A New Game Idea Every Week « Patrick Curry’s Thoughts on Game Design

December 26th, 2005

A New Game Idea Every Week

Last New Years I made a resolution to further hone and practice my game design skills. My idea for how to do this was to come up with one game idea a week. I probably did come up with fifty two or more game ideas over the course of 2005, but they’re all scattered across different email accounts, a PDA or two, and several different sketchbooks and notebooks. Because really, who knows where you’ll be when you come up with a clever idea for a game?

For 2006 I want to not only come up with another fifty two game ideas, but I want to force myself to do it, force myself to do it regularly, and force myself to document them in a central place. And I think the best way to do this is to make it a public affair. Knowing that friends will potentially read this will force me to update regularly, keep my standards for quality high, and make sure I’m not regurgitating old game ideas from some late-night GDC discussion.

Clearly such an undertaking cannot be taken lightly. As such, I’ve set out the following rules for myself.

The Rules:

Only new ideas. This will force me to keep the creative juices flowing, which is the primary goal. But it will also prevent me from posting a game concept belonging to a long-lost friend, co-worker, or company.
No work-related ideas. I will steer clear of all game concepts that are directly related to any professional game projects that I have previously worked on or am currently working on. Of course I can’t predict which projects I might work on in the future…
Only good ideas. This will be the hardest rule to follow. But I’m really going to work hard to filter the ideas down to the gems, and then go into as much detail as possible about why I believe it’s a good idea, and would make for fun gameplay.

So, with that said, let’s get to the game ideas!

Posted in Game Ideas | Permalink

5 Responses to “A New Game Idea Every Week”

mason commented:
posted December 27th, 2005 at 8:58 pm

this sounds like a great idea. little game nuggets would make a good feed. good inspiration for any interactive designer. i can see even delving into the occasional graphic design topic, relating to textures or mis-en-scene.

StGabe commented:
posted January 14th, 2006 at 5:54 pm

Very cool! I was directed here from raphkoster.com. I actually made a very similar New Year’s resolution: to come up with a game concept idea on a regular basis (weekly, bi-weekly, as short as I can make it). Only I’m going to try to develop the things too, in order to see how they well they transfer from concept to reality. I’m looking at pretty casual affairs given the challenge of getting them done in short order. I’ll try to stop by and see what you’re coming up with.

Fran commented:
posted January 18th, 2006 at 12:46 am

Cool stuff! I’ll point out though that the design muscles that usually need the most exercise are the ones that solve the thorny detail-oriented problems that arise closer to implementation, rather than the ones that create high level concepts.

puzzle gamer commented:
posted October 16th, 2006 at 10:58 am

It was a great run! Thank you!

cora commented:
posted September 27th, 2007 at 8:53 am

I think i have a cool idea for a game but i do not know where to start. I have never been in the game industry. I am a regular person and do not know much about creating games. I just had and idea for a game that I that would be fun. How do I go about getting someone to look at my idea. It is not on paper yet just in my head. What do I need to do first. Contact the company, put it on paper, or give up. Please help me to understand what i suppose to do.