Gamification of the world

No game development for me today. Usually my wife gets to watch tv while I have the computer, but tonight is different. Next week, we'll be in Santorini for our two week holiday and my wife likes the pre-fun of finding out what fun there is on that island, so she's at the computer and I am writing this post on my phone.

Now that the US beat England in womens football and the dutch will face Sweden tomorrow (and NAC had an exhibition game today) I'm just sitting on our sofa overthinking the last couple of days. While there's a lot that I will not bother you with, there's some gamedev related stuff that might be interesting.

A couple of days ago, someone on Twitter asked me if he should turn game developer full time at the age of 16 and I think he should not.  Now I am biased because my passion is for history over game development.  The thing is, though, it's not a zero sum game between seeing things and making games. In fact, I think a broader education and set of experiences will inevitably make you a better game maker.

History is my thing, so that'll always be a main focus for me. And history is a very potent source of storytelling and ideation for games.  For instance, build a game where you are a senator in Rome and you try to survive the dog-eat-dog world. Or you are a general facing the nazis. You're Genghis Khan and your sons are rebelling. Endless opportunities.

I'm not an expert so don't take my word for it,  but I think turning a narrative person helps getting ideas and as a solo indie developer, ideas are important.  All of us can program or are well on our way and most of us can find an art style to suit our needs,  but ideas, cheap as they often are, do make us better game makers in the broader sense.  The best way to get ideas, I think,  is to tap the systems in everything around you, past, present and future.

It does not have to be anything big. It does not have to be profound.  Funny thing is that almost everything can turn into a game idea if you look. Talk about gamification of the world!