Practical Creativity

In this 2014 GDC Next session, MMO designer Raph Koster explains what science tells us about creativity, and offers practical straightforward steps that any game designer or developer can make use of in order to get more creative.
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[@i_am_the_arm]

8:59 "As the budgets rise, we will see less creativity in the industry" Couldn't be more true after 7 years

[@xplodegg]

This guy knows his shit!

[@PRINTORO]

When budgets get ridiculously big, it gets too risky to take a leap of faith. Too much money is in the line to potentially fail so AAA plays it safe

[@TheZenytram]

The best technic for creativity is "let your self be BORED for a couple of minutes". Go some where without internet and smartfone, sit and look to a wall in silence, watch the grass grow. You'd be amazing how quickly you brain come up with ideas on those situations.

[@MeRenegade]

Yea, I aimlessly let the pencil wander over a blank page and in a minute or so my mind starts. Or do something inconsequential, or tell myself I am not working just going through this idea, etc. The moment the mind is "free" it just pours creativity.

[@graver067966739]

I second this. I did a nature camp out with no electronics or books or mental distractions of any kind and I left after a weekend with about 2 months worth of inspiration. Definitely would recommend

[@dailymeme4you]

Thank you this technique works very well

[@zianzhang7582]

Totally agree. And sometimes you don't even need to go that far. Just grab a book, and while reading it , influx of ideas just pour in. The key is to get rid of smartphone and internet.

[@Lunareon]

This is probably the best practical guide to creativity I've seen so far, and it could easily be applied to any industry. Thanks for sharing! :)

[@marspharaoh]

Pmloo lol lol look good yuh b u TV. You vu vuu u

[@SumanKumar-tm1xr]

, vhb

[@origenward3845]

@@marspharaoh Isha boo boo doo doo

[@bunnybreaker]

This is one of the best GDC talks I've ever seen. So much food for thought.

[@benjoe1993]

"Think back to your last vacation or a childhood memory to tell an original story." 48:20 "Adopting a child." That's one wicked vacation!

[@KroltanMG]

Or an even more wicked childhood memory!

[@benjoe1993]

@@KroltanMG Ohh yeah, haven't thought about that possibility :D

[@helloofthebeach]

Everyone interested in making games should watch this. There is a game about gluing though and it's Katamari Damacy.

[@MGHOoL5]

Practical Creativity [Summary]: -Don't look at the core of the game but break the game down into modular inputs and subsystems and build yourself a mechanics library. Then, try to link and reskin those patterns in uncommon ways. Changing inputs (e.g. making them discrete or relative, adding force and build-up) and topology is a common way to change the theme of the game. -Extending a stat like adding more damage and moves is not innovative. Instead, add new rules like time limit and critical damage, or maybe on yourself to push your innovation in development, such as imagining making a tactical RPG with no violence. -Adding a verb or a goal like "cause damage" and "don't take damage" leads to a game about fighting. Adding "rescuing" gives you a defender game. To platforms, adding "fast" gives you speed-runs. Too many goals is a sandbox. You can also modify this by changing its metaphor. For example, instead of Pac Man's 'visit all spaces', you get Bristles that has 'paint all the walls' which also adds 'jump' and 'paint over' and thus 'competing'. Do that to mechanics too. Instead of 'visit all spaces', make them 'visit some spaces' which adds collectables. Then maybe make these spaces hidden, 'find those spaces', and you get secrets. -Tell a story that isn't often hold, which you easily can get from memory. For example, you experienced learning a bike, adopting a child, traveling to a new place, moving to a new house, etc. make it into a game. Or a feeling and concept rarely expressed like Romance (how do you make a game about romance? What are the mechanics in romance? e.g. It is about flawed characters that help complete each other, they sacrifice to one another and gain things like confidence)

[@dorukcoskun601]

"Too many goals is a sandbox." This should have been in reverse. Lack of explicit goals create a sandbox environment, thus the player can decide her own goals. Cheers

[@fernandorendon8618]

40:02 not only i'm from Argentina, i'm also a student of "recreology" and you'd be amazed at the amounts of games that you can come up with using just a chalk and the floor

[@3333218]

Hola hermano! Saludos de Brasil! I'd be really interested in learning more about recreology! Can you point me some reading material?

