of that and apply it to software that <i>does</i> do something useful, you can end up with the kind of programs that build devoted fanbases.