Written by Jim Thompson, published by Thames and Hudson
Design Inspirations.
Idea and concept development.
Design inspiration comes from many sources. It's important to consider anything as a suitable starting point for a game as the competition for new and better games is getting tougher.
Outside interest and personal experiences provide fantastic inspiration for designs and help develop innovative and exciting games.
Cultivating inspiration.
the more you seek inspiration, the more it can elude you. Not playing as many games as possible, but looking far and wide into other cultural activities. Research and preparation is very important.
Real life and literature:
Warren Spector and Harvey Smith are the designers of Deus Ex, a critically acclaimed game that is often cited as one of the best examples of a first person shooter/role playing game to date. (Title; Deus Ex. Developer; Ion Storm. Key features; Dystopian cityscape, hybrid FPS and role playing game, cyberpunk feel, literary references)
Throughout Deus Ex there are many references to classical and modern literature. Some of the environments in the game are real-world locations. For example a real life inspired setting; a dirty, dark and threatening version of Honk Kong.
Another feature was the fact players could choose violent or non violent means of getting through levels. The freedom of choice had the effect of making the game seem more real than previous linear-style FPS games.
To create such a physically and psychologically rich game, the designers drew upon all their non digital gaming experience, the literature they enjoyed reading, and real world locations as inspiration.
Childhood bug collection.
Nintendo's reputation for producing innovative and popular games.
A deeper insight into two well known Nintendo games designers provides an insight into the inspiration for their most famous designs.
Shigeru Miyamoto; Born in Sonobe town, Kyoto, Japan. Youth; often explored the countryside, lakes and concealed caves. enrolled in the Kanazawa Municilap College of Industrial Arts and crafts and graduated with a degree in industrial design but spent much of his time sketching ideas. His degree secured a position as a staff artist within Nintendo's planning department. The inspiration of the landscape and the idea of exploration in his youth can be seen in his games such as Mario and The Legend of Zelda.
Satoshi Tajiri; Lived in suburb of Tokyo. Youth; took part in bug and insect collecting from surrounding countryside. His enthusiasm led to try collect as many different bugs and to try to design increasingly varied and ingenious ways of collecting them. While at technical school, he discovered love for digital games which led to form a games magazine and was fascinated by the new Nintendo Gameboy. All the inspirational factors and Satoshi's desire to allow people to enjoy collecting weird beasts from the surrounding countryside and trade them gave rise to the concept of Pokemon.
Design Process
A designers notebook/sketchbook should contain a wide range of material that has attracted and stimulated their attention over a period of time. Snippets that may not be useful at the time, and real life sketching and photographs can help to inform and inspire your designs.
Question the status quo
It is a good idea to force yourself to think of different responses to familiar situations - to think laterally. The designers of Call of Duty 2 recognised that the concept of the health pack was not very realistic and would become very boring if the player simply became incapacitated. The solution was when hit by an enemy bullet, the edges of the screen would flash red and the players vision would blur, his movement would slow down, and his ability to aim would be reduced plus sound effect of player gasping in pain. If the player received no further damage he then returns to normal health. This helps the player think more tactically and use the available cover more effectively rather then rely on a magical health pack.
Designers are left to ask basic questions such as 'why are there health packs in games?' and 'what if there weren't any?' This approach hadn't been seen before COD2. The moral is if you can learn to ask these 'awkward' questions and then you seek to answer them, you will find it can drive you toward innovative answers.
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