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[armedpatriots]

Hey guys. I have been wondering how you guys determine what mechanic or game loop your game will have? This has been one of my struggles so far as a developer. I have many thematic game ideas, however placing mechanics on those always feels forced and a bit arbitrary. With that said I know how important the core game loop and core mechanic are to the game, I am just wondering how you guys decide what mechanics you put into your game?  Thanks!

[Democritus]

This is a very open question, and it completely depends on your process.

Me for example, I tend to start with a generic aesthetic idea, and then I specifically look for mechanics that go into this direction, prototyping. Then I can find out what kind of larger (or meta-) game structure or world works well.

Another direction is to start with a world, setting and/or story. And then to come up with mechanics, that work well to tell the story you want to tell.

Of course these two are extremes, the truth is probably a back and forth between those two. I am however unsure how you're going about this. So my question would be: What parts of your game do you have?

[valrus]

My brainstorming tends to go the other way around (the loops float around in my brain until they latch onto a theme/setting that completes them), but both are sort of the same process (the matching up of loop and theme). 

You could keep two lists: "Settings/Themes" and "Loops/Mechanics", and look out for pairs where both evoke the same feelings.  General stuff like "anxiety" or "courage", or specific things like "Feeling small against something much larger than you", "Feeling lost but not in a bad way", "Calm in the midst of chaos", etc.

For example, one thing on my mental "settings/themes" list was "early sci-fi consensus Venus" (jungles, dinosaurs, space colonization), and one thing on my mechanics list was "transport tycoon-type game where you can't directly control the transport units.  Units move in predictable ways based on environment features (rocks, trees, water, etc.) and all you can do is change those."  The feeling invoked by the latter ("Something is important but you can't control it", "Remaking a world") fit in just right with the setting ("Dinosaurs!", "Terraforming!").  The result is a game idea where you build a Venusian colony by changing things in the environment in order to manipulate dinosaurs into accomplishing tasks. 

[GeorgeBroussard]

Hey guys. I have been wondering how you guys determine what mechanic or game loop your game will have? This has been one of my struggles so far as a developer.

Prototype something. See what's fun and what works but also make sure the mechanic fits the fiction/setting/theme of your game. The core mechanic of your game should probably also be the game's unique selling point in most cases.