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Good evening everyone,

Firstly I have literally no idea on where to post this.

Personally I am extremely tired of seeing all the same repetetive games. I've been gathering intentionally ideas for the past 9 years on how to design the most perfect RPG / MMORPG / Fantasy Browser game and I made dozens of concepts. I thought game design was easy but it definitely is not.

My problem is, I do have perfect ideas and concepts. I just have no way of working them out. Does anybody here have any idea on how I should proceed from this? I've encountered numerous of game developers and all say they simply don't buy ideas. Regardless of how good / profitable / fun the game is for the company.

An idea is like an egg. You need knowledge to fertilize the egg and help it develop. Giving an idea to a developer is like handing them an unfertilized egg and asking them to hatch it. They can't fertilize your egg either, the genetics don't match up, the closest they could come is to make their own egg that has similar characteristics; but they can never recreate your egg, your original idea and what it was intended to become. (I have been watching RP Feynman, so now have analogies coming out of my ass.)

Also, maybe your idea doesn't work perfectly right away, maybe your egg is infertile and can't possibly produce what you want because of some flaw of design. The process of eliminating these flaws will invariably change the nature of the game itself. If you are not developing the game yourself then you have no control over how these issues are solved and what direction the project takes.

That's not to say that ideas on their own can't be fun. You can make all kinds of stuff with an unfertilized egg -- omelettes, cakes, etc. -- but you can't make a chicken.

You don't need to be able to make the game yourself. If you were a great 3D modeller, or artist, you could work with someone on the game. But first you would have to make a whole bunch of models for the game. Then you have a half made game that just needs programming. And even if you couldn't still find a programmer, you could get a job as a 3D modeller, So you wouldn't have wasted your time.

If you can't do anything but tell someone an idea then really it is the other people doing all of the work for you. Gimme Da Codez.

I'm not convinced it could work out like that. If one can't make games then one can't make games. It's no different to being unable to paint a portrait; sure you might be able to imagine a really nice portrait but if you get someone else with talent to paint it for you it will never come out the way you envisaged it. And that's not just a matter of people interpreting ideas differently: you might be imagining a face that is out of proportion or the shading is incorrect or the perspective is messed up.

It's not like that with games. Games have rules, and rules are repeatable. If you can make the graphics, you can tell someone the rules. Anyway, when I worked as a games artist/designer it was my job to tell the programmers the rules, and it worked.

@Pincho - I see what you mean now. I was coming at it from the angle of someone new to game design having an idea that doesn't work well because they don't understand what is required to make it work and produce the effect they were hoping for. Sure, you don't need programming knowledge to design games.

What you dont know is that all gamedesigners in the artist branch have great and alien ideas...they usually get crushed by the marketing department. Especially the MMORPG niche is overwhelmed with people like you, you might have more luck with a different genre as it is less work (mmorpgs are a massive task and most likely to fail) and you might gather a team much quicker.

Essentially, you need to find what part of gamedevelopment you are good at (inventing things does not count, we all do that..maybe a writer if you are good with words or a concept artist? Perhaps 3d?)



We all have. People like you are legion.

There is this wonderful little video here that explains you pretty much everything you need to know from here.

This is in no way ment to be a negative its just that the "idea guy" is the lowest thing you can be in gamedesign. Indie or otherwise. There is a reason why we get the same game over and over again: It sold in the past and the broad masses tend to stick to what they know.
There are also numerous "different" game that have bombed in the past and many creative studios emerged and faltered since I have been into gamemaking.
People with the manpower just dont do completely different things and indie developers often dont have the manpower or experience.

If you dive around in indie game design you'll find plenty of inspired projects that have failed because people underestimate what is required to get an idea working. I made that mistake myself which is why I stick to small games and 3D modeling.

You'll find your thing, I'm sure!



-Wolf

Tedium.

Anyone who says "I have an idea, I just need a developer" isn't familiar with it. I'll listen for 45 an hour, after all, it's the planning stage and counts to the product. I won't listen for less, though.

So yes, tedium. It's your wife.