Your idea is worthless!

That’s a bold statement to start your blog with, right?

However, this is the first thing that new game designers should be aware of.

Everyone who is in the industry has had an encounter with a friend/relative/co-worker claiming they have a great idea for a game and they should turn it into a game. Some of those with the idea are even willing to share it, provided they get a cut out of the profits made.

This has absolutely nothing to do with reality.

You see, the problem with ideas is that everybody has them. The easiest thing in the world is to sit on your bed and come up with new ideas for games. They don’t use the phrase “a dime a dozen” for nothing. What is not easy though, is to actually design a game based on that idea. THAT is where the value is. THAT is the hard part that equals to thousands notes on papers, countless hours of playtest and constant changes as you go back and forth to figure out what’s working and what’s not. THAT is the real work.

And THAT is the only thing that matters. Not the idea that you came up with. But the work you did based on that idea.

You may think you have the coolest idea ever. A brilliant mechanism that somehow no-one has used so far. An innovative idea that will rock the gaming world. A theme so out there, that will have everyone talking about it.

If that’s all you have, then you have nothing.

Work on that idea. Build a prototype. Test it. Break it apart. Test it again. Throw it in the garbage and start over. Test it again. Play it again and again and again until you’re sick of it and can’t stand it anymore.

Then (and only then) you will have something that MAY have some value.

Welcome to Game Design! 🙂

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