How do you get Ideas for games

[Y23strd]

I've been sitting in front of my Pc the last few days and I've been coding. Coding a new engine. The coding of my OpenGL engine going Okay as I have a lot of books to fall back on as references. But that's not the problem. I feel I'm missing the whole point of creating games, I feel like a John Carmack not that I'm even quarter as good but I mean I feel more like a techie you know what I mean. I don't have a kickass Idea for my game and it's bothering me. I like complicated games like Deus Ex and other Ion games but my favourite games are American McGee's Alice and Quake 3. I would like to create a game that gives the player freedom of chioce and multiple paths to express himself/herself. I'm getting irretated with my unableness to come up with a truly original idea as all ideas in FPS have been used. Do you know any place where I can get Ideas?

[baldurk]

Well, no-one is brilliant at everything. Don't feel you HAVE to come up with something. In the real world you'd have a designer who'd tell you exactly what they need. In the amateur world, your ideas don't have to be original. How many quake-clones have you seen? how many other generic RPGs, FPSs, etc.

[bladder]

Watch the discovery channel. No kidding. Watch it for a day, and you'll get tons and tons of awsome ideas for really good game stories. Ideas are usually not original. It's very rare to get an original idea. It is always a derived work of a few ideas that you really liked yourself. Like I was writing this story for an RPG for the past like year or something, and then I had my brother and a few friends proof read it for me. When my brother told me that it had so many elements exactly like this other game called Xenogears, I refused to believe him....well that is until eahc person I made read the story said "Is this Xenogears part 2?" :(

It happens on a subconsious level. So the base way to get ideas, is to analyze existing ideas/throies/thoughts/thologies/myths/legends/stories/etc

[excaliber]

Hi all. Personally, I get my ideas from talking to others, and bouncing ideas around. Hate to plug, but I think my site would work well here (as thats what our site is about, getting and developing new ideas).

http://www.intheoryforum.com

Sorry if this seems like spam. Just smack me if its inappropriate :)

[TheLionKing]

Speaking of ideas ... I mostly get most of ideas from the dreams. What are games? They are just like dreams. Nothing real. But when you make a game ... you turn you dream into reality ;)

[Y23strd]

:yes: :yes: Thanks a lot for all the hel. The website Excaliber gave me helps a lot and thanks to all of you who shared your visions on where one gets ideas for games. Thanks for the discovery channel and dream ideas and I know I'm an amateur developer but thanks for enlightening me that most amateur games are Quake clones. Thanks A Lot !!!!!

[anubis]

there is a site called http://www.a-blast.org/ which means assoziationsblaster. you can simply type in a word and see what otehr people wrote get links to other words or simply write a new entry or link to a new word. the site is really great for getting ideas

[Y23strd]

Thanks again for the help not hel sorry I typed quickly and it came out hel in my earlier mail. Sorry if I made someone angry

[anubis]

np, i don't think you made anybody angry