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Concepting games the easy way

Concepting games the easy way. Or “How designers can design games they would want to play.”. Some simple ways for coming up with game concepts. Self Inspiration External Inspiration Peer Inspiration Abstraction Inspiration. Self Inspiration.

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Concepting games the easy way

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  1. Concepting games the easy way Or “How designers can design games they would want to play.”

  2. Some simple ways for coming up with game concepts. Self Inspiration External Inspiration Peer Inspiration Abstraction Inspiration

  3. Self Inspiration • This may seem like a bizarre starting point, but it’s often overlooked so it’s worth examining. • What is your favourite game (any format)? • What is your least favourite game (any format)? • What genres of games do you tend to play and why? • What genres of games do you avoid playing and why? • What Bartle Test player archetype are you? • Take some time to seriously think about these questions. The answers you come up with will help you identify what genres of game you feel more familiar with during design. • It will also highlight to you which genres of game you should learn more about, providing an avenue of gaming exploration.

  4. External Inspiration • There are many, many sources of Media Inspiration: • Games: Pac-Man, Halo, Civilisation, Freelancer, Mario Kart, etc. • Films: V for Vendetta, The Italian Job, Independence Day, The Ring, etc. • TV Series: Battlestar, Buffy, The West Wing, Futurama, X-Files, etc. • Books: LotR, Harry Potter, American Gods, Film/game Art books, etc. • Comics: Marvel and DC - too many to mention, Independent comics, etc. • Technology: New/theoretical technology, antiquated technologies, etc. • Music: Pop, Alternative, Film/game Scores, Opera and classical, etc. • Art: Picasso, Da Vinci, Escher, Geiger, Kandinsky, Dali, Brom, etc. • Historic Events: WW2, Rise of Rome, 3 Kingdoms, American civil war, etc. • Myths and Legends: Hindic Deities, Various fairy tales, etc. • Fashion: Eras, Stereotypes, High fashion, counter-culture, etc. • This is just a small snippet of what I personally use as reference for getting game ideas and inspiration. You’ll probably have your own list of things that inspire you. If not you should try writing one up as a design exercise which will help you in the future.

  5. Peer Inspiration • Other gamers are a great source of inspiration and can help broaden your horizons. • Ask your friends and family what games they like to play. • Ask other videogamers what they like to play. • Ask different types of gamers what they like to play. • Ask other games designers what games they usually play. • Always make sure to take notes about what features and mechanics the player likes and what makes that game interesting to the player. • More useful to you will be noting the aspects of the game that they don’t like and why.

  6. Abstract Inspiration • One of the more bizarre ways to get inspiration for a game is to use random generators and approach the concept via top-down design. • An online videogame name generator. • Random ‘Adjective + Verb + Noun’ system. • Random ‘Setting + Theme + Activity’ system. • Any other method of generating an idea that works for you. • Random generators are a good source of truly bizarre game concepts, which can then be refined by the designer into a more presentable and coherent concept.

  7. Question Time!!

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