{"id":1315,"date":"2022-01-31T17:46:29","date_gmt":"2022-01-31T17:46:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/brown-sheep-511001.hostingersite.com\/carla\/?p=1315"},"modified":"2022-01-31T17:46:32","modified_gmt":"2022-01-31T17:46:32","slug":"more-ways-to-start-your-game-designs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/weirdgiraffegames.com\/carla\/2022\/01\/31\/more-ways-to-start-your-game-designs\/","title":{"rendered":"More Ways To Start Your Game Designs"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Here\u2019s another post on ways to get ideas for game designs! I\u2019ve written about this a few times before, but I\u2019m always finding out new ways to start the game design process. If you haven&#8217;t read the previous articles, here they are:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li><a href=\"https:\/\/weirdgiraffegames.com\/carla\/2020\/06\/22\/alternatives-to-mechanism-first-or-theme-first-designs\/\" data-type=\"URL\" data-id=\"https:\/\/weirdgiraffegames.com\/carla\/2020\/06\/22\/alternatives-to-mechanism-first-or-theme-first-designs\/\">Alternatives to Mechanism First or Theme First Designs<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"https:\/\/weirdgiraffegames.com\/carla\/2021\/02\/08\/ways-to-spark-inspiration\/\" data-type=\"URL\" data-id=\"https:\/\/weirdgiraffegames.com\/carla\/2021\/02\/08\/ways-to-spark-inspiration\/\">Ways to Spark Inspiration<\/a><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Design for a Specific Company<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>One great way to start a game design is to design with a certain company in mind. This should give you some restrictions that should help with getting started really easily. You\u2019ll want to do some research into the company and find out what kinds of games they usually publish. If you pick a company you&#8217;re less familiar with, this is also a terrific way to learn new mechanisms and themes!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Here are some different aspects to consider when looking at a company&#8217;s games:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Do they stick to one main size of game or do they do a variety of sizes?<\/li><li>Do they have a consistent type of player interaction? For example, Smirk &amp; Dagger tends to have games that have at least a bit of take that. Is there a general feel to the type of games that the publisher makes?<\/li><li>What kinds of components do they use in their games? Some companies tend to use very generic components, while others specialize in having something different in each of their games, such as custom meeples, custom dice, etc. Some companies don\u2019t like to use cubes, while other companies are perfectly fine making games with 50+ cubes or a ton of chipboard. <\/li><li>Is there a certain type of theme that the publisher likes? If not, what are a few of the company&#8217;s themes, and how could you mix them together to create a new, yet similar theme? For example, Runaway Parade Games has Fire Tower and a game about birds, so joining those two themes gets you phoenixes.<\/li><li>What kind of game <em>isn\u2019t<\/em> in their lineup yet? If a company makes a wide variety of games or themes, what sort of game don\u2019t they have yet?<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Make your list of requirements, then get started designing! With just enough restrictions, you\u2019ll be able to quickly narrow down what you <em>don\u2019t<\/em> want to do so you can focus on what the game could be. If you do get inspired, you also have a good starting place on where to pitch the game!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>You may also simply want to reach out to a publisher and ask them what kinds of games they\u2019re looking for. Some companies can be pretty specific about what they want, which could be a great place for you to start!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Design the Sequel, Prequel, or Next in Series<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>This is taking the idea of Title First game design a little farther. With that type of design, you come up with the title and think about what kind of game would fit that title. When you&#8217;re trying to design the next game in a series, you want something similar in title and theme. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I designed a whole series of games, just thinking about what kind of game would go along with my game Way Too Many Cats. I started talking with friends and just throwing titles out there and these were just some of the titles that came up:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Not Enough Dragons<\/li><li>All the Dinosaurs <\/li><li>Just Enough Dogs<\/li><li>Exactly One Rabbit <\/li><li>Some Ducks<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Not only did I have titles for my future games, but it also made me want the games to feel like they were in a series together, hence similar mechanisms. With games in series, I recommend having similar feels to the games, but different actions or ways to interact or something that sets each game apart from the previous ones. Basically, something that is similar, but different. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Another example of this is thinking less about the title and more about the time period of the game. What happened to create the setting of the current game? What happens after the game ends? One classic example of this is <a href=\"https:\/\/boardgamegeek.com\/boardgame\/257\/kill-doctor-lucky\" data-type=\"URL\" data-id=\"https:\/\/boardgamegeek.com\/boardgame\/257\/kill-doctor-lucky\">Kill Doctor Lucky<\/a>, which is the inverse of Clue. In the game, you&#8217;re trying to kill Dr. Lucky with a weapon in a location without getting caught, instead of trying to figure out who committed the murder, what weapon they used, and where they did it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"797\" height=\"600\" src=\"https:\/\/weirdgiraffegames.com\/carla\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/pic2923257.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-1352\" srcset=\"https:\/\/weirdgiraffegames.com\/carla\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/pic2923257.jpg 797w, https:\/\/weirdgiraffegames.com\/carla\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/pic2923257-300x226.jpg 300w, https:\/\/weirdgiraffegames.com\/carla\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/pic2923257-768x578.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 797px) 100vw, 797px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Hate-Designing <\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>While this isn&#8217;t the most positive type of designing (as you may have guessed), it can certainly be effective! Find a game you <em>don&#8217;t <\/em>like, either because of theme, gameplay, or anything else. Then, make something that takes parts of that game and make something you love. If you hate a certain theme, like farming, make a farming game you would like! Instead of farming regular corn or wheat, maybe it could be farming weird space crops. Heck, Ooblets (a video game) lets you grow cute creatures from seeds and then harvest them! <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I haven&#8217;t found a game with &#8220;I split, you choose&#8221; that I enjoy, so I&#8217;ve tried starting a number of designs with that mechanism. Granted, none of the designs have actually KEPT that mechanism, but it&#8217;s been motivating enough for me to get the prototype made and playtested. