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Practical Creativity

Notes on talk by Raph Koster at GDC 14: Practical Creativity

Relevant resources

a unique rule construct changes presentation and content and turns into a genre
vast majority of work is done within genres, with simple variants at best
creating of new games is vanishingly rare in videogames - tabletop on the other hand, does it frequently

Look for core small bits - Games are made of smaller games
Break down and compartmentalise the game - Treat each input as a game, each subsystem as a game - Once you think modularly, you can replace modules at will
Build your mechanics library - Going back to simple games (80s classics, mobile, etc) is the best way
Distance yourself from the core problem - Find ways to reframe your simulation problem in fresh language
learn to see things abstractedly: distill the aesthetics into actual small mechanics

creativity isn’t about ex nihilo creation
it’s about moving known bricks around and connecting them in unexpected ways - remember, if games are made of games, even the tiny thing is a possible brick
::the biggest tool for doing this is pushing your known brick dramatically out of context:: - example: a dice is always thought of as a probability device, but it can be: a token with hit points, countdown device, indicator of state, indicator of max value, brick you build with

simplest means of innovation
new stat implies a new rule, which means at minimum you’ve created a new variant
time to complete: possible time attack mode
number of moves: possible efficiency subgame
attack strength rating: possible divergent strategies
each time you add a stat, try removing an existing one

take a platfromer, add “fast” — you get speedruns
the most interesting gameplay comes when the player’s goals are somehow contradictory