Your Idea Is Brilliant, Your Idea Is Worthless (KS Lesson #204) – Stonemaier Games

Your Idea Is Brilliant, Your Idea Is Worthless (KS Lesson #204)

While I was at a family wedding a few weeks ago, one of my aunts asked me, “So, what’s the hardest part about designing a game? It must be coming up with the ideas, right?”

I laughed. “I have plenty of ideas–hundreds of them. I think most game designers do. The challenge is executing those ideas.”

Ever since I started Stonemaier Games–and with increasing frequency–people have come to me with their ideas. Most of them are board-game ideas; others are ideas for Kickstarter projects in a variety of categories.

The sentiment is almost always the same: A person has an idea, and they’re looking for help to make that idea a reality. Many of them want a partner–they’ll be in charge of the idea, and I’ll execute it.

Their intentions are well-meaning. They place a high value on their idea, and they want to put it in good hands.

I get that. I’ve been there. But it’s not that simple. Not even close.

nike-mag-2016-official-05_native_600Your Idea Is Brilliant

Ideas are important. Your idea is important. It may even be brilliant.

Take, for example, pretty much any science-fiction novel, movie, or television show. It’s probably full of interesting ideas, and those ideas might inspire actual science or technology someday.

When you have the freedom to generate ideas without the pressure to execute, you can think of some incredible things.

So, no matter what anyone tells you, don’t stop generating ideas. Daydream about them. Share them with other people. Write them down (I use Trello).

Your idea is brilliant. But…

Your Idea Is Worthless

I hate to break it to you, but your idea–any idea, really–is worthless. An idea only has value when it is executed, and it only has a lot of value when it’s executed well.

Say you have an idea for a board game. It’s a great idea. You have a friend who has a terrible idea for a game. You know this because they wrote a terrible rulebook and pieced together a terrible prototype. You played it, and it was terrible.

Your friend’s terrible prototype is worth 100x more than your great idea.

Why? Because your friend actually did something with their idea. They created something. It may be terrible, but at least it exists. They’re now informed about how to proceed based on something real, something tangible.

It takes a tremendous amount of courage to turn an idea into reality. It then takes a tremendous amount of time and effort to turn that reality into something functional, much less something great.

So if you’re offering someone your idea in exchange for them to execute it, you’re basically asking them to do 99.99% of the work. That’s not a partnership.

Imagine if your spouse told you, “I have an idea for a delicious 10-course meal. You should spend the next few days researching each dish, buying the ingredients, testing different versions, preparing the final meal, and serving it plate by plate at a dinner party. We’ll split the credit 50/50.”

There is no such thing as a million-dollar idea. All ideas are worth $0. Your idea might be fun to talk about, but until you execute it, it has no value.

How to Make an Idea a Reality

Here are two specific things you can do right now with your brilliant idea:

  1. Share it: Share your idea today with at least 5 people, ideally on a public forum. You might be afraid of someone stealing your idea. Don’t be. Remember, ideas are an abundant commodity–it’s time that is scarce. If you share your idea, you’ll get immediate feedback. You might learn that your idea already exists–that’s probably the best case scenario, because instead of you spending a ton of time, effort, and money on creating it, you can just go buy it right now.
  2. Make a little bit: Take at least one creative step towards making your idea into something real. Don’t try to make the whole thing today–that’s too daunting. Instead, just make a little bit. Write the first paragraph of the novel. Sketch out the layout of the card. Call the jet fuel factory to get some pricing for your Iron Man suit. I think you will be surprised by what happens after you stop thinking about your idea and start making it.

One of the best things about bringing your own idea to life–not just despite all the work, but thanks to all the work–is that it feels GREAT. You just took something that doesn’t exist (a figment of your imagination) and made it a reality. It’s incredibly satisfying. (Thanks to Falko in the comments for pointing this out.)

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I’m curious to hear your thoughts about this topic in the comments.

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133 Comments on “Your Idea Is Brilliant, Your Idea Is Worthless (KS Lesson #204)

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  1. I’ve recently got into board games and their forums. I’ve always wanted to create and design board game but that reality always felt so distant that I told myself to pursue other things with my life. Thanks for writing this Jamey! And I’ll share my first idea here:

    I’ve always been fascinated with character creation, and so embedding that into a boardgame has been a passion of mine. I want to create a game that has factions that are different each time because the players get to choose from several preset abilities each time. I know this would be tough to balance but I want to create it.

  2. […] Fully design, playtest, and iterate the game from start to finish (game design is much more than an idea) […]

  3. […] Your Idea Is Brilliant, Your Idea Is Worthless […]

  4. This is great, Jamey! I started a business a few years ago and can concur that once you start the ball in motion with DOING rather than just TALKING, it is amazing how quickly your idea becomes a reality! Looking forward to doing that same thing with my game idea!

  5. […] to give you another perspective, I recommend checking out these two articles and I whole-heartedly recommend Stonemaier’s blog as […]

  6. […] Kickstarter Lesson #204: Your Idea Is Brilliant, Your Idea Is Worthless […]

  7. Jamey Stegmaier (Stonemaier Games): Your Idea is Brilliant; Your Idea is Worthless - Driverless Crocodile says:

    […] just came across this 2016 blog post from Stonemaier Games – the people behind the beautiful Wingspan, among others. Recommended. […]

  8. Jamey,

    When do you you’re done playtesting? Is the answer different if you’re looking for a publisher?

    Da Vinci carried around the Mona Lisa and continued to refine it until his death. I’m no Da Vinci — I mean, I’ve only made one game, and I’m not done. But I certainly feel like I’ve done everything I can do by myself.

    1. I wrap playtesting when playtester ratings are consistently high, the data indicates balance, and when I feel like the game is as fun, intuitive, and streamlined as it will get. If I were a designer looking for a publisher, I’d roughly look for those same goals, except I would expect the publisher to work with me to continue the development process to further improve the game.

