Tuesday, November 28, 2006
Design Dumps
Remember how I talked about how you can't design fun on paper?
I'm in the middle of that right now.
I've got three levels left to "rough out" (gameplay finished, content and details needing polish), and while I'm "almost done" with one, it's feeling stale and un-fun. Oh, it's challenging, to be certain (probably too much so)... but it is feeling too much like "more of the same." I already planned it out too large. The map looked fine on paper, but in actual gameplay it felt too long and boring. I've cut maybe 25% from the size already, which is going to effect gameplay (some of that size was side-passages you had to take to pick up keys... yes, you gather keys in a helicopter. So sue me.)
So I'm struggling with ideas to make it fresh and interesting without adding six weeks to my development time. I've been lurking a little bit on SHMUP-DEV.COM and playing some late-80's shooters for ideas, but the problem is that Apocalypse Cow isn't that kind of game. Not really.
Right now, I'm considering moving on to the other two levels and coming back to this one (hey, it's an effective test-taking strategy, why not use it here?), and then just taking some time and trying to think outside of the box a little. Maybe going with some more weird puns and word-associations.
So, creative people - what do you do to get yourself out of the design doldrums?
(Vaguely) related teeth-gnashing:
* You Can't Design Fun On Paper
* Kicked In the Butt By A Metal Cow
- posted by The Rampant Coyote @ 9:52 AM (Permalink)
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So, creative people - what do you do to get yourself out of the design doldrums?
I don't know about the creative folks, but here's what I do:
1. Snag someone I respect (a good game developer colleague who thinks big, and has a few successes under his/her belt). Treat them to dinner, then sit them down in front of my computer. Demo my game, tell them about the 1001 things I'm hoping to accomplish with it. See which ideas get them excited. Explore the tangents. Record the conversation and go over it later (I always retrieve things I'd forgotten this way). This doesn't seem to work as well over e-mail; especially the dinner part.
2. Take a heavy dose of Focus. Close the blinds and doors. Hydrate. Shut off all the lights. Add an understated soundtrack or walla to keep that portion of the mind occupied. Casinos seem to do well with this effect.
3. Despair.
I don't know about the creative folks, but here's what I do:
1. Snag someone I respect (a good game developer colleague who thinks big, and has a few successes under his/her belt). Treat them to dinner, then sit them down in front of my computer. Demo my game, tell them about the 1001 things I'm hoping to accomplish with it. See which ideas get them excited. Explore the tangents. Record the conversation and go over it later (I always retrieve things I'd forgotten this way). This doesn't seem to work as well over e-mail; especially the dinner part.
2. Take a heavy dose of Focus. Close the blinds and doors. Hydrate. Shut off all the lights. Add an understated soundtrack or walla to keep that portion of the mind occupied. Casinos seem to do well with this effect.
3. Despair.
I don't have a lot of experience in this kind of dump with designing computer games, still fairly new at that part, but for creative writing I find that there are several options.
1: Shift focus - which you talked about. Go forward and then circle back. The biggest concern here is making sure you do get back.
2: Share - pull in people that understand the industry and what you're trying to accomplish and start using them as back stops to bounce ideas off of. Sometimes what you feel like is 'the same old' doesn't come across that way to someone that hasn't been neck deep in it for ages.
3: Power through - This is the nanowrimo approach to creative effort. Keep going even if what you're putting on paper/screen is crap until it smooths out and picks back up. Then go back and fix the crappy stuff once you're back in the groove.
4: Take a project break - work on something totally unrelated. The danger of this is that it's easy to get so involved in the new project you don't get back to the old.
There...suggestions. :)
~J
1: Shift focus - which you talked about. Go forward and then circle back. The biggest concern here is making sure you do get back.
2: Share - pull in people that understand the industry and what you're trying to accomplish and start using them as back stops to bounce ideas off of. Sometimes what you feel like is 'the same old' doesn't come across that way to someone that hasn't been neck deep in it for ages.
3: Power through - This is the nanowrimo approach to creative effort. Keep going even if what you're putting on paper/screen is crap until it smooths out and picks back up. Then go back and fix the crappy stuff once you're back in the groove.
4: Take a project break - work on something totally unrelated. The danger of this is that it's easy to get so involved in the new project you don't get back to the old.
There...suggestions. :)
~J
Well, last night was busy with lots of non-game-dev related stuff, but when I got ready to get cracking, I blanked out.
I failed to have a plan or list in front of me, and I was frankly too exhausted to get into any kind of groove. I needed to be creative, and had very little left in me. I was falling asleep at the computer. So I called it a night.
Hopefully tonight will be better. I'm going in with SOME kind of plan / task list. It may be a horrible plan, but I'm gonna have it. This is once again reminding me of the importance of keeping those lists!
I've also decided to spend some inspirational time with some unrelated games. I'm thinking more Mario than shoot-em-ups. That's the way to break from stale.
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I failed to have a plan or list in front of me, and I was frankly too exhausted to get into any kind of groove. I needed to be creative, and had very little left in me. I was falling asleep at the computer. So I called it a night.
Hopefully tonight will be better. I'm going in with SOME kind of plan / task list. It may be a horrible plan, but I'm gonna have it. This is once again reminding me of the importance of keeping those lists!
I've also decided to spend some inspirational time with some unrelated games. I'm thinking more Mario than shoot-em-ups. That's the way to break from stale.
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