Where do good games come from?

#1 As for myself, I like to sketch/write things out on paper for the projects I'm actively working on. I actually have a few small spiral bound books filled with designs, and am currently filling out my fourth, with #5 sitting on the shelf. I'm also using OneNote for storing away game ideas I'm not going to touch in a while, as well as documenting projects I'm working on now (I do this especially with client contracts- it's pretty nifty to track hours, make lists, and cut and paste notes to/from).

Scheduling is harder. When I was single, it was easier to carve out time and work until 1-2am on stuff, and to ignore certain aspects of life (friends don't complain if they see you once or twice a week). I'm sure you don't need me to tell you that being married (and you seem to be ahead of me in the kids department) introduces other requirements for your time. What I've found was that if your partner is flexible, you can get work done at times where you maybe didn't think you could (my wife does a lot of work at home, being a teacher, so we sit at the table and both work on things and that kills both the work and together time birds with one stone sometimes). I do still find myself pulling in some late hours though.

Now for where I think a good game comes from, I constantly test my own stuff, both for debugging, and to make sure it plays like I see it play in my head. I think a good game is simply consistent with itself. There has been so much talk about compromising on gameplay features to avoid feature creep that the other side of the coin is rarely talked about: Don't kill your game's soul. Some features are worth fighting for if it's the core of the game. Your character and gameplay experience change as you add/remove features, and sometimes it's a good thing- but sometimes it's bad too. Graphics should match the mood of the game, and if a game isn't fun with programmer art, then it won't be fun with good graphics. I think it's telling when you hand off a beta to someone to test and they hand it back saying "you know, I was playing it for 20 minutes before I noticed that you didn't have a screen telling me I was winning the levels, I just kept playing".

And for motivation, I sometimes burn out a bit, but with contract stuff, my own editors/plugins, and my game projects and experiments, I try to switch gears regularly so that I'm not staring at the same thing too long. And when I go on vacations, I try to keep away from development as much as possible to let withdrawal symptoms kick in so I'm chomping at the bit for a day or two before we get back.

#2

#3 @Steve...this visual of your process explains so, so much. :)

Not sure what that last panel is though? Is that guy getting shot by laser beams from his PC or is his wife shooting laser beams at him from behind because he won't get OFF his PC?

#4 No, that's Steve's AI actually shooting at him through the monitor. Check the resources for how he gets it to do that (it's involves code changes).

#5 Whenever I start creating a game I look at what I am creating. Is it on a mobile platform, will people play on the go, things like that. I tailor the experience to what the player will do.

After I get an idea of what my target audience will do I can start planning it out. Will it have a story? What kind of game play will be fun? I look to most of my experiences of my past, playing games like Star Fox 64, and one of my favorites Snatcher/Policenauts. My current favorite is the Uncharted series.

I tend to sway toward the games having a good story, characters, and great game play. That's what I like to focus on when I create games where stories are the driving factor.

Carving out time for this and doing it solo is harder for me. I like working with teams because ideas get refined. It creates a better experience to everyone involved, including players.

I found something I love to do, and it doesn't seem like work.

#6 If you're an indie developer, you're probably going about it the wrong way. It should be about having an idea that *you* think would be fun, and executing it. Sharing your ideas and experience with other indies for support and growth. But at the end of the day, you're an indie developer because you want to do things your way, not the way of the retail sector.

Believe in your ideas and take them to fruition. You never know which one of your ideas will strike a chord with others and become popular, and if you're lucky, even financially successful.

Have fun with it and don't try to boil the process down to any sort of formula, keep it free form - that's where good ideas thrive.

#7 @Ron,

I think this question is great to ask, but we can expect a "religious" debate on the answer. The reason why this is a great question is I believe there are dozens of right answers. There are examples of great game designs that have tons of docs, some that grow from iterative prototype design with less docs, have great art teams to start, have great tech to start or none of the above.

