AuroDev | How to come up with an IDEA FOR YOUR FIRST GAME // Tips for coming up with game ideas @AuroDev | Uploaded December 2020 | Updated October 2024, 4 hours ago.
How to come up with an idea for your first game? Where do you get game ideas? In this video I will share the best methods (in my opinion) for coming up with game ideas and some interesting observations and tips for choosing your game idea.
⚔️ Mortal Glory 2: store.steampowered.com/app/2216660?utm_source=yt
➤ Chambers of Devious Design: store.steampowered.com/app/1650860?utm_source=yt
➤ Mortal Glory: store.steampowered.com/app/1097530?utm_source=yt
➤ Follow me on Twitter: twitter.com/RedbeakGames
➤ Patreon - Support to gain perks: patreon.com/redbeakgames
How much does it cost to make a game? // List of game development costs: youtube.com/watch?v=fn34cfKDkSc
0:00 Intro
0:33 Best methods to get game ideas
Consume Media
Play games, watch movies, read books, browse art, you name it. The idea with this is to collect lots of material that you can be inspired by. Playing games is the easiest and most direct way to get ideas for your own games, but you never know where you will get that once in a lifetime idea from. Here's your excuse to go play some games and watch movies!
Search Internet
Everyone has ideas and they are eager to share them! There are many places where you can find good ideas and even separate communities dedicated for sharing game ideas. Try different search terms like "we need a game like" or "why hasn't anyone made this game yet" to find ideas that there seems to be a demand for.
Browse Steam (or some other game marketplace)
With thousands of games readily at your fingertips, it's very hard to not get any ideas by browsing through them. Don't just settle for looking at the most popular games. Use filters to narrow down your search and find those hidden indie gems that have only 10 reviews or seem to be popular with just a niche crowd. These games might not be for you, but you can still get interesting ideas from them.
Gamejams
Whether by participating yourself or going through the submissions, you can find plenty of unique ideas created in gamejams. Especially the winners often have creative takes on existing ideas or interesting new game mechanics.
Random Generator
This is a bit of a wildcard. There are no guarantees you can get an actually good idea this way, but by using a random word generator or a random idea generator, you are exposing yourself to ideas or unique combinations that you might never have thought of by yourself.
3:08 My first idea
I wanted an idea that was relatively simple but still something that I would want to play myself. At this point I was reminded of a classic Finnish game Areena 5 (2000), that I used to play a lot when I was younger. This game inspired me to start working on Mortal Glory. In the present day I was playing a lot of roguelikes like Slay the Spire and FTL so I was inspired by those games to add roguelike features to Mortal Glory (events, permadeath, procedurally generated content).
4:08 Observations & Tips
Fan reaction from other games
If your game is somehow connected to another game (inspired by, same subject or somehow else), you are likely to get an emotional response from fans of that other game. This usually includes both positive and negative responses, but is always dependent on the context.
Find inspiration from 10 pieces of art
It doesn't have to be 10. But the idea is that if you are inspired by only one piece of art, one game, you are likely to be seen as a copy of that game. Instead if you are inspired by 10 games or more, it's much more likely your game will be seen as a unique concept.
Fun over Unique
There's no need to exhaust yourself by trying to come up with a truly unique game idea. Games have been made for around 60 years at this point (Tennis for Two from 1958 being one of the first games) so it's unlikely you can come up with a truly unique idea. Even the world's most popular game, Minecraft, which was quite unique when it came out, was heavily inspired by a game called Infiniminer. There's nothing wrong with trying to be unique, but it's not worth using all your energy for this. Instead of unique, try to focus on what is fun and what there seems to be a demand for.
Execution over Ideas
Ideas are not valuable. Everyone has them. Execution is what matters. It's how you take that idea and turn it into an enjoyable game. You should not obsess about having the perfect idea. Any idea can be turned into a fun game by great execution. Try to pick an idea that you feel like you could turn into a fun game.
Genre tropes are genre tropes for a reason
In a qualitative study conducted by Chris Zukowski on the buying tendencies of Steam users, he noticed that they weren't looking for truly unique games, they were looking for games that belong to a genre that they like. In those games they also wanted to see the genre tropes, the common building blocks that make a game belong to that genre.
