Chapter Seven: Cherry Split (or: A Good Knight for Creative Thinking)

Based on an exercise outlined in the book "Thinkertoys"

I want to make a Flash game. Well, to be more precise, I want to make any number of Flash games, but I tend to lose interest in most of my ideas or just don't think I'm at a level where I can bring them to completion. Hopefully after my current Flash gaming course I will be at such a level, at which point I figure I should develop a nice compendium of ideas. My usual method of waiting for a flash (pardon the pun) of insight as I nod off at 4 AM and frantically scrawling it down before I forget is slow and inconsistent to say the least, so I figure I shall try an actual creative exercise to develop an idea.

So my vague challenge is: "What is a good idea for a Flash game?" If I had to pick the essential two words of this challenge, the phrase would be 'good game'.

From there, I shall follow the splitting methodology in which I split each attribute I create into two more related attributes, ad infinitum, until I think I have enough to combine and work with.

Good
_ Chivalry
__ Medieval
__ Mystical
_ Light
__ Empty
__ Bright

Game
- Lives
__ Rebirth
__ Age
- Time
__ Heal
__ Weaken

The usable attributes that result are: good, chivalry, medieval, mystical, light, empty, bright, lives, rebirth, age, time, heal, and weaken.

So, what sort of concept results from the loose association of these terms? Immediately I am drawn toward the idea of the chivalrous knight protagonist, though this is ground that has been tread and retread before. Knight puts me in mind of night, which reminds me of the day and night cycle in the old Castlevania game where monsters would get stronger when night fell.

For a game mechanic, there could be a system where the player holds a key to meditate and accelerate time, healing themselves and weakening certain enemies, as well as advancing day into night and vice-versa, which could make enemies more powerful, lull them to sleep, or make them turn to dust as the occasion merits.

A character outside of the normal ebb and flow and time would be a ghost; the game could focus on the vengeful spirit of a knight, dedicating his afterlife to the destruction of an ancient foe that had done him some grievous ill.

Sounds good to me! I shall place "The Inexorable Knight" into my idea bin, pending concept art and execution.

Closing thoughts on this exercise:

I really like this exercise; it's quick to run through and produces a good number of ideas to work off of on any given topic. Also, I'm pretty sure that my teacher said that this methodology was Leonardo da Vinci's primary idea generator, and if so then that certainly explains its efficacy.

A short note about my creative environment:

I typed this up in my dorm room at or around seven in the evening, occasionally taking a break to sort through laundry. I wore noise-canceling headphones and listened to music while I worked, drowning out my roommate's television. There was a sliver of sunlight shining upon my face, combined with the normal lighting of the room.