The Importance of a Clear Vision in Game Development

While creative freedom is essential in game development, it’s equally important to have a clear vision guiding that creativity. Without direction, even the most talented teams can struggle to bring their ideas to life. My experience at Next Games taught me the value of having a structured framework to guide the creative process and ensure that creativity leads to a cohesive and successful outcome.

The Power of Constraints

It might seem counterintuitive, but creativity often thrives within constraints. When you give a team a completely blank slate, they may struggle to decide where to start. However, providing guidelines or a framework can help focus their creativity, allowing them to channel their ideas more effectively.

For example, at Next Games, we often used company strategy, values, or research data to guide our projects. Rather than saying, “Create any game you want,” we would look at what had worked in the past and what aligned with our company’s strengths. This might mean focusing on social features, which we knew were important for player engagement based on our data.

It’s essential to understand that while constraints can guide creativity, the vision must ultimately come from the team. Good constraints are those that don’t force the team into a specific, narrow direction but rather provide broader guidance. Think of it like playing football: if there were no rules, it would be impossible for players to showcase their true skills, and even harder for them to work together toward a common goal. By setting some ground rules—such as defining the pitch, the goal, the direction the team is heading, and the boundaries—they can work effectively within those limits. In this analogy, a great team also has a captain that the team members listen to and a manager who sets the overall strategy. In game development, this "manager" could be the company or the original idea, depending on whether the team is part of a larger organization.

Setting a Vision That Inspires

A clear vision doesn’t mean micromanaging every detail. It’s about setting the overall direction and allowing the team to explore creative ways to achieve it. Whether it’s defining the type of game you want to create or identifying key features that align with your company’s goals, having a vision helps the team stay focused and motivated.

In a larger organization, one effective way to support new game development is by providing robust research data and insights from previous games. Having this information readily available can significantly speed up the process of validating ideas or potential opportunities. Previous learnings should be stored in a place where they are easy to access, and the conclusions should be clear. It’s also important to recognize that some conclusions may become outdated, so understanding when and how those conclusions were reached is crucial. The data provided should be trustworthy, not just for the game team but for stakeholders as well. Ideally, this data comes from a mutually agreed-upon source, whether it’s an internal team or an outsourced resource. In large companies, an internal research team can be an invaluable asset.

If the team is part of a larger organization with strong intellectual properties (IPs), it might be beneficial to ensure that assets related to those IPs are readily available for the teams to use. For instance, having 3D models, UI elements, and other assets available for prototyping can accelerate the process of testing whether an idea works within the context of existing IPs. Additionally, if the organization has a track record of creating new IPs, it should maintain a library of assets and documentation that the team can access. There might also be company-wide constraints on what the new IPs should embody. For example, a company known for creating games with cute and fluffy animals might want to avoid pivoting to horror-themed content in their new IPs.

Incorporating these principles into your game development process can make a significant difference. It provides the structure that creativity needs to flourish, resulting in a game that not only meets business objectives but also resonates with players.

Conclusion: Crafting a Vision That Excites

In the end, the vision should be something that the team is extremely proud of and eager to explore as they develop a new game. Outside of the team, the vision should be compelling enough to send tingles down the spines of stakeholders, leaving them in eager anticipation of how the team will execute on this intriguing concept. A vision that inspires both the creators and the supporters is key to driving a game’s development forward with passion and purpose.

In the next blog post, I'll discuss the key features that can make a game successful. These include elements like streamability, social features, and replayability, all of which are critical in today's competitive gaming market. Stay tuned for more insights on how to design games that stand out and keep players engaged.