I code way too much and never stop to ponder game design. I've got a feature-bloated engine that I've been working on for 2 years, but not one game to show for it. The meat and potatoes work is out of the way, thankfully, yet I continue to code ("hmm, I need to implement this new UI widget...", "hmm, I need to write a web-integrated auto-patcher..."). I think I probably have the opposite problem that most people do. I like doing the "boring" stuff!

How do I switch gears to work on my game design skills? How do I find inspiration for game design? I'm pretty jaded, been gaming since 1984 and have worked "in the industry" for several years, and I get really discouraged when I feel my ideas are too "derivative," which is... always.

I'm not asking how to have a unique idea, I'm asking how to, as a programmer, step away from the keyboard and begin to design a game?

HELP!

Set yourself arbitrary restrictions which you are not allowed to transgress by coding.

Try writing, say, a 2D game which allows you 8 2D sprites of no more than 32x32 pixels, and no scrolling.

When you've suddenly got no technical problems to solve you'll find that you have to figure out a way of making those 8 sprites do something really interesting. Bing! A game is born.

Cas :)

He wanted to STOP programing prince :-P

Seriously though things I do to help creativity as far as my art and what not are concered are as follows:

Go to the Movies
Read anything non-technical
Play pen and pencil games (RPG's, Board Games)
Go to the arcade
Go to theme parks / water slides ect.
Go Play golf / sport

While doing most of these things I usually keep a tape recorder on me to catch any lightning inspirations ! These are all long term things. Now onto the short term stuff.

Firstly, do a little research here. Find out what type of game your going to develop and what the market can handle / needs by looking for games in the format your looking at. By this I mean let's say the first game you think off is a platformer game. Have a look around at the different shareware platformers out there. Think their is a market for this ? Well then onto stage two !!

I keep a little book of what I call brainstorming words. Things that sound good for a game. I usually write down a whole heap of words that relate to each other somehow, but yet go off on a tangent. From the step above start brainstorming all the different things you could do a game about, the wackier the better. Put anything in there. This part shouldn't contain things like "Dual control support" and what not but more like "Bunny called Gut Puncher" or "Fart Grenades" or whatever. Then try and group these words together, something like a group for Ancient Greek Items, Weapon Idea's ect ... Now get back on the net and have a look to see if there is any games set to a theme you would like to do. For example start looking around for Ancient Greek Themed Platformers. Gather as many as you can. Play them. What makes them fun, what makes them not fun. What did they do well, what did they do badly. Develop your theme more until you have got down a paragraph detailing:

* Who the main character is
* What they have to do
* Where/When it is set
* What type of game is it (Eg. Action Platformer ect)

You know have a basic idea it is time to flesh out the different features of your game. Start compiling a list of all the things you would like to include in the game. This will be your feature set. Write down everything you would like to include in your game to make it better than the ones your competing against. Write down everything you want to avoid on it's own piece of paper somewhere. Leave your list sit for a few days then come back to it. Be really really harsh and write a number next to each feature.
Number 1 = must have, adds critical game play elements. Number 2 = Should have, but not overly nessesary. 3 = Going to waste a lot of time and resources, do not include.

Now rewrite on seperate pieces of paper, the ones, the twos and the threes. Number ones list will be your first release for sale version. This is what your aiming for. Number twos will be your updates that you will offer people. Number threes are for reference only.

Now all you have to do is write up a game design document. If your unsure how to do this there are heaps of examples on the net, just google for "game design document".

Now this is just they way I do things. I'm not saying it's the right way and I'm not saying it's a good way for you. I have found that it has helped me find, what I think anyway, is a bit of a nich market (No it's not Action Ancient Greek Platform Games). I am about halfway through writing and revising my game design document so I can't really help with that !!

Anyways hope this big wierd rant helped :-P

I find that often it is not a matter of having a unique or original idea to begin with, but rather to work with an arbitrary idea until it becomes something original.

I can recommend the book "Game Architecture and Design" by Rollings/Morris. When I first read it, couple of years ago, I found it really helpful for me as a programmer, suffering from much the same as you do, to get my head around the whole design thing. How to, in a structured way, take something from an idea into something playable and fun.

Do you really want to make games?

The question might sound stupid in a forum like this, but I think it makes sense anyway... what do you admire in the games you admire? It's possible that what you love is actually making engines, not games. This is not necessarily bad - just find a guy who wants a pre-made engine to make a game on top of, and you'll make a wonderful team!

To be honest I don´t think you´re doing the boring part, you´re avoiding it, making an engine with alot of features ain´t the boring part, the hard and boring part is making the last 10% of a game, finishing everything up, fixing all known bugs, testing one last time (over and over again...), I hope you get my point...

I second the recommendation for "Game Architecture and Design", I think it could be just what you need, only one way to find out. ;)