When it comes to creating games, there is nothing worse you can be than boring. After all, games are supposed to be fun. True, some experimental games do stray away from this, like “Spec Ops: The Line” or “Valiant Hearts”. But, at their core, games need to at least be engaging.
Well, the sure-fire way of making your games not engaging is to simply copy something that is already present. As you might have guessed, innovation is the key to producing fresh, interesting games that people will be willing to purchase and enjoy. So, are there ways in which you can become more innovative in your role? Well, that is what we are here to find out.
Ways to become more innovative in your role
Before we go over all the ways in which you can achieve this, there is one thing we need to get straight: being innovative is hard. The core meaning of innovation is being creative and that your creations are interesting. Now, every kid can be creative. That part at least is usually not that hard. But in order for your creations to contribute to the industry as a whole, you need to know your stuff and open yourself up. Only by doing so will you actually be innovative and create something that everyone will appreciate. So, here is where to start.
Take a step back from your role
The opposite of being innovative is being stagnant. Therefore, one of the best ways to become more innovative is to take a step back from your role entirely. If you have been dealing with the same problems for a long time or you’ve had to push forward the same ideas, you might have simply burned out. It can be hard to come up with new, useful ideas if you are constantly working on optimizing old ones. So, one of the best things to do is simply to step back and gain some perspective. Consider other roles and what people in them are doing. Remember, games are multi-art projects, which is why you will always find someone doing something that you didn’t even know existed. As the professionals at WP Full Care can tell you, this is true even for website design. Discover new things, and inspiration will hit you like a breath of fresh air.
See what other people are doing
Another way to go is to stay within your role, but see what other people are doing. Your colleagues and competitors might have completely different ideas from your own, some of which can even inspire you. Plus, by talking to them and discussing your work process, you might even find new things within your own work. Inexperienced people think that by talking with the competition you will give away valuable ideas. And, while idea theft does happen, this is rarely the case. Working with fellow developers is all about furthering your knowledge and developing new ways of thinking.
Listen to Bruce Lee
The quote we are referring to here goes:
“Absorb what is useful. Discard what is not. Add what is uniquely your own.”
This quote stands as a terrific piece of advice, no matter what your role is in game design. Learning is a big process of building games, which is why you need to know how to learn about your environment. In fact, if you are new to gaming design, know that certain companies only hire self-taught professionals. The world of games is constantly changing. Therefore, if you want to become more innovative in your role, you need to constantly learn and adapt. The more you are able to do so, the more ideas will you come up with.
Creating innovative games
One of the more interesting facts about games is that there is a huge number of them being released every day. If we consider all the gaming platforms, we are talking about tens of thousands of different titles. So, are all of these games innovative? Far from so. Most games today are practically copy-paste versions of previously successful games. Some creators hope that because they made a similar product that they will bring in a similar audience. But, this is one of the dangers of nostalgia. Just because something was popular, doesn’t mean that its copy will be.
Now, innovation in the gaming industry is a big subject, which we cannot possibly cover in this article. But, what we want you to take away from it is that creating innovative games is something you should strive for. And, since you are reading this particular article, we are hoping that you already are. So, to make this a bit easier, here is what you should keep in mind.
Prioritizing depth
Time and time again, we are shown that players value quality over quantity. Just think of all the recent procedurally generated, huge spanning games like No Man’s Sky that simply flopped. So, if you plan on being innovative, we suggest that you do so with added depth. For example, think of a game like Portal. A small team in Valve took a simple mechanism and added as much depth to it as possible. And what did they get? A smash hit loved by gamers and reviewers alike.
Focus on one thing and make others decent
Ideally, you will focus on one aspect of your game and add depth to it. Now, does this mean that other parts can be sub-par? Of course not. But, what you need to avoid is spreading your resources too thin. Good innovative game design is all about making the most out of quite a little. If you incorporate too many aspects, you will soon lack the necessary room to experiment with depth. So, trust us when we tell you to focus on a single aspect and take it as far as possible.