[@scrub_jay]

It's funny to think that the most beloved game in the world, football (soccer) is just a matter of kicking the ball through the correct segment of a giant chalk rectangle. A huge number of the world's sports really boil down to chalk on the floor, with differing levels of equipment.

[@cruz6550]

de donde chota sos? a donde estudiaste igual, hablando en serio jaja

[@benjiusofficial]

Dude, this talk is immense. It's like a brain massage.

[@wowlecks]

I've seen probably hundreds of talks from people that I really admire, and this guy seems like one of the smartest out there.

[@bagandtag4391]

This talk was amazing. So much stuff that could come out by doing simple things.

[@iCodeForBananas]

This is TRUE out of the box creative thinking. I love it.

[@donnysen]

I have watched countless of these GDC talks.... Raph, if you somehow see this.... Thank you. Phenomenal presentation.

[@Ok_Eul-Tae]

This presentation is really getting my creative juices flowing.

[@harshivpatel6238]

You know it goes both ways right?

[@Ok_Eul-Tae]

@@harshivpatel6238 What?

[@harshivpatel6238]

nvm

[@revimfadli4666]

@@harshivpatel6238 creative juices can flow out, you mean?

[@harshivpatel6238]

@@revimfadli4666 creative juices can also mean the juices that create life, you know what I mean, ;-) That kinda juices.

[@muzboz]

I've had to come back at this a few times, over the years, and this time through, I really think it all clicked! :)

[@Schematical]

Just discovered this guy and I am loving his work. Mad scientist brilliant!

[@MikeGemi]

Im a lot more of a numbers and logical thinker but this talk seriously hits on a ton of great notes for getting creativity flowing. This should be referenced a lot more, im gonna us this as a template when working with a team

[@northrain0462]

Great talk... his book "A Theory of Fun" is also amazing

[@lunardust201]

Is that the book where he comes up with an actual definition of fun, "pleasure with surprises" ?

[@DamianSzajnowski]

@@lunardust201 xD

[@louiscorbett3278]

Best talk from GDC i've heard, I love this guy :-)

[@i-am-the-slime]

It's a good talk but the guy is disgustingly full of himself

[@RictorScale]

​@@i-am-the-slime I think it's more he's passionate about his craft and takes it seriously. I respect the hell out of it

[@jean-baptistegrosselin7310]

Probably the best GDC talk I've seen so far.

[@presauced]

Gotta agree.

[@wheelskis]

Very helpful talk from Paul Giamatti 🤣After making the connection, I can't unhear it. Raph and Paul sound nearly identical to me. But seriously, Raph's presentation covers multiple modalities of gaming, various examples, and many practical tips for creativity in game design. I occasionally come back to a game I have been gradually working on for a year, and this was what I needed to hear as I approach my game again.

[@et6794]

This is by far, the best lecture I've heard on game creativity. Time to purchase his book! :)

[@50shadesofskittles9]

I created a whole new space in my clickup task management app just to explore these ideas thoroughly! :D my fav ever video on GDC!

[@scriptyshake]

I bought his book last summer along with a few other game design books. I haven't gotten to it yet, but having listened to this brilliant talk - I'm picking it up RN

[@fullanalysis93]

Holy smokes this talk is incredible! I might need to watch this again, and then thrice so I can take notes.

[@proksenospapias9327]

47:53 "Nobody has modeled the stages of grief". Gris did a year or two later! Btw what an interesting speech.

[@tobyk5091]

I think Celestes chapter 9 does too in a way

[@RictorScale]

This is the best talk ive ever seen, and i eill watch it over and over

[@benjoe1993]

I think I will watch this 10 more times I think.

[@muzboz]

I've come back to this about 4 times, and this time it really clicked into place at each step, for me. :) I think I had to go out and try to make more digital games, learn more programming and algorithms, think more abstractly about design, start playing D&D, play more board games, and then it all made more sense to me, some years later. :D

[@olivierballou392]

Fascinating

[@nemesisurvivorleon]

A bunch of things I did for fun as a kid are apparently special creativity techniques. I thought imagination and experimentation was a norm, but a lot of people Ive encountered over the years cant seem to even visualize things...

