How Stephen King Can Make You a Better Game Designer

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seanjames

"Whatever you are, be a good one." - Abraham Lincoln

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Penn State University

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How Stephen King Can Make You a Better Game Designer

Posted by seanjames - May 10th, 2011

Hey all,

I just finished up an article about using situational writing to come up with game concepts. I get often find it tough to come up with a game concept, so when I get stuck this is a technique I've used in the past. I think many people here have been in the same boat.

Besides that... there are 2 seed paragraphs in this article that I think could make for a fun contest or competition. Anyone interested in building a game based on either of the scenarios in this article? If enough people are interested, I can probably come up with some prizes.

http://www.baconandgames.com/2011/05/1 0/how-stephen-king-can-make-you-a-bett er-game-designer/

Sean

How Stephen King Can Make You a Better Game Designer

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Regularjoe 2011-05-10 20:44:39

The Stephen King seed paragraph is pretty cool, but the post apocalyptic world part is pretty cliche.

All the questions you come up with are like: how can I crib off more popular games?

seanjames 2011-05-10 20:44:39

I made up that Stephen King seed paragraph :)

You make a good point. Perhaps I shouldn't have used the post apocalyptic setting as my sample, because there's a LOT of that going around. If I had used something more generic and less in the lime light, this might have been more helpful. I appreciate the feedback.

Kajenx 2011-05-11 01:24:24

The problem with this is that game design has nothing to do with story. Games often have stories, but the story always has the same main function in a game: to acknowledge progression.

Designing good game mechanics is the difficult part, and I've yet to find any aids or shortcuts in that department... :(

seanjames 2011-05-11 01:24:24

I agree 100%, game design has nothing to do with story. The same mechanics for this game could be applied to a game set in egypt or one starring a paper doll running around on a person's desk.

The point of the article was that if you've got a blank page, this is one way to get the juices flowing. This is just a seeding technique. Certainly it's still up to you to refine once you end up with a concept you like and want to run with.

Perhaps I wan't clear enough about what this technique is designed to do.

How Stephen King Can Make You a Better Game Designer

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