One more post about Idea Guys

So I've been talking about Idea Guys lately, which if you've missed all the posts about them, it's a brand of person who "has an idea" and wants everyone around them to make that video game from their idea.

I am a self professed Ideas Guy. Not because I WANT to be, but because of my extreme lack of skill. I can really only do one thing, and that's write. I did, in fact, write a game. I wrote the first few chapters of a script, and the bones of the entire game, out in a document, for a game I'd love to eventually make. I've actually done this multiple times, for multiple games, but this one specifically was an Ogre Battle inspired RPG I'd love to make some day.

So I have that all written out, and I post about it. Someone tells me "sounds like you're not an ideas guy, but just a writer?" and this is interesting. But I will argue, no, I still am. The concept of the Ideas Guy, usually is some dude who gives a sentence description where thyy're just mashing other concepts together. The Ideas Guy taken to its extreme, I think, can write. Maybe do a few other things, like basic game design (I think I'm good with concepting game design and level design, at least). But they can only do it for their idea.

I don't know if I'd be able to write someone else's story for them lol. Would I have that same drive? If there was ANOTHER ideas guy and I was hired to write their story about an ancient evil and a band of heroes, and they have plans for the characters and they just want me to write dialogue (I'm very good at writing fun dialogue), would I be able to? I dunno lmao.

Just somethin' I'm thinking about. I dunno if it really matters anyway, the idea of getting into game development is fucking TERRIFYING? Like yes, I am a good writer. Everyone who reads my stories and my dialogue tells me they love it. But how the fuck do you get into that industry? Especially JUST as a writer, with no other skills??? I have no idea. I was GOING to, ONCE, but the game unfortunately fell apart and ran out of funding pretty quickly lmfao which I think is also a common thing.

Anyways just more thoughts about Idea Guys and game dev. There's always AN Idea Guy. And usually, game dev is just a bunch of people working on someone else's idea in the hope eventually they get to make their's, but they probably never will~

I wrote this a year ago, intending to come back and write a nicer version later... but uh-oh! I'm not sure that's happening, at least not on this site!

So for now, have this post where I talk about idea guys. Is it relevant to Liz's original post? no idea, hope it is in fact helpful though x3

I don't know if this is helpful or not, but I suppose I have some Thoughts about 'idea guys' and the process of trying to get a game made online. (Just to be clear Liz I'm not calling you out or anything lol this just got me thinking about the sympathy I feel for people I often see in this sort of situation and what advice I may offer to people who are interested in making games and have ideas, but don't know where to go from there)

From where I stand, there's two main issues with 'Idea Guys'.

1. If they just want to make the ideas, then there's not much of a function for them on a team. Ideas are one of the most bountiful natural resources -- everyone has their own, so no one wants to work on someone elses. Usually for team experiences, I like to try to get everyone together and conceptualize the game from scratch... Something that I occasionally see Idea Guys struggle with. (imo an ideal Idea Guy would be able to help build on other people's ideas as well, getting too set on a single idea is usually detrimental to group brain storming)

2. Idea Guys often have Big Ideas. I think this is usually the thing that people like to joke about when they introduce the character of the Ideas Guy. Someone who says 'let's make a monster catching MMO with a stealth system and also romantic VN sections'. Other than being a generic unappealing idea when described in such basic, unflavorful, terms, it's also just A Lot Of Work that the Idea Guy can't help with. Even if they cover the writing too, that's still a ton of labor unaccounted for. (That other people could be spending working on their own ideas, see above).

So how does an 'Idea Guy' get past this hurdle? My main suggestion:

Participate in a game jam by yourself. Maybe a few gamejams.

This gives you some of the vital things you need to do gamedev, either by yourself or with a team: General Game Dev Experience, Project Management Experience, and a Portfolio.

• General Game Dev Experience: You don't need to be a talented artist or programmer to make a game. A big part of making games is figuring out how to compensate for the areas you come up short in, and learning how to stitch together free assets to make something playable really hammers that home. You can get CC0 sprites and sounds, you can find a game engine that requires very little coding. Then, after you make your shitty little game jam game by yourself, you'll have upgraded from 'can't code or do art' to 'I can make something that runs', which is literally infinitely better. (Much like with drawings, we all have dozens of bad games living within us that we need to make before the good ones start coming out).

• Project Management Experience: One of the more annoying aspects of working with an Idea Guy is that they often don't understand exactly how much work they're asking for, because they don't have the experience to determine that. If you force yourself to learn enough of each of the gamedev disciplines to make a game yourself, you have a much more clear idea of what everyone on a team is doing. It helps you communicate with others, and it helps them communicate with you. Plus, if nothing else, 'project management' becomes a set of skills you can bring to the table!

• Portfolio: If you want other people to work with you, you need something that shows that you're capable of finishing a project. It's already hard to convince people to work on your idea for you, but if you have nothing to your name to show that you're able to ship something then they may be less likely to work with you because they're afraid their work won't amount to anything. Starting to keep a record of the stuff you make helps alleviate this fear, plus having something to your name is a big confidence booster imo.

Personally, I recommend to just keep making small games for a couple of years. Thank your big ideas, but put them on the backburner (or, if you're ready, lay them to rest permanently) and focus on making short experiences that you're proud of. Then after you have a few of those under your belt, it'll be easier to find other similarly-experienced people to work with - because all of a sudden you have proof that you can finish a project. Maybe you'll get back to your big idea, but if you're like me, you'll probably find things about your big idea that (shockingly) weren't great game design and you may just decide to work on something else entirely.