Have you ever been jealous of a game that had a really good concept? Do you ever feel like your ideas just aren't as good as other designers? The good news is, good ideas are more likely the result of iteration, not inspiration.
Chances are, your initial inspiration isn't a great idea. No idea survives contact with a first playtest. As we develop our designs, they get become better ideas. However, "just work on it longer" is NOT a recipe for having better ideas. It's part of it, but not even the biggest part.
The most important step is to develop a habit of curiosity. Be interested in the world around you. Learn about how and why things work the way they do. Read books; watch documentaries; listen to podcasts. Research anything you find intriguing. Abstracts of scholarly papers are a good place to find succinct information. I've been known to read dissertations if they're available for free online. The inspiration for a recent design of mine came from a joke in a TV show that was based on a real holiday tradition. My research led me to a first-hand account of the tradition as practiced in the 19th century. I should note that fiction can be as valuable as non-fiction. However, media that allows for deep dives tends to work better. Don't just watch a movie; study an entire genre. On the mechanics side, this means playing lots of games. (Or watching actual plays. I'm not sure it matters which you do.) Most importantly, be interested and follow your interests.
This habit overtime will build what I think of as an idea compost heap. Plants can more easily spring up from a compost heap that has had a lot of material added and then allowed to settle. The media you consume is information that can become ideas. It is not by itself ideas or even research. (Research is what happens after you have an idea.) The information you absorb will settle in your mind. Then when you start working on new designs, ideas will begin to sprout.
But where do you start, when you begin a design from scratch? I don't think the way we talk about starting with theme or mechanics is particularly useful or descriptive. Most design ideas start as an attempt to answer a question—what would a game about X look like? Asking 'what if' is a powerful tool at any point in the design process but perhaps especially at the beginning. Reflecting on the question you are attempting to answer is also an important tool. Ask yourself, "Is this question interesting? Is there another question about this topic that would be more interesting to answer?" Asking interesting questions leads to more interesting design choices.
The types of questions you ask may begin from a number of different places: mechanics, theme, components, title, experience, etc. But where you begin is not as important as where you end up. And an over-emphasis on the starting point can lead designers to think that ideas need to start out good. Or that the starting point has to be purely one thing or another.
Often designs start as a question that combines both theme and mechanics: How can I mechanically represent this real world concept? What theme would fit with this abstract mechanism? Or questions may combine emotion and mechanics or theme: How can I make a worker placement game feel more tense? How can my design give the experience of riding a roller coaster, instead of mechanically simulating a roller coaster?
As your design develops, you will add questions that need to be answered. If your initial question was about theme and mechanics, you will need to ask, "What experience does this combination provide? Is it the kind of experience I want players to have?"
At any stage of design, you should reflect on the questions you are asking and return to the question, "Is this interesting? Does it hold my interest?" If the answer is no, it is time to iterate. Find new answers and see if any spark ideas that will take the design in new directions. Really good ideas come from iteration.
ShippBoard Games is a board game design blog that updates most Mondays.
No comments:
Post a Comment