Where Do You Find Your Inspiration?

I was wondering where you all get your inspiration for games from? I usually get mine from childhood fantasies, books I like, and little bits of movies. I geuss mine are quite popular ones, but what are some others that aren't so normal, abnormal to say, that you all have?I've heard of people getting them everywhere from Dreams to Crossword Puzzles. So, what's your muse?

I'm from Dreams Always when i get up got new Idea Mostly before finish last one. --------------------Practice is when evrything is work but no one know why.Theory is when work nothing but evry one know why.Programmers join Practice with Theory - nothing work and no one know why

Personally I like to make RPGS mostly. and I get ideas from many places. Poems, songs, shows, but the biggest is dreams. I have a talent i guess you could say. TO havew sequential dreams of me being someone in another world. I assume the role of someone in a n rpg. But I donmt know its an rpg. And then when I wake up I write down what happened. And I do that everynight till the dreams done. I ts really weird but totally good fo rme making the RPGS I lovbe so much. and its not always one type of rpg. Ive have Smurai type ones futuristic ones. Tons of really good I deas. If you ever need a storyline just hit me up and Ill give ya one. I have books upon books of them.

dreams is really good inspiration for books.... but yes i have considered them for game ideas before... although sometimes it can be hard to pull off. some of my best ideas for games have just been things that i have found funny, or possibly just me trying to get better at OpenGL and coming across good gaming in the process. also i draw inspiration from other games.... here's two of my better ideas...

1/ freeway soccer: virtual soccer across a six lane highway lol now that would be funny....

2/ hovercraft-spaceships with guns that shoot other hovercraft-spaceships (Ultimate Hovercraft Combat!) this is my OpenGL learning game. actually i have a more detailled outline of its aims on my website.... http://forums.xisto.com/no_longer_exists/. the link is direct to the game bit.

cheers, sorry bout my ranting. oh yeah and RPG's are awesome!! keep up with the good work Tseng. PS if you ever want to turn your ideas into games check out RPG Toolkit - it's a game creator dedicated to RPGs. ok cheers again

I usually sit in my room, dim the lights, turn on music, get a notebook and write what comes to mind.

I get mine from books mostly. And other games, mostly RPGs. What happens is a see a good or underdeveloped idea in a book or game, and then I'll twist it a little bit to make it my own, then I build new stuff around it.

I always said I have my inspiration comes from every story that I read, play, or watch. If one story gets to my mind, it soon will become the inspiration. So, that's why I always make a game after I get a refrence, and guess what that will soon become something similar, which I used to cancel the project (don't want to be called plagarism). Well, lately I combine the story from one to others, so it is not a plagarism anymore.

From observing the living breathing world!

My inspiration usualy wakes from the breathtaking nature sights. The best ideas I've ever had came to my mind this one time when I was high in the mountain, on its very top. Then I closed my eyes and I could feel everything , from the winds passing straight through my whole body, the warmth of the pure sunlight on my skin slowly indicating the sun's going to it's resting place somewhere over the horizon then when I opened my eyes all I've felt suddenly came to life and it was so unbelieveably beautiful. I felt like I exist to create, and I turned into a reality almost all of the ideas I had in the next few days. Of course, you don't go to a place like this carrying you notebook, so If you are about to try if this is going to work for you better hook up with a good memory....or some PDA. P.S. sometimes inspiration comes from deep within inside, so I sometimes just turn the music up and close my eyes and new world appear where there was blank space, so this usually works for me too.

Ok, after reading over my entire post I added this line. My post really consists of 2 parts, an intro, which is just mainly about me (i know I'm so self centered), and why I'm coming up with game ideas in the first place, and the second part, my actual answer to your question.INTRO:I've thought of many great (at least in my mind) game ideas. So far all of my coding friends like them are we are slowly starting on one of them. It's very difficult focusing on just one idea when my mind is swimming with other ideas. I know many teens say they want to be game makers, but I am truly pursuing this career. Game making is what I've been into my entire life. And I'm not one of those people who just think he can come up with a creative idea. I actually am pretty decent and programing and modeling. I just love game designing the best. If you've bothered to read the "about me" section in my sig, you'd know that I used to make stuff in filemaker. Pretty much everything I made in that program was a game. I made adventure games, and rpg's mainly. It was a fairly limited program. From there I programed my first PHP game (and currently it is still in development it will be done shortly I hope). Anyway on with the story, because I know how much you love listening to these wonderful stories about my life. My first great game idea that we actually started was a 3d MMORPG in space. When I first thought of it, I thought there was no other games like it, but then i found games like EVE online and vendetta. That really wasn't my discouragement, but when I actually played these games, i realized how incredibly boring they were and how mine was probably going to be the same. But that was just the intro on to my actual answer...ANSWER:Ever since I was very little I've loved coming up with stories and mythical game plots. I find myself constantly thinking about stories and new game ideas. I'm not saying I have a gift or anything like that at all if you misunderstood me. I'm saying just you have to think about plots and possible scenarios and stories. I don't know. I kind of like what palladin said. Dreams are kind of a cool way of getting inspiration. I guess my main inspiration is just myself. I do play alot of other games and watch alot of movies. I don't really know...

I don't think I truly get inspired much. I think an effective game programmer is one that can run without inspiration. However, I don't think we are ever without it. I get a lot of inspiration from reading books though. I love to read, and I have read tons of books, all with different ideas and inspirations. Even characters actions in books gets you thinking. I also like to listen to music when scripting(Or game programming), although I really cant script and listen to music at the same time, it really is pointless.

I get my inspiration in multiple ways. The most common way is I will be doing just any old thing and a random vision of a great idea will pop-up into my head. Unfortunately, I don't have the time or resources to complete the ideas.Another way I get inspiration is by looking for things other people have tried and failed at. I really ike a challenge like that. Most recently I've taken on a Pokemon Starter Kit for RMXP, which if you use RMXP you know has been attemted many times. I have come by far the closest, and I know for certain it will be completed and then some.

I get my inspiration basically from other games and then say to myself what could a game like this have? That it should have. That's usually how I get my idea's, also dreams, walking down the street, on the toilet and yes even the shower.

OK most of the time I don't have inspiration and I just work my way out with some job they give me, but when I've got inspiration I am writing mostly small strategic games or in the fact or better to say I am developing the artificial intelligence which oughts to be intuitive then to learn from his or her opponent and find best way and apply best strategy to win. Without having any advantage agaist user himself. So the mods and options user have artificial intelligence has that same options and not some more like in many todays rts or tbs games. Few games I developed are not so niec and some of them are running mostly in the command prompt and I developed it for my self but I like to see artificial intelligence fighting either with me or two against each other.