I think it has less to do with what you do in your spare time, and more to do with how you approach it. If you approach the activities you engage in outside work with the same focus of learning and absorbing, you'll be able to use that knowledge in ...
@Jonathan - Are you sure everyone out there has a crystal clear understanding of war Personally I feel I know next to nothing about it - I've never even been close to being in a war, and certainly don't feel like my feelings about it are obviously correct. This game ...
Brainstorming - coming up with ideas - is not game design. Thinking critically about those ideas, mentally prototyping them, filtering out the bad ones, and finding the ones with the most potential to be good is, to me, part of game design. I've worked on a project where I approached ...
It's just a matter of opinion. Personally I'd agree with Chris - I'd prefer to play something new and innovative than something polished and derivative. I think it's possible to for a game in which you shoot tentacled aliens to be innovative and interesting, but it would be the exception ...
To be honest, I don't see much difference between your idea and a dinosaur game would be cool . Both are static, both are open to a hundred interpretations, and neither have an answer for the innumerable questions that arise during development, questions whose answers define what the final product ...
Thanks for the kind words, Matthew : I have been working towards putting my thoughts into action since writing this, but am still a fair way from providing demonstrable proof of my beliefs.
A game that actually hits the place that this article explores to me is Metal Gear Solid 4 I enjoyed my time playing it, even though I felt it had some pretty major issues, but the strong sense of authorship and the design choices that made it less playable actually ...
