How do you get inspired for a game?

MattButlerStudios

I feel as if my ability to make games in Gamesalad is good, but I cannot come up with good ideas for games. What are some strategies or techniques that help inspire you to come up with great ideas for games?

Loaded

Films mainly for me.

AlchimiaStudios

I draw inspiration from so many media sources such as Film, Games, Art, Music, TV shows, etc. I also tend to make a lot of little demos for myself to try out different system and ideas, if I find one I think is fun that's when I turn it into a game.

gamestudent

I sit down and doodle sometimes, or just mess around in GameSalad untill I make an interesting mechanic. You could think up a mechanic, and expand on it, that sometimes works for me. I've done some reading about the classic arcade games, and a lot of them started out with a very basic story, that had a game built around it.

phamtastic

Watching a movie late at night and then I usually get an idea from my dream that night... no joke.

imGua

For every game idea came from a different place. But I do not experience this problem, I have more ideas than the time to make those in a real project.

Lovejoy

I download a bunch of games from the app store, after playing a few i usually come across one that strikes a light bulb. I ask myself how can i make this better? etc.

AfterBurnett

For some reason, I have a new idea for a game every time I am on the throne, doing a poo. The bigger the poo, the better the idea.

I'm not looking forward to the day when I come up with "the killer app"

AfterBurnett

Double poost. Sorry.

motorcycle boy

@MattButlerStudios said:
I feel as if my ability to make games in Gamesalad is good, but I cannot come up with good ideas for games. What are some strategies or techniques that help inspire you to come up with great ideas for games?

Do yourself a huge favor and spend $11 on this book:http://www.amazon.com/Thinkertoys-Handbook-Creative-Thinking-Techniques-Edition/dp/1580087736/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1412837985&sr=8-1&keywords=thinkertoys

Don't ask any questions just do it. You have all the creativity and ideas you could ever want. This book will help you unlock the potential inside of you that every single person possesses but forgets once they aren't children anymore.

Socks

@POLYGAMe said:
Double poost. Sorry.

"Double post, sorry, I'd give it 15 minutes if I were you".

Armelline

I find my main problem is finding the time to make all the ideas I have And the motivation to finish the game when I get it to the 80% done point, and it becomes a bit boring.

That said, most of my ideas are games that would appeal to me, not games that would have mass appeal.

imGua

@Armelline said:
I find my main problem is finding the time to make all the ideas I have And the motivation to finish the game when I get it to the 80% done point, and it becomes a bit boring.

That said, most of my ideas are games that would appeal to me, not games that would have mass appeal.

I'm in a same position.

pHghost

Yes, I can attest, the 80% mark is a tough one. I've abandoned a couple projects at that point -- though I have come back to them later and know that I will finish the ones I have sitting at that point.

Socks

@pHghost said:
Yes, I can attest, the 80% mark is a tough one. I've abandoned a couple projects at that point -- though I have come back to them later and know that I will finish the ones I have sitting at that point.

I think it's probably a good thing to abandon a project at 80%, in fact I'd encourage it, if you put a project aside when you are starting to get bored with it, but when you have most of the backend work done, then you can return to it in a couple of weeks, months (or even years!) with fresh eyes and renewed enthusiasm.

It's the same deal with music, you really need to take a project so far and then put it away for a while, before finishing it off, you need to be able to rekindle some of that initial enthusiasm you had for starting the project, this abandoning is built into the workflow of producing music, the worst mixes and productions are often those where you've not taken a break, not had a chance to 'reset' your ears, you end up blind to what are the good parts, the exciting parts, the important elements, and you can get very very lost in the technicalities of the mix, without time away from a project it can be difficult to objectively judge if it is working or not, I'd say the same thing is useful in any creative process . . . I'm often surprised when returning to an old GameSalad project to find something I was struggling with and just couldn't get right looks just fine, and something I spent ages on, a mechanic or design, is rubbish and am happy to just delete it.

I'd say rather than struggle with the idea of abandoning a project at 80% (or whatever) I'd say embrace it, realise you've taken the project as far as you can, move on to something else knowing that you will reopen the project in a month with renewed enthusiasm.

Unless it's a load of crap, in which case throw it in the bin, lay down and quietly weep.

Speedy007

I would say I get inspired when I work. While I am out in the 90 degree weather I think of new games to make. lol.

pHghost

@Socks said:
I think it's probably a good thing to abandon a project at 80%, in fact I'd encourage it, if you put a project aside when you are starting to get bored with it, but when you have most of the backend work done, then you can return to it in a couple of weeks, months (or even years!) with fresh eyes and renewed enthusiasm.

I agree completely. It has been the case with the projects I came back to. I still remember the burn-out I went through back when, and suddenly it's gone and you are looking at the project with a new fresh perspective.

tenrdrmer

A lot of people just look at the top 10 chart and make the same games and name them as close as possible too.

Socks

@tenrdrmer said:
A lot of people just look at the top 10 chart and make the same games and name them as close as possible too.

I can't see any Flappy evidence for that happening.

AlchimiaStudios

@POLYGAMe said:
For some reason, I have a new idea for a game every time I am on the throne, doing a poo. The bigger the poo, the better the idea.

I'm not looking forward to the day when I come up with "the killer app"

Rofl, gross but so true. Pooping ideas are always the best.

Braydon_SFX

@Armelline‌ said: And the motivation to finish the game when I get it to the 80% done point, and it becomes a bit boring.

I know, right? That's what's hard for me too: doing the final small details. It's so boring and takes so long. I can have the main mechanics made within a few hours, but adding in those final things takes up like 70% of the time I spent on the app itself. Crazy.

Braydon_SFX

@POLYGAMe said:
For some reason, I have a new idea for a game every time I am on the throne, doing a poo. The bigger the poo, the better the idea.

I'm not looking forward to the day when I come up with "the killer app"

Gasp! We have children roaming these forums, sir! Watch it!

AfterBurnett

@Braydon_SFX said:
Gasp! We have children roaming these forums, sir! Watch it!

Pretty sure they poo, too.

The_Gamesalad_Guru

I'm never short of ideas. It's mostly sorting through them for the best one to invest the time in. @RP and I have so many ideas in the pipeline we just can't keep up. We have stuff scheduled out for the next two years.

tenrdrmer

@tenrdrmer said:
A lot of people just look at the top 10 chart and make the same games and name them as close as possible too.

@The_Gamesalad_Guru said:
We have stuff scheduled out for the next two years.

Hiw could you possibly know what's going to be on the top ten charts in 2 years????

AfterBurnett

@tenrdrmer said:
Hiw could you possibly know what's going to be on the top ten charts in 2 years????

Going by the icon, I'm guessing they are psychic.

Wboko

It can hit at anytime.... I was walking through a book store and saw a title of a book that looked really cool, AND BOOM! I am working on a new game... Ice&Fire coming soon!

The_Gamesalad_Guru

um. Maybe because we do original ideas? Remember what Job's said "people don't know what they want until you give it to them."

AfterBurnett

Aw, man... here was me thinking I'd met a real psychic...