Coming up with a game Idea

[beginninggamedev]

Just wondering how do you guys come up with a good game idea Thanks in advance

[ForgeableSum]

I would say the greatest difficulty lies in executing ideas, not in coming up with them. I can't imagine a world in which I don't have 15 game ideas in my mental queue at any given time. So, at least for me, 'coming up with a game idea' is not something I need to take time out of my day to do. It happens automatically . 

[Red Spark]

Start reading Jesse Schell's Game Design Book of Lenses, and ideas will start coming up to you themselves

[venomdev]

Most game ideas have already been done in some form or another. RPGs came from table top games came from kids playing make believe came from stories we heard as children. Nothing is truly 100% original. What you want to do is put your own personal touch to some of your favorite games you've always played. This will make you interested in actually finishing the game and might also introduce you to other games in the genre that you hadn't known about before.

 

Start with the most simplest thing like a board game, board games aren't original in game play. They all tend to have dice, cards and player's pieces but you have the freedom to do what ever you want with those systems. The choice is yours for the theme, the goals, the paths and actions you can take. That's where your design comes into it. And don't be afraid to go crazy on what you want to include at first. After a few days you can look back and see what's over the top and too difficult to include but at least your creative juices were flowing.

[Gods]

There is a ted talk explaining how to come up with ORIGINAL game ideas. (OG ideas > clone ) 

ps the video is in Japanese but there it subtitles
 

[venomdev]

Gods what's the latest game you've played that wasn't done before in some way?

 

There's a difference between a clone and a genre.

[Rudrabhoj Bhati]

All business ideas should resonate around creating geniune value. In gaming the value is the entertainment. People are after that. If you are able to create a exprience which is somewhat unique and still pleasing to the developers then you developed a good game. Learn what people expect with the games, how to make a entertaining game, etc. Then whatever idea you may get you can make it into someting good and polished.

[ekeimaja]

I mostly get my ideas from random thoughts. pictures and drawings. They just come to my mind. I cannot force myself to try just get some idea. For example, my latest idea was born accidentally when I were thinking new features for my other project.

[BdR]

I think the best ideas come from looking at a game you like, look closely what the core gameplay elements are and then make some changes. This is how I came up with the idea for Snake Slider, it's basically just the game "Rush Hour" except with bending rectangles. Or look at Lock'n Chase or Ladybug, they both are like Pac-Man except with movable/interactive walls.

 

Another approach is starting with a basic user interaction for the player. For example move or connect blocks, or draw lines between blocks etc. And then start adding game-rules, like you win when you do this and you lose when you do that. When you can find a perfect balance between win/lose then you've got a game. I mean when the player can do one certain thing that can both win and lose the game.

 

Look at Tetris, the player can do only one thing which is stack the blocks. When you do it right you win but when you stack the blocks poorly you lose. Or look at Blocksum, another really original game. Btw I suspect the creator of this game probably got the idea by looking closely at Tetris Attack.

 

Finally, I think a lot of new game ideas come from combining new technology (both hardware and software). Look at Angry Birds or Cut the Rope, physics libraries (box2d etc.) and touch devices were new at the time they came out.

[magallanes]

For games is simple : just play old games. For example zx games or nes games.

[GameGuy]

It's important that you don't try to "force" it. This will stress you out, hindering your creative capability

[permith]

Look at let's play videos, and see what people are "trying to do" rather than what they're supposed to do.   The same holds true for mods.

 

Especially in the case of mods you can instantly know what:  A.) someone is willing to put a lot of time into making B.) how popular their idea is.   Downside being that you find out that players want beards, companions, and sexy females...  So you combine it all into one unholy combination, that makes no sense.   

[BdR]

Jus saw this game "Snakebird", now that is a good example of taking existing gameplay ideas and combining them into a new game.

 

 

A very cool game, it has some similarities to Lime Rick so that shows that production value is important, I mean those graphics and sound look very cool.

[FK_]

As it was said by magallanes : you have to play games first.

 

Then, you have to be inspirated. It's not required to be in front of your computer to be inspirated. In fact, before designing a new game, I always start with a paper and a pen, scratching and doodling.

And of course, as said by GameGuy, never force the inspiration. If you have no idea, then you have no idea, they will come later.