Hey, this may be a bit of a newbie question, but I was wondering: Where do you guys most find inspiration for game ideas? Valve didn't just one day say "Eureka! I have the idea for Half Life!" I've been wanting to think up some game ideas, even basic ones, but I feel like I have a writer's block, or I'm not looking in the right places, or a the right things. I'm not trying to write the next Xenogears script here, just come up with some simple games. Should you think up the premise first? Or maybe think of a genre and design around that? Can you come up with a really cool character and create a world around him? What does everyone think?

All of those methods are useful. Some people do get struck by a thunderbolt of genius, or have a dream that prompts them to do something great, but most of the time it's just like Edison said--1% inspiration, 99% perspiration (that was Edison, right?).

For myself, I'm all about balance, so whenever I try to write a story or describe a game idea, I try to start as far back as possible, and let it develop organically. I'll check every so often to make sure I'm still within my operating parameters, and when it gets big enough, I'll examine it as though it had been written by someone else, and see if I can steal any of the ideas in it. That way, I have all kinds of backstory and data that the audience will never see in the finished product, but it helps me to "inhabit" the world of the story.

As an example, I have dozens of documents describing the creation of a universe I'm designing. I'm starting with a central, disinterested cosmic force, and spawning a series of diametrically opposed entities ("gods", if you will) from it. Then I imbue them with creative power and have them start forming the primordial world. By that point I have a cosmology and a pantheon, so I can sort of "jump" a few millenia and sketch another snapshot of the world. After a few of those jumps I can describe the world in which the events will occur, with the technology, ethnicities and magic systems derived from the primordial forces that I started with.

In this manner, I can have believable factions, histories and other elements of the world which add real weight to my characters and conflicts. Then I create a few major characters--with appropriate lineage and status--and start to describe the story itself, following a fairly conventional Poe-style bell curve of initiation, rise, climax, decline and denouement, although games tend to end about thirty seconds after the climax, unless you have a nice "exploding death star" ending, which can add a minute or so to it.

Edit: I didnt' really answer your question. Sorry. I get my inspiration from lines in poems or movies, or from striking images. Generally my ideas consist of "The last bastion of an ancient guardian order is compelled by the dignity that they have cultivated to act against the interests of the entity that they have defended for so long, because that entity has strayed from the fundamental characteristics that made it so worthy of their dedication." Then I build a world in which a guardian order would make sense, and write a story about the decline of a civilization and the circumstances that lead to the Royal Guard/Musketeers/Secret Service/Samurai taking up arms against the tyrannical new ruler of their country and being largely decimated in the fighting. The last, mortally wounded member of the team arms the self-destruct sequence, mutters something about discharging his duty, and bites it with a clear conscience. There. I could expand each sentence of this paragraph into a few pages of design, and I would have the start of a story.

Heya, im a student doing games design for my degree. what i do when coming up with a game design is:

1. if in a group get together and sit around a table (quiet place), else do it on your own

2. pick a genre, pick one that atracts your needs and/or requirements - it may mean you are blanking out a whole load of possible games from other genres but it must be done, and it most probably might be the case that you switch genre choice while going through the game design process.

3. original games these days are mostly just reworks of games that have gone before, so it is best to look at games in your chosen genre, or even better remember the games you've played in that genre, and try to implement your own ideas, the ideas you wanted to see it that, or things it lacked. advance previous classics (or failiures even) - thats what design for games these days are doing, but they are hiding it very well, and come up with masterpeices :) - if you want to be totally original look out your window, close your eyes, scrible random lines on a piece of paper, and you might just come up with a new never before seen game design (sorry but it most probably won't be the case) or you could even create a new genre, your choice. :)

4. you don't have to base your game around a character but, i normally do. I do it becuase i feel there's a bit of me in the game, and if everyone else is playing it, there playing as me :) it's a great motivation booster - for your next game :P Anyway try to get a main entity/entities.

5. the rest is up to which genre you had chosen

6. have a good conclusion - yes, everygame must have an intense climax, that's what it's all about :)

hope that helped - thats what i do :)

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lets bounce ideas off each other
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source of inspiration? a change of perspective works wonders...not just takeing a break by walking through a park or some such...but visualizeing scenarios, characters, whatever from different points of view.

Take the old classic R-Type game for example...players flies to the right shooting at the ever advanceing waves of enemies...a simple, yet effective game...but what if the player were in control of the enemies? You could even make a RTS type game where the player is out to stop the single pesky little but very powerfull R-Type craft from takeing down your emnpire...

