Okay... So, now that that last journal post is out there, let's look at ways which you CAN get into game development, even if you're just the "idea person."

1. If you're a writer: Story. Most games nowadays tend to have story elements to them and as such it can be a huge bonus to flesh out your world so that you can add in a lot of complexity. If you're a writer, try writing a couple stories (short or otherwise) to help flesh out the world. Give it meat and substance and layers and all that stuff because if you want to make an immersive game, having a fully fleshed out story and world as a reference can really, really help. I'm sure you've played a game that had an anemic story and I'm sure you'd agree that it wasn't really all that great... whereas a game with a very complex, layered and believable story can make the game even more enjoyable.

2. If you're into role-playing (table-top or video-game based.): Mechanics. What I mean by this is if you can outline how the various powers, abilities and other talents and stuff work in a very detailed way, that can really, really help you get your game off the ground. So, imagine you have a character that has a selection of spells that you can upgrade... try writing out what those upgrades do, how they affect the players, enemies, scenery... is this a system that is reliant on other systems? try fleshing those out as well. You can also get some great story-telling aspects from a good RPG campaign but that's more a "Writing" thing than it is a "Designer" thing. This is the part of game design that might seem boring to a lot of people but for those that like designing things like this, this will be your candy. That and having defined powers/abilities/etc and how they behave, interact and such with all those other systems you'll be making can really help since if it's all set out before you start on your first line of code/art/etc then you can have a much more solid vision and can approach it much more organically. Same goes for enemies and such... as in, you have to know how they're going to behave.

3. If you're an artist: This one is a gimme since art is a big part of game design but what I mean by this is if you're an artist but haven't the skills you'd need, there's surely something you can do... Are you good with sketches? try concept designs. sketch out what your characters look like... what sorts of variants you'll want, what kind of clothing they wear... or are you better with environmental stuff? try designing a couple props or scenes you'd like to see... there are ways to get into game design without knowing how to program or how to model/animate/texture... and you'd be surprised at what you can apply your skill-set to to help get you started down the path of game development.

4. Did you ever doodle maps for game levels? Then try level design. Good levels usually start off with two simple things... paper and a pen/pencil (or a tablet and drawing program.) And good levels usually have a decent amount of complexity and such as well as things like choke-points, wide-open areas, corridors for snipers... the trick here is to play your favourite games and look at the levels you're playing. unless it's a really cheap-ass and "bad" level, chances are you'll notice a lot of elements that help make that level awesome.

5. What about menu systems and User Interfaces? sure, this doesn't sound very glamorous but to be blunt if the player isn't given any feedback to know how to interact with the game, then it's essentially unplayable. You can go all the way from the most minimal interface ("Journey") all the way to the convoluted and complex (the older "XCOM" Games.) So, even drawing up a UI can help because it can help shape how you want to have your game played.

There are so many ways you can apply your already existing skills to make your game's vision come to fruition. Even if you're not a "programmer" or a "modeler/animator/etc" you can find ways to apply what you do know to a game. Try stepping outside of your box and look at what you DO know... surely there's something you CAN bring to the table, you just have to take some time to look at what you know.

So, even if you are the "idea person" There's always something you can bring to the table... Always... just take some time and try and figure out what they are. They're there... and even if you don't think you've got the chops for the big areas there are many, many, many things that go into game development that isn't just coding and/or art.

Be creative...

though, one thing I'd like to say... never once let yourself say "because it'd be awesome." Awesome is a subjective qualifier and what I consider Awesome will be vastly different than what you consider Awesome... And to be honest simply saying something is "Awesome" is not enough... this topic gets a lot more in-depth though because this gets into the real crux of design and aesthetics and all that fun, fun stuff. For instance, Full Metal Alchemist... I consider this an "Awesome" Series but I consider it because the character development and story are actually pretty complex and very well-rounded to the point where you start to really "feel" for some of the characters... and the story is a pretty epic one too... but, let's be honest, that's a subject for another time. I actually had someone approach me to help me make their game and all that they had was "it'd be awesome" but couldn't actually explain how it would be awesome... because what makes something "Awesome" is going to be more than just the word "awesome."

... But you do need to be patient. I cannot stress this enough.