Here's how you can craft a compelling creative game concept.

To craft a compelling creative game concept, I start with a unique idea or twist that excites me. I define the core gameplay mechanics, ensuring they are engaging and fun. I then create an immersive world with a rich backstory, memorable characters, and a clear objective. Visualizing the art style and audio design helps to enhance the game's atmosphere. Finally, I refine the concept by considering player feedback and iterating on my ideas to ensure they resonate with the target audience. This process helps me create a game concept that is both innovative and captivating.

Understanding the genre of your game is fundamental to crafting a compelling game concept. Start by researching popular genres such as action, RPG, strategy, or puzzle, and identify the core mechanics and themes that define them. Analyze successful games within your chosen genre to understand what makes them appealing to players. Consider how you can innovate within the genre, perhaps by blending elements from different genres or introducing unique gameplay mechanics. A deep understanding of your game's genre allows you to create a concept that resonates with your target audience while offering something fresh and exciting.

In my games I love to mix up the genres to create unique experiences. There is some sections of some games that feel better if they are in First Person or Third for example, so changing them depending of the context may bring interesting new experiences to the player. But consider that a perspective or genre change will require adaptation throughout all other parts of the game!

Lo principal para entender el género en el que vas a proponer tu idea es tener un buen conocimiento del mismo probando varios títulos y viendo sus puntos fuertes y débiles desde su diseño. Entender que cosas los hacen divertidos y por qué dentro de su género te hará mucho más sencillo trabajar sobre tu idea

Think about the player experience you want to create. What emotions do you want to evoke? What kind of challenges do you want to present? By focusing on the player experience, you can design mechanics and narratives that align with your genre's strengths while delivering a memorable and engaging game. It sets the stage for gameplay mechanics, narrative structure, and player engagement. By knowing your genre, you can innovate within its boundaries, blend elements from different genres, and craft a unique game concept that excites both you and your players. Remember, the goal is to create a game that you are passionate about and that resonates with your target audience, ensuring a compelling and enjoyable experience for all.

In the modern world of games where there are so many games, and so many are similar to each other, the ones that stand out to players are the ones that are unique. If you were to release an FPS game with a PvP and campaign, it would be identical in concept to 10 other games released that month. If you were to release a game about a cat getting lost and discovering a world full of animatronics, you would be competing with one game in the past decade. Therefore a unique and creative design must be crucial to establish your game's identity. In order to ensure that this happens, you must work on creating a design before beginning work on development, and identify potential competition and market gaps.

In my game "Resultarias" you can pet a cat that follow you as a companion, but if the player try to move during the pet animation, the character grabs the cat and walk around with it on her arms, since this cat is somehow "magical", it emits light, serving as a small light source through dark areas. Those details and mechanics can have positive experience to the players because they fell that they are discovering things and creating solution through the game mechanics.

Un bon jeu ne doit pas forcément disposer d'une mécanique unique, même si ça peut aider. Parfois, le simple cumul de plusieurs idées déjà existantes peut créer l'unique. Vouloir absolument un jeu unique peut être une cause d'un syndrome de la page blanche, une grande partie des idées ont déjà été exploitées. Aujourd'hui, certains des meilleurs jeux se concentrent sur la qualité des éléments de gameplay plutôt que sur le côté innovant de la chose : De Elden Ring à Dave The Diver en passant par DUSK ou Tunic.

Unique mechanics are important for the identity of a game, but it is important to not fall into the common pitfalls. If you focus too much on the mechanic, you can blind yourself to the experience as a whole and instead of a creating a unique spin on an idea or something new and innovative, you’ve developed only gimmicks that try to reinvent the wheel so to speak. To avoid this, I find that it is important to step back and see your design as a whole from time to time and ask yourself why this mechanic exists and is it fun and/or interesting? If it’s not, then don’t scrap the idea but rather find out why and see if it’s fixable. If not, don’t be afraid to start from scratch.

In one of my previous projects, we were working on a 1v1 word game that truly encapsulated the experience of real-time battles. The type of experience games like Clash Royale has, but as a word game! This is something we felt was missing from the word game scene. We (and other game developers) get our ideas from lots and lots of research. Look at what is currently trending and popular, look at what is underrated and has potential. Gamers crave for a game that currently does not exist, and your goal is to find what is missing.