      1. Thanks for the quick reply!

        I definitely feel like I’m ready for someone to help me tag team it. I made the game I wanted to make, but I accept there may be major changes I’m not ready for ahead and it’s going to take a professional to turn it into a marketable product.

        It’s reassuring my assessment of where I’m at isn’t totally wrong.

  9. My wife and I are developing a trading card game. We have pages of notes and ideas and have done a couple quick play tests to help focus our efforts. We’ve realized that we don’t have the artistic ability to draw up all the clever characters. We also will need help with marketing and business operations.

    My question is, once you have a prototype how do you build a team to take the project to fruition?

    1. Daniel: That’s a big question, and I’ll post some links below that may help you. Part of it is deciding if you want to be designers or if you want to run a company. If you definitely want to run a company for the game, a big part of what you’ll do is be a project manager, outsourcing things like art and graphic design to talented freelancers. However, if marketing and business operations aren’t something you’re passionate about, I would highly suggest being designers who pitch your game to publishers.

      https://stonemaiergames.com/self-publishing-vs-working-with-a-publisher-ks-lesson-275/
      https://stonemaiergames.com/kickstarter-lesson-173-the-hidden-job-of-every-kickstarter-creator/
      https://stonemaiergames.com/kickstarter-lesson-45-partnership/
      https://stonemaiergames.com/kickstarter/how-to-design-a-tabletop-game/

  10. I was very encouraged after reading this post. I find it easy to be hard on myself because the reality of the game I’ve been working on for months doesn’t live up to the beautiful fantasy in my mind. But at least I have a game – even if it doesn’t pass the fun test… yet. Will keep trying…

  11. This is so exceedingly true, it is hard to overstate. That said, it makes life hard for people who have ideas and don’t have the hard skills to build the prototype. For example, in my own experience, I have an idea for a videogame, and I have skills at designing and building board games, but no programming skills. I can create a detailed and balanced system for the game to use, but I can’t execute it in digital form. I am also a management consultant, and have actual training to run companies, so I can manage literally everything that doesn’t require my hands on a keyboard (fundraising, marketing strategy, operations, finances, etc.). But without the hands on the keyboard, there is no company to be run.

    After talking to a number of programmers about this problem, my conclusion is that the best path forward is just to learn the hard skill myself, and become good enough at Unity or Unreal Engine to build my own prototype. Until that prototype is real, nobody will care about the idea; the response is universally “Sounds cool. Call me when I can play an alpha version.”

    So, the question is, is the idea good enough to retool my whole career over? It’s a huge gamble. I’m probably placing my bet soon. Wish me luck!

    1. How frustrating it is when others don’t even closely believe in your idea the way you do! Hence, the ones who make it successful take disproportionate benefits, money, and freedom. Alas! That’s when the people who didn’t believe in it in the first place come criticising of the disparity.

  12. Excellent article!

    I’ve always been surprised by wannabe entrepreneurs who overestimate the importance of their ideas. They often think it’s so important and so original that they can’t even tell you about it because you could steal their idea.

    As you say, coming up with an idea is only 0.01 percent of the work. And in any case, after working a bit on the product, it’s very likely that the idea will change and even maybe become something completely different.

  13. Jamey Stegmaier (Stonemaier Games): Your Idea Brilliant, Your Idea is Worthless - Driverless Crocodile says:

    […] just came across this 2016 blog post from Stonemaier Games – the people behind the beautiful Wingspan, among others. Recommended. […]

  14. Excellent practical advice, Jamey.

    My own experience with game design has shown me that I need to alternate between idea generation and practical iteration. I have found it is essential to know when to switch between the two in order to make progress.

    Idea generation is when I wrestle with a cool mechanic I want to implement or problem I need to solve in my game design. I’ll ask myself questions and try to generate as many answers as I can. This often means letting my thoughts wander all over the place, sometimes far from where I started. I find that walking around and talking to myself aloud enhances my creativity. Jotting down ideas and drawing pictures on a whiteboard helps show the relationships between the competing thoughts in my mind. If I have a patient friend available, using them as a sounding board significantly accelerates this creative process. But once I have a notion of a practical way to implement the idea, I have to stop the imagination process and start practical iteration immediately.

    Practical iteration is where I put together a quick prototype version of the best idea I came up with and test it out. I will tinker with this prototype on the fly and get a feel for the various possibilities it offers. Once I am confident that I understand the practical implications of the idea, I stop iterating and assess what I have learned. Am I on the right track or the wrong one? If the idea is worth pursuing, I go back to the imagination stage to flesh it out or come up with solutions to any problems it poses. If not, I need to spend time imagining a new idea.

    My advice, which relates closely to Jamey’s:
    1) As soon as you have a way to implement your idea, stop the creative process. Make a prototype and play around with it. This will tell you so many things you won’t see when theorizing about it in your head. I have spent countless days working on cool concepts without trying them out only to discover that they were wrong-headed after 5 minutes of practical testing.
    2) Don’t keep iterating an idea when you don’t like it and can tell it doesn’t work. Go back to imagination.

  15. I have been looking into some research on how to create a tabletop rpg for my game that I am making and stumbled upon this post. So, I’ll tell you a little about my game. I teach computer science and have a cybersecurity class. As part of a teacher camp that I was at recently we were asked to develop lesson plans. I was racking my brain for something to do and then it hit me – I want to create a cybersecurity card game.

    I want to develop my own card game to teach cybersecurity concepts to my students – I think it is a fun and interesting way to get them to learn the subject and think about how cybersecurity actually works. So I am in the process of developing my own tabletop exercise that will be more student friendly in its use of language. I have a framework worked out – there will be a ‘master of situations’ who uses a guide to build a scenario, defenders that use tools to protect equipment and networks from attack and attackers who use special tools to recon, plan, exploit and implement their attack. Defenders are tasked with the goal of protecting information while attackers are tasked with gathering as much information as possible.

