Suggestions in Finding an Interesting Game Ideas

Hello uzzybotak,

I personally dont think there is something specific that makes a game fun. I mean of course the features and gameplay,

but different people like different games in different times.

When you are in adrenaline you play fast games, when you are bored you play casual slow games.

- I think you should focus on which genre the team is most interested in. Then find similar games and get the best features from them and combine them nicely in your Game Design. (If you like a specific way of xp, leveling, inventory icons, health bars, the way the character lean on the left when he turns... you got the idea)

So look around and find those features you think will fit and make your game more fun to play.

*Better check what the players like more than what you like. You should do what you HAVE to, not what you WANT to :)

-The best method to find interesting and different ideas is to play a lot of games, read community forums, or simply google what makes a game fun.

ex. Why DayZ is fun.

*Always google why the specific game is NOT fun as well. knowing only what is good, you may do the same mistakes of bad features that those games have

- Community! You have to listen to community and respond. NEVER get offended if someone says "I dont like this", instead ask "why does s/he think so" and say "thank you for pointing out the flaws" if you think its a flaws, or "thank you for sharing your ideas. We most definitely will take it under consideration" .

*Community is a powerful tool. treat them well and they will worship you. They will defend you and they will bring more people to the community. Treat them bad and they will dig your grave (Take FEZ for example).

As well an advertise will be good. You can make the BEST game ever made, if no one knows it exist.... and it will die like a flower without sun.

I hope that helped :)

Hello uzzybotak,

I personally dont think there is something specific that makes a game fun. I mean of course the features and gameplay,

but different people like different games in different times.

When you are in adrenaline you play fast games, when you are bored you play casual slow games.

- I think you should focus on which genre the team is most interested in. Then find similar games and get the best features from them and combine them nicely in your Game Design. (If you like a specific way of xp, leveling, inventory icons, health bars, the way the character lean on the left when he turns... you got the idea)

So look around and find those features you think will fit and make your game more fun to play.

*Better check what the players like more than what you like. You should do what you HAVE to, not what you WANT to

-The best method to find interesting and different ideas is to play a lot of games, read community forums, or simply google what makes a game fun.

ex. Why DayZ is fun.

*Always google why the specific game is NOT fun as well. knowing only what is good, you may do the same mistakes of bad features that those games have

- Community! You have to listen to community and respond. NEVER get offended if someone says "I dont like this", instead ask "why does s/he think so" and say "thank you for pointing out the flaws" if you think its a flaws, or "thank you for sharing your ideas. We most definitely will take it under consideration" .

*Community is a powerful tool. treat them well and they will worship you. They will defend you and they will bring more people to the community. Treat them bad and they will dig your grave (Take FEZ for example).

As well an advertise will be good. You can make the BEST game ever made, if no one knows it exist.... and it will die like a flower without sun.

I hope that helped

Really much appreciated for your comment, it helps me. yeah I know, there's no certain best method theoretically, since every person find its way to get an idea itself. I just really want to listen to what people share about how they find their best method in finding an idea.

Thanks a lot for your feedback. ;)

I partially agree with Metalbreath on this.

*Better check what the players like more than what you like. You should do what you HAVE to, not what you WANT to

This I don't agree with. I believe you should make games you enjoy, if you don't enjoy them then how else will another player like it? I believe every game developer should make games they would enjoy playing and want to play. Gamers know, to some extent, what they want, but even then you have to take it with a grain of salt. For example, my nephew is a gamer, but he thinks every game (like Skyrim, Minecraft, Demon's Soul, Mario Bros., etc.) should have a M4A1 Carbine as a weapon choice (can't tell he likes Call of Duty or Battlefield can you?).

*Community is a powerful tool. treat them well and they will worship you. They will defend you and they will bring more people to the community. Treat them bad and they will dig your grave (Take FEZ for example).

That is true, a game and/or its creator can suffer, but in the case of FEZ the game didn't suffer any. Every review I've seen of FEZ (mind you this is after its release) has been mostly positive, but every opinion of its creator Fish, has been negative (can't blame them though as I follow the guy on Twitter and he spends his entire day bashing gamers and the industry).

