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[Muz]

I start all my games with a solid game design.

But all the games that I've actually finished, I just said screw it, and started coding the game with a half assed design. Had to remake stuff halfway through, but in the end I finished making the game.

[chumez]

I start all my games with a solid game design.

But all the games that I've actually finished, I just said screw it, and started coding the game with a half assed design. Had to remake stuff halfway through, but in the end I finished making the game.

Yea, the same goes for me 
If you have trouble writing design or you simply can't wait to start coding,
then you'll have to rewrite a lot of stuff. It's better to have everything planned
i think.

[dantheman363]

I start all my games with a solid game design.

But all the games that I've actually finished, I just said screw it, and started coding the game with a half assed design. Had to remake stuff halfway through, but in the end I finished making the game.

Yea, the same goes for me 
If you have trouble writing design or you simply can't wait to start coding,
then you'll have to rewrite a lot of stuff. It's better to have everything planned
i think.

Yep, I definitely agree. It helps to focus on what the idea / design of the game should be, and then within those constraints focus on fleshing out and expanding that idea / design.

[Chris Pavia]

My projects/ideas have all been starting the same way lately. I'll see a really interesting looking screenshot for a game I know nothing about. Immediately I'll imagine what I think the gameplay is based on the screenshot. Once I've got something that seems fun to me I'll go and find out what the actual gameplay is. So far when I've done this my imagined gameplay is very different from the actual gameplay, and I usually like mine better

[jwk5]

Most of my past attempts at starting a project have been met with either boredom, frustration, and/or the feeling of hopelessness. With my current one I've been working on it for quite a long time and I think the momentum I am gaining on it is due to the different approach I have taken with it.

I've let the game's story, setting, theme, game play, etc. mutate constantly rather than just creating one idea and trying to run with it. The more I've become willing to drastically and sometimes completely change major mechanics of the project (game play, story, or otherwise) the closer I get to narrowing it all down to something that feels right.

The setting has gone from a floating city in the sky to a space station city to a noir Gotham-like city on an island. Rather than just going with the initially intended platformer gameplay I have been testing out various elements of the game in many different game play formats to get a feel for what is most suitable. Even the name of the game has changed tons of times. All the changes just go on and on, but I am getting happier and happier with my progress which increases the likelihood that I will see it through.

I have a book on comic writing written by Peter David and in it he says:

"The writer is the only one who must pull his contribution out of the ether, drag it kicking and screaming from the recesses of his mind and put it down on paper."

I think this is true for all artists of any field, game makers included. Sometimes when you have a game idea you have to do battle with it  for a while (so to speak) before you can put it into action.

Don't get discouraged if the idea you have doesn't initially feel right or seem to work, let it mutate and continue to grow and trim away parts of it that feel unnecessary due to new changes. Try things out and experiment. Give yourself time to get comfortable, too. Put it down for a bit and come back to it. While it's down do other things that give you time to generate new ideas or allow you to come back to it with a fresh perspective. It is better to have a slow development cycle due to taking your time than to have 50 short development cycles due to constantly giving up.

Whats are ways you guys think of ideas for games, awesome control schemes, original gameplay.

Play games, take notes. Try combining features of Game A with Game B and think about how it'd play. Like with drawing or writing, in game development you can learn a lot by studying the works of your peers.

I always think of projects that complicated, and eventually give up. I want to focus on 2D and I'm just starting pixel art.

Build it up in steps. If you are making a platformer just start by focusing on the basic movement and build it up bit by bit. Once you get the hang of the development process you can start making concrete design plans and lay out your work flow. For now, just experiment. Things only seem complicated when you are looking at the whole, but often when you break them down into small parts they are much more manageable than they initially seemed.

One last suggestion I have (which I had to learn the hard way) is let go of that big picture in your mind of this amazing game full of features that is going to be the next big hit and blah, blah, blah. The more you paint this grand picture in your head the more your small steps towards a completed game are going to seem inadequate. With my current game I am keeping the ideas in my head rough and gradually ironing them out as I start to figure out what I can realistically do with them (based on the skills I have and the skills I am learning). It doesn't mean you can't make an amazing game or the next big hit, it just means you need to keep your mind focused on the climbing the mountain and not daydreaming about being at the top of it. The view up there is going to be much better than the daydream anyways.

