The Seed Of An Idea

I've learned in the course of my work that every great idea comes from an acorn. An idea must first have a seed, which is then grown and developed upon until it works. That means multiple iterations and exploration of different implementations until a suitable solution is found. That is where the great idea comes from.

When I was younger, I was wondering how brilliant designers like Will Wright are somehow able to consistently deliver those wonderful games. They must've made these grand roadmap documents listing features A to Z and then masterfully weaving the lot together till a blockbuster title emerged. How wrong I was...

It's easy to forget where the oak came from. Basically, it's not all that uncommon for a game to turn out rather different from the initial vision that was set out. One of the magic ingredients is the willingness to try new things, such that the vision is allowed to grow and realize itself. Yet, it is equally easy to lose one's way and endlessly try random things until the project runs out of money. It seems to be the duty of the great designer to set the pace somewhere between the two such that the vision is allowed to develop, but is also pruned at appropriate times to allow for healthy growth.