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Some people are best motivated by what they&#8217;re passionate about&#8230; and sometimes you&#8217;re passionate about making something that&#8217;s a way better fit for you than what&#8217;s currently out there. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>One kind of hate designing that I wouldn&#8217;t entirely recommend is trying to design something that will aggravate your regular codesigner, as they might have hit their limit of dealing with your bird-themed spatial puzzle games, *ahem*, and you might just need to find a new codesigner. Believe it or not, this is a lot of work, especially as there&#8217;s a finite number of people that are passionate about only making bird games.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p>Did you enjoy this entry? What are some ways that you get yourself inspired to design? Please let me know! I\u2019d love to hear what you think and what kind of things you\u2019d like to see from this blog. Feel free to send me an&nbsp;<a href=\"mailto:contact@weirdgiraffegames.com\">email<\/a>&nbsp;or comment with your thoughts!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Don\u2019t forget to sign up for my mailing list, so you don\u2019t miss a post:&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/tinyletter.com\/carlakopp\">https:\/\/tinyletter.com\/carlakopp<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Here\u2019s another post on ways to get ideas for game designs! I\u2019ve written about this a few times before, but I\u2019m always finding out new&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1359,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":{"twitter_4766012646_4766012646":""},"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_wpscppro_dont_share_socialmedia":false,"_wpscppro_custom_social_share_image":0,"_facebook_share_type":"","_twitter_share_type":"","_linkedin_share_type":"","_pinterest_share_type":"","_linkedin_share_type_page":"","_instagram_share_type":"","_medium_share_type":"","_threads_share_type":"","_google_business_share_type":"","_selected_social_profile":[],"_wpsp_enable_custom_social_template":false,"_wpsp_social_scheduling":{"enabled":false,"datetime":null,"platforms":[],"status":"template_only","dateOption":"today","timeOption":"now","customDays":"","customHours":"","customDate":"","customTime":"","schedulingType":"absolute"},"_wpsp_active_default_template":true},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1315","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-design"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/weirdgiraffegames.com\/carla\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/moreways.png","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1263,"url":"https:\/\/weirdgiraffegames.com\/carla\/2022\/05\/03\/game-design-going-off-the-rails-part-1\/","url_meta":{"origin":1315,"position":0},"title":"Game Design Going Off the Rails &#8211; Part 1","author":"Carla","date":"May 3, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"There are a ton of ways your game design can go off the rails. You might want to design something specific just because, or maybe it's for a contest, or you might want to pitch to a particular publisher. Or maybe you somehow made a bunch of games with the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Game Design&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Game Design","link":"https:\/\/weirdgiraffegames.com\/carla\/category\/design\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/weirdgiraffegames.com\/carla\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/game-design-rails.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/weirdgiraffegames.com\/carla\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/game-design-rails.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/weirdgiraffegames.com\/carla\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/game-design-rails.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/weirdgiraffegames.com\/carla\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/game-design-rails.png?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/weirdgiraffegames.com\/carla\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/game-design-rails.png?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":490,"url":"https:\/\/weirdgiraffegames.com\/carla\/2021\/07\/20\/working-on-multiple-games\/","url_meta":{"origin":1315,"position":1},"title":"Working on Multiple Games","author":"Carla","date":"July 20, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"I really enjoy working on multiple games at the same time. As a publisher, this is pretty much required if I want to have more than one game come out every year or so. The process of game design and development can take months, and art can sometimes take even\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Game Design&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Game Design","link":"https:\/\/weirdgiraffegames.com\/carla\/category\/design\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/weirdgiraffegames.com\/carla\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/working-on-multiple-games.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/weirdgiraffegames.com\/carla\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/working-on-multiple-games.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/weirdgiraffegames.com\/carla\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/working-on-multiple-games.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/weirdgiraffegames.com\/carla\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/working-on-multiple-games.png?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/weirdgiraffegames.com\/carla\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/working-on-multiple-games.png?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":137,"url":"https:\/\/weirdgiraffegames.com\/carla\/2020\/04\/04\/when-you-get-stuck-on-a-game-design\/","url_meta":{"origin":1315,"position":2},"title":"When You Get Stuck on a Game Design","author":"Carla","date":"April 4, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Sometimes you won't know exactly what to do next on a game. You could use your game design time to think on what to do and it's good to do so, but you don't want to do so for an excessive amount of time. Here's a variety of things that\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Game Design&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Game Design","link":"https:\/\/weirdgiraffegames.com\/carla\/category\/design\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/weirdgiraffegames.com\/carla\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/Slide8.