[s0]

Here's quick breakdown of my process for making games solo:

1. Have a bunch of vague ideas floating around in your head.
2. See what idea you can hold onto over a period of time.
3. Make core gameplay based on vague idea.
4. Create content and flesh out advanced gameplay features as you go along.

I'm not saying everyone should do this but it works for me. Not a big fan of design docs and stuff.

[jwk5]

I'm not saying everyone should do this but it works for me. Not a big fan of design docs and stuff.

My design docs are a collection of image files and papers containing random notes and doodles going every which way. I think if I compiled it all into a solid design document I'd never have any direction whatsoever. It is kind of like cleaning my room, when it is messy I know where everything is at and when it is clean I can't find anything when I need it.

[studioslug]

inspiration, what are your two favorite movies, combine the ideas and add some of your own to make a game idea

[eva_]

best way to start a gam is to doubl click

[Defsan]

I start my games from two somewhat opposite situations:

• I spend a lot of time playing the games that I like and thinking about what would be my ideal game. Take a game that feels perfect to you, and think about how would you improve it, even if it involves adding a freaking tank simulation gameplay branch;
• I come up with a seemingly unrelated and random idea, and I think of the best way to put it in a game: A game where you have to fend off bad guys and solve physics-based puzzles solely by farting, controlled with your mouse? Why the hell not? Just make sure to work on your idea so it becomes enjoyable to play, instead of being just "that game with that farting guy".

Usually I start from there. You can say that the first situation is "forced" whereas the second isn't, but I like both. I actually prefer the first one since I like to stop everything and just devote some time thinking about a kickass game that I'd enjoy making and playing.
The art style, story and other aspects come later, usually from necessity or ideas that come to mind.
Also, if at any time you feel like you don't want to work on the game on a given day, at least draw a bit or read an interesting book. That will keep you motivated with the game you're making, without necessarily working with it (programming or doing specific character animations or sound effects). Who knows, maybe you'll get the motivation from just drawing a random thing or reading that funny book.

[J-Snake]

I personally start with gameplay. And the gameplay is consisting of gameplay-elements. A gameplay-elment can be an action/technique or a string of actions/techniques needed to be performed to achieve a certain goal/purpose. It helps just watching/recording a variety of walkthroughs of games and then extracting all the gameplay-elements-parts and merging them to a "gameplay-elements-vid". That way you will have a huge pool of gameplay-elements. It is like having a huge pool of tools that help you to construct your own gameplay. It can also give you ideas how to find innovative gameplay-elements by your own.

One example of a gameplay-element taken from a Super Metroid Hack: You use your grapple-beam to swing to the side, release it and morph to ball in air to reach a narrow path located at the side of a high wall

In my case the story adapts to the gameplay then, not the other way round. Progression of the game is another serious challenge but it can only be done when all the major gameplay-elements are already known. So I know what to do first, then what to do second and so on.  
This approach works for me pretty well, especially for bigger plans.

[ink.inc]

best way to start a gam is to doubl click

I made a chuckle.

[namre]

Here's something that has helped me finish my very first game: Create a clone.

Yes, cloning a game. Think of it as a learning method.

My first game was a Tetris clone. Before, I was like always thinking of the next big game idea that I would create, my ideas were so big and complex that I end up not finishing them. This is because creating a game from scratch would require you to think about a lot of things, like mechanics (if it would work or not), menus, and stuff.

By creating a clone, you don't have to worry if a certain mechanic would work or not, or if a certain design aspect would be optimal, since the game your cloning has already figured that out for you. This would force you to just concentrate on creating the game. It would also teach you a lot of important stuff in finishing a game.

Once you have a finished game under your belt, you now have enough experience to start something original of your own. :D

Goodluck!