How To Fail At Game Ideas

Here is the best way to fail at coming up with game ideas, the first part of a series in how to fail at indie game development.

Keep in mind everything is heavy sarcasm, but then again, if you do what I instruct in this video and fail, you can't say that failure isn't what I was trying to help you do.... ;)

If you would like to learn to code, I recommend these great online courses! (It's what I'm using.)

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Music:
Doh De Oh by Kevin MacLeod

[Ric_]

Oh yes, exactly what I need to watch at 3:41 AM!

[Dorbellprod]

This is a great video for a few reasons:
- The art is great
- It's got helpful tips hidden in it
- You remind me of how huge of a game dev noob I still am and continue to be - the message.

[pugo]

finally a tutorial I can tell I don't need to watch because I'm so good at this topic

[MrThirtyH]

Honestly, so many of my ideas were stolen by other people WITHOUT me ever talking about them just has me convinced that ideas are universal, and it's a race to be the one to implement them first.

[slaps]

Y'know starting with a really big ambitious game idea is kinda good as a beginner dev because then you discover the many MANY things you don't know and then perhaps then scale your ambition around your current skill set as you learn.

[JohnIvess]

I really love these sarcastic videos that actually have some valuable and wise messages. It doesn't feel offensive because it's hyperbolized, and it's also a reason why it's so fun!
You've made a great job. I really love that somebody started to do such animations :)

[Ric_]

The real question is: can I sell my failed ideas for some sort of profit? I may have a few thousands ready to go

[KlausWulfenbach]

0:55 No lie: My Game Design teacher in college taught this way unironically. Also 0:41 to a lesser extent. As for the students, see 1:21 and 2:12 and 2:39. To be fair: they were students and students, by definition, haven't mastered the subject they're studying, but absolutely none of it was discouraged by the teacher. 2:39 was even explicitly encouraged. I regret not dropping out sooner, or just switching majors to Comp Sci (it was too late to switch by that point), but I did learn a ton about how not to make games.

(EDIT: To be clear, none of the above was actually why I dropped out. But I should have paid more attention to the warning signs so I could have at least prepared myself for how bad it got.)

[Artindi]

Hey guys! This one took so long to make, but I'm proud of it, so hopefully it gets a good reception so I can make more in the future. Thanks for watching! :D

[StarBeam]

This is actually a good series, because within the sarcasm there is actually good hints if you need. On the other hand, its very funny.

[botangabriel]

Having a story or plotline before building the game helps consistency, like not ending like FNaF series

It also aids in seeing how you can implement such plotline into the game, sometimes mechanics are fickle

[irfanjames]

1:05 was the slap on the face for me.
Thanks, you saved my time.

[RobLang]

Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better. - Beckett

Superb video, worth the obvious huge effort put in 🌟

[Anonymous-jono]

This channel is basically Terrible Writing Advice but for game design... I love it XDDD

[generalrubbish]

This is like the game dev version of Terrible Writing Advice. I dig it.

[Apples]

The only part I don't agree with here is how you're very adamant on "story-based game = bad" when that's a completely subjective topic. There are tons of great games that are solely based on story (Night in the Woods, Life is Strange/any telltale game, What Remains of Edith Finch, Oneshot, just to name a few). And yeah they do have interesting gameplay mechanics, but those games are meant to be played for the story. Of course you're gonna want to have unique and fun gameplay features, but there's fundamentally nothing wrong with turning a story into a game as long as you do it right.

[doozy]

The "not talking about ideas for fear of someone stealing them" thing hit too close to home for me.

[elliejohnson]

There are a lot of extremely popular "This game has a great story!" but bad gameplay games, and I cannot stand them.

[puppylili]

I think while analyzing good games will help, what I think is important is to watch and play bad games to see what makes them bad because its possible to do the things a good game has but still do it badly without realizing it.

It's something I've heard before for movies, in order to make a good one, you gotta understand what makes it bad.

[Leomerya]

1:13...

This is a tricky one. I'm not all the way with you here, because often times, the story in some of the best games ever, absolutely comes first.

But I get this is a general all-purpose video.