作者：Brice Morrison

作为设计师，尤其是独立游戏设计师或艺术工作者，你需要有条理地展开工作。至少我是这样做的。我时常会萌生出各种各样的想法，多数想法是毫无用处的，但其中有些想法值得挖掘。我需要尽力确保自己能够捕捉到这些优秀的想法。对于那些暂时无价值的想法，我们也可以将其写下来，或许最终能够融合到那些优秀想法中。

我在这篇原创文章中列举出4条记录创意的规则。尽管这些规则对我很有效，但你的工作方式或许与我不同，所以这些指导意见只能作为参考。

指导1：不要小瞧任何想法的价值

notebook(from thegameprodigy)

以上图片是我认为可以添加到自己正在制作的游戏中的各种不同角色。我的思考是完全自由的，想到什么就写下什么。无论我脑中想到什么游戏，就迅速记录下来。

你永远都不知道何时会产生真正的大想法。有些想法在出现在脑海中时我会认为它是个很棒的想法，但是一觉醒来后，我又会觉得其实它并不出色。有些想法刚开始只是小想法，但会逐渐成长成大想法。刚开始或许我对这些想法并不重视，但是随着我不断思考探索，它们逐渐成长为值得我投入1个月工作时间的想法。

所以，为了确保我不遗忘和失去任何想法，我尝试对任何自己觉得有趣的东西做简短的记录。我近期体验了《马里奥银河》，发现其中的设计瑕疵，我会记录下来。我在In-N-Out Burger吃午饭时，也会把当时的想法记录下来。我在阅读《Dracula》时发现的可以运用到当前项目的想法，我也会记录下来。我会把任何想法都记录下来！

关键是，你有许多时间来审视、发展和丢弃想法，但捕捉想法只能在灵光一现的那一刻完成。

指导2：让自己很容易找到记录信息

这是我笔记本的目录。我为自己的笔记本中的内容编制目录。如果你需要计划所有的关卡，记录所有疯狂的推广想法，还需要对角色进行设计，那么势必会记录许许多多的内容。这样，当你想知道自己将Jovi设置为第3还是第4个BOSS时，你就可以找到这页。

我采用的是作家Tim Ferriss的目录编排策略，确实很有效。过程如下：

1、保持每个笔记本前两页空白，以便于编撰目录

2、确定每页的主题或想法

3、在笔记本右边页面的角落处写上1、2、3…

4、在笔记本左边页面的角落处写上1.5、2.5、3.5…

5、将每页的主题或想法写在页面上方

幸运的是，我的每个笔记本最后都可以形成类似字典的结构，这确实很有用，我可以很快找到自己需要的信息。

notebook(from thegameprodigy)

指导3：感受记录笔记的乐趣

我很喜欢自由构思想法的感觉。当我觉得自己有全新的想法时，我就会找张新的纸来写。

所以，不要限制你自己。我不会在笔记本写满之前给每个页面设置标题，因为我不希望自己的想法在探索过程中受到禁锢。大脑中富有创造力的部分并不具有逻辑性。所以，不要因为逻辑或顺序而扼杀创意。

以下是我在自己现在所用的笔记本中已经写下的内容：

1、时间安排

2、角色想法

3、世界想法

4、平台和销售想法

5、基础机制

6、美学布局想法

7、随机绘图

8、引用和灵感

9、草图

10、体验概念

11、其他任何我觉得可能有用的东西

你觉得这样的编排有什么规律和顺序吗？完全没有。这就是为笔记本目录存在的原因。

指导4：右脑的创意必须转变为左脑的行动

虽然绘制草图和头脑风暴很有趣，但这部分只占整个游戏项目设计的20%。在某些情况下，你需要做出行动。想法、绘图或概念应当被转化成真实的产品，没有人可以仅凭想法就可以获得报酬，游戏设计师也是如此。

因而，当我觉得某个想法或概念终结，需要开始付诸行动的时候，我会写下以下内容：

下个阶段：在12月15日前制作出可运行的游戏原型

关键在于，将自己的想法转变为真正的行动。制定出自己的目标，我就确保了游戏制作在自己的计划之内，我也可以同更多人分享我的想法。（本文为游戏邦/gamerboom.com编译，拒绝任何不保留版权的转载，如需转载请联系：游戏邦）

Organize Your Thoughts Like a Pro Designer

Brice Morrison

When you’re a designer, or especially a designer/programmer or a designer/artist working on your own games, then you need to be organized. Or at least I do. I have so many ideas running around my brain, most of them useless but some of them gold nuggets. The ones that are good I need to make sure that they get captured. And the ones that aren’t good? Well…we can write those down too in hope that they’ll eventually bring along their good-idea friends too.