I always like to look at what is the competition? I know this is obvious, but I mean really look at the other teams, marketing, budgets, art quality, product quality, etc. Say we are doing a football game on console. We would look at EA. How about a card game on Android? These are much different targets with very different standards of quality and probably much different approaches to development. With sports games on console the teams are huge, they use advance technology like MOCAP fields and have expensive licenses. Doing a Klondike variation is a much smaller effort and therefore more flexibility in development style. With a small team and a small project, maybe you don't even need to do a design doc! Bigger teams at bigger companies tend to have tons of docs just to keep the teams shooting at the same target.

I've posted before that I personally have seen much more success with projects that are planned out and documented, even smaller projects. The process of creating design docs forces decisions earlier that may affect scope and features (and maybe save some money).

Here are a few design books I highly recommend. The Art of Game Design by Jesse Schell, Andrew Rollins and Ernest Adams on Game Design, and Rules of Play by Katie Salen and Eric Zimmerman.

I am interested in what other people think on this topic.

#8 @All thanks for the entertaining responses.

Yes, the debate can get to be somewhat of a holy war, but that's why I'm looking for inspiration and not advice. :)

There are no wrong answers to the question...I'm just curious about your process. What makes YOUR projects work?

When I released my first title...I pretty much locked the office door and told my family that if they weren't bleeding, they weren't allowed to knock on the door. ;)

I'm exaggerating, but I largely "tucked myself away" to complete the game. But it was a simple project with a small scope, so they were able to suffer (and/or celebrate) my absence for a while. It only took about 2 months of nights and weekends to build.

But as my ambition to produce something bigger and better grows, I realize that this wouldn't be a healthy way to treat my family for 9-15 months (for example).

So I'd like to know what you guys and gals do to make the best use of your game development time. Hopefully I can snag a good idea or two and use them to maintain a steady level of productivity without having to go all Gollum again. =P

I should probably note, that despite my best efforts...I have not been able to find other people with which to collaborate on a game project. I know a ton of folks that love to PLAY games, but not many that actually have any inclination to MAKE games (or they have the inclination...but none of the technical or creative skills). That has been a limiting factor, because there is only so much I can do alone.

@Dexter...I will look into some of those books. I recently read "Level Up" by Scott Rogers (from THQ). It is a good read and covers a good deal of both the mechanics of making fun games and the work processes of planning and documenting.

Thanks for the insights. Keep those answers coming.

#9 One game that always intrigued me was this game called Majestic 12. They had you give your phone number and AOL Instant Messenger Screen Name and the actual game interacted with you in real life calling your phone or messaging with more information to finish the game. I always thought it would be very cool if it was implemented the right way.

I usually pull ideas from games of my child hood or things that I have seen.

#10 Missing: Since December was similar to that. You had to find information trails from web sites, e-mails, etc. Unfortunately, the game sites were discontinued before I finished it. :(

#11
I thought of one other addition to this discussion. Inspiration, as we know can come from many places. (e.g., competitive products, books, movies, past games, childhood experiences, etc.) The source of your inspiration can determine the design process.

For example, if your game is story based, books and movies research may be key to hitting quality targets in a genre, say a vampire adventure game. I might break out my Anne Rice books to look for inspiration.

If your game is a platform game, looking at Mario platform games might inspire game mechanics and reward systems.

Some designers like Will Wright promote getting inspiration outside of the medium. He has stated he gets inspiration from science and history.

One big question a team may have is: how much effort/resources to devote to figuring out the product and documentation for the product? My experience is lack of a clear vision (and what are the competitive quality targets) is a common problem that sometimes isn't clear until a reviewer points it out after a product ships. Successful developers find a process that mitigates this situation, because this is usually fixable before shipping.

#12 What I like to do, is, when on the go, notebook/notepad, and hammer out the details of the game I am designing, Long before I even started to lern about all the programming, I was into pencil and paper games, and board games I made myself. The first step is always to have an idea of what to play around with. If something comes up, a quick note, then elaborate on that note later if time permits. Sit at the computer after dinner, and hammer out that consept till about 11pm. Then sleep on it, as I find, more ideas come while I sleep, and my mind is rolling over the prospects all night long, waking in the morning just to add more details for a bit, 5:30am wake my daughter and get her ready for school... Then more notches to be carved that night...

