Writing Every Day 05: Inspiration

Reading the fantastic Complete KOBOLD Guide to Game Design, I ran across a line that stuck with me. You'll have to forgive me not quoting it, as I've left my copy at work. Go pick it up, it's worth the read. You'll run across it in no time.

The line said, in essence, to draw inspiration for things like game mechanics outside the medium you're working in—in this specific case, tabletop roleplaying games. It went on to say that taking something from another kind of game is inspiration, while taking clever mechanics from within your medium is closer to theft. I can respect the author's position, though I feel like there's a case to be made for spotting what you like in another game and adapting it to your own setting, aesthetics, and so forth. Look no further than the game The Bloody Forks of the Ohio for a great example.

Largely, though, I agree with the author. Looking at ways other kinds of games handle the issue of mechanics can provide the needed spark for you to develop your own system. Earlier today I was talking with one of the game designers at work about how certain mechanics could work, and our conversation included numerous references to different video games. "[GAME TITLE]'s method of handling [SPECIFIC SITUATION] could work for [CHARACTER ISSUE]," that kind of thing.

We weren't talking about stealing the mechanics whole cloth, because that would be impossible. The capabilities and needs of video games differ from those of an RPG or board game. In order to make the idea fit within the game we were discussing, we'd have to take the general concept and pull it apart to fit within our own rules.

The same is true of books, movies, and so forth. As an example, I am a big fan of China Mieville's book The Scar. In it, a character has a unique sword that manipulates probability, allowing the wielder to bend reality during an attack to make strike he could have made affect the target as if he did make it.

I loved that idea, and that nature of item worked well in the game I was running, so I took it. In the system I was running there existed critical hits, critical failures, success, and failure on attack and skill rolls, so I simply had the player make multiple attack rolls with his probability sword. Each attack was resolved simultaneously, and all results were treated as true. He could, in one flurry of potential reality, hit his target twice, critically hit it once, and critically fail, losing control of the weapon. There were other mechanisms in play due to the system, but that's the short version. It worked well enough like the weapon in the novel, and was memorable enough for me to write about years later.

So, cast a wide net when looking for inspiration. Try to puzzle out how the things that work in other games could work in your own. Halo's regenerating shield. Skyrim's skill system. Fear as a health mechanic from Fear Effect. The weapon degradation from Fallout. Figure out a way to plug it into your own game.

Now, if you'll pardon me, I'm going to fire up Steam and get inspired.