[@einholzstuhl252]

There is this thing called Aphantasia. A large percentage of the population in america and other countries do not have the ability to visualize mental images. A friend of mine and my syster also have Aphantasia. Me and my dad on the other side have no problem with visualizing. It gets rarely talked about.

[@aarikk]

This is one of the best talks I've seen so far.

[@018FLP]

I love how randomly old GDC videos keep popping in my TL. and all of them are amazing. This is a topic i love too much, and it's the core of my game development. BTW> A AMAZING game about Romance: It takes two. And the creative approach is exactly the same premisse he said. Flawed individuals helping each other to overcome challenges.

[@BatteryExhausted]

✅This is superb. The ideas about context and the cards analogy is so easy to understand and yet incredibly deep and inherently useful. At 28:09 he breaks into a captivating poetic interlude. Such a well rounded, entertaining and informative lecture. Raph is a total dude.

[@Runslik3Wind]

I've watched a ton of these and i think this is the best one.

[@fabiboiii]

Games being made of minigames has been stuck in my head ever since playing the Ratchet and Clank series, they truly excel at that!

[@Agret]

Have a look at It Takes Two, it's exactly what you say. A game composed of minigames.

[@fabiboiii]

@@Agret my partner and I play it sometimes and it rocks! thanks for the recommendation!

[@Seckie]

I still come back to this after all these years.

[@KaSophie]

Thank you for finally giving me a reason to explain in an articulate way why I have my desk messy! This was a great talk - I wish I was in the public watching, only to make some noise hehe :)

[@eywhatswrong]

Very pleasant to listen to. Simplicity is a king. I think this is one of the most vital talks game designers have to watch / listen to. Maybe I'd go as far as to say essential.

[@brandonallen2301]

Really interesting to see someone who studied poetry try to distill creativity. Great example of the creativity that comes from interdisciplinary synthesis, that's he's talking about

[@arheru]

Incredibly inspiring talk! Thank you GDC, and thank you Raph!

[@PharmacyBrain]

I actually have Raph's book on my shelf and haven't read it yet. I'm going to now. I've been missing out. And, wow, I was literally sitting on a base framework of a game with no defined mechanics and this video literally helped me come up with a really fun idea. 💡

[@enrico7049]

This is my favourite talk from GDC. Thank you so much.

[@OuviUmaHistoria2024]

Awesome talk! I watched it right after studying the book "A Theory of Fun" - it complemented the reading very well!

[@rungus24]

As a songwriter/writer with a ton of mental illnesses, I have to say that creativity can indeed be a heavenly spontaneous event.

[@ADITYA3GAME]

The books he mentioned at 15:30 were Game Design Patterns and Advanced Game Mechanics

[@Laborejo]

What are the authors name of the books mentioned @15:44 ? "Game Design patterns" and "Advanced Game Mechanics". I have troubles finding the books without the authors name.

[@The28studio]

books.google.dz/books/about/Patterns_in_Game_Design.html?id=IFQfyODK4wAC&redir_esc=y and www.goodreads.com/book/show/13705461-game-mechanics

[@dimomarkov8937]

That's probably the best lecture on GDC I've encountered so far :)

[@ashleyneku5432]

47:53 "Nobody has modeled the stages of grief" Assuming you don't subscribe to the notion that Majora's Mask can very easily be a representation of every single stage, in their defined order, featuring characters whose personalities are literal representations of each described stage and very little else.

[@UndeadSoldierE]

Fantastic talk. Inspiring and very informative.

[@robrobusa]

The relaxed bit clashes for me with the cluttered environment i create better in a clean and orderly environment, because my brain is calmer. That said i love this talk.

[@NoTengoIdeaGuey]

This dude is a damn G. So used to speakers just reading the slides back to us.

[@DanielDroegeShow]

The part about the constraints reminds me about strategy. Often people think about a strategy as what you do or mistake it for a plan, but in reality a strategy is more about what you don't do, so you can do something else better. What does it mean when I can't see the wheelbarrow, but just an abstract idea of all wheelbarrows I have ever seen combined into one continually morphing image?