Doesn't matter if I get done in a month, or 2 years, I know I am enjoying what I am doing, with hopes that others will enjoy the playable version when it comes.

As for giving inspiration for what might aid you in building another project, is something I really can not help you with, considering your own personal tastes and styles. The best authors in the world have thrown out hundreds of early manuscripts, cause it just didn't feel right, when they went to proof read it, no doubt many developers have done the same with their game ideas.

#13 I get an idea and then sleep on it for a week or two. Kick it around. Then I start making notes and thinking about features that fit the idea. More notes and some prototyping. If the prototype is fun, it's on! I know that if the core is fun then there's room for some improvement. If the core is not fun I have to come up with some gimmick to make it fun - like pretending that you're killing aliens when mopping the floor. Yuck.

Then, as I move forward I keep adding notes and trying new ideas that crop up if they seem like they're quick value adds or dropping the ideas if they look like little bang for big bucks trades. I usually don't try to tighten everything down real tight in terms of gameplay - I want the player to have some wiggle room for emergent behaviors. Then they can say "Wow, it's so cool that they made this crazy awesome feature" when it was just an accident. I like taking credit for good accidents.... (I'll leave it at that)

The key for me is not to get carried away with every cool new idea. I keep notes to keep myself focused. "Eyes on the prize," so to speak. I've made more progress in the last three months on my latest game project than I have on any other since I finished my Lunar Lander clone on the Apple ][+ back in 8th grade. My main holdup now is testing - multiplayer games take multiple players to test, so I spend quite a bit of time trying to wrangle herds of buddies into playing. I don't remember who said it, but I once read that "managing programmers is like herding cats," and it applies to friends, too.

I never thought it would be so hard to get people to play games for free. I think it's the schedule thing that does it....

#14 one very simple answer ...

A GOOD GAME DESIGNER

its a skill as much as coding or modelling, in the old days i remember buying games because of who they were designed by (not the company the person) people like Peter Molenoux (bullfrog), like buying a book by your favorite author.

a game designer can work with other peoples ideas, like an architect building a blueprint from a clients sketch. if you have an idea to build a house you should probably see an architect. If you want to build a skyscraper then you definately should.

in my experience the lack of experienced designers and good blueprints is behind the failure / lack of success of many indie projects. theres certainly no shortage of skilled artists and coders and they are always welcomed to teams, but designers are viewed as secondary and often not even sought as the team bungles ahead!

#15 I believe the key to great games is a good, solid idea of what you want to do, how you plan on doing it, and experience. And a public beta (with suggestions welcome) could sure help iron out the bugs and bring your game to the limit.

#16 Fourty year old gamer nerd here. I have some perspective on balancing your true love and family.

Well, my wife left me for an old boyfriend (Damn you Zuckerberg!) but I gotta tell you, after 15 years of marriage and 18 years of being together, I don't blame her one bit! Best thing that ever happened to me, and my hobby.

You mean, sex can be exciting again??? The apartment I live in now, is a step up from the marital home (which had an ex-sister-in-law living in it) You mean I don't have to take care of the lawn anymore??? If the toilet is broken, I just call someone??? And the landlord pays to fix it???

WTF Why was I married, and why did I own a house???

There was a three month period where I was feeling sorry for myself, and guilty, failure, etc etc... But then finally I embraced the Otaku lifestyle, started going to cons and meeting people with the same interests as me, and now I have a girlfriend who is 15 years younger than me who has tatoos and ~wants~ to get her boobs enlarged.

I go to a pencil and paper game once a week, I have friends who talk about the things I like, and a friend of sleeps over from time to time who absolutely crushes me in fighting games.

Midlife crisis you say? Pshaww!!! I will never go back to that domesticated hell that was life before. When is the next game/comic con, Should I cosplay as Mel Gibson playing William Wallace again? The chicks really dig that!