Discussion What do you do with your surplus* game ideas?

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Guest User

Guest
* 'surplus' here meaning in this context 'when you already have at least one game in development and you come up with another one'.

what do yguys do with them? e.g. whip out gamemaker and start a new project right away, write it down for later, lay down the groundwork for it then go back to what you were already developing, take it out back and put it down because you have too many as it is, something else?

just interested in hearing the different ways these ideas are handled by others. if applicable, of course.
 
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xesphoj721

Guest
The shelved ideas aren't going anywhere unless you've got butterfingers, and you go and delete all your ideas. You can always go back to them later.
 
G

Guest User

Guest
The shelved ideas aren't going anywhere unless you've got butterfingers, and you go and delete all your ideas. You can always go back to them later.
you are saying you write them down electronically, like in a word document?

do you simply write a short description, write down snippets of ideas for the game, or go ahead and write up a game design document?
 
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xesphoj721

Guest
you are saying you write them down electronically, like in a word document?

do you simply write a short description, write down snippets of ideas for the game, or go ahead and write up a game design document?
I write allot about projects through different programs, such as The Guide, Word, Wordpad, Notepad, Excel, a Note thing for my phone, etc. Project info is scattered, and not tied together into one document. That's because I tend to come up with ideas, and then post them in new documents without updating a central form. I don't recommend it at all: it' makes compiling all that info a nightmare. I only did this because I was limited by hardware, but that's not an issue anymore: the issue now is undoing that broken adaptation.

The content itself varies: it can be an entire framework for a project, or just a single word or sentence that I think would be interesting to use. But when I type up an entire project, I go ballistic on it: I put allot of intense thought into the conception. Also, some projects have been sitting around for years without being used, and others are more recent, but are currently undergoing implementation.
 
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xesphoj721

Guest
Oh yeah, and I absolutely refuse to physically write a document for anything. I'll do chicken-scratch to designate important things, but not much else. I leave the paper-handling for drawing.
 
After the game I'm working on now, I've got three more fully formed in my head ready to go. Then I have two more I have vague ideas for...and a few more vaguer still.

I've got enough material to last me years...and it's all gold...!

I write things down in sketchpads sometimes, but I mostly just trust myself to remember everything. The sketchpads are scattered everywhere and the notes are all on random pages, so it's not like I refer to them often anyway, haha!
 
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PocketMystic

Guest
Hmm.

I'm way too creative for my own good and constantly have crazy and ridiculous ideas for games. Normally if I have an idea I really like, I'll create a document and try to detail that idea and get into exactly what it is I'm imagining. After I've got the information saved, I'll put that document into a folder with my other ideas. I find it helps to try and work on one thing at a time instead of jumping around all over trying to do everything that seems cool, so by saving my ideas and keeping them all together in one place, I can explore them later once I have a good opportunity to do so. Besides, I'm super forgetful and have a hard time focusing so I have to make myself stay on track. It also helps a lot too for when a project finishes to have something new to swing into, instead of sitting around waiting for something to happen.
 
G

Guest User

Guest
Project info is scattered, and not tied together into one document. That's because I tend to come up with ideas, and then post them in new documents without updating a central form. I don't recommend it at all: it' makes compiling all that info a nightmare. I only did this because I was limited by hardware, but that's not an issue anymore: the issue now is undoing that broken adaptation.
ye i feel your pain m8. happened to me with my novel. i try to be more organized with my game ideas b/c of that, since it helps when getting input with others early on. glad you were able to get things sorted out the way you wanted.

I'm way too creative for my own good and constantly have crazy and ridiculous ideas for games. Normally if I have an idea I really like, I'll create a document and try to detail that idea and get into exactly what it is I'm imagining.
bwuh bwuh for once im glad i lack the creativity to not have ideas all the time lol. do you ever have trouble trying to get down what you "see" in your head (imagining)?

I write things down in sketchpads sometimes, but I mostly just trust myself to remember everything. The sketchpads are scattered everywhere and the notes are all on random pages, so it's not like I refer to them often anyway, haha!
totes. this was the main obstacle for me when improving organization in archiving my ideas since i never wrote them down with the intention i'd ever look at it again lmao.
 

Gamebot

Member
Stacks and stacks of drawings, concepts, and just paper, a specific 2TB Hard Drive just for ideas...makes me wonder how anything actually gets done!
 

Ruimm

Member
I don't usually write them down anywhere... they exist only in my head! I work on my main project and when I get some free time I try to quickly prototype some of those ideas. When I finish my main project the prototypes help me decide on what to work next :)
 
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PocketMystic

Guest
bwuh bwuh for once im glad i lack the creativity to not have ideas all the time lol. do you ever have trouble trying to get down what you "see" in your head (imagining)?
Yeah, it can be a pain sometimes!

Hm, no, not really. Usually I have very vivid images in my mind of how everything looks and behaves, so I usually don't have a tough time describing anything. Do you ever struggle with that kind of thing?
 

K12gamer

Member
I never start a game and leave it unfinished...
What a load of wasted time that would be.
Even if I just have it on paper...you best believe I'm going to try and make time to develop it.

Once I make a game...I always go back and try to update it...as I learn new skills.

Example: First game I ever made was a DODGEBALL game for GM 8.1...(back in 2012)
Recently updated it using Game Maker Studio 1.

The game is still very similar to the original...but with these improvements:
+Made the backgrounds nicer
+Added a better Intro Screen
+Fixed up the end boss with better animation
+Improved voices
+etc
 
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