How to get started on Game design is a straightforward question. The answer to this question has not changed over the past decades, but circumstances have changed. In 2026, your game design journey should be guided by AI in many ways.
Game design is no longer about learning tools first
For the past 20 years, beginners had to choose between two routes.
The technical advice was:
“Learn Unity/Unreal/Blender/C#/shaders… then you can design games”
OR
The non-technical advice was:
“Start with a pen-paper prototype.”
If I had a gun to my head, I would tell kids to start with a pen-and-paper prototype always. My mechanical device design advisor used to chide me for opening SolidWorks before starting with pencil sketches of the solution I was trying to make. I am well-trained to build the pen-and-paper prototype first.
However, in 2026, the world has changed slightly. Both routes are archaic. I would claim that these are harmful.
The technical route traps creators in a learning tools loop, where each tool has limited applicability and is constantly evolving. This leaves them feeling stuck and incompetent throughout the process, making game design feel intimidating rather than exciting.
The non-technical, paper-and-pencil, or board game route gets them stuck on another problem. You need players in the same room, or multiple players at the same time, to test your ideas. Or you’re testing for something completely different from what you actually want to make. If the new designer is unable to find people to test their paper prototype, they may feel stuck and unsuccessful, despite no fault of their own. Even if they see people to playtest, feedback from people wanting to test a video game while they are testing a paper-and-pen match is, at worst, disheartening and, at best, confusing.
In 2026, the best approach is NOT either of these; it is to build a playable prototype of your game using the right AI game generator. It still requires you to deeply think about the game you want to create and the experience you want your players to have, but you’re not stuck on creating something different altogether or learning one specific tool.
What learning game design with an AI game creation tool is better?
You can start from day 1.
Using AI to bring your ideas to life lets you get started quickly. Instead of trying to figure out the setups, installations, or other boilerplate, you can directly start with ideas, mechanics, and intent.
You don’t find yourself stuck in the “Blank Project” problem.
The blank page is extremely scary. Even the smartest of writers, directors, and game designers find themselves confused about “Where and how to start” all the time. This problem is even worse for beginners in any skill. The cognitive load is overwhelming.
The solution is to get the creator going with just a word or sentence. An AI game creator can collaborate with you to develop your game design and a playable prototype. And all of this can happen in minutes. A complete beginner can see and feel their idea come to life immediately!
This will help a creator feel the fun of creation. At Pikoo, we call it the joy of designing games!
Iteration speed helps you learn fast!
There is an excellent book on creativity, “Art and Fear” by David Bayles. In this book, they discuss an experiment they conducted in a pottery class. The class was divided into two groups. Individuals in group 1 were told to create the best pot possible over the weeks. Individuals in group 2 were told to make as many pots as possible over the week, trying to come up with slightly different or better designs every iteration. At the end of the period, the best models were consistently created by people from group 2. The ones who focused on doing more iterations instead of trying to make one pot perfect.
This parable applies to virtually every creative endeavour—writing, composing, and game design.
The traditional flow looks like:
Idea → Weeks of setup → Partial prototype → Burnout
With AI, and especially with the right AI tools like Pikoo, the flow can look like:
Idea → Playable Game → Share → Playtests and Feedback → Repeat
Even if you get through the loop twice, you end up learning more about game design than somebody stuck at the idea or setup stage.
This will teach you about the real game design loop,i.e.
Make → Play → Break → Repeat.
Don’t get me wrong. Your ideas will be roasted a lot! But you’ll be roasted fast. And you’ll learn things like why mechanics fail, why players quit, why players get bored, what balance is, why it’s necessary, and so on!
Pikoo brings the creation and players all on your platform. If they follow you, they can play the next game you create and provide feedback.
Remixing is the first step of learning, NOT starting from scratch.
No one learns music by inventing instruments for melodies. They learn by practicing existing ones, making slight tweaks, and gaining confidence over time. This is also the best way to approach game design.
Don’t start by writing engines. Start by modifying existing small games. Experiment in a safe environment where testing does NOT translate into weeks and thousands of dollars lost. It should be easy.
At Pikoo, we’re making it possible by allowing you to modify existing and popular templates. When you get good, you can start contributing to templates for the next generation of newcomers to build on.
Design is best learned with feedback.
Traditional learning pushes you into long periods of isolation, whereas learning with AI will allow you to get to playable prototypes in hours or days. You can then receive feedback over an evening or a few days, then move quickly to the next iteration.
Pikoo enables this by allowing you to share your games on the platform and by allowing other users, including creators and players, to provide feedback. This feedback can be a booster in your learning journey.
With these arguments, I rest my case. I strongly urge new designers to include AI in their game design process. The narrative in game design and game development communities online may send mixed signals. As a technologist, I can confidently say that technology permeates everything. Humans are wired that way. 2026 is the time to start leaning into AI for learning game design. If you’re in, try Pikoo.ai, and if not, I’d love to hear from you.
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