[@gxharrypotterdvd25]

One of the best talks I have seen.

[@Ermude10]

I'm interested in what the people who disliked this video thinks. What in this video made it bad enough to warrant a dislike? I'm genuinely interested!

[@NipapornP]

If it's really relevant, i.e. for educational purpose, here we go: It's well known, that showing loads of text on a screen, different to the speech, is a no-go at presentations, as people are NOT capable of that kind of cognitive multitasking. Luckily, in a recorded video one can stop- go, stop - go and read the text separately. Maybe people find this guy just disgusting. Maybe he did something bad to someone in a complete different context, like beating his wife/children. Notice that different individuals have different opinions and are always more or less emotional as well.

[@Ermude10]

I agree with your first point, but as you also said, since it's a video where we can pause, it's not as relevant. The other points, well... I wanted to hear from people who actually disliked it, rather than someone speculating about it ;)

[@i-am-the-slime]

The "poetry" is wasting people's time. The insights up until 33 minutes are nothing but common sense. Let's see if it picks up. But I'm tempted to just hit dislike and watch something else

[@i-am-the-slime]

Also the poetry comes off even worse from somebody who struggles with less vs. fewer.

[@sergeylysyi511]

the high note really got me

[@cam4722]

What an amazing talk, Raph. Makes me want to go back and read your book again!

[@diogow3]

Very insightful. A must watch.

[@user-aymanzone]

vid 10:57 whats is a MAME cabinet? Edit: MAME cabinet is those 1980s arcade cabinets that has multiple games installed kzbin.info/www/bejne/imKVdHSLm612fcU

[@andvaribekho]

love how You used the ultima online font ❤️

[@MrGoodbye23]

Plz, more talks from this guy.

[@vincentchou9036]

Amazing talk, so inspired by this video!

[@II00I00]

Great talk. Made me think of a... thing I learned recently created by Brian Eno and Peter Schmidt called Oblique Strategies. It is meant to help you out of a creative block by providing directions, ranging from simple to inscrutable. Fun and I think similar to the ideas presented here.

[@Somewhere_sometime_somehow]

best GDC talk I watched

[@ocima_ankapa]

Anybody have any links to these books he mentioned?

[@FFehse-dk9is]

this one of the best video on youtube I've ever seen 😀😍👌👍

[@kamehamegamer]

Really great talk I'm gonna pick up his book.i love the idea of a prototyping kit think I'll head to the craft store later

[@egoalter1276]

Closest thing to RTS without a map I can think of is incremental games like cultist simulator. Though balancing resource flow in realtime based on abdtract nodes is probably closer to grand strategy.

[@christophernixonart]

This was a really excellent talk!

[@idklol4197]

there is an efficiency meter in megaman battle network 3/4. rpgs both

[@sylenzos6869]

addition to adding axes idea: change the importance of axes too. A vertical fighting game. A shooter in anti-gravity space.

[@vladimir_ckau]

Thanks for the Raph's talk video!

[@pixboi]

About statistics slide: I think that these kind of statistics can work, if they're just abstracted into an aesthetically pleasing way. You could think about the time attack again: How about rising water levels? Or a poison cloud that finally surround the map?

[@osakanone]

My all tame favourite GDC talk.

[@Captyr_____]

Really solid concepts. Reaffirms a lot of theories about creativity I have had.

[@DailyFrankPeter]

Tactical RPG that must fit in a cube and be non-violent: a team house renovation game - Doorfitters! (OTOH, not sure this one would turn out non-violent...)

[@JamUsagi]

Renovating a house with extreme violence sounds awesome actually

[@pockypurse]

@@JamUsagi I can totally see this for like a gothic horror or dark fantasy spin on it. "Give the orc warlord's hold a makeover."

