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[Seth]

I do agree that it's hard to think of exciting game mechanics that aren't violent and fantasy and sci fi settings seem to be very good for that.  But take a look at Earthbound and the splash it made--it took place in current day and didn't have to be realistic in its representation, necessarily, but that way it could include parts of contemporary culture into it (hippies and business men).  The game is more interesting to me now as an adult rather than when I was a kid because now I realize it is very specifically a Japanese representation of America.

(ok I guess Earthbound is technically sci fi, but you can easily see how it might not have been)

[Xion]

I've been taking mostly gen. ed. classes these past few semesters at community college and I'm finding it entertaining whenever I learn something new to try and find a gameplay mechanic it can fit into, or something. I mean not necessarily any singular thing outside of games, but just the process of learning is inspiring to try and apply even the most seemingly game-unrelated the things one learns to game concepts.

Also nature and history are great inspirations (even though I abhor history as a subject).

[Derek]

Tangentially related:

When designing a game, particularly one based on real-world or historical topics, it might seem that hard facts, physical principles, painstaking research, and mathematical formulas would provide the foundation for a successful game. Wrong. These and many other seemingly useful tools will have to take a back seat to the real driving force in game design: the psychology of the player. Gameplay is a psychological experience: it’s all in your head.

This is part of Sid Meier's keynote for this year's GDC: http://www.gdconf.com/conference/keynotes.html?cid=GDC10_CADEX7

[Melly]

Call me stupid, but did that keynote already happen? Yeah, I'm that much out of the loop.

[del]

Cool discussion with some interesting thoughts. Just thought I'd add one more source of inspiration. The tools that we develop with. I mean is no one else excited when they see what they can do and add to it or the new avenues to develop with. Myself I'm looking for the new things that can be done with FaceBook. It's a whole new avenue of player interaction to play with. Usually people sit and play for a certain amount of time. What can be done if they play a little bit all day long? And iPhone and the GPS thing (one day I will be a cool person with an iPhone and see the cool stuff on it!)

[Melly]

Nevermind about the keynote thing, it's still going to happen, and SOMEBODY HAD BETTER TAPE IT. Smuggle a damn camera if you have to.

[agj]

They always record the talks, but then don't let anyone see them. :(

[Melly]

Are they usually available in torrents?

PIRATES DON'T FAIL ME NOW

[nikki]

for some creative people talking (from all different industries) TED

[agj]

PIRATES DON'T FAIL ME NOW

The pirates have better things to pirate, like the latest Hannah Montana movie or something.

[Melly]

Curse you pirates. You used to be cool!

[Ninja Dodo]

They always record the talks, but then don't let anyone see them.

GDC Vault? (formerly occasionally free GDC radio)

Strangely many of the per-year overview pages seem to be missing a lot of material, though it still shows up if you search for it directly by name like most of the 2006 or 2000 & before stuff.


I like jogging and train-rides for encouraging elaborate pondering, but as far as direct sources of inspiration I find travel, history, mythology, nature and how we move and behave pretty interesting, and obviously other media have their share of influence.

I do think it's important to play a wide variety of games, because it does determine the framework within which you approach your own ideas. If you decide to avoid all further games because you don't want to be unduly influenced you will still be going by the limited set of games that you have played already and your pool of inspiration will be all the more derivative for lack of variety.

I remember when I was very little I used to conceptualize all games as platformers, because that's what I played. If you told me there was a game with this or that setting I would be picturing jumping over it. Adventures were an eye-opener...

[ink.inc]

Films, TV series, anime, wikicrawling... also, having someone else to design stuff with also works great, quite a lot of ideas that me & Zotged have in our games were born when we were discussing our other ideas and then new ones spark from the conversation.

I end up burning hours on wikipedia... never getting anything done.

[anisebal]

Hey ink

I got some good news for you if you can't find anything in Wikipedia. then try to find in Google and write the proper phrase that is actually you want to find then figure out the result, definitely you will get the answer of your question.

[ink.inc]

Hey ink

I got some good news for you if you can't find anything in Wikipedia. then try to find in Google and write the proper phrase that is actually you want to find then figure out the result, definitely you will get the answer of your question.

No, no, no. The problem is I DO find stuff on Wikipedia. Waaaaaay, waaaay too many things. There's always that temptation to go one link further.


Like, for example, did you know Oprah's birth name is actually Orpah? And that House is actually Brittish (that one really got me).



And thus, my productivity level basically turns to shit.

[Smithy]

Could it be? Does google have a spam bot on tigs?

hey guys i like indiewww.google.comgames check out this sweet site

[Melly]

Oh Smithy.

I used to be your fan.

[Smithy]

I know.
I have fallen.

[nayon]

Right now I'm really sick and feel terrible, and I have lots of work to do which I can't, and I'm making a frustration platformer. Go figure.

[AndySchatz]

Planet Earth and Blue Planet have always been huge sources of inspiration for me, both for my Venture games and for fantasy stories.