Whether you are a solo game designer or part of a large team, the story behind your game and within your game is critical. Understanding your story helps guide every decision about what should or shouldn’t be included. Getting stuck? Leverage Generative AI. Not only can a GPT give you great ideas, it can help you flush out more details and provides inspiration to get your creative juices flowing.

I don't like to rely to much in texts on my game to tell the story, so in my game "Resultarias" everything is shown through the scenarios, the characters and events, and also through the sounds, even though no dialog is spoke neither. The advantage of this approach is that players can fill the gaps through the narrative as they please, but the disadvantage is that it's way more difficult to tell a story in details, it demands way more time, with could have been told in a small note in the game world.

Tous les jeux n'ont pas besoin d'une bonne histoire, voire même d'une histoire tout court. L'intégration d'un élément aussi important qu'une histoire et ce que cet élément implique (cohérence globale, écriture...) pèse beaucoup sur le scope d'un projet. Le narratif est devenu un incontournable aujourd'hui dans la création de jeux, et paradoxalement, très peu y arrivent. Si je devais donner un conseil, c'est de rester honnête. Vouloir romancer est un choix dominant dans l'industrie, et pourtant les jeux narratifs les plus populaires / appréciés sont ceux qui restent terre à terre. N'ayez pas peur de faire simple, bizarre, de ne pas faire de structure en 3 ou 5 actes.

Artistic vision is crucial for creating an immersive and memorable game experience. Develop a distinct visual style that complements your game's theme and genre. Use concept art to explore different aesthetics and set the tone for your game world. Consider how color schemes, character designs, and environmental art can enhance the storytelling and emotional impact of your game. Collaborate with artists to ensure that every visual element aligns with your creative vision. A strong artistic vision not only makes your game visually appealing but also helps it stand out in a crowded market.

La vision artistique est un terme flou, les termes "artstyle", "direction artistique", "patte graphique" volètent un peu partout, sans comprendre que la vision artistique ne se limite pas à son style graphique mais au jeu dans son ensemble, interactions incluses. En fonction du genre, certains styles ont une dominante (le pixel art est très en vogue pour les platformers et point-n-click, la 3D PSX fait des ravages chez les jeux d'horreurs et les Boomers Shooters), ce qui peut aider à choisir un style pour votre jeu. Concrètement, la visée artistique de votre jeu va se dessiner dès le concept, pas à partir du moment ou vous aller imaginer les visuels et la musique de votre jeu.

Grounding the player in the game world and it's denizens is one of the most important part for any game developer. Mostly this is done through the player character or an "Avatar". Each encounter needs to have a purpose behind it, nothing happens without a cause and result would always leave with some sense of fondness, pain, irritation and etc. This is to be considered while designing the encounters, as whenever the avatar interacts with the game world. Player needs to reciprocate and feel the burden of the choices be has made. Player did something heroic, let the world speak of its glory. Did the player abandoned their homeland let this be known. This sense of being constantly involved, makes the game more fun and dynamic.

Market research is one of the most important steps towards a compelling concept. In the end everyone needs to decide for themselves if they want to create their own dream game or the dream game of many. You want to increase your chance of creating a commercially viable product. To do that try to go with the Zeitgeist, follow trends to a certain degree and try to solve user problems with your game.

Many game developers find success in making what they feel other games are lacking. Ideas can spring up from as simple as "I wish there was X in Call of Duty." You can often find niches in gaming that are "ripe for disruption." Studios often sacrifice game quality for profitability, and all it takes is a passionate game dev to siphon those dissatisfied users (look at Helldivers 2).

Be authentic! No matter the game genere you are in, be authentic and emotional, even if its an action, or racing, or sports game, you can allways look for a way to make it original. We mostly build games for brands, so we are very limited to the vision, message and assets fo the brand, however we allways try to make something that feels unique, not just some advergame.

Craft a compelling creative game concept by starting with a unique and engaging idea that stands out. Define the core gameplay mechanics and how they will provide fun and challenge to players. Develop an intriguing story or theme that complements the gameplay. Create detailed character and world designs to bring the concept to life visually. Consider your target audience and what will appeal to them. Iterate on your concept through brainstorming and feedback from peers. Ensure the concept is feasible with available resources and technology. Present your concept clearly and passionately to convey its potential impact and appeal.