The More Promising an Idea Seems, the Harder It Is to Adopt Immediately | How Game Design Started Changing Through Brainstorming with AI

Hello, this is Reiji Kuga.

While working on the game version of "Crossroad," something a bit troublesome happened.

Actually, rather than troublesome, I think it's a happy problem for a creator.

Triggered by a certain hint, I found myself thinking, "If I incorporate this way of thinking, it might become even more interesting."

Up until then, I had intended to proceed with the current game design.

Although the final form isn't visible yet, I had decided on the goal, and I know that expanding it any further will only delay completion.

But once a possibility has been glimpsed, it doesn't easily fade away.

It's not that the current design is wrong.

It's just that after seeing that hint, it started to feel a little cramped.

Even though it should be a happy discovery, honestly, I was a bit troubled.

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The sense of discomfort I didn't see before I started making it

Before I started game development, I thought it was better to solidify the design as much as possible before proceeding.

Even now, that thought hasn't changed.

If I changed the specifications every time I had an idea, it would never be finished, and especially in solo development like mine, if I don't narrow down what I can do, I'll end up stuck halfway through.

I'm originally the type who wants to include everything when I find something interesting.

I can do that too. This also looks interesting.

If so, couldn't I include this as well?

As I expand it like that, there are times when I lose sight of what I was trying to make in the first place.

That's why this time, I designed it quite carefully.

Even so, when I actually started thinking about the game version of "Crossroad," problems different from those I faced when producing the drama began to emerge.

In video works, the audience receives the story.

But in games, the player needs to feel like they are actually there.

At the very least, I don't want to just show the drama version on another screen as it is.

I want to cherish the original story and characters.

But by trying too hard to protect them, am I weakening the experience as a game?

It made sense in my head, but when thinking from the player's perspective, it seemed a bit passive. The scene itself wasn't bad, but I found myself wondering, "What is the point of participating here?"

It was a sense of discomfort I hadn't seen before I started making it.

Solidifying a design and not questioning that design are probably two different things.

I asked AI to "make it more interesting" and got a little lost

So, I started brainstorming with AI. At first, I was consulting it quite loosely.

"If you wanted to make it more interesting as a game, what kind of methods would there be?"

It was something like that.

Then, a lot of ideas came out.

New mechanics, direction, choices, player actions. Reading through them, they all seemed reasonably interesting.

However, the more ideas there were, the more confused I became.

Are those things really necessary for "Crossroad"? Am I just adding game-like elements?

They might seem interesting, but are they straying from the core of the work?

Honestly, I got a little lost.
AI answers what it is asked.

But if the question is too broad, the answers will also be broad. Just picking out things that seem usable from that is less like thinking about design and more like just looking at ideas.

So, I changed the way I asked questions.

Instead of asking for new ideas, I tried putting the sense of discomfort I was feeling into words just as it was.

If we keep it like this, won't the player just end up watching the story?

By respecting the drama version too much, are we weakening the game-like aspects?

Even if we add new elements, will they deepen the experience? Or will they just increase the workload?

As we talked like this, the words coming back from the AI also changed.

What kind of emotions do you want the player to take away?

What are the parts that you absolutely do not want to change, as they define the original work?

When asked, I realized there were parts I thought I understood but hadn't yet put into words.

It's not that I had the AI decide the design for me.

I had it act as a partner to help me face the discomfort I felt without running away.

For me right now, brainstorming with AI is closer to that.

The more interesting an idea seems, the scarier it is to adopt

As we continued our consultation, several ideas came up that I thought, 'This could be interesting.'

I can't write about the specific details yet.

That's because it involves the core of the current development, and I haven't even decided whether to actually adopt them.

However, the moment I saw those ideas, I was quite drawn to them.

If we include this, the feeling of the player entering the world of 'Crossroad' might become stronger than it is now.

There is also a possibility that they could touch the characters' emotions in a way different from the drama version.

The more I think about it, the more I want to try it.

However, I cannot simply say "let's adopt it" here.

If I introduce a new idea, the design will change.

If the design changes, the implementation will also increase. It might even affect the flow I had planned until now.

Above all, it pushes the completion date further away.

I experienced a major rework once with "Crossroad".

Due to copyright issues, I had to rebuild from scratch a work that was almost finished right up to the final episode.

Because of that experience, I believe I understand the significance of reworking a project.

By reworking it, a team-based production structure was born, extras were added, and the work gained a scope different from before.

However, reworking does not always guarantee improvement.

It also consumes time.

It places a burden on the people involved. There is also the possibility that motivation might fade along the way.

That is why I am cautious about changing the design now.

Perhaps more so than before.

There is the pain of not coming up with interesting ideas, but there is also the pain of deciding whether to adopt or discard an interesting idea once it appears.

The idea I discarded might have actually been the most interesting one.

You never know that until you finish it.

What was the design meant to protect?

Now, even if I want to change something, I try not to proceed to implementation immediately.

Why do I want to change it?

What will improve as a result?

Will the essence of 'Crossroad' remain?

Is it necessary at this stage? Or should I keep it as a future concept?

While talking about such things with AI, I am rethinking things myself.

I shouldn't change things just because I thought of them, but rather keep the reasons for changing.

If that remains vague, I feel it will become just aimless wandering rather than a design change.

That said, it's also wrong to keep things as they are just because 'that's what was decided at the beginning'.

Is it really right to proceed while leaving the weaknesses I noticed only after I started building it as they are?

Lately, I've been going back and forth on that many times.

If it makes it more interesting, I should change it.

No, if I keep expanding it, it will never be finished.

But it's also wrong to keep building while ignoring the discomfort I feel now.

Perhaps game development design isn't about deciding on the correct answer once, but about continuing to choose what to keep and what to change.

Though, I haven't built enough to say that with certainty yet.

The current game version of 'Crossroad' has started to move in a slightly different direction from the form I initially envisioned.

Will that really lead to it being more interesting? Or will it just make development take a detour? I don't have the answer yet.

I feel like by tomorrow, I might have thought of another idea.

Whether or not I adopt it is another story, though.

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