Setting flexible, focused goals

If you're struggling with coming up with an original idea, I recommend that you get a whiteboard (the bigger the better; trust me), open an image editing software on your computer, or even get some pens and paper, and just start writing down whatever you want to make a game about. Pick a topic related to the game's genre, or synonyms related to the main mechanics involved, and start making a map (something like a spider web) of ideas that you can use in the initial phase of creating your game.

However, creating the initial idea can be tough on its own; for example, when is a project ever really ready such that you can begin the coding or the art creation process? Is it after the first mechanics implementation? Or is it when each of the 27 levels is methodically mapped from start to finish? It's important to realize that moment when you've stopped expanding and improving the game, which is getting better as you come up with more ideas, and you're coming up with ideas just because you can.

Once you have a good idea of the type of game you want to make, it's time to focus that end goal in such a way that it allows flexibility later. In my honest opinion, making games is all about flow and the creation of ideas as time passes by. So, if you're in the middle of making a game and you think adding another enemy type or a few side quests might make the game more interesting, then don't hesitate to do so.

That said, you can't be flip-flopping all over the place from one idea to the next, or else your game will lack a sense of direction as the player goes through it. They will feel as if the plot never resolves the initial conflicts presented.

Plus, if your game lacks a focused end goal and is constantly changing over time, it will just take longer to develop. So, speaking from experience, if you want to create two different game ideas, the second of which is something you thought would be cool halfway through the development of the first game, either add it in as an update or expansion after the first game is released, or turn it into a separate project, but don't delay the development longer than it already has to.

So what are some of the things you should have in a focused goal? If your game has a narrative or is somehow plot driven, try to ensure that this stays intact throughout the development. Or, if your game is dependent on a single feature of mechanics and you want to add another feature halfway through the game, ensure that the newly added feature does not affect the initial user experience that was thought about when first coming up with the idea of the game. However, if the feature you want to add isn't really that important for the initial part of the game, then don't worry about it now and just include it in an update. Trust me; unless it's going take a few minutes to add the new feature, it's probably not worth spending your time on something that's not very necessary for the game to work as intended when it was first designed. Or, if the art style of the game just isn't very appealing or could be represented in another way, think about how important the art really is for your game. If it's low-quality art, as done in MS Paint for example, then consider getting some higher-quality art. However, if it's already polished, then don't bother changing it until after the release.

I've mentioned in the preceding section: do not hesitate to be a bit lenient when it comes to your game's mechanics, narrative, art style, and so on. As your game progresses, you will almost inevitably think, "Oh my gosh, wouldn't it be the best game in the world if we just added this one extra boss at the end?" Maybe, it will. And that's where you would want to be flexible.

But remember to try staying true to that focused goal we talked about in the previous section. It's all about keeping that balance between laser-focused goals and free-flowing creativity at every step of the way.