Inspirational game concepts - where?

[zoombapup]

I'm wondering, where other people tend to get inspiration for thier game ideas from.

Jeff T posted something in his blog (http://www.makeitbigingames.com) about having a lack of interesting games.

I think a big part of this, is designing the games we already play. Its a very common mistake to see what we are playing and want to design it "only better".

Real inspiration comes from another place entirely right? From a theme, an image, a concept. Its how we turn that concept into an actual game where things either stand or fall. To me that is a big part of design.

So, where do others stand on this. Do you seek influence from a specific place and how has that affected the quality of your designs?

[Dyno Kid]

For me its the old classics and original games from days gone by,

lolo adventures (NES), Chu Chu Rocket (DC), Baku Baku Animal (SATURN) and many many more.

Darren.

Ps wheres my badge:)

[Adrian Cummings]

Most of my own original game ideas and designs come out of my now very warped imagination and also prolly from every game I've ever played over the years all mashed into one big 2D lump :)

[tagged]

My game was a result of reading the back of Gladius, an xbox game. After I realized the game wasn't anything like I thought it would be I set off to design it... Of course that design ended up completely changed, it was way too ambitious.

[dma]

I think the lack of interesting game designs curiously goes hand-in-hand with the very real and tragic lack of hard drug use, such as heroin or LSD, among game designers. I mean, if The Beatles could have written games back in the 60s, there may have been some pretty far-out and groovy things released.

Seriously though, I say this tongue-in-cheek, (sort of) since I don't do drugs myself except for the occasional beer or wine beverage. So follow my advice at your own peril, since I get most of my best ideas in the shower. (That might suggest that showering 3 or 4 times per day could be the answer. While high, of course, for extra benefits...)

On a side-note, I think there are some game designs out there that clearly could have been conceived while the creator(s) was high. Katamari Damacy's intro and cut-scenes alone are just one good example of this.

FBI WARNING: WINNERS DON'T DO DRUGS.

[Dan MacDonald]

I agree about the shower actually, maybe it's something about the sensory deprivation that the shower provides. It's loud, you can't see much, and there's a uniform feeling of water moving all around you, but whatever it is. When I have an idea that is just on the edge of my conscious mind, I'll hop in the shower and think it though. It really seems to help too.

[DrWilloughby]

I agree about the shower actually, maybe it's something about the sensory deprivation that the shower provides. It's loud, you can't see much, and there's a uniform feeling of water moving all around you, but whatever it is. When I have an idea that is just on the edge of my conscious mind, I'll hop in the shower and think it though. It really seems to help too.
This images in this thread are beginning to become strangley disturbing.

Seriously, though, there is so much amazing untapped fodder for game *subjects* in the real world I think most people just have blinders on because of what they've played/seen before.

As for game mechanics, if those just flow from the subject matter, it's not hard to come up with new stuff.

Innovation is not difficult in such a narrow industry.

[papillon]

I have too many ideas and not enough time... :(

[SteveZ]

Real inspiration comes from another place entirely right? From a theme, an image, a concept. Its how we turn that concept into an actual game where things either stand or fall. To me that is a big part of design.


There's a story that Toru Iwatani came up with the concept of his character after looking at a pizza, which was missing one slice. For those of you who haven't heard of this story, Toru is the creator of Pac-man.

From personal experience, I think ideas are formed when you're in a new environment doing mundane things.

I have worked in San Francisco for a year before moving back down to San Diego. Less than one week in, I was probably cooking dinner one night while looking at the empty countertop of my new apartment when I said to myself, "Riddles are fun, you can read them and guess what they are in a location. Oh wait, isn't that just like a HO game?"

From there Forgotten Riddles was born. Looking at the sales figure right now, it is one of the best decision I have made in my life to move down to SD.

-Steve Z.

[Dan MacDonald]

This images in this thread are beginning to become strangley disturbing.



Oh don't be shy there's room in here for the both of us! :eek:

The industry is hugely specialized its's true, often one of the challenges that game designers face is that they have seen so many games, so many different gameplay systems that invariably the ideas they come up with are some variation of what they've seen before.

One interesting thing to note is that independent developers are probably going to succeed or fail in a niche that they are capable of delivering. If you try to get puppygames (http://www.puppygames.net/) to develop Aquaria (http://www.bit-blot.com/aquaria/) it wouldn't be all that great. Everyone has their own design signature, the type of game the are capable of and interested in making. As an independent game designer, knowing what your design preferences are will help you identify things you are good at and define the type of games you can or will make.

After that, the world is full of inspiration, what get's you excited? what are your interests outside of gaming? do you read comics? do you watch movies or anime? read novels? Where does your imagination wander when you give it a chance?
(and yeah, if you feel super motivated you can go make a porn game, but I think there's better ways to spend your time!)

People like to do crazy brainstorming sessions where they say, pick an object, now pick a setting, now an objective! There you have a game design! sure, you can come up with some crazy stuff and that's a good exercise from time to time but I think practical (as in a game you might actually invest yourself in making) game design inspiration is much more specific. Some times it's just an idea for a mechanic... "wouldn't it be cool if you could have skill based sword fighting gameplay with a mouse?", or "what kind of world could I create if i reduced everything to vectorized shapes? could I make something fun? something believable?" These are typically how my design ideas originate and they grow from there.

[Nikos Beck]

My game was a result of reading the back of Gladius, an xbox game. After I realized the game wasn't anything like I thought it would be I set off to design it... Of course that design ended up completely changed, it was way too ambitious.

This has happenned to me many times. I have a match-four game (although, matching four is already revolutionary) that is based on what I thought the game was. I realized my mistake but ran with this new idea. It's now a mixture of "Out Fox", "Othello" and "Sokoban".

I have about four variations of "Hearts", all but one is terrible.

I think that starting with an existing game provides some confidence that the core is at least playable. If I create a fancy new Chess variation, I know that Chess fans might try it out and I don't need to spend months playtesting the core mechanics.

[Polycount Productions]

Here's a blog post: 7 ways to get ideas (http://www.gameproducer.net/2006/08/07/7-ways-to-get-ideas/)... movies, cartoons - they are everywhere.

[Infinite Element]

Look back to old-school games. They usually revolved around a single gameplay mechanic. Ask yourself this:

1) What makes it fun?
2) What makes you bored with it?
3) Think of things you can do with that basic idea.

That's how I came up with Broken. Even though you all don't know what that is. :)

-Inf.

[MCameron]

The best way I get inspiration is whenever I am playing any game and how I believe they can be better if <insert your better idea here>. Or whenever I am walking anywhere and see how everything is flowing and connecting and see how I can influence that in my games. But most of the time my ideas arrive the second I lay down and say " OK, time to sleep". Which then creates three more hours of the design process.

The best way to judge whether an idea is possible or not is to judge you own ability and ask yourself if you can do this how long will it take? will it take up more time developing this aspect than the rest of the game? also giving you a goal to keep going by trying to make your dreams of the best game ever a little closer to reality.