    Because this is for a class there will also be a method of testing student knowledge of the subject matter. I am actually building everything into a companion website as the ideas come up because it seems easiest to implement.

    The long range goal is to have a unique and fun experience learning cybersecurity for students K-12. There will be different abstracted versions of the first game geared for 9-12 for lower grade levels.

    Anyways, thanks for the article and the advice!

  16. I wanted to teach my nieces and nephews some financial literacy so I designed a game in four evenings and we played it that weekend on family holiday – adults andkids >11 yrs old. It took two hours and they loved it. But there were clearly some issues. There were 8 players and the game play was too slow for that many. There are many little kinks to work out. I’ve caught the bug now. I’m going to have a Crack at refining it.
    Question: i haven’t looked to see if anything like this already exists in the world. Does that matter?

    1. Matt: Congrats on your first playtest! While I find it helpful as a designer and publisher to research other games with related themes and mechanisms to the games I’m working on, does it actually matter if there are other games that teach financial skills? As long as your game is fun and unique to those other games, no, I don’t think it matters. Like, there are plenty of games about farming, but they all do something different.

      1. Lighthearted comment.

        I’m going to venture out here and say that most games are about farming.

        Thanks for the interesting post. People do constantly have ideas, and they constantly want people to build them for it. My answer is always, “it’s your vision, you build it. I’ll be happy to give you support along the way”

        1. Like any person in a creative business, I frequently get “I have this great idea. How about if I tell you the idea, and you write the program, and we split the money?” They never like it when I reply “How about you keep the idea, *you* write the program, and then you keep all the money.” Fill in novel, song, invention, etc., in place of program.

          From what I can tell, people who rarely have ideas think coming up with an idea is the hard part. Maybe it is for them. But, like any other person in a creative business, I have more ideas than I’ll ever be able to implement. Ideas fall from the sky. I just looked out the window at my birdfeeders and speculated about whether a combat game featuring hummingbirds would have any possibilities. (they’re remarkably fierce little creatures; they remember that their ancestors were dinosaurs) Anyone who writes, codes, designs games, does art, makes music, etc., has no shortage of ideas. Time, skill, focus, resources, etc., to implement them, maybe that. But not the ideas.

          Another thing I get asked by the same people is how to keep someone else from stealing their precious ideas.My answer: Don’t bother. They don’t need *your* idea; they need the time, etc., to implement their own.

          People who don’t succeed in a creative field don’t fail because they don’t have any good ideas. They fail because they don’t implement them, don’t market the results, etc. If it was just about ideas, I’d be rich, famous, and too busy with my new spaceship to be commenting on blogs.

          1. Yes yes yes.

            People all have ideas though. I thought I didn’t have ideas until I cut social media and video games out of my life, got bored and started writing. It was amazing. My good idea list grows about a page a month, and my bad idea list fills almost a novel.

            To achieve this effect, you really need only one thing. Quiet time. Audio books and music do the same thing, your brain is too busy consuming to create anything.

            P. S. Sorry for the self help rant

  17. Kids are so great in that they often don’t bother with that distinction between the idea and the execution of it. Talked to my 7-year old about an idea for a game he had, 10 minutes later he came walking from his room with his first design. Asked for some cardboard and stuff he thought he might need and disappeared for another hour or so. Came back to ask for some more help in orthography, since he wanted that everything was written correctly, disappeared again.

    In the evening we sat wit the family and played his game. I wish I still had that same energy sometimes.

  18. A great piece! Thanks, Jamie! I have recently taken that first step in creating a couple of prototypes from two game ideas. I totally agree, you can end up having hundreds of ideas all tucked away in a notebook, but it is incredibly satisfying and exciting to have your own idea in a physical form on the table.

    I definitely recommend anyone to get a prototype to the table. That is where the fun really begins!

    🎲😊👍🏻

  19. Great piece! It’s free to imagine and come up with ideas, the real deal is having the courage to go ahead against all odds. Thanks Jamey

  20. Hi Jamey,

    I know everyone is passionate about the games they are wanting to make and I feel like the hardest thing a creator can do is walk away from a project. I’m a firm believer that no matter what outcome you have, as long as you’ve worked on something, there is some value in that. It could be as simple as using a mechanic from that game in another game or even just getting experience making something.

    I’d like to ask if you have had any experiences where you had to stop working on a project and potentially what lessons it had given you and also if there is any sort of advice you have for anyone who may not know if continuing their project is beneficial.

    I imagine if a designer is having second thoughts on a project, then it is probably a sign, however I know that there are some projects that envelop the designer, but due to the proximity of how close the designer is to their game, they may not be able to know when an idea is no longer worth pursuing.

    I appreciate any feedback you may have on this topic.

    Thank you

    1. Aaron: Great comment–I completely agree with this: “as long as you’ve worked on something, there is some value in that.”

      I’ve walked away from my games that I’ve started to work on at some point. For every 100 game ideas I have, I maybe actually spend time brainstorming 30 of them, and I get to the first prototype on 10 of them, and only 1 of those games ends up moving through to become published. I learn so much throughout that process, as ideas and tested concepts from failed games often find their way into other games (or at least informing those other designs).

      As for how to determine the stopping point, I pretty much just constantly question if the game is innovative, unique, fun, interesting, and functional. If the answers to any or all of those questions is “no,” I work on something else–there are plenty of other ideas to pursue. :)

  21. I know this all too well, I’ve been working with entrepreneurs for the past 10 years or so and it always catches me off guard when people still believe that ideas, good as they may be, without execution are worth anything.
    What I think people don’t realize is that not talking about your idea, while it might protect you from ‘idea theft’ (highly unlikely anyway) will also cause you to miss out on so much more opportunity. This loss of opportunity outweighs the faint chance of having someone else steal your idea by so much, that it’s mind boggling, really.

    Also, if someone has the time, resources, know-how, motivation, passion and connections to pull off your idea before you do – they honestly deserve it more than you.

