hi, I´m doing some research for a paper on game development and i would like to ask you game designers what are the challenges you face for innovation on game design nowadays. tks :)

The key problem I face with innovation is in trying to appropriately frame a new idea in the context of what's out there now. It's possible to innovate yourself off a cliff or down a rabbit hole. Normally brainstorming with others can be a way of checking this. But if your idea is very unconventional or orthogonal to what's been developed before, you don't have that option. Your only real recourse is to implement it because people won't know what you're talking about until they experience it.

1. Am I able to bring my innovative ideas to existence? (a technical question)

2. Something I consider or keep asking myself is whether or not people (the mass audience) will accept these innovations - will the game be far too different for them to accept? Will they embrace something far more familiar much more readily?

2.1. There are conventions established already (for example - common software or operating system interface conventions) that are just much more efficient to implement and use, to reduce user learning curve. If I introduce something completely unfamiliar, would it create a negative response?

3. Essentially it all boils down to this question - is it fun to play and re-play the game?

[Edited by - Tangireon on March 2, 2009 7:19:27 PM]

The question I ask myself when I want to put something new is: "Would that new original feature make the game at least as fun as if I don't put it?" Some game designers are so scared of being unoriginal that they plug every idea they have even when the usual is more fun than the new idea. In my RPG, I had my own magic resource system that wasn't based on mana points, but I changed it to mana because it wasn't all that fun, and it didn't offer as many possibility for game design as mana does.

Your new idea may make the game realistic and/or challenging, but if it's going to annoy the player more than entertain him, I don't want it.

Getting new ideas is relatively easy to me, but getting ideas that make the game more fun can be challenging, especially in aged genres like RPGs and platformers where the traditional systems have made their proofs.

[Edited by - Bearhugger on March 3, 2009 2:43:35 AM]

Are the people that would appreciate the innovation likely to get to play the game?

Im not a designer but my guess would be to make your gameplay classic. How to take something familiar yet at the same time take it to other levels. No one wants generic at the same time no one wants a game trying so hard to be different, unique, special or classic.

It was a two-year-old thread. Let's leave it closed, why don't we.