Inspiration

I have a desire to create, to tell stories and entertain and that leads me to making games of my own. Where then does my inspiration come from?

The TL;DR

• Playing games is a great source of ideas

• Get inspiration from the things you love and are passionate about

• Being inspired is just the beginning

Most often it's playing games that inspires me to create something new.

Typically I'll want to see what would happen if I went a different way with the theme or the mechanics, sometimes I'll try adding or taking something away and occasionally I'm bold enough to think I can make a game that's better.

I've loved deck-building since my first few games of Magic, Dominion was a favourite for a long time, and my wife and I played Hogwarts Battle on our honeymoon. It was these games and the joy I got from them that inspired the creation of Werewolves of the Black Forest.

I may have picked up one or two dice to develop Dice Planters

I can also see a mechanic and a game will develop around that. The recent explosion of roll and writes meant that at this year's UK Games Expo I walked past dozens of tables and played a bunch of games with this mechanic.

Dice Planters was born out of an idea I came up with at the expo (and resulted in me adding to my dice collection), and though it may not be developed into a roll and write, the game got its start there.

For other games a creative work outside of gaming may trigger an idea or the desire to explore an idea.

E-Core came from watching Babylon 5. A number of episodes portray the idea that frequently dangers come from our own decisions and desire for power. The game bears no resemblance to the show (beyond the fact that they're both sci fi) but that sense of being self destructive and risking what you have in order to gain more is baked into both.

Tell enough people you're a writer, a game designer, a film maker or any of a hundred other types of creative profession and you'll doubtless start to dread these words;

I have a great idea for a...

Being inspired is just the beginning though, this is where the real work begins.