Design Journal - Where to begin?

Ever since I was a small kid I can always remember coming up with new ideas for games. Playing with my friends in primary school we used to have amazing adventures exploring the bush just outside the school’s oval bounds, but we were never any ordinary grade 3 kids, oh no we were always mighty jungle explorers deep in the heart of Peru searching for the last remaining long lost Incan city and the treasures it held within. This type of play evolved over time we found that (although I can say I never really grew out of it) this type of game which was limited only to our imaginations was straining on our creativity and over time it became too much work to keep thinking up fresh and new ways of entertaining ourselves so we moved on to more conventional rule based games.

I remember my first game of red rover and not just because I got pushed down pretty hard and got a harsh cut up my right leg but because as the rules of the game were being explained I remember trying to interrupt with ideas on how this game could be much better as was the key to previous games. Because you see in the games I played with my friends and not the bigger kids we invented our own worlds, the games we played were based on what we wanted them to be. The concept of having rules to follow and a goal in mind was something alien and unconventional to me at that stage. However wanting to fit in and enjoy the game with everyone else I kept my ideas to myself from then on.

But as time went by I saw much more potential in the other games kids played, making up many rules for games such as handball and brandy from other games I had played at birthday parties incorporating certain rules. Eventually I was labelled the rule maker because everyone seemed to think I only made up new rules to benefit myself (to be honest I did do that a lot though so I guess you can’t blame them). Fast forward to today and here I am still being labelled the rule maker, only now it’s moved on to card games and casual games.

I love playing cards games and coming up with new ways to play them. Introducing new rules and thinking up ways in which the games can be more fun is a hobby I have had since I was that little kid in primary school. This hobby went so far as to go and think of my own new card game that my friend and I played copiously on the 6 month world tour we went on recently.

The next few weeks I will be keeping a design journal that will explain some of the ideas for casual games I have had over the past while as well as explain some of the reasons in where I get my inspiration and the specifics on thought process that go into designing a new game.