  22. Jamey,

    This article was very helpful, and I’m reading more. I’m not a designer. I’m a player and a reviewer at heart. I know what games and mechanisms I like and which ones I don’t. I hadn’t ever considered making my own game. I’m not an engineer, but I have ideas. I have a leg up in that a lot of my ideas are already available in the form of published novels. I’m not going to brag because they’ve been out of print for some time and never gained any popularity. But I am proud of them if for nothing else than what you said: they exist! They’re out of print officially but I have a copy of each in my safe at home. They exist! I have the source material. I have a supportive wife. I have the time with COVID-19 keeping us locked down. She asked me just yesterday, “Why don’t you just put down a little idea and see what happens?” I’m overwhelmed and not sure where to start other than that. I’m not asking you (nor would I even think to) to execute while I control the idea. But I think there could be a game here in this sci-fi/fantasy world I created a long time ago. There will need to be some major changes to things to translate into a game, but I think it could be done. I’m going to get to work. One thing I would like to know is if there’s a designer forum out there for aspiring designers to bounce ideas around? Thanks for putting this material out there for me to ponder and absorb.

  23. Good day
    I have created a board game prototype and it has been tested and played by a lot of people and people love it. My question would be how do I market it, sell it?

      1. Slightly off-topic, but I’m curious since I come from the programming world: has anyone ever tried to integrate the freemium model into tabletop gaming?
        You would say ok but free digital games cost nothing for the producer, while a board game is physical. Not exactly true since you rack up server and traffic costs, and I was thinking that you could get the same freebie effect by giving away print and play basic versions, even 3d digital models

        1. There’s a few games that started with free PnP (print and play) demos or base games and then people could buy the physical version for the full content or even buy expansions for it.

    1. Hey, sorry to say but I completely disagree. This article makes a lot of sense and is very true. Having an idea is worthless if you don’t do anything with it. It’s like a sports team having a great strategy to win the big game but then not turning up. You can’t expect to make money from an idea, it’s the hard work to make that idea a reality that you make money from! I was naive when starting and expected to just be able to tell people my idea and they would fall over backwards to be involved. Why wouldn’t they, it’s a great idea. They did not. But now I’m in playtesting phase with a prototype and people are loving an almost finished product. I have done something with it, which makes it worth something, especially to me.

  24. This is very well said. I have a list of ideas, and coming up with new ones are very easy, but getting the work done is the difficult part. I’ll admit that there was a time that I thought just coming up with the idea warrants a big portion of the credit, but that’s not how it works!

  25. I have a game designed that I’ve easily created and modified at least 4-5 different times over the years, have play tested several places, and made modifications based on feedback. I’ve also re-written and re-drawn all of the elements to the game several times, art and rules. When I started, there was no such thing as the internet.

    Now I’m going to be serious about finishing it through kickstarter. AFTER I finish reading everything you’ve posted. Thank you, and this particular article made me feel that I haven’t wasted my time.

  26. I want to thank you for writing this. I am the customer service person at Looney Labs, and I can’t tell you how often I’ve wished I had an easy way to explain this to people. BTW, I’m working on our online FAQ, and I’m going to be linking over to your pages, since the questions about how to design a game or how to get a game published are even more numerous than the inquiries about whether we’ll publish their game for them. (Though this attitude is the most irritating/hilarious one).

  27. If wishes were horses, all beggars would ride
    But like plans and ideas, so many untried
    The accolades and rewards, that will be received
    Shall be an acquittal, for what was truly achieved

  28. […] my research on how to design a board game, I came across this blog post by Jamey Stegmeier of Stonemeier Games. In the post, he discusses what makes an idea brilliant […]

  29. Great article, love the contrast of “your idea is brilliant” and “your idea is worthless”. I think until someone sits down and does the hard yards of creating something they won’t truly understand the the idea of “your idea is worthless”.

  30. This is startlingly universal knowledge, it seems.
    I am returning to game design as an outlet after many years and I have total belief in the core of this. I’ve seen it in action in film and publishing. I’ve personally had more ideas in both worlds than I know what to do with, and even the number of ideas can be it’s own roadblock (how do you focus on one long enough to follow through when they are all “brilliant?”)
    But in both those worlds getting things finished is its own reward. Producing and delivering a film is like climbing Everest four times – each of pre-production, production, post production and going to market are enormous tasks that can only be completed in tiny parcels of tasks – one step at a time up that mountain (and then again for the next stage), but a completed film is watchable by many a dream about a film is watchable by one.
    Writing a book – even a first draft – is so much more fulfilling than wanting to write a book. An editor can work with a crummy word-salad first pass. But if what you have is an idea, they’ll tell you to come back when you have filled the blanks between the first and last pages. I can only imagine selling a book is satisfying… still working on that.

    1. The problem is that so many people don’t want to write; they want to have written.

      They have this idea … maybe the only one they’ve ever had. They envision seeing their idea in print, a glorious finished novel. They envision the adulation of their friends and even strangers. They imagine how good it would be to be a Real Author(TM) instead of just some dude with an idea. It isn’t the writing itself that attracts them, or the feeling of writing — it’s what they expect to gain through that writing, instead.

      That brings us back to the “I’ll tell you the idea, you write the book/program/game/movie” thing: They don’t want to write — they don’t even understand that’s a reward in itself, or feel that it is one. They want the rewards of having written. So they want someone else to do the work, while they obtain those rewards.

      I have spent entirely too long writing programs that other people wanted me to write, not ones I wanted to write. Anyone who has ever written, programmed, painted, or done anything else creative for a living knows exactly what I mean. Doing your own stuff — the things that speak to your soul instead of your wallet — is glorious fun. Not the result — the process itself. The feeling that you’re creating something that didn’t exist yesterday. (I think we all have a stack a mile high of things we’d love to do if we ever had the time)

      Some people, though, don’t feel that way. They don’t actually find writing more fulfilling than wanting to write — the only thing they would find fulfilling is having written.

