First off, I’ve been wanting to post this here for a while, but AI’ve never gotten the chance to. I am not saying this to bring anyone down, and I am not doing this for personal reasons (I animate), I just want to see what you guys think. Do you think that someone who does things like create a design document/some other documents and comes up with ideas could or SHOULD be part of a team? Would they be effective? What do you think? I hope to see other peoples’ views 
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It all depends how many mouths you can/want to feed. In a large studio, having writers is key. It really all depends on the budget and team size.
Unless the idea person can write a script and a very detailed plot, no. A good idea is worthless unless you can bring it to fruition in any way.
Thanks guys, I agree with both of you. If they can do some writing for a plot and script, that’s cool, but if they sit back and enjoy everyone else working while they throw ideas at them, they shouldn’t be there. Keep the replies coming, I love reading them!
Well someone on the team needs to be able to do that stuff. Generally though, it just can’t be the only thing they do or know how to do, they should be able to contribute something to the game directly if they have to, so a lot of the time, the person who does this is the project leader (at least with smaller teams).
This is more out of necessity than anything else, small teams generally have smaller budgets and when everyone has good ideas (most people do), it’s kind of expensive to hire an ideas person who’s only job is to come up with ideas (companies with bigger budgets can obviously afford it). Even if they don’t actually have to contribute anything directly, they should at least have the ability to do so if it’s necessary (like know how to program or make assets).
It also depends on the person’s track record and experience. For example if I was making an indie game, I might have little need for an ideas person since I’d just use my own ideas…But if the ideas person was Shigeru Miyamoto, that’s a whole different story. In that case I probably wouldn’t want him doing any of the grunt work (coding/asset making) even though he might have the ability to do so, I’d want him designing and coming up with ideas. But again, that’s because he’s really experienced and has a proven track record.
Basically, if a team has a dedicated ideas person, it needs to be someone with lots of experience doing the dirty work of making the ideas happen. Anyone can come up with a cool idea, it’s another thing entirely to know if it’s practical or if it can be done or if it will even work.
+1. Totally agree.
In my opinion, an idea guy can only contribute to the team if:
- He* has some talent in coding prototypes, drawing art (even concept art), or writing story
- or he has a lot of money to hire those who do have talent
- or he accepts the role of an unpaid advisor (essentially an interested third party) rather than the traditional team lead. This might seem unrealistic, but it’s possible that somebody has an idea for a game that he really wants to play and knows a friend who can make games. He’ll have to essentially transfer ownership of the game to his friend.
*Due to the failings of the modern English language in establishing gender neutrality, I’ll assume that the idea guy is male (not an idea gal), though my arguments should apply to anyone.
Great post, especially the last part! I remember back when I used gamemaker, I teamed up with someone to make a small game. My partner (with no previous game design experience) wanted that small game to become a AAA masterpiece, and the project quickly fell apart.
Without a good idea you can spend months on a bad one which leads to a bad game. You have all played them, games with massive budgets but the game idea or ideas that the game contains are bad and you think how can this happen? How can such effort and money be invested in to such a bad idea as the game you just played and its simple. People think effort and cash can equal success but unless you have a good idea to work off, no amount of cash or effort can achieve anything.
Most games need an idea person, someone who’s job it is to think of ideas, to separate out the good ones from the bad ones, to think about the game as a whole and different parts non stop. There called game designers, its the most difficult job you can take in making games, you need to know about programing, the artistry both 2D and 3D, the sound work and writing. You need to know all about these so when you design the game your not asking something that can not be done by your team or ask them to work on something that will turn into a bad idea.
Now before a lot of people who just have ideas get excited like all jobs you need to be skilled at it and that takes practice, like I said above you need to know about all facets of gaming or how can you get ideas on game design if you do not know how games work? You don’t have to become brilliant at each part but you should have some working knowledge of each section of game making from programing to art to sound to writing to have ideas for them to use.
I wonder does anyone here dissect games? I mean don’t just play them but dissect how they work while they play, why do they think certain items where used in the game, or why was a level designed in such a way? What works in the game and what does not? And why does what they figure out work and not work? This is the kind of mindset you need to be an ideas person, to be a designer of games.
Now we get to the main problem, in a big team having people responsible solely for ideas is doable as with a lot of people you can dedicate people to work on one specific part of games development but most indi teams which most are on here are small and with small teams its very rare that you can
dedicate one person to one specific task, everyone has to work multiple jobs not just the ideas person but everyone.
