So I always feel I'm out of my depth at gamedev.net ... I'm one of the many many who really, just has a host of ideas (usually to big and over ambitious for an individual to take on). I have limited coding ability (I once programmed a rough battleships simulator, thats about it) and no experience with art and modelling.

I just like to share ideas ... and I don't really think that entirely fits in with the gamedev forums, if nothings going to come of your ideas I feel like its wasting peoples time posting about them here. Don't get me wrong, you guys are great and I've got plenty of helpful feedback on various queries on gameplay mechanics I've thrown out here and there.

So I guess I'm asking if maybe anyone knows of a forum that might be a better fit? An active forum for sharing indepth ideas to almost a semi-design doc level of detail? Where feedback might be more orientated towards the idea of how something plays rather than the behind the scenes technical aspects that maybe required of it?

Appreciate any suggestions, thanks all.

Well, there is a game design sub-forum here, and if you're still getting technically-based feedback that you don't want, you could always state up-front that you're explicitly not seeking technical feedback centered around feasibility or lack thereof. It can be somewhat difficult to hold game design discussions that are divorced of technical concerns, so the assumption tends to be that designs must be grounded in technical feasibility -- you'll have to explicitly disclaim that if you do not want or need it to be a concern for your purposes.

Frankly, there aren't many game development forums at all outside GD.net, and probably none of them are any better for non-technical design discussions of video games. If your design mechanics are more traditional (of the type that could be expressed as a card or board game instead) there may be other places better suited for those discussions. If your interest in your ideas and designs are centered more around the world-crafting and story elements, then perhaps a creative-writing forum might be better suited -- note that there's a Writing sub-forum here as well.

In any case, good luck finding what you're after.

If you like game design but can't execute on your ideas, have you contemplated trying board game design? There's a lot of similarities (video game design university programs typically start you off with board game design after all) and prototyping your ideas is a lot cheaper and less time consuming. :)

I don't sadly know offhand of a good board game design forum, but if you do happen to look for one and find a decent one, let us know. I spend waaaay too much of my free time thinking about dice mechanics and could use an outlet. Or that's the complete opposite of what I need. Unsure.

Maybe a developer journal or off-site blog would be a better fit for your ideas than forum topics?


The only other active community I can think of (other than engine specific options) is TIGSource, but although it's a great community I strongly suspect you might have the same problem you're having here.


Otherwise I think Sean's suggestion of trying your hand at table top games may be a good way for you to further develop your ideas without requiring so much technical skill.

I might try an ideas blog. I've tried boardgames ... but they don' really capture what I seek, thanks for the suggestion though.

Well I've tried just going with a blog. Its still very tricky to put things into words, I made an initial post for it which I'm not sure is very gripping.

https://andydesigndoc.wordpress.com/

So I always feel I'm out of my depth at gamedev.net ... I'm one of the many many who really, just has a host of ideas

Really, visit game design/ game writing, sub forums and you will be too impressed.