When I was originally typing this article up, I had listed my 4 Rules for taking great notes. However I realized that they should really be guidelines, because although they work for me, something different or some variation may work for you. Nevertheless, here is how a pro game designer fills his notebooks.

Guideline #1: No idea is too small

Above is a picture of some different characters I’ve thought about having in a game I’m working on. It’s very freeform, I just kind of went where I was thinking, left, right, up and down. Whatever game to mind I sketched it up, took some notes, and threw it in.

You never know where big ideas are going to come from. Some ideas have hit me and I think, “Wow! That’s a big idea!” only to later wake up and, after breakfast, realize that meh, maybe it wasn’t such a big idea. Other ideas start small and are cultivated. I didn’t think much of them at first, but as I keep thinking about it they grow to drive an entire month’s worth of work.

So to make sure that I’m not missing out on anything, I try to make at least a small note about everything that could remotely be interesting. My recent play experience in Mario Galaxy and what I thought was wrong with it. How I want the intro to my game to be like my lunch at In-N-Out Burger. An idea that I got while reading Dracula that I think could work into my current project. Anything goes!

The key is that there is plenty of time to look at ideas, develop, and discard them. But there is only a moment to capture them at first. Drawings, illustrations, quotes, thoughts. Any one of them could be the diamond in the rough, so dig it up now to polish and take a look later.

Guideline #2: Information that is recorded is only useful if you can find it

That is a picture of the table of contents of my notebook. Yes, I have a table of contents. If you plan out all you levels, write all your crazy promotion ideas, and scatter around character write ups, then it’s going to be long. So when you need to remember whether or not you decided that Jovi was going to be the 3rd boss or the 4th boss, you need to be able to find his page.

I got my note organization strategy from author Tim Ferriss, and it works really well. The process is:

Dedicate the first and second pages of each notebook to being a table of contents

Assign a general theme or idea to each page

On a corner of each right-hand page, write 1, 2, 3, etc

On the corner of each left hand page, write 1.5, 2.5, 3.5 to correspond with its other side

Write the theme or idea at the top of each page

With some luck, each of my notebooks ends up with a really useful directory structure so I can find what I need when I need it.

Guideline #3: Designer’s Notebooks are fun. Have fun with it!

I’m a big fan of opening a blank page and letting my ideas run wild. I try to be liberal with paper and grab a new page when I feel like I have a jumping off point that’s different enough. There’s just something about going at a project with all your creative juices that makes it an entralling experience, where you feel like anything is possible.

So don’t limit yourself. I try not to label my notebooks or put a title on each page until after they’re filled, because I don’t want to box my mind in. The creative part of your brain doesn’t work in a logical fashion. So don’t stifle it by insisting that everything be in the right order, in nice lists, or anything like that.

Here are some of the things I’ve written up in my current notebook:

Scheduling

Character ideas

World ideas

Platform and distribution ideas

Base Mechanics

Aesthetic Layout ideas

Random drawings

Quotes and inspiration

Sketches

Intro Experience concepts

Whatever else I think might be useful

And what order are they in? None whatsoever. But that’s what the table of contents is for.

Guideline #4: Right brain creativity must turn into left brain action at some point

While drawing pictures and brainstorming is fun, it’s always only the first 20% or so of a game project or design. At some point action needs to be taken. That idea, that drawing, that concept needs to be made before anyone will care about it or pat you on the back. No one, not even designers in the game industry, get paid for just coming up with ideas.

So when I know that an idea, a page, or a concept is finalized and it is definitely the way to go, I write something like the following:

Next Steps: Get prototype up and running by 12/15

Or something along those lines. The point is to turn the idea into action and hold myself accountable. By setting a simple goal I make sure that the game is going to be made and that I’ll be able to share my idea with more people than happen to pick up my notebook.

Happy note-taking! (Source: The Game Prodigy)