Think you can do better than the pros? These days, the opportunities are greater than ever.

So you’ve decided that if the makers of Infernal: Hell’s Vengeance can get a game made, anyone can. It’s time for your idea — Fright Night Round Gore, complete with face-shattering punching mechanic — to show Halo how it’s done. Now where do you send it, and when do you ask for the check: now or after the Spike VGAs?

Well, it might not be that easy. Millions of people game, but the number of people making games? A lot less than that. Many gamers have an idea for the perfect game, and most accept that it’ll never happen. What makes you any different? You’re passionate and you know your game’s twice as perfect as everyone else’s. That, and you have this handy guide to help you begin.

(1) Pitchin'

Pitching an idea to a publisher or studio isn’t quite the dead-end you’d think. If it makes the publisher see dollar signs or the studio head see awards, it’s as strong a candidate as any. You are, however, vying for the attention of some very busy people, so even the record-breakingly bloody design of Fright Night Round Gore stands little chance of being noticed in the first place. But if luck’s on your side, the most important part will be the “five minutes of gameplay” document, which describes what the player sees and does in simple, direct terms.

(2) Join the Mod Squad

“Mod development is better in a lot of ways than work experience,” says Valve director Gabe Newell. Nowadays, modding can turn an idea into reality from even a standing start — though you’ll need to work on a PC. With PC games like Unreal Tournament III and Crysis giving you near-complete game engines and toolsets to play with, bedroom game development has re-emerged. So set yourself up as a designer/producer, visit a few forums (moddb.com/forum is as good as any), recruit a team, and before you know it you’ll have your very own studio — just without the studio. An example: Lukewarm Media, developer of CryEngine 2–based action-adventure Lightspire.

(3) Win First Prize!

This one’s kind of an extension to option two and still very PC-focused, but with the added bonus of your game making lots of money. Perhaps. Take the example of Tripwire Interactive, who, in 2004, won the “Make Something Unreal” contest with their Unreal Engine 3–based tactical shooter Red Orchestra. They received a coveted commercial license for their troubles, and the game now ranks among the PC’s best. On the other hand, second place that year went to last month’s Damnation, which ranks among the Xbox 360’s worst. Moral: spend that prize-winning cash wisely.

(4) Develop a Game within a Game

The rise of construction-set games such as Halo 3’s Forge, Far Cry 2’s map designer, Kodu Game Lab, and Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts means it’s possible for you to make something fairly unique with the gamepad still in your hands. You’re not even limited by genre — if you can turn a shooter into a decent driving game, you’re sure to turn the right heads. It’s more a means to an end, though, as your creative tools are still limited compared to other options.

(5) No School like Old School

By which we mean: there’s no substitute for building and publishing a game yourself using traditional methods and languages. Websites like Kongregate host hundreds of Flash-based games, while YoYo Games has its own free Game Creator software to make things easier. Nothing’s more attractive (or lucrative) than a breezy browser-based game with a great hook, and there’s no better way to learn the nuts and bolts of development. If you can stomach the 30 percent cut taken by Apple, you could even sell it on the iPhone App Store.

(6) Start at the Bottom

And by this, we do mean the bottom. Entering the games industry via a testing or quality-assurance position will mean hours of monkey work and repetitive gaming, which is less of a dream job and more like being on suicide watch. But work hard and keep your eyes peeled for junior design roles, all the while telling absolutely everyone you meet just how good Fright Night Round Gore’s bone-cracking effect might be. Take the example of Criterion’s Craig Sullivan: the Burnout Paradise lead designer started in QA with just a love of Street Fighter and a dream. For current openings, take a look at edge-online.com and gamesindustry.biz/jobs.

(7) Hooray for XNA

Good news! Microsoft has decided it wants to publish Fright Night Round Gore already — and it’ll even help you make it. That’s quite something, as you thought of the name only five minutes ago. The XNA initiative offers both the tools and the publishing channel for community-based games, some of which you may have already downloaded from Xbox Live. You’ll need to join the XNA Creator’s Club first and download XNA Game Studio 3.0. The supporting manual includes how-to guides to get you started. XNA requires a reasonable amount of programming, though, so you’ll need to understand how to code in Visual Studio to have a chance of getting a game out the door. Thankfully, the community on the XNA forums is more than willing to offer advice and help you learn.

(8) Start at the Top

The hardest and riskiest option by far, but the one that saw three-man studio Introversion become one of gaming’s most acclaimed developers almost overnight. Setting up your own company and making a top-tier commercial title takes time, money, and the sense to keep your ambitions in check. Make a small, brilliant game first — for Introversion, it was 2005’s Darwinia — and chances are it’ll be picked up by a grassroots-friendly online distributor like Steam. You never know: you might even manage to make some money, or at least enough to be able to embark upon bigger and better things without worrying about losing your house.