7:27 Tips for your first game
How to come up with an idea for your first game? Where do you get game ideas? In this video I will share the best methods (in my opinion) for coming up with game ideas and some interesting observations and tips for choosing your game idea.
⚔️ Mortal Glory 2: store.steampowered.com/app/2216660?utm_source=yt
➤ Chambers of Devious Design: store.steampowered.com/app/1650860?utm_source=yt
➤ Mortal Glory: store.steampowered.com/app/1097530?utm_source=yt
➤ Follow me on Twitter: twitter.com/RedbeakGames
➤ Patreon - Support to gain perks: patreon.com/redbeakgames
How much does it cost to make a game? // List of game development costs: youtube.com/watch?v=fn34cfKDkSc
0:00 Intro
0:33 Best methods to get game ideas
Consume Media
Play games, watch movies, read books, browse art, you name it. The idea with this is to collect lots of material that you can be inspired by. Playing games is the easiest and most direct way to get ideas for your own games, but you never know where you will get that once in a lifetime idea from. Here's your excuse to go play some games and watch movies!
Search Internet
Everyone has ideas and they are eager to share them! There are many places where you can find good ideas and even separate communities dedicated for sharing game ideas. Try different search terms like "we need a game like" or "why hasn't anyone made this game yet" to find ideas that there seems to be a demand for.
Browse Steam (or some other game marketplace)
With thousands of games readily at your fingertips, it's very hard to not get any ideas by browsing through them. Don't just settle for looking at the most popular games. Use filters to narrow down your search and find those hidden indie gems that have only 10 reviews or seem to be popular with just a niche crowd. These games might not be for you, but you can still get interesting ideas from them.
Gamejams
Whether by participating yourself or going through the submissions, you can find plenty of unique ideas created in gamejams. Especially the winners often have creative takes on existing ideas or interesting new game mechanics.
Random Generator
This is a bit of a wildcard. There are no guarantees you can get an actually good idea this way, but by using a random word generator or a random idea generator, you are exposing yourself to ideas or unique combinations that you might never have thought of by yourself.
3:08 My first idea
I wanted an idea that was relatively simple but still something that I would want to play myself. At this point I was reminded of a classic Finnish game Areena 5 (2000), that I used to play a lot when I was younger. This game inspired me to start working on Mortal Glory. In the present day I was playing a lot of roguelikes like Slay the Spire and FTL so I was inspired by those games to add roguelike features to Mortal Glory (events, permadeath, procedurally generated content).
4:08 Observations & Tips
Fan reaction from other games
If your game is somehow connected to another game (inspired by, same subject or somehow else), you are likely to get an emotional response from fans of that other game. This usually includes both positive and negative responses, but is always dependent on the context.
Find inspiration from 10 pieces of art
It doesn't have to be 10. But the idea is that if you are inspired by only one piece of art, one game, you are likely to be seen as a copy of that game. Instead if you are inspired by 10 games or more, it's much more likely your game will be seen as a unique concept.
Fun over Unique
There's no need to exhaust yourself by trying to come up with a truly unique game idea. Games have been made for around 60 years at this point (Tennis for Two from 1958 being one of the first games) so it's unlikely you can come up with a truly unique idea. Even the world's most popular game, Minecraft, which was quite unique when it came out, was heavily inspired by a game called Infiniminer. There's nothing wrong with trying to be unique, but it's not worth using all your energy for this. Instead of unique, try to focus on what is fun and what there seems to be a demand for.
Execution over Ideas
Ideas are not valuable. Everyone has them. Execution is what matters. It's how you take that idea and turn it into an enjoyable game. You should not obsess about having the perfect idea. Any idea can be turned into a fun game by great execution. Try to pick an idea that you feel like you could turn into a fun game.
Genre tropes are genre tropes for a reason
In a qualitative study conducted by Chris Zukowski on the buying tendencies of Steam users, he noticed that they weren't looking for truly unique games, they were looking for games that belong to a genre that they like. In those games they also wanted to see the genre tropes, the common building blocks that make a game belong to that genre.
7:27 Tips for your first game
