• Put as much down on paper as you can before you start designing on the computer. Every hour of work you do on paper will save you five on the computer. There is nothing worse than having built half a level to realize something is seriously wrong and you have to start over. (See the script writing tutorial if you want to learn more)
• This sounds obvious but you have to start looking at the world in a different way. Think of how things would translate into the video game world. How is your school designed? How are the rooms and corridor? How about work? What do things look like? How is your city laid out? When you start noticing things like this your skill as a game designer will enhance significantly. IF you want to learn more about this check out the tutorial on Sharpening your eyes
• Learning from other game designers is a great way to advance quickly. You probably don't have the ability to sit down and talk with professional game designers but you can play their games. When playing, Don't just play. Look at the way the game is designed, how it behaves. What the buildings look like, what the tiles and textures look like. You can improve dramatically by studying the masters.
• Be Patient - It takes time to learn any new skill. Do not be in video game playing mode where the pace is frenetic and it is important to move on to the next challenge. You should be in video game design mode where you carefully plan and execute. Take the time to develop things.

Amazon.com has lots of great books on programming video games. Check it out. This link will take you directly to their section on Programming.Books on Programming

Amazon.com Best selling books on Game Develoment. Go directly to the list of top sellers.Top Selling Game Development Books

• Experiment - This is critical. There is no such thing as a mistake. You must have the courage to push yourself to try new things, new concepts, new looks; to learn new skills.
• Start out small. Don't try to make your first effort a multi-level complete world. You will fail. You don't understand enough yet and you will make mistakes along the way. Try a single room first. Then a building with several room then several buildings together. The complexity will come.
• Don't worry too much about the details. It is very easy to spend a hundred hours getting one room to look exactly the way you want it to. You will learn how to do things but it isn't efficient. Get the broad strokes first then over time move into the details. You will find that what used to take you ten hours of detail work you can now do in one hour.
• Don't reinvente the wheel. There is lots of royalty free material out there that you can use in your game. There are thousands of textures and models. Even fully built worlds and wireframes. Use them. Your time is valuable. No need to waste it trying to make up a complete new palette of textures.
• Don't steal. Other People put hard work into their game design. If it isn't free, and clearly stated so, you can't use it in your game.
• Lighting - This is one of the most important aspects of your game. Bad lighting can ruin an otherwise terrific game. Spend the time to learn about and get good at lighting your world.
• Don't be afraid to fail. Your first attempts at making games are probably going to be absolutely terrible. That's ok. That is how you learn. But having attempted you are already way ahead of the game. Other people talk about it but never actually try. You are trying. Keep trying. Save your first games so you can go back and look at them in the future. It will clearly show you how much you are improving Many people never even try to make a game for fear that it will be a bad one.

  ---