      And they’ll never understand why someone else doesn’t want to do the writing for them.

  31. I’m the person behind TableMaster. (it’s a program to roll stuff up for games … I call it an “everything generator”) This is actually the second time around for my little company; I shut down and gafiated for a while, which turned out to be over a decade, in the 90s. The “I have this idea…” thing even happens to tiny software companies. I vividly remember being at a convention, and this guy comes up to my booth with his Idea with a capital I.Before I could get a word in edgewise, he’d gone on for several minutes about how great his idea was (not *what* it was, mind you). He finally finished up with “So what if I tell you the idea, and you write the program, and we split the profits?” He was horribly disappointed when I said “Even better, how about this: you keep the idea, you write the program yourself, and you get *all* the profits!” Because, of course, he didn’t want to do any of the heavy lifting.

    It never ceases to amaze me: Someone thinks their idea which they can explain in five minutes is on a par, value-wise, with my labor which requires hundreds of hours for even the simplest project. For example, I have a little program called TextJiggler that I give away as a promo freebie. The idea was simple: Capitalize words randomly, or in certain ways. (it’s handy for use with those fonts that have variants of the same character in upper- and lower-case) That one sentence was the idea; the program was a week’s full-time work. I have more *ideas* than I know what to do with. So does any writer, artist, designer, or any other flavor of creative person. Ideas fall out of the sky. (except for Harlan Ellison, he has to buy his from a little old lady in Schenectady, for $25 a dozen)

    In my less charitable moments, I think that maybe it’s because someone like that has only had this one idea, ever, in their entire life, so of course they think it’s the most valuable thing in the world. And they’re sure that everyone else is as idea-poor as they are, and is just waiting to steal their idea from them and then do the “easy” part of making a zillion dollars off it. As I said, in my less charitable moments. :p

    Anyway, I’ve recently done an interesting twist on the “first make a prototype” thing. I’m a computer programmer, not a game designer. That’s why my company is Wintertree Software, not Wintertree Game Studios. But I recently found myself in need of a game. It’s a long story, but basically, now I’m a game publisher, or at least I will be. I’ve been a gamer for decades, but even so, the thought of just sitting down and designing a RPG from scratch, despite me having enough *ideas* to fill one up ten times over, was just too daunting.

    So what I did … I bought one. I found a small game that had a system that I really liked, and not much support from the author, who was focused on other things and I bought it.

    What I bought wasn’t the game I envision. It wasn’t even the game it is today, though that’s still at least half notes-to-self and some serious concerns about how the combat system works. But it was a game … it was *something* instead *nothing* — particularly the screen full of nothing I’d have otherwise been staring at, trying to make a game. The screen that, in at least a metaphorical sense, I’ve been staring at since high school, because I’m an inveterate tinkerer with games. I went from decades of staring at a blank piece of paper and doing nothing to considering doing a Kickstarter this summer. All because I bought a game.

    It’s *always* easier to edit than to write fresh.

    So if you have an idea, write it down. Rough out how it should work. Write half a page about it. Then you can start editing, expanding, tweaking, and changing. The game as I’ve developed it has about 10x the word count of the game that I bought. (naturally, there is going to be some severe editing taking place later; right now, I’m trying to put words in, not take them out) It has an infinitely greater word count than all the games I had ideas for that never made it out of my head.

    And remember William Shakespeare.

    His plays weren’t original ideas. In many cases, they were just variants on other plays popular at the time. It wasn’t his ideas that made the difference. It was his *execution* — what he did with those ideas. A thousand other playwrights had similar ideas, maybe even better ideas. We don’t know their names. We’ve never seen their plays. But the one guy, the one with the best execution, has been famous for centuries.

  32. The information you provide is very helpful Jamey. Thanks! I recently designed and created a full prototype of my boardgame. I also had my family and a few friends test it out and they enjoyed it. I wasn’t sure how to get it noticed more or possibly published because I never done it before. I feel more knowledgeable and confident about moving forward with my game to hopefully make it into something more. One person who playtested even asked was it already in stores? I was surprised to hear that.

  33. I love your blog and videos…probably the most in depth resource on game design, self publishing on the web. I have spent about 40 hours this week turning my game idea that’s been mulling around in my head for a few months into a very playable prototype. Spent hours learning Adobe Illustrator, printing out the board and pieces, cutting them and gluing them to cardboard. Played it tonight with my girlfriend and although there were some clunky parts that we tweaked during play, we had a lot of fun playing it! I will be digging through all your vids and blog posts more on this journey for my own game. Thanks for sharing your experience, it really means a lot. (Also I’m a fan of SM games, can’t wait to play Charterstone).

    Thanks,

    Matt

    1. Thanks for your note, Matt, and congrats on getting through that first playtest after all your hard work. Good luck with the next 20 playtests! :)

  34. Hi Jamey,

    I recently found your site and have been reading it voraciously. There’s so much great information! Thank you for sharing your experiences with us.

    I wasn’t sure where to put this question as I can’t find this topic specifically addressed, but it feels like it’s at home in the “Ideas” realm. Do you have any advice on licensing an existing IP for a game you have designed? I thought this would be a more common question, but I have been working on a Star Trek themed game for the last 5 years. It’s been extensively playtested and it is a quite unique. I know my odds of being able to acquire the license to try and make this game commercially are probably slim, but was wondering if there is advice out there on this?

    Thanks!

    1. Daniel: Thanks for reading! :)

      I have limited experiences with IPs. The main case I’ve learned from is Scythe, where Jakub had started to build his 1920+ world, and I asked him if I could have the board game rights (in exchange for a royalty). In that case, I didn’t design the game until I had secured the rights, so it’s a little different than your situation.

