My name is Dave(Goo-Lord) and I'm new to the game dev scene. I wrote my first game about a year ago with absolutely no knowledge of how to make a video game.  I had taught myself some python for my job but I'm by no means a programming aficionado. Going through the process of writing a game with a start, middle, and end was an eye-opening experience. I was overwhelmed by the amount of information I had to learn in order to write a very basic FPS maze runner. However, through this process I fell in love with making something out of nothing. 

  After I finished this first outing, I wanted to take time to learn blender so I could make my own assets. I'm pretty sure this was a mistake. At least this is what I keep telling myself throughout this process.   Learning 3d modeling on top of C# and Unity. I felt like my brain was going to explode. Again through, I fell in love with the creation process. Taking an idea and then making a 3d model to represent that idea was well worth the time I put in. 

  I had gotten to a point where I wanted to take my new 3d modeling skills and make a new game. My first game was a Pac-Man maze runner but with the fast-paced maneuverability and shooting of a game like Quake.  I had the idea for my first game years ahead of me actually making it. So. I didn't have to go down the design process of coming up with new game mechanics.  Being that this was now my second project I found it extremely difficult to come up with an idea that excited me. I found myself spinning my wheels over different concepts, but they all had elements of something I had already done. Reflecting on this now. I think this was one hand hanging on to what I knew rather than exploring something outside of my comfort zone. This type of thinking is an excellent way to suck the innovation out of game design and that sameness of the core ideas gave me little to no inspiration to continue.  Not only this, I also struggled with matching up an art design or world concept that would match up with the game mechanic. I don't recall who it was now, but I remember reading another dev log and they mentioned the same issue of trying to force everything to have a meaning into their design. They're advise was to stop worrying about it and to just start the design and see where it leads. Unfortunately, I had read this well after I drove myself crazy with the same issue causing me to discard several ideas, I initially thought were a good idea.  I can safely say though, this is wise advice, and one I came to the same conclusion on. 

  A few months ago, I was playing Space Harrier. One of my favorite classic Sega games. It is the continuous scrolling terrain that caught my curiosity and got me thinking about how I could design something similar. 

Shortly after I was looking at retro wave art and this is when I finally felt inspiration.  The picture below is what gave me that sudden spark. I had my genre and mechanic ideas but now I also had a art direction I could draw inspiration from.  

  From this point is when I started to figure out how to get a demo level that plays like an on-rails shooter but immerses you into a world where you're racing towards the horizon with some amazing Synthwave music in the background. 

  In wrapping up this post, I wanted to address my journey of coming up with an idea. This second project proved difficult to find that inspiration. If I had any words of advice for anyone struggling with something similar. Inspiration is out there. Be open to new ideas and don't hang onto a game mechanic only because it's something you already know how to do. 

  Secondly, don't drive yourself crazy with all the details of "how would this mechanic fit into this world."  My advice is to just push though these thoughts and don't worry about them when you're just starting a design. In my opinion, design should come first then the world and art.

Take comfort in knowing that other developers have likely struggled on similar things you are. If developers were worried about things always making sense, then why do so many bad guys leave exploding barrels everywhere for you to shoot and blow them up with?