If you are a beginner, you might not know how to come up with unique game ideas on your own. You may not have found a process that works for you, to find ideas on your own.
A game development process is important because game ideation is personal. Different people have their own methods to get good game ideas. The ideation method of one person may not work for another one.
To help you find out your own ideation method, below we list 5 methods that game designers and developers commonly use to get ideas of their own:
Brainstorming is a common method used to come up with not just game ideas, but ideas as a whole. You may already be familiar with brainstorming if you’ve used it in school.
There are two ways you can brainstorm game ideas: individually or as a group.
To brainstorm individually, pick a pen and paper and write down various ideas in your head as they come to you. Do not worry if the ideas are good or unique. Just note them down.
After you do this for a while, you may eventually get a game idea that is unique and good.
When you brainstorm as a group, everyone in your group should come up with their own individual game ideas. As you get these ideas in numbers, you may eventually land on one or more good game ideas.
You unleash your creativity when you put constraints on yourself. Constraints force you to think out of the box. And eventually, you get novel ideas.
Under this method, you pick a single game genre, for instance, puzzle, and come up with new ideas you can use for the genre. You might eventually discover a unique puzzle game idea like a new puzzle game mechanic or a new art style no one has tried before.
Under this method, you combine two entirely different game ideas to form a single game idea. Like, combining the creature-based gameplay of Pokemon with the Shooter mechanics of Doom.
When you combine such different ideas, you come up with a novel idea. Idea players will love it.
To do this, play different genres of games and critically analyze the games as you are playing them. Imagine how the gameplay experience would be if you added elements from another wildly different game into it.
Most players use games in one of two ways: 1) to escape the real world, or 2) to experience things in the real world in a better way. You can take inspiration from the real world to get ideas that can cater to either of them.
To get game ideas for the first group, find things people cannot do in their real lives but would love to do in a virtual world. Things like beating up 15 people at the same time or fighting a fire-breathing dragon, while wielding a magical sword.
To get ideas for the second one, look for the mundane in the real world, which you can make exciting in a virtual one. Things like parking a vehicle or running a farm.
The last method is unlike any of the other ones. It is this: don’t try to come up with new game ideas.
This may seem counterintuitive. But many people get their best ideas when they are doing nothing in particular, like in the shower or during a walk.
So regularly find time to relax. Engage in something relaxing and let your mind wander. The right ideas may come to you.
Coming up with game ideas is difficult. And although there are several ways to come up with game ideas, only a few of them may work for you.
However, it pays to discover your right method through trial and error. As a start, try each method listed above for a fixed time, and see what game ideas you can come up with each. Compare the ideas and you may discover the ideas you come up with with a specific method are better.
Juego Studios is a game design company. We develop games end-to-end, from the ideation phase all the way to release. We can develop games of any genre for any platform of your choosing, using notable game engines like Unity, Unreal, and Cocos2d-X.
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