Word Banks / Knowing what a game is "about"

[Daniel Solis]

A few months ago, I was listening to music from Ecco the Dolphin 2. I loved that game as a kid, it was one of the few I'd play for long durations without getting bored. I particularly liked the idea that there was this whole fantasy adventure going on throughout time in the depths of the ocean, but land-dwellers didn't have a clue.

So, of course, I got to thinking about making an RPG about dolphins. All the game theory stuff I've been absorbing over the past year has taught me that making a game "about (blank)" is usually somewhat misguided. If I understand Jared Sorensen correctly in this blog post, the initial inspiration is only superficial. The heart of the matter is mining the inspiration for the specific aspects that appeal most to you, then making a game to suit those appealing traits.

In this case, I think it's not that I want to make a game about dolphins, but that I want to make a game and a system about themes that come to mind when I think of dolphins. The fact that the PCs are dolphins is just color. This little obstacle (and real-life affairs) has prevented me from pushing the idea any further.

So at this point I'd like to offer a technique used by graphic designers that could help anyone reaching a similar creative block. One of the things designers do at the very beginning of a project is to take the key elements of our client's problem and make a word bank for each of them.

A word bank is an exercise in word association. You take the key element of the problem and list as many words (nouns, verbs, adjectives, synonyms, etc) that come to mind. It's a totally stream-of-consciousness process, so don't question why these words came to mind, just write 'em down as fast as possible. Ideally, you'll have at least 50-100 words recorded, but don't get hung up on numbers. When you're spent, you'll know it.

From this word bank, you can get an idea of the direction you can take your project.

The client here is me, I guess, but when you're making your game you are usually your own client as well, unless you're targetting an audience of which you're not a member.

The problem presented: "I wanna make a game and system about dolphins, but I don't know what either would really be about."

From that problem we can get at least one key element to riff on: Dolphins.

Dolphins
Swimming
Grace
Happiness
Pods
Family
Loyalty
Bravery
Echolocation
Travel
Exploration
Play
Socialization
Water
Jumping
Acrobatics
Surfing
Speed
Eating Fish
Space
Flight
Wisdom
Shared Knowledge
Singing
Heroism
Youth
Harmony
Freedom
Rhythm
Dauphin
Eldest Son of the King of France
Somersaults
Fighting Sharks
Befriending Giant Whales
Kidness
Charity
Totem
Astrology
Star Travel
Posters featuring Whales in Space
Flipper
Territoriality
Sensitivity
Song Magic
Environmentalism
Bottle-Noses
Migration
Ocean Currents
Discovery Channel Documentaries

So we've got our initial word bank. Now we trim out the things we really don't want to address in our project, and move forward with the editted word bank.

If we're feeling ambitious, we can make secondary word banks from certain items on the parent list that really strike our interest. Most often, you'll find yourself already starting this stage of the creative process in the first word bank. Secondary word banks tend to be shorter and a lot more verbose since the game is already beginning to take a conceptual shape. So, let's riff on pods.

Pods
Extended Family
Social Unit
Community
Shared Knowledge
Societal Roles
Home Territory
Songs
Survival of the Most Social
Community Strength = Individual Strength
Community Weakness = Individual Weakness
Playing the Pod
Playing the Dolphin
Dolphin Choirs
Large Choir = Powerful Song
Loudness noting Rank
Melody noting Caste
The "Bard" is most powerful

Anyway, you get the idea. I was just taking a break from work and was building word banks for this dolphin idea and thought the technique might help out those in similar creative blocks.

[Daniel Solis]

::smacks forehead::

I forgot to ask some questions:

Is this a technique adequately suited to developing a vision of what a game and system are meant to accomplish?

Are there other techniques that are more suited for this particular problem?

Does this technique lose its creative value during the transition from the early conceptualization stage to later stages of game design?