Creativity is an intriguing phenomenon. It sounds so intuitively simple, yet it is incredibly sophisticated and bizarre subject matter. Being incredibly intelligent doesn't necessarily result in having an amazingly creative mind. Generating new ideas and concepts really just requires perseverance, determination and experimentation. To be creative one will have to do away with preconceived assumptions and take a new approach which may seem unthinkable to others, this is also popularly known as "thinking outside the box".
When developing a game it is possible to be creative in every department, from visuals and audio right down to the programming. Of course there are technical constraints that the developers are faced with, but this shouldn't be used as an excuse for not being creative. In fact what people most fail to do is to be creative and find innovative ways to work around those limitations.
Another problem that most will encounter when being creative is the fear of failure and being wrong. Yes, it's understandable that being wrong is bad and it can hurt our pride in doing so, but it is those mistakes that we learn from the most. I believe I have mentioned this before in an older post but I'll say again, most developers are afraid of the risks involved when making something new. So what if the recent product released didn't do well as hoped. Learning what was wrong with it and then trying to produce something better based on the mistakes of the previous product can turn out to be very rewarding. Assassin's Creed is a perfect example of this situation. The first one that was released had a good ideas and concepts, but suffered from a few design issues that were pointed out by critics and players. Ubisoft listened and went off and then released the second instalment to series. While retaining most of the original concepts and ideas from the first, Assassin's Creed II took a huge leap forward in terms of improvement.
Assassin is Successful
Another game known for taking the risk of being unconventional is Katamari Damacy. Every element of the game is completely unique; the visuals, gameplay, design and even the music is completely different from mainstream games. With only a budget under $1 million, which is a tenth of the average budget used to develop mainstream titles at Namco, it wasn't expected to be successful at all. But because it was so bizarre and unique it was actually very popular and is now considered a sleeper hit.
Thank you Katamari, thank you for being completely unique and different
There is a point where creativity begins to stagnate, after all it really does become difficult to come up with something that you think is original but was already done before you. But we shouldn't let that stop from trying, creativity is limitless and there is always something that hasn't been thought of. Trial and error is how Thomas Edison managed to achieve the light bulb right after making over 1800 failures. Don't forget that he wasn't afraid to be wrong!
Interesting Links:
10 Mental Blocks to Creative Thinking
The Art of Being Creative
Tim Brown on Creativity and Play
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