Your challenge as a game developer is to find that perfect balance. You HAVE to make a game you will like (otherwise you will get bored with it fast and likely never finish it), but as pointed out, you HAVE to listen to your target audience and try to incorporate the ideas they offer (assuming it fits your game, as you don't want to put a M4A1 into a 1800-era puzzler). The key is being able to turn any idea into a game idea (and that takes time). Just keep your mind open and you will be surprised at what gives you game ideas.

don't know if it's included in game design topic, but let me get straight to the point

I've been starting to make a small game. I work with my friend, and I also work as the designer and programmer (it's because I decided to stay with just two people for a team only, I don't want too much people involved in just a small project). I have a few question:

- As a designer I want to know what makes a game interesting, fun and enjoyable to play?
- Is there any best method in finding the interesting and different game idea?
- What things that must be considered in order to design a great game that can blast the market?

Clearly, this is a Game Design topic, not a For Beginners (technical) topic. Moving to Game Design.

Your challenge as a game developer is to find that perfect balance. You HAVE to make a game you will like (otherwise you will get bored with it fast and likely never finish it), but as pointed out, you HAVE to listen to your target audience and try to incorporate the ideas they offer (assuming it fits your game, as you don't want to put a M4A1 into a 1800-era puzzler). The key is being able to turn any idea into a game idea (and that takes time). Just keep your mind open and you will be surprised at what gives you game ideas.

thanks for the advice, it's been very helpful. ;)

First look at games you find entertaining and fun, then study them to find why you feel they are fun. Look at a few different idea you have found and see if you find something you want to make a game around.

I believe you should make games you enjoy, if you don't enjoy them then how else will another player like it? I believe every game developer should make games they would enjoy playing and want to play.

This is the right attitude, and there is a further advantage to following your tastes: you are an expert of the kind of games you enjoy playing.

Experience and familiarity put many bad or wrong or too trivial game designs out of the question, saving you a lot of mistakes; on the contrary you might find genres you don't like too unpleasant or too alien to work in.
For example, I understand the graphical principles of aligning and layering images for dress-up doll games, but I'm not enough of a fashion designer to know what to draw.

Hi,

- As a designer I want to know what makes a game interesting, fun and enjoyable to play? That is a great mystery at first, but with observation and actually playing the most popular games, then you begin to understand. A game could have everything going for it but one very annoying issue for end-users and the game will not be popular. This is not too uncommon, but most games sell even with sub-par features.

Watching YouTube reviews about games and reading game critic articles can help a whole lot! PC Gamer Magazine is one of my favorites, but there are others with good reviews.

Most people like surprises, challenging play, and rewards for good play. Most people seem to be annoyed by rewards for only the completion of a mission or scene, instead enjoying the reward for actually accomplishing something. Some games sell by "eye-candy" stunning visual appeal with simple gameplay and others are opposite having fantastic gameplay but the visual part is simple to put it tactfully.

Large game development companies actually do market research, surveys, and testing to help understand current trends in games.

- Is there any best method in finding the interesting and different game idea? There is a best method but God only knows what it would be. The big design concept could come from anywhere or anytime. It's best to keep paper and pen with you at all times so you can write down your design concept when it appears in your imagination, among other things to write. Many of the most savvy business persons do this.

Large development companies sometimes get a game design concept from market research inspiration. For example, in a survey or conversation, a gamer (could be on your team) will say, "I sure wish that a game would come along which allows me to disappear and reappear somewhere else in a futuristic FPS. Like teleportation, ya know?" Somebody says, "Like Star Trek?" The first person, "Sort of like that, but without all the transporter equipment. Let's say I just decide to disappear and appear behind the enemy. Can we have that?"

See? Getting a conversation going, one way or another, is great for discovering a game concept. Most of all, somebody has to use the imagination!

- What things that must be considered in order to design a great game that can blast the market? Potentially anything could be considered that is related to the game development and the game market. First comes the game concept with market research to look into the feasibility of the concept. Many people have the second stage as the game design (using paper sketches, writing a dialogue outline for the characters, or scripting the scenes of the game). After that you must know how much time and money you have to develop the next game. Next you determine what skills and tools are needed. Adjustment is made all along the way. Large companies usually have Alpha testing inhouse and Beta testing outsourced to get input and evolve the game in final stages to target the game appeal that they discovered has value.

At one time or another, I have been on teams which were involved in everything which I wrote here. Beginners should start with basic development stages and tasks. As your organization and success increases, then you will find a need for more scientific and business approach to game development which results in games that people enjoy.

I believe you should make games you enjoy, if you don't enjoy them then how else will another player like it? I believe every game developer should make games they would enjoy playing and want to play.

Yes, developers should make games that they enjoy, but we must be realistic and practical, too. We all have several genre of games that we like. Some genre are very niche and appeal to only a tiny fraction of the market, in some cases less than 1%.

