tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-556550482796579546.post2120803112894450660..comments2014-07-18T03:29:27.385-07:00Comments on Finding Fiero in Game Design: Are Designers Playing Too Many Games?Lisa Boleynhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13164367290626572483noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-556550482796579546.post-10419287208093992902008-03-26T06:59:00.000-07:002008-03-26T06:59:00.000-07:00My mental library includes good design decisions a...My mental library includes good design decisions and bad design decisions. I eliminate anything in between. The good decisions, I analyze and may use (but always try to find a better way). The bad decisions, I find a better way. This assumes that I am tackling the same basic problem meant to be solved by one of the decisions.<BR/><BR/>Without playing a lot of games, I wouldn't have that to draw from. I would make the same mistakes as others, and it would be far more difficult to do better than the best out there without knowing it intimately.<BR/><BR/>It would be a mistake to avoid playing games intentionally in order to stay "fresh." I do agree that some of the most innovative ideas come from people without a lot of design experience, but honestly you need to sacrifice that freshness for experience if you want to be a great designer.<BR/><BR/>I'd also challenge that some of the most innovative ideas have come from truly great, extremely experienced game designers who have managed to harness the best of both experience and new ideas.<BR/><BR/>This is something I aspire to personally. Lately, I've been forcing myself to think with fewer restrictions. I tend to have a pretty logical approach to things that I design, and I like to make it possible to implement, even when I'm concepting something. It helps having a few people here who can think completely without the grounding that I think with, and I think I've been getting much better about thinking "outside the box" lately.Ryan Shwayderhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10923329608412906173noreply@blogger.com