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[MUSIC]
So again, I know some of you are going, oh, another activity.
Oh, yes, we're still in ideation, and yes, it's another activity.
But it's supposed to provide structure, and as I said, there's a system to this.
We're not just making you do busy work, trust me.
So I wanna talk about idea cards.
And idea cards, so I prefer Post-It notes, and colored Post-It notes are my favorite.
Maybe you use index cards.
Maybe you take and tear up pieces of colored paper.
It doesn't really matter how you do this activity.
But you just need to be able to distinguish between a noun,
an adjective and a verb.
And that's actually important, because believe it or
not, verbs in particular, action words,
are things that you're gonna need to pay attention to because they're actually
linked to game mechanics, the kinds of actions that a player can take in a game.
So that's one of the reasons why we're doing this.
As I said, there's structure to this.
Take a bunch of Post-It notes or piece of paper, it doesn't matter, and write
a single word on each one of those Post-It notes or on each one of those cards.
So in this case, maybe I'm using yellow, orange and blue.
It doesn't matter if you're using yellow, pink and anyway, it's your call.
But just know which one's which.
So but again, you need a noun, an adjective and a verb.
The next thing you need to do is mix your cards up.
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Pick randomly.
I don't care how you do it.
Maybe you put numbers on them and you roll the dice.
Maybe you can, this would be an actual game design opportunity,
figure out how you're gonna play with this system, because it is yours.
Mix up those cards, pick one of each.
If you make a creative statement out of them, write it down.
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Continue to mix them.
What kind of interesting phrases are there?
So as you've got a noun, an adjective and a verb,
you can really start to explore kinds of activities that a player would take.
And maybe you find a really interesting one.
Because I know entire games that are built around the idea of maybe just
running and jumping.
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There's a great game called Canabalt where you're running and
buildings start to collapse, and your goal is to jump from building to building, and
it's an endless runner.
It actually kind of defined the modern age of endless runners.
Well, I won't say they invented it, because something like
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Spy Hunter on the Nintendo was kind of like an endless runner.
But they probably didn't know that at the time.
But anyway, what kind of ideas do you have?
The reason we're thinking about these is because it's important.
I also want to talk about working with others, because the truth is,
as I said, it's great that here on Coursera maybe you're working alone.
You're exploring your own personal game design space.
That's good, but eventually you are gonna have to work with others.
And so when you're talking about brainstorming with others, you really need
to learn how to interact with one another because it's an important part of this.
And so one of the things that we say is, well, meet each other well.
You need to introduce yourselves and you need to see one another as equal,
not somebody that you're being forced to work with or somebody who's
possibly stupid or not interesting, or why am I talking to this person?
You really need to kind of meet each other well.
And talk about, is there a problem that you're trying to solve?
Is there a goal that you have?
What's the purpose of your brainstorming session?
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Yes and, accept ideas.
It's okay, the bad ones are gonna fall to the wayside.
The good ideas really do percolate up.
And so during brainstorming, your goal shouldn't be, oh, that's so stupid.
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Because that doesn't help the person who threw out that idea.
This is ideation, we're throwing ideas out there.
So it's not about identifying bad ideas.
It's about identifying good ideas.
The truth is, and particularly in design, that diversity in ideas actually matters.
So look for different perspectives, look for different views.
Maybe somebody has a new and
original take on an idea that you at first are kind of like, that seems really weird.
But maybe it's exactly that weirdness that makes it interesting.
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The other thing to keep in mind is, while we're providing structure,
as designers, you need to start thinking about how to vary the structure.
Try in different ways.
Maybe you let somebody lead a discussion.
Maybe you lead a discussion.
Maybe you let somebody else.
Maybe you follow along.
You need to vary the structure.
And again, it's about rapid iteration and then later coming back to those ideas and
synthesizing them, really sort of letting them cultivate over time.
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And even in architecture they talk about the importance of napkin sketches
in the process of design.
And so I think you need to think about that, too.
How do you keep track of your creative process?
But you really do need to write those ideas down.
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Search for them, find them.
The next part is you're gonna been start talking about these things, writing them
down, getting other people interested in them, because once you find that nugget,
you're gonna be really excited about it and start to run with it.
[MUSIC]
Casey O'DonnellAssociate Professor
