Just Goddamn Do It

Posted on : 12-01-2012 | By : Brian | In : Becoming, Freelance, Musings, Role-Playing Games

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Yesterday I sat down and wrote all of the mechanics for Becoming. The specifics of how to do things had been eluding me for a while even though I’d had some notes on things I wanted to achieve. Once I sat down to actually write them though, it was shockingly quick and easy. This is because I believe I subscribe to what I’ll call the “Just Goddamn Do It” school of game design.

What do I mean by that? Thinking about game design is great and talking about it is better. You can come up with all sorts of great ideas on your own and, just like no good plan survives contact with the enemy, you can’t help but change and generate ideas when you actually have someone to bounce ideas off of.

In the end though, thinking and talking about game design, while valuable, are not game design. There is simply no substitute for sitting down and writing your thoughts down, forcing yourself to actually think through the problems and come up with solutions. Writing it down makes the mechanics concrete, exposes many of the flaws, and causes you to see where your ideas need more development. I had a lot of ideas in my head but it wasn’t until I sat down that those ideas became a game.

I’ve also applied the “Just Goddamn Do It” philosophy to my freelance writing and I think that’s part of the reason why I’ve seen so much success lately. I was told not too long ago that the biggest reason that I got a particular job was because I responded to my email quickly; this is very much a manifestation of JGDI. Similarly, when asked if I want to work on a new project, I usually look at the work that I’m currently doing, consider for a moment, and say “what the hell?”