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[handCraftedRadio]

I usually look at something cool somebody else did and then change it just a little bit so I can still have the cool idea, but also have semi-plausible deniability when called a copier.

[s0]

I had a really boring short-term job last year. Boy did I have some great game ideas.

[AndrewFM]

The method I use which I've found works the best for me is to listen to music. However, it has to be music that I can imagine fitting as the background music to a video game. I usually go to a website like Mod Archive, and then just listen to a few random songs. While listening to them, I try to imagine some setting that would fit with that music, and then once the world is established in my mind, the game itself starts to unfurl. I usually come up with a game idea within a few minutes doing that.

[droqen]

I had a really boring short-term job last year. Boy did I have some great game ideas.

This sounds exactly like my going to university except I'm going to have to keep doing it |:

I don't know if it's good or bad, but I'm hoping most of my classes become more interesting.

Also, long bus rides.

(In case it wasn't clear, 1 hour of bus each way + 7 hours of boring classes/waiting for next class = lots of ideas)

[Danmark]

I can't come up with shit when I'm otherwise occupied, no matter how mundane or simple the task, but I spend alot of time just staring at nothing and thinking (no, not intentionally). That's the only promising time for me. Music and ganja can help.

[ChevyRay]

Musicmusicmusicmusicmusic!

I expose myself to the world by going out with friends, experiencing events and reading newspapers, magazines and the web. After I'm safely tucked back in to the warmth and comfort of my room, I Morrissey it and sit around looking fascinating while I process my experiences and find starting points for creative thought.

It's odd, I find that going out, being with friends, partying, and doing lots of varied activities really help my attention span and workflow, they destroy my creative flow terribly. It often takes me a long time to get my mind back into creative mode. I also naturally go in and out of states of extreme creativity though, so I try to stick to this flow and go with whatever feels right because I know that I'll come back around later on.

[Jad]

Well, when inspiration strikes in a chapter in itself. It seems there's a constant process in there grinding, coming up with small shards of ideas all the times and suddenly I just a have a lot of ideas without really knowing where they come from.

But when it comes to actually make those ideas in practice there is one thing and one thing only.

Before sitting down at the computer trying to create your idea -

pencil and white paper and intense thinking. Maybe I jot some stuff down in an hour of time and it feels like incredibly wasted time. But I really need to do it. Once I've tried to draw down my ideas once, sitting down at the computer is a completely different thing compared to the usual - I just ART AWAY. Somehow my powers of visualizing are greatly helped by pencil sketching.

Pencil sketching. Mmm pencil sketching.

If I can get it down on paper as a pencil sketch then I can make it into game graphics as well. ' u '

that is all

[Corpus]

It's odd, I find that going out, being with friends, partying, and doing lots of varied activities really help my attention span and workflow, they destroy my creative flow terribly. It often takes me a long time to get my mind back into creative mode. I also naturally go in and out of states of extreme creativity though, so I try to stick to this flow and go with whatever feels right because I know that I'll come back around later on.

I forgot to mention that the reason I look so fascinating, even in the face of the sheer mundanity of the (frankly overrated) "seated" position, is the fact that I am naked from the waist down. I suggest you try to incorporate this technique into your own repertoire. For me, it's really key.

I also shave racing stripes into my leg hair

[Zachary Lewis]

Smoke breaks!

I don't want to promote smoking, but just having ten minutes alone outside to smoke and relax really helps. When I'm stuck on a problem or have come to a block in my code, I'll take some time, grab a drink and step out and smoke.

As long as I'm not actively thinking of how to solve a problem, I find that my brain will continue crunching away at it. Then, when it's done, it lets me know. That's how I stay sane and creative.

[Degahma]

 I've learned a certain skill I use often that helps me.

 It's called GOAL, RELAX, RECEIVE.
 First I set Goals, (typically for writing)
 Then I Relax, quiet my mind till I can see through the ripples of the conscious mind to the inner. Holding the goal of seeing the goal set apply from beginning to end(Typically in the minds eye for the story I've chosen) I relax and let flow, then my mind and minds eye takes a perfect path to accomplish the goals desired.
 
 It's really really simple. But you must mind the Emotion your brain is in and expecting because this will ultimately determine the outcomes desirability.
 
 
 

[LemonScented]

Smoke breaks!

Yes. I'm in the process of quitting smoking, but I miss the cigarette breaks - not for the smoking itself, but just having a change of scene and being away from the monitor for 10 minutes. It can work wonders for problem-solving. I've taken to finding other excuses for getting up from my desk every now and then instead.

[ink.inc]

Walks in the cold are always helpful.


But even though a majority of the work I do now is pixel work/code, I always think things through on pencil and paper before I do anything. If I'm typing my ideas in a word processor on the computer, there's a huge temptation to just screw around on the internet, and I just enjoy the physicality of pencil and paper.

[Jo-o]

creative thinking in drawing is different cause while you draw most of time ( with me ) I don't exactly plan it flows....like (insert a metaphor) (I actually try drawing something that goes wrong and ends in something else...)


ps: one of these days I was strolling around and saw an add saying that "they could teach you being creative" (does it make sense?)

[Corpus]

Yes. Everyone can be creative. Nearly all children are very creative, in play if not in any concrete output. Most people just lose the knack of it as they get older and try to be what they think of as being more mature.

[Calabi]

There's a theory or some crazy scientists say that you get more creative as you get older.  You might find it difficult to learn new stuff, but that knowledge is more transformative/malleable.

I dont know if its true but I think it is.