So for the tl/dr the answer is both yes and no, yes you definitely need an ideas person but one who is practiced at thinking up good ideas and recognizing bad ones. Also no for small teams specifically you can’t have someone who’s only contribution are ideas, they need other skills to support the team but this also applies to everyone else from the programer to the artist to sound, everyone needs to work on jobs that are needed to be done no matter what they dedicate themselves to do an unfinished job is one more part that stops your game from being completed.
Hope this helps.
I have an Game Level Designer on the team - and he’s the most valuable asset I have ATM. Reason? Becaue good designers are rare - very few people have the gift, and then obtaining experience is very difficult.
+1 I totally agree. These rare people can end up being the most valuable on the team. Why? Exactly what you said, even though they can’t actually create the game itself, they can be the one the makes it the game it is in the end, and that IS rare. You are very fortunate to have him on your team.
Absolutely.
However, except in a huge game where the team has dozens of people, I think that they should also have other roles. And, in any case, I think that they should have some kind of technical experience so that they have some kind of foundation on which to build their ideas and/or designs.
I have seen first hand the power a person with experience and good ideas can bring to any production. Vision isn’t worthless, but along with vision you require the ability to share that vision effectively in some way, either by producing a sample of what you have in mind or inspiring others to. Such charisma is rare IMO. Everybody has ideas, few have the ability to take good ideas and infuse them into the imaginations of others.
It’s the same thing that makes a good actor or comedian, a real good “idea-guy” has excellent delivery. What we see all too often are these kids with rather ill-inspired ideas who present their ideas like: “This game is going to be a MMOFPSRPG with bla bla bla (unoriginal ideas)… This is going to be awesome”.
I have yet to read any game ideas in text that wowed me. It seems that visuals are required to successfully convey a game idea to anyone who is actually of potential value in developing a game. I could be wrong, or waiting to be proved wrong.
really maybe that’s why im Writing the story and Doing some early level tests before i get a team together
An “idea person” and a “game designer” are two very different things. An idea person is the kind of person who comes on to a forum and talks about how they want to create a Hockey MMO where you can do anything including marry The Incredible Hulk. A game designer is a person who has an idea and can help direct how to best execute that idea.
Agreed.
I think there is a difference between an “idea person” and a “visionary”. Having a good idea and having vision are different things. Steve Jobs (love him or hate him) was often referred to as a visionary. He saw the big picture. He saw 2 years back and 2 years ahead… He had it all in his head and the ability to communicate it. Look at someone like Gene Rodenberry who created Star Trek… He showed us a “vision” for the future, and it’s more than the transporter and warp drive.
I think we’re all sort of tired of “ideas guys” here (and on other forums)… it’s not because the ideas are not good. It’s because the ideas guys:
- Haven’t put in any other real work other than posting to a forum.
- Don’t have a Game Design Document, and don’t feel like making one, but want a team of 5 people to put 100 hours each into their idea.
- They don’t have communications skills (Native english speakers who can not spell even though their browser corrects it for them).
- Don’t have leadership skills.
We’re not just looking for an idea person who has a great idea… we’re looking for an idea person who can see the idea through and make it happen.
A single idea could lead to literally hours or days of work for me… so with limited resources/people and no money…. why team up with an Idea Guy, if I can team up with some other Idea Guy who also can 3d model. Or an Idea Guy who can code.
Ever see the term “Idea Guy” on the list of credits for a game?
When I see a message board post start with, “I’m an idea guy looking to put together a team” … I can’t take them seriously… if all they did was start with “I’m a game designer looking to put together a team”… their post would immediately get twice as many replies.
Very true. There are a few problems that arise though.
First, as you said, good designers are rare. The problem, of course, is that everyone who has an idea (which is everyone) thinks that’s all it takes to be a designer. They then think they are invaluable to team because it was their idea. 90% of the time, in reality, not only do they know nothing about designing a game, but their idea is probably terrible.
Second, in the indie world, every dollar and every hour counts, and has to be stretched to its absolute limit. This means that most members on the team will need more than one skill. Or, at the very least, multi-skilled people will be much more valuable than people with a single focus.
So, in the end, ACTUAL game designers are invaluable to a team. Just be sure the person you’re talking to is an ACTUAL game designer, and not just a guy with an idea. If he can also provide some other skill (programming, art, sound, etc) its that much more preferred.
Hockey MMO… seriously… that could be genius…for some reason reminded me of Casey Jones from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.
Agreed as well. There is more than coming up with an idea, a LOT more. I’ve taken that from experience.