Or a flight sim type game...except instead of haveing the player fly about in jets and such, have them fly around as birds, paper airplanes or even insects...

A raceing game where the cars are replaced with power tools, belt sanders, circular saws and such...Or maybe something like a NASCAR Tycoon in which players design and manage a racetrack, try to get the best seating arrangement, best track layout for maximum speed/cornering/TV coverage/crowd turnout, etc...

How about swapping out the D&D type settings in an RPG...maybe the player takes on the role of a crime scene detective out to stop some seriel killer...or a emergeing rock star out to make a recording contract...

It helps to remember that games need conflict, but conflict does not exclusively mean combat need be involved...for example a rock stars ability to win over a crowd can conflict with the crowds mood and willingness to listen...and thus if you keep abstraction in mind, a simple yet deep set of game mechanics can be built to solve such a game design issue.

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I feel like I have a writer's block, or I'm not looking in the right places, or a the right things

Your writer's block is dismissing what you are looking at too easily. Just stare at it for longer, look through what you are looking at. Inspirations are everywhere.

Example: Take a dictionary and randomly pick random number of words:

Plethora; Sweat; Uncial

Plethora means excess, sweat is to excrete perspiration through the pores in the skin; Uncial pertains to a style of writing with rounded capital characters.

A possible game design resulted in 5 minutes:

This is a side view action game in which you control a fighter in arcade style against a plethora of hostile creatures of different colors on a net. When a creatures is defeated, an orb of corresponding color is dropped and sweated through the net. The objective of the game is to score points by forming Uncial patterns with the orbs below the net.

The 15 minutes version (Blood Tail in Thirteen Tails):
In this game you play an ancient oriental outcast who uses giant calligraphy brushes. The brushes are very sharp and hard when they are dry. After you stabbed your opponent, your blush begins to collect ink (blood). It becomes not as sharp as it become moist and you have to change blushes. For the blood collected on the brushes, you use them to draw seals around you to cast high power spells. Depending on what size of blush you have collected enough ink, you can cast different kinds of seals. Some seals themselves are drawn in the air in extreme speed. Some seals are drawn on the actual surrounding. The non-gore version involve the blushes extracting spiritual energy instead of actual blood.

[Edited by - Estok on March 11, 2005 3:01:52 AM]

what i tend to do is while playing games, i keep a mental note of waht i like and dislike about the game. On top fo that, im constantly thinking about ways that the game could be better in any way. From level design to Game play, I think about what I wish the game would do.

Then as i start thinking about things i wish that game did, I start conceptualizing a game in my head that does those things. While playing Resident Evil 4, I was getting annoyed that i was getting a ton of ammo in unrealistic places and was starting to wish i could get some melee objects like bats or wooden posts. With that in mind, I start comming up with ideas of how that would change the gameplay style and what else could be changed to fit my desired style.

Someone earlier in this thread mentioned sitting around a table. I guess this is prefference, but my best Ideas have come to me while hanging out with a couple of friends just lounging on the couch or lazychair. We talk about games and what we'd like to see in games. As we start agreeing on different things we start building a fake game in our head. without the limitations of hardware, software, time, etc, we're free to come up with a game concept. from there, you work the concept so its managable.

Also, some of my best ideas have come while under the influence of a certain green herb. Not everyone agrees with it, but if you let it happen, it can help you knock down some of your preconcieved ideas of how games should work. sort of helping you think outside of the box.

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Original post by Garmichael Also, some of my best ideas have come while under the influence of a certain green herb. Not everyone agrees with it, but if you let it happen, it can help you knock down some of your preconcieved ideas of how games should work. sort of helping you think outside of the box.

Sorry, not the way I do business. I don't believe you need drugs to be creative.

Everyone else: thanks a lot, this is very helpful. I'll be sure and try the dictionary thing, that looks fun.

Quote:

Original post by m4d3c1ips3 Quote: Original post by Garmichael Also, some of my best ideas have come while under the influence of a certain green herb. Not everyone agrees with it, but if you let it happen, it can help you knock down some of your preconcieved ideas of how games should work. sort of helping you think outside of the box. Sorry, not the way I do business. I don't believe you need drugs to be creative.

You'd be surprised, my friend. :D

Yeah as for inspiration, usually when I make a game, I just think of something I'd want to play, and just go from there. That or, I just make something that I think will be good coding practice, but generally just start somewhere simple and go from there.