Therefore I recommend choosing a genre of games that has a reasonable opportunity for good sales, but of course one that you enjoy. Later after a game dev company has several profitable games published, then there may be a reasonable risk to make a tiny niche type game, having profits of previous games as support.

I feel that you were basically touching on this issue of being practical.

Hi!

I also agree, but the design of a new game it is necessary to "look to the future", because the good old game platforms ever coming to an end.

Good luck.

There are numerous books on this subject. May I suggest you peruse the following:

The Art of Game Design: A Book of Lenses

A Theory of Fun for Game Design

Level Up! The Guide to Great Video Game Design

Creativity is less like a sudden bolt of lightning and more like diligent, scheduled work. Put the time in and you'll get results.

I don't think the feedback will be this great.Thanks a lot guys. Those really are good advice.

Personally I don't find the creative spark to be something I need to work at - the hard work is taking an idea and turning it into something playable outside your head. ;) There are many great approaches to coming up with ideas. If I had to name one, I would point out that many innovative games are at their root an existing genre with some extra restriction or some extra freedom than the base genre. The player needs to problem solve in a new way, and *that's* exciting to me. And of course a great story and good polish help too. As far as themes, I like interesting mashups (e.g. retro sci-fi) or following an unusual situation to it's logical conclusion.

Personally I don't find the creative spark to be something I need to work at - the hard work is taking an idea and turning it into something playable outside your head. ;) There are many great approaches to coming up with ideas. If I had to name one, I would point out that many innovative games are at their root an existing genre with some extra restriction or some extra freedom than the base genre. The player needs to problem solve in a new way, and *that's* exciting to me. And of course a great story and good polish help too. As far as themes, I like interesting mashups (e.g. retro sci-fi) or following an unusual situation to it's logical conclusion.

thanks again.

I don't really agree with something I've heard repeated on here, that ideas are worthless... maybe bad ideas or mediocre ones, but really good ideas that can really improve your games chances of being successful, aren't all that common.

I don't really agree with something I've heard repeated on here, that ideas are worthless... maybe bad ideas or mediocre ones, but really good ideas that can really improve your games chances of being successful, aren't all that common.

An idea isn't worthless per se, but there are some caveats:

• Ideas are fast to produce compared to polished games. Therefore 99.99% of ideas never get made into games. The unused ideas... are close to worthless.
• Typically a bad idea with good execution will be more successful than a good idea with bad execution. Just look at the top game charts.
• The definition of an idea varies widely. A polished game design document is worth a thousand "wouldn't it be cool if..." ideas.

Hey, sorry if this is already mentioned, i'll read this fully later today or tomorrow but here are some tips.

1 I'd recommend looking at game development in a different way then what might normally be taken, identify the core elements of a genre, what makes it fun, consider why an rpg has levels, and if you really would benefit from this mechanic that is often a compulsion mechanism.

2 Unless you have a big studio and are triple A industry, don't make the game very large, you'll exchange quality for quantity and triple a will kick your ass.

sorry, low on time, be back soon.

I believe you should make games you enjoy, if you don't enjoy them then how else will another player like it? I believe every game developer should make games they would enjoy playing and want to play.

Yes, developers should make games that they enjoy, but we must be realistic and practical, too. We all have several genre of games that we like. Some genre are very niche and appeal to only a tiny fraction of the market, in some cases less than 1%.

Therefore I recommend choosing a genre of games that has a reasonable opportunity for good sales, but of course one that you enjoy. Later after a game dev company has several profitable games published, then there may be a reasonable risk to make a tiny niche type game, having profits of previous games as support.

I feel that you were basically touching on this issue of being practical.

I completelly and totally disagree :)

Niches is the way to go (and 1% of market is INSANELY huge :)). The thing is, are you AAA studio? Unlikely. Do you have sufficient marketing budget? Unlikely. Do you have resources to compete with the part of the market saturated by AAA games? Unlikely.

Actually, making non niche games is very risky, much more riskiy is making "popular games". Angry Birds, Minecraft and the like. These markets are already taken.

Besides, take a look at mobile market (typical casual non niche market), no one is able to earn any money there anymore, I'm keeping hearing about indie devs quitting that market over and over again. It's a suicide nowadys.

I suggest finding inspiration also from books and movies. And even from science or technology.

For example when you are watching an interesting film, you could try to think yourself: "How would I apply this scene into a game?"