*Inspirations*

Slayre77

Heh, whenever I think of an idea, I realize I got it from another game. Or something similar, at least. I wanna come up with something .. more original. just sitting down on the sofa and trying to think something up hasnt been really fruitful .So im searching for a source of inspiration, anyone has any ideas? and how did YOU get the idea for your game?Did it just strike you? Thanks

Taidaken

sometimes ideas just come to you at random times, or sometimes it takes certain events to trigger certain ideas. a good source of inspiration is to just go through alot of the great games that have been developed using gamesalad, the many different and unique ideas that is shown in these games alone is enough to get some sort of inspiration going.

JamesWE

Imagination is based off what your mind has experienced. Your subconscious cant makes things up without a reference point. You'll find that artists/designers/creatives that are really successful and original have a huge range of interests meaning they draw inspiration from all sorts of things.

Id say get off the couch and go look at stuff. Look at things you dont usually look at. Art, people, music. Dont try so hard to think, instead soak in as much as you can of all kinds of things and then relax and let your subconscious take over. Look beyond what you know in order to avoid re-hashing the same thing over and over.

if you are really stuck, watch this:

quantumsheep

@jamesWE that is a great video that I haven't seen for a long time - ty for posting it!

@slayre77 inspiration can come from literally anything. There is no 'useless' information out there. It's all handy when coming up with ideas and inspiration.

Your initial sentence, for example. I've never seen a game where you sit on a couch and try and come up with ideas. That sounds pretty original to me

Then there's the old argument of 'What is original?' I don't think there's anything wrong with taking old, established ideas and adding something to them to make something new.

One of my heroes, Jeff Minter does it all the time. To look at some of his games you'd think he just ripped off some old arcade games and added sheep and llamas to them!

But to actually play the games is very different. Space Giraffe may look like a souped up Tempest, till you actually play it and find the game mechanics are actually very different.

Minotaur Rescue may look just like Asteroids. But there are additions that make it something new.

My own Air Supply is ostensibly a running game, but the visual style, and the air supply mechanic makes it (I hope) a little more original when compare to others of its ilk.

I guess it's not a bad thing to have a foundation based on something that already exists, then adding stuff to that idea to create something new.

Hope that helps!

QS :D

JN38

Several sources.

Talking to my market is the primary one. "If you could build a game what would it be?" Now be sure to include your target device with this. I have a ton of ideas handed to me that just will not fit with a phone or tablet because the idea is more console oriented.

Look at reviews of games in the app stores. "Love this game, it's (why they love it.)", "This game sucks because of (why it sucks)". Helps in knowing what to include or not include. Also, in reading reviews someone almost always says "if it just did this... are you listening (developer name)."

This is when I hear "I have the technology to build it, bigger, better, stronger."

Game review sites - The top 10, 12, or "65 of the best" type sites. Very handy in seeing where the market is headed. Are we still on the "Angry Birds" kick or are we going more retro this season? Well, if you don't care about that you may see two games that you might want to see if you can combine. "Angry Sonic" anyone?

Finding old dead game ideas. Old flash web games (talking early 90's). Poking around the web and looking at artwork. Once in a while I will see something and say myself "Self, that would make for a great character in a game."

Movies, television shows, books, fairy tales (old folklore type), commercials (does anyone still watch those?).

Now most of that is based off borrowing from others. Nothing wrong with that so long as it's not a total rip off (for those that don't pay attention to copyright or intellectual property laws). But, if you have a good story line or development process, this borrow should become something different and somewhat unique. Which could spur off other ideas.

imGua

When I was learning Game Salad. I've had a room where I did test different stuff. I've liked what was happening in the room, so this room is basically became a prototype for my game.

The project that I have in mind for the next big project, is actually influenced by a couple of games.

So Ideas basically come from a very different places.

Slayre77

Thanks guys and i came up with an idea already, just hope it wont die away like alot of my old ones :P