[@mrslake7096]

Great talk, Thanks very much, will definitely check the book

[@YouOpaOpa]

40:20 "How cool would it be to play Space Invaders where your method of attack was Breakout?" that's basically Sky Racket and we started it in 2015 haha. It's available on Steam and Switch =)

[@YOUCANTDOTHATONTELEVISION]

Great talk. Great advice and insights

[@iFukuyama]

What's he ragging on Battle Arena Toshinden for? Virtual On came out first and had full 2D movement

[@DePistolero]

I have watched this on 1.5x speed and still watched it for about 3 hours.... Was thinking it would be better if I just screenshot the slides... and then he said writing by hand is great.

[@Halopedian]

Incredible talk and the underlying concepts are applicable to any creative field

[@loekTheDreamer]

Wow, this is an amazing talk! Thank ou so much for sharing!

[@samohickey]

Another amazing talk.

[@michaelgagnon5535]

Doing my first video games these days and this is soooooooooo interesting !

[@christianmichaels5162]

Does anyone know if, when he referred the two books everyone should get, if those two books were "Game Mechanics: Advanced Game Design (Voices That Matter)" and "Patterns in Game Design (Game Development Series)"?

[@appootisiva]

Game Mechanics: Advanced Game Design is this books he is talking about i dont know about Patterns in Game Design

[@GAZEREAPER]

8:59 wow was he spot on about the AAA industry.

[@randysewell3199]

This guy is a genius!

[@saenkoandrew]

Have you presentation of this great speak?

[@RaphKoster1]

The slides are here: www.raphkoster.com/games/presentations/practical-creativity/

[@absurd0000]

Timeless Talk

[@Manx123]

The thumbnail for this talk was way off. Gone Home has little to do with the talk, and was only casually mentioned. He wasn't even using it as an example of "practical creativity." I actually avoided this talk because I thought Gone Home was a very poor example of this, and thankfully, the talk had almost nothing to do with it.

[@Magmardooom]

Doesn't adding a number of moves in an RPG just make it turn-based?

[@chaosordeal294]

If you don't play board games, you really don't know what's going on in gaming right now. The originality puts the video game industry to shame, honestly.

[@agentmith]

I know it has been a year after you posted this, but I’m curious as to what you meant here, or what you were referring to. Could you maybe provide some additional detail or insight? Thanks!

[@tymondabrowski12]

​@@agentmith There is a huge board games/card games/etc. physical games industry boom, at least in Europe. I think they just mean there is more innovation there.

[@DJVisser]

There's been a ton of innovation going on in board games the past 15-20 years. Lots of really interesting designs, systems and mechanics. These concepts are slowly finding their way into video games. Things like deck builders are just one example. You can see how that mechanic, and cards in general, have become prevalent in videogames over the past few years.

[@marfin4325]

It's sad that so many gamers think video games are upgraded board games. In reality the majority of board games are much more elegant and creative than the majority of video games.

[@nifftbatuff676]

Deck building games is one of the worst trend in the video game scene in the last years tbh. But yes, this confirm that there is a lack of creativity in video games. Another scene were there was lot of innovation is the OSR movement for TTRPG. Videogame developers should look there too, to find inspiration (but not to just copy-paste).

[@SaiNarayan_]

Truly fantastic talk. Thanks!

[@Solemhs]

Here because of Reckful :)

[@Yoakemaee]

same :)

[@andrei-ioancirnu6224]

Used to watch GDC vids on my way home from uni. Kinda happy when reckful mentioned this one FeelsGoodMan

[@megatronusv2215]

Rip :(

[@99TopHats]

When I listen to these talks I play sudoku because it helps me focus on what’s being said and I usually don’t have to look at the screen too often... so when he mentioned sudoku I was a little shook lol

[@Altrue]

Such a great talk given by such a great person!

[@noctalune]

Excellent talk

[@aria8928]

43:20 so competitive pokemon go... Maybe each camera in your loadout only has so much film, then at the end of the round all each teams photos are scored and added up.

[@limageur]

Think about all possibilities. This is the work of a game maker. Great talk. There is a problem with the voice recording, I have been earing something like a double voice ghost behind... And that story about that Netflix serie is probably an imaginary bullshit but the example was instructive.

[@zedekai9456]

57:46 minds eye is not linked with ability to be creative. Most people working at Pixar have aphantasia

[@derekw8039]

19:47 "What else could we use cards for?" Me: "Card ninja!"