GAME IDEATION AND CONCEPTS
Designers need easy ways to generate new game ideas - but few have practical ways to get there. Explore our methods for brainstorming new game ideas...
IN THIS LESSON WE WILL COVER:
3 minute brainstorm - get ideas out of your head!
- Simple, low stakes warm up activity
- Time boxed to encourage rapid and blunt ideas
Inspo Activity
Deconstruct a familiar mechanics
- Encourage students to explore game mechanics through a familiar game classic
- Invite students to share favorite ideas aloud
Combine - unify game mechanics and themes
- Find out what questions to ask to know if games are fun
- Encourage students to pair up and explore familar games to practice playtesting for fun
STEP 1 WARM UP
(3 mins)
On white board as a group or individually with a pen and paper, invite participants to make 3 lists of the following things
“Things that are FUN, things that are GROSS and things that are COOL.”
Anything goes, no wrong answers!
STEP 2 GET INSPO
(15 mins)
PROMPT: Game Mechanics are the core of game design...and come in all forms
DISCUSS: Let’s draw inspo from Candyland which uses game mechanics RACING and TURN TAKING to “race” to the finish. The goal of the game is to finish first, like a race.
ASK: In which ways have you seen RACING and TURN TAKING in a game (tabletop or digital)?
STEP 3 COMBINE
(12 mins)
ASK: How might we combine mechanics RACING and TURN TAKING with ideas generated in Step 1?
PROMPT: Recombine items from each column with one or both game mechanics.
SHARE OUT: Regroup together and share aloud 1) the idea of game and 2) which mechanics they will include