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/weirdgiraffegames.com\/carla\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/Slide8.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/weirdgiraffegames.com\/carla\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/Slide8.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/weirdgiraffegames.com\/carla\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/Slide8.png?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/weirdgiraffegames.com\/carla\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/Slide8.png?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":580,"url":"https:\/\/weirdgiraffegames.com\/carla\/2021\/01\/11\/an-introduction-to-designing-and-publishing\/","url_meta":{"origin":1315,"position":3},"title":"An Introduction to Designing and Publishing","author":"Carla","date":"January 11, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"When you're a game designer, you have a big choice to make if you want your game published: do you want to pitch the game to a publisher, or do you want to self-publish? Keep in mind that nothing is forcing you to go down either path with each of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Game Design&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Game Design","link":"https:\/\/weirdgiraffegames.com\/carla\/category\/design\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/weirdgiraffegames.com\/carla\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/intro-design-and-publishing.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/weirdgiraffegames.com\/carla\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/intro-design-and-publishing.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/weirdgiraffegames.com\/carla\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/intro-design-and-publishing.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/weirdgiraffegames.com\/carla\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/intro-design-and-publishing.png?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/weirdgiraffegames.com\/carla\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/intro-design-and-publishing.png?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":926,"url":"https:\/\/weirdgiraffegames.com\/carla\/2021\/05\/04\/getting-started-and-pressing-forward-with-game-design-with-raven-mckenzie\/","url_meta":{"origin":1315,"position":4},"title":"Getting Started and Pressing Forward with Game Design with Raven McKenzie","author":"Carla","date":"May 4, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Raven is a game designer and is on the Unpub Leadership team. You can watch the interview below: https:\/\/youtu.be\/86X111LdJVA When Raven started with game design, she armed herself with notecards, notebooks, and an idea of what she wanted to do. Her first game design was Macaroon Mania and she initially\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Game Design&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Game Design","link":"https:\/\/weirdgiraffegames.com\/carla\/category\/design\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/weirdgiraffegames.com\/carla\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/raven-2-1.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/weirdgiraffegames.com\/carla\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/raven-2-1.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/weirdgiraffegames.com\/carla\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/raven-2-1.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/weirdgiraffegames.com\/carla\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/raven-2-1.png?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/weirdgiraffegames.com\/carla\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/raven-2-1.png?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":815,"url":"https:\/\/weirdgiraffegames.com\/carla\/2021\/03\/29\/guest-post-things-you-wished-you-knew-when-you-started-designing\/","url_meta":{"origin":1315,"position":5},"title":"Guest Post: Things You Wished You Knew When You Started Designing","author":"Carla","date":"March 29, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"I know a lot of amazing designers, and I wanted to highlight some of them, which is why I'm starting some guest posts! Each post will be a question about design or publishing and will hopefully give you a variety of perspectives to learn from. What do you wish you\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Game Design&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Game Design","link":"https:\/\/weirdgiraffegames.com\/carla\/category\/design\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/weirdgiraffegames.com\/carla\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/guest-things-1.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/weirdgiraffegames.com\/carla\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/guest-things-1.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/weirdgiraffegames.com\/carla\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/guest-things-1.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/weirdgiraffegames.com\/carla\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/guest-things-1.png?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/weirdgiraffegames.com\/carla\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/guest-things-1.png?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/weirdgiraffegames.com\/carla\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1315","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/weirdgiraffegames.com\/carla\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/weirdgiraffegames.com\/carla\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/weirdgiraffegames.com\/carla\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/weirdgiraffegames.com\/carla\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1315"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/weirdgiraffegames.com\/carla\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1315\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1438,"href":"https:\/\/weirdgiraffegames.com\/carla\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1315\/revisions\/1438"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/weirdgiraffegames.com\/carla\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1359"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/weirdgiraffegames.com\/carla\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1315"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/weirdgiraffegames.com\/carla\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1315"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/weirdgiraffegames.com\/carla\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1315"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}