Where do you find inspiration?

Delfino · Post by **Delfino** » Mon Jun 22, 2009 1:04 am

In order to get [s]more slimebucks[/s] inspiration to work on my game some more, I was wondering how the forum users of Slime Salad get theirs. Do you exercise? Read? Play somebody else's game?

All I've tried so far is watching TV and checking this forum, and neither helps

Jack · Post by **Jack** » Mon Jun 22, 2009 1:18 am

All three ideas you suggested work pretty great, especially exercising (for me, anyways). I've rarely ever been able to just sit right down and go to work. Do something that pumps you up and gives you a bunch of energy.

The Wobbler · Post by **The Wobbler** » Mon Jun 22, 2009 1:37 am

Playing bad games and saying, "I never want to see this in an RPG again" inspires me to work on my games and make them good.

Twinconclusive · Post by **Twinconclusive** » Mon Jun 22, 2009 1:41 am

I occasionally get neat concepts and ideas out of nowhere and quickly try to patch things together before they fade away.

Unfortunately, if I don't work quick enough, I steadily lose motivation and just suspend the project.

8bifit · Post by **8bifit** » Mon Jun 22, 2009 2:46 am

I climb trees naked. Sometimes it inspires me. But it always HURTS.

JSH357 · Post by **JSH357** » Mon Jun 22, 2009 3:20 am

I get most of my ideas from watching movies and TV. It really depends on the person; we all get our ideas from different places.

Spoonweaver · Post by **Spoonweaver** » Mon Jun 22, 2009 4:11 am

playing D&D and from the demi-god that speaks to be in my dreams

Hail Marlock!

FnrrfYgmSchnish · Post by **FnrrfYgmSchnish** » Mon Jun 22, 2009 5:30 am

Well, usually ideas just kinda come out of nowhere for me. A few random things get absorbed from stuff I've seen (the name "Okédoké!" actually came from some comedian I saw while flipping through channels at 1 or 2 in the morning when I should have been sleeping, the day before the 8-bit contest started), but the rest is almost always a "just pops into my head" type of thing.

I guess the best advice I can give is not to delete your old unfinished game files, even if you think you'll never touch them again--you never know when you might randomly regain interest in an old idea that you threw out earlier. I can't count the number of times I've wanted to go back and work on an old game again, but then found that I'd deleted it years ago and didn't keep any backups...

New-Gen · Post by **New-Gen** » Mon Jun 22, 2009 10:22 am

I guess it just depends on the type of person you are...I'm strange in the way that I agree with 'Surlaw', that playing bad games can inspire you to make an even better game.

And then again I get my inspiration from playing insane OHR games like 'Friends' games. It gives me inspiration to better those games.

Also toking the green can also give you inspiration but if you don't have the right mind set for it then it's not the best idea.

In my case I'd go against watching new things or playing new commercial games...god knows how many times I've gotten inpiration to make a new game while working on an old one and then stop progress on the old one to make a new game...

But as I said it all depends on what kind of person you are...

Momoka · Post by **Momoka** » Tue Jun 23, 2009 12:21 am

Dreams and half-dreams. I sometimes write down the things that keep me up at night.

Nathan Karr · Post by **Nathan Karr** » Tue Jun 30, 2009 9:33 pm

I agree with Surlaw about playing bad games. Heck, most of Wolf's Quest was made after playing Fenrir's older games. (Too bad I actually wound up making something worse; such is life.)

That's also the reason the battles are all so easy in Maces Wild; I was reacting (maybe a little too much) to the way [s]Jailbreak[/s](EDIT: Sorry, I was thinking about Bad Fellows. Don't know how I got it mixed up with a game I've never played) and Moron Mission played. Maces Wild was inspired greatly the positive influence of two games in the 2009 Terrible Games Contest, and Geschenk Strafe was a character I invented to troll a forum with.

I was also inspired by Spellshard: The Black Crown of Horgoth. It was an OHR 8-bit game long before we started doing the 8-bit contests.

For the most part, books and movies have never influenced me in the same way that videogames have. I get inspiration from these sources, too, but not nearly as much.

Finally, I read the Bible every single day. It doesn't do much for my games, besides sometimes prompting me to remove stuff I shouldn't have put in to begin with, but it keeps me generally sane(r than I would be).

Shizuma · Post by **Shizuma** » Tue Jun 30, 2009 11:26 pm

If I'm paying attention, I find inspiration in all things.

Thanks Rurouni.