      I also don’t know much about Star Trek licenses in general, other than that it seems like multiple companies have Star Trek rights, so it sounds like they haven’t sold the board game rights to one individual company. So I would suggest sending a proposal (maybe through an entertainment lawyer or agent who can talk to the right person) to the company that owns the general Star Trek rights. I wish I could be more specific, but I’ve never targeted an IP that big!

  35. […] also been catching up with creators’ forums, and with every self-publisher’s bible: this blog by Jamey Stegmaier. I’m learning more about creating and sharing online content by the […]

  36. Hi Jamey,

    Thanks again for pointing me here this afternoon. I totally agree with all of what you’ve written in this post. Looking forward to the rest of this guide.

    Cheers,

    Ray

  37. You hit a lot of stuff right on the head with this article. I’ve had thousands of “brilliant” ideas over the course of my young life. The problem is I never created a plan to actually implement any of those ideas. Now that I’ve been stuck in a 8-5 “career” job for the past 4 years at the age of 22 my soul feels like its rotting away. With the inspiration from you and a few other people in the space I’ve started my own company are in talks for my first publishing deal and are working on FINISHING a game even if it is an 18 card micro game. Because a terrible 18 card game is 100x better than a never published 3 hour long masterpiece of a game :)

  38. رومیز – ایده‌ی شما هوشمندانه است؛ ایده‌ی شما بی ارزش است! says:

    […] در مورد کیک استارتر: درس شماره ی 204» که  در این پیوند می‌توانید ملاحظه […]

  39. Completely agree. I have been telling this to people, and this is why since last year I started a tabletop development, prototyping and testing group in México. (The tabletop community in Mexico is growing and thriving).

    Mr. Stonemeier, would you mind if I write up some summaries of your articles for my community to read. Many of them do not speak neither read English; however, for them, knowing that they are already ahead of the game would mean a lot, specially if you said it.

  40. […] a series of articles to get new designers started. It begins with my provocatively favorite, Your Idea is Brilliant, Your Idea is Worthless. […]

  41. […] are hypothetical–there’s no space for feedback when you just have an idea. You need to have actually made something before you can get feedback on it. But don’t wait too long. If you’re having heart surgery, do you want the doctor to […]

  42. I really like this response: “Better yet: you don’t tell me the idea, you write the program, and you keep ALL the money.” It’s a little tongue-in-cheek, but you’re legitimately helping the person by saying that too, which is great.

  43. I’ve gotten this a lot too. Someone will come up to my table at a game convention (I sell RPG aid software): “I’ve got a great idea for a program. How about if I tell you my idea, and you write the program, and we split the money?” My response has always been “Better yet: you don’t tell me the idea, you write the program, and you keep ALL the money.” But they never want that. They’ve had an idea — and, special snowflake that they are, that idea is special and precious because it’s the one and only idea they’ve ever had. But they want someone else to do the heavy lifting.

    They never seem to get that the one thing I don’t have a shortage of is ideas. I have a shortage of time, money, even sometimes skill, but *never* ideas. I’d be happy if I had the capability to implement even 10% of the ideas I churn out in a single month. I’d have to be Microsoft. :p I’ve been told by authors that they get the same thing: people with a great idea for a book that they want someone else to write for them. I don’t know an author who hasn’t lamented that they think up great ideas for writing faster than they can write, and by the time they’ve finished one, they’ve come up with ideas for a dozen more.

    Ideas are a dime a dozen (or $25 for a package, if you’re Harlan Ellison). It’s the implementation that’s hard. Anyone can have ideas, and most people do, by the bucket full. Very few actually make something with them, and THAT is what matters.

  44. Love this post. I was used to be someone who was an ‘ideas’ person and it was almost as if I felt like I deserved some kind of recognition for this. How silly. I went through a lot of personal development, listening to the likes of Tony Robbins and Zig Ziglar to turn myself from an ideas person to an ‘action’ person. One of my favourite quotes is ‘done is better than perfect’.

  45. Hello Jamey, This is Fabrizio from Italy.

    I have been following your blog for more than a year now and this post found its why right to the core of what I am experiencing right now.
    I recently singled out the idea out of many others and I am trying to move from designing to execution.

    The issue I’m dealing with is “finding the right people”, in particular I’m always concerned that they might be not “right” enough. I am working on a smart luggage project and this will embed all the Italian quality design it deserves… except that feeling I have when I meet designers that they might not be able to carry out the great job I’d like too.
    Entrepreneurial tales always describe this moment when the guy with the idea magically meets the nerd-tech-creative guy and a sweet partnership sees the light all of the sudden.
    I wonder if it always works that way.

    P.s. thank you so much for sharing contents that we really care about, aka situations real people can identify with

    1. Fabrizio: Thanks for sharing your struggles to find the right partners/freelancers. It can be hard to find the best fit for your company. I wish I had magical and practical solution for you, but I don’t! :) I think the best thing you can do is continue to talk to people about what you’re working on. I wouldn’t have my partnership my co-founder, Alan, if I hadn’t playtested Scythe with different groups of friends–it was a total surprise to me that he wanted to work on it with me.

  46. Really like this post Jamey. When I read your post I saw myself was on the same situation 6 years ago when I just paid attention to my ideas and ignore the execution part. It took me a while to be a realistic person than just a day-dreamer.

    Afterall, ideas are cheap. Know how to make prototype and test the idea and how to sell/marketing the product later on is much much harder.

  47. This article resonates with me as well, Jamey. I’d like to offer another aspect: everyone here agrees that turning an idea into something tangible is *hard*. And that’s certainly true. But it is also gratifying! Over two years ago a friend of mine and me had an idea and it was a bumpy road turning that into actual designs and then physically producing these designs. But we did it and just completed fulfillment of our first Kickstarter campaign. We made something real. It feels awesome!

    1. I love that sentiment, Falko, and I’m a bit ashamed that I didn’t put something about that in the original post. I’m going to add it and credit you.

