That is an exciting subject for me! One of my favourite! I think creativity itself is one of the best gifts from God! A must for a board game designer! I would like to be more and more creative. I love when my head is full of ideas, and it is a great feeling when the brain gets hot!
But before I understood the process of creativity I felt a bit lost. Without basic knowledge, I couldn't perform at my best. I couldn't stimulate my brain to operate in its best performance and to use all capabilities of my personal computer!
The right understanding helped me to be more efficient. Read below to see how I understand the process of creativity.
1. I need data! Evolution of existing ideas!
I strongly believe in evolution of existing ideas. The brain uses the knowledge it got and through the processing, it creates new ideas. The new ideas can't just come from nowhere! They don't come out of the blue! It is a hard work of our brain; it's using the resources it got! So it is the evolution of existing ideas!
You can easily provide all things that your brain will need to be creative: play more games, analyse different mechanics, and do a lot of other things not related to gaming like reading books, exploring the nature, etc. If you provide your brain with a lot of food, then your brain can consume and analyse it. You will be more creative as a result.
2. I need time! Processing!
Ideas come with time. They will come, don't worry. Relax. Soon you will have more ideas for games than the time you can spend on them! I know the waiting is boring and sometimes hard, but it is essential for your brain. Make a good use of this period, search for some inspiration: watch some movies, read books, chat with your friends.
3. First impression. Very impressed
So you got your idea! You are working on it, and the prototype looks great. You love the gameplay, and your friends promise you great success! But the truth is that this is the beginning of your journey! Often the game will make a much better first impression on you than later on! Always remember this!
4. I need some time! Let it go!
Now you will need to distance yourself from the game. Leave it for one week or a month; this is like a reset of your computer. You will look on your game with a fresh perspective. You can have some people play your game but not your family or friends. See what happens. Look on their faces. Do they want to play it again?
5. I hate my game!
How it's possible that the game which you were praising recently, now you are considering as rubbish!? I love this stage because this forces your brain to work harder. You are just letting your personal computer know that it's not good enough. So now you can analyse why the game is not performing so well and do something about it!
6. I need even more time! Let it go!
So you know why the game isn't that good. Your brain wants to think and work a bit more. After a while, your brain will come with solutions. Then you can make the changes and test your game again.
7. Now it's better
After this long process, again you are passing your game to strangers and having them to play it! If they'd like to play again or you see the excitement on their faces, that means you are at home. That happens as a result of hard work. However, that don't mean that the game is perfect and can't be better!
Of course stages, 3-6 can repeat many times. Sometimes you may skip some of the stages.
There is an excellent video on the subject How To Be Creative from PBS Digital Studios. Enjoy!
Thanks for your time reading my post! I'm curious what helps you guys to become more creative? Shalom!
