Chris Crawford on Game Design

A Tyrannosaurus Rex for Ideas

Creative productivity is still only half the job—once you have all those great ideas, your next task is to murder most of them. The sad truth is that most creative ideas are bad ideas. In my career as a game designer, I have come up with hundreds of original ideas that I ultimately abandoned. The chapters on specific games later in this book will present only the most cogent of those ideas.

What you need is a Tyrannosaurus Rex stalking through your mind, viciously attacking every idea you create. It should pounce instantly and sink its teeth into the soft flesh of your idea. It should rip and tear with bloodthirsty abandon. Most of your ideas will be torn to shreds by your inner Tyrannosaurus. That's good—better ...