  48. That’s something I wrote a year ago preparing me (and my GF) for demoing some protos at an event of Madrid (before getting published 3 times in this year)

    https://www.llamadice.com/diseno/tu-idea-no-vale-nada/ (MLK punchline is “I have an idea… for a boardgame)

    Unfortunately it’s only in Spanish but more or less say the same. Your idea is worthless until you make a crappy prototype and put it into a table and that’s something that every designer should take into account because everybody have ideas, but only the brave (or the senseless) make it happen.

  49. Every once in awhile someone will approach a software group. They’ll say, “I have this awesome idea for a world-changing app!”. But instead of building the product, they want someone else to program the app for little to no compensation.

    This post is what I’ll show them next time. Ideas are cheap, execution is expensive.

  50. A truly great article thanks Jamey. There is a long, challenging and thrilling process in bringing an idea to market, which is not for the faint hearted, lazy, starry-eyed dreamer. My engineer father who is a brilliant ‘ideas’ man recently paid me the greatest compliment. He actually acknowledged my hard work, determination and gutsiness in spending the last 12months developing and prototyping my high tech camping product ready to launch via crowdfunding, by saying he admired me because he had never taken any of his ideas beyond sketch stage. Having this (my dad’s) understanding of what it takes, helps me deal with the many frustrations of real product (ideas) development. High Five to all the REAL creators out there!

    1. Julie: Thanks for sharing your story. That’s really neat to hear that your father acknowledged all the hard work you’ve put in to turn your idea into a reality.

    2. Wow, Julie! That’s great. Both parts.
      I know how rare and precious it is to hear a parent’s praise for surpassing his/her achievements. In addition to your High Five on creating camping product, here’s one to father for further encouraging you.

      1. Thanks Val, That ‘s very nice of you to say that. Maybe I should read a little more into my Dad’s compliment.

  51. The testing part is so critical. But thanks for posting this. Maybe it will prompt me or another to take those first steps to bring an idea into tangible form.

  52. Great input! That’s the thing that I was explaining multiple times to different people. You just hit 10 of 10 with your post!

  53. Great Post Jamey…really hits home for me in the midst of bringing to life my own creation…Kingdoms Lawn Game. I, like many, love the process of coming up with ideas for new games or inventions.

    In my opinion, Ideas are popular for two main reasons: malleability and independence. You can easily shift from one idea to the next or allow your idea to reform or evolve with simply the use of your mind. You need no assistance and are not dependent on others for your idea to come to life. No dollars or backers necessary. It is yours and yours alone (or a group of friends).

    In my experience, taking something from an idea to a reality takes so much effort…more than I ever dreamed. There is less flexibility and less independence. Often, you are restrained by the manufacturing process, timelines, cost, customer input, etc. And if something goes wrong, it could be months of frustration and countless dollars. There are partnerships that need to be created and relationships that need attending…to make any idea into something real.

    1. Denny: I completely agree, and I’d add that with an idea, there’s unlimited potential. It’s perfect in it’s beautiful idea form because you have no data to suggest otherwise. That’s one of the reasons it can be so daunting–and even scary–to actually start to make the idea a reality, because it can lose a lot of that luster and become work. A lot of work. :)

      1. I totally agree with you Jamey. You quickly realize how not everyone thinks as highly as you do about your idea when you are attempting to make that idea a real thing…it can be very humbling and eye-opening. I also agree with you about it becoming work. The fun of design and thinking about the awesome art/graphics and cool characters you want to create turns into emails, more emails, logistics about shipping, product safety testing, insurance, copyrights…the list goes on and on.

        Which raises an interesting question: How do you personally, or anyone in the business, deal with the overwhelming amount of stuff/work that needs to be done in order to put out a successful product and still maintain a level of passion/joy? Thanks.

        1. Denny: That’s a good question, and I’m not sure that I have a good answer. I’m able to spend a lot of time on Stonemaier (70-80 hours a week) because it’s my full-time job and because I’m single. My only dependents are 2 cats. I’m able to maintain a passion/joy for what I do because…well, I just really love what I do! There have certainly been times where certain aspects of the business have gotten under my skin, but I’m learning to recognize those aspects and delegate them.

          1. Having a full-time job, wife and 16 month old daughter definitely makes it tough. I have to be super organized and efficient with my time….a lot of late nights when everyone else is asleep. But I love it like you do, so it makes it all worth it. One way I try to keep the joy alive is by playing one of my games, at least once a month, for fun. I play just to play, no analyzation or in-depth study of what is right and wrong with the game, just play. I was wondering if you had any things/routines that you do to give you a boost? Also, how did you handle things when you had a full-time job? Any insights would be helpful. Thanks Jamey.

          2. Denny: That’s neat that you try to play one of your games just for fun once a month. I play a lot of games, but I rarely get the chance to play my own published games. I’m the most invigorated when I have a few uninterrupted hours just for game design.

            When I had a full-time job, I basically worked from 9:30-5:30, came home, ate dinner, then worked until midnight on Stonemaier stuff. Both jobs bled into each other at times too.

          3. So Denny asked you about how you handled it all when you had a different job, but going back even farther, how did you originally learn about and organize your first game(s) before you really knew much about everything (prototyping, testing, art, funding, production) involved? Were there any resources that were especially helpful to you or that gave you an extra bit of hope to continue and build your business to what it is today?
            Thanks!
            Jared Richardson

          4. “how did you originally learn about and organize your first game(s) before you really knew much about everything (prototyping, testing, art, funding, production) involved? Were there any resources that were especially helpful to you or that gave you an extra bit of hope to continue and build your business to what it is today?”

            Those are great questions. At the time, I was kind of learning on the fly. There weren’t any comprehensive resources at that time that covered all of those elements, while now there are resources like James Mathe’s blog that really help. At the time, the biggest help I got was from Panda, my manufacturer.

  54. Jamey! Such a great post. The sad thing is… So many great ideas never see the light of day. I like your first step suggestions, because it pushes people into a potentially supportive community. This helps them overcome fear. And, telling others about your idea makes you accountable. Great stuff.

    1. Well said, Mark. I hope more people take those easy steps so their ideas have a chance to see the light of day!

  55. Excellent article Jamey! I have the same thoughts about that! Some people offer an idea for a game or a basic prototype, but they don’t understand that’s the beginning… I would appreciate someone coming with a fully finished and tested game, working well. That would be something. I don’t have enough time to work on my ideas actually ;p But is someone comes with the finished game or nearly finished game which need some polishing and artwork then that’s something different. That makes sense.

    Thanks for your post :)

    1. Mateusz: That’s a great point that even the first prototype is just the first step of a long journey. As a publisher, I want a fully tested game that is both fun and functional (and perceived to be complete, even though I like to have the flexibility as a developer to continue to improve it). Until a game is tested a few times, I don’t even want to hear about it at all. :)

  56. I just attended a panel by Gil Hova called “10 Mistakes New Designers Make.” The first mistake was overvaluing your idea, the last (and most emphasized) was never starting. Now I’ve had two people whose opinions I value tell me the same thing in as many days.
    It seems the universe is telling me something. Better get started on that next prototype.

  57. Thank you for writing this post. I often get “I have this idea, you do the work.” pitches. Being able to politely share this post will be a helpful tool.

    1. Thanks Jeremy! That was actually one of my motivations for writing it–I want to be able to share it with people when they say that to me. :)

  58. This is a very common problem in video and computer games as well. And it’s not just with casual players wanting to sell an idea. I’ve talked with students going to game design and art colleges, who still have the same view. Out of a group of 15 students in one art related class, six asked me about how they can become hired as concept artists — essentially, they want to draw the cool pictures, and let others do the grind. Even those who come into the industry in positions such as QA often believe they can just step into design. It is probably the same in most entertainment related industries.

    1. Thanks for sharing, David. I can see how that’s a problem in any creative industry–people often forget that “creative” means that you actually have to create something. :)

  59. The timing of this couldn’t be more perfect. Inspired by all the creativity at your Design Day, I’ve had an idea for a game I wanted to play around with, and have just started taking those baby steps towards making that idea a reality. Thanks for the extra motivation!

    1. That’s awesome, Miles! I’m glad to hear you’re starting with those baby steps, and hopefully we’ll see a prototype of it at Design Day 2017!

      1. That’s my goal! The thing that has prevented me from trying in the past is the worry that my idea isn’t good or the game won’t work, and it may not. But as I’ve started to do more play testing I’ve begun to see that it’s actually through the process of trying that you even have a chance of eventually creating something worthwhile (vs. hoping you come up with that perfect idea in your head).

        1. “it’s actually through the process of trying that you even have a chance of eventually creating something worthwhile”

          I’m quoting you on that, because it’s something everyone needs to read. Well said.

  60. Hi Jamie, I found really difficult to write down a nice rulebook. My first one failed a blind test so I’m going to write it down again and this is slowing me a bit. I have the prototipe, an interested editor and many positive feedbacks after a 3-4 years of playtesting and little steps forward (It’s an agility filler about Fantasy Tennis called “Wimbledice”).
    I’m just thinking about looking at some other succesfull rulebook of a game similar to mine and follow those steps, explaining it like if it was a Demo. But a nice guide on “Hints for a good Rulebook” would be appreciated ;) What do you think about it?

    1. Andreas: Thanks for your question! This blog is specifically about crowdfunding and entrepreneurship, but a great resource for all things related to board game design is Cardboard Edison (https://cardboardedison.com/). If you tweet at them, I bet they’ll have some great suggestions for articles written about writing rules.

  61. I could not agree more. There are a lot of people out their who think that their ideas are worth a lot. The idea, by itself, is really not worth anything. It is all about the ability to make the idea real. What people don’t realize is how much work goes into bringing ideas into reality. We are heavily involved in our local board game community and we hear ideas for new games weekly and we see those ideas turned into prototypes almost never. We get a lot people who want us to make their idea work for them. It is amazing how many people are not willing to do the smallest amount of work to make their idea happen. I really admire anyone who has an idea and puts the work into making it real, even if the ultimate goal is not accomplished.

    1. Well said, Loren. I think it’s daunting for people to take that step from idea to execution (or maybe it’s just laziness–we’ve all experienced that). I’ll echo what you said about admiration: Knowing how much time and effort goes into designing a game makes me really admire and appreciate those who go through that process (or even START that process).

      1. This probably applies to the community on kickstarter. But it is a different ball game with the high tech sector. The best ideas are never on kickstarter. You will never see a multi-million or multi-billion dollar company grow out of kickstarter. Look into how companies like microsoft, apple, facebook etc. got their start. Kickstarter is a joke. Real entrepreneurs know better than to share good ideas with anyone. You will never see a multimillion or multibillion dollar idea on kickstarter. And with regards to the execution part, Facebook, microsoft, apple, etc. all those guys did the execution themselves because their idea was that good. Execution is no a problem if you have a good idea, i’m talking about multimillion and multibillion dollar ideas. Those ideas on kickstarter are joke.

        1. John: I appreciate you sharing your opinion, but I think your comment is demonstrably incorrect. Do you think Steve Jobs built the iPhone by himself? Or that Zuckerberg grew Facebook to what it is today without bringing in other people?

        2. I have to strongly and respectfully disagree with this notion that ideas on Kickstarter are a joke. Kickstarter has given some incredible ideas the financial resources they needed to be brought to life.

          The comparisons to Facebook, Apple, Microsoft, etc. are misplaced. Most game designers and publishers are not trying to be the next Apple. You should compare successful Kickstarter projects with successful games which went through the traditional publishing route. You will see big successes from both methods.

        3. The Oculus Rift singled handedly revolutionized the game industry and pushed really hard towards VR and Mixed Reality.
          It was a kickstarter Idea, current net worth of Palmer Luckey is 750 million, big shot.

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