Journal of Creation: DragonGrace 1
I am starting a journal of creation on a project I call DragonGrace. I have been wanting to make a new game recently and I have been sketching down a few thought on paper. I thought this would be a good avenue to explore the possibilities.
What I am going to make is a RolePlaying game. It won't necessarily be the newest thing on the market. I am going to borrow thoughts and ideas from other games and consequently on mention the similarities in brief passing when I get to them. On the other hand I hope to go into a great deal of detail about other aspects of my game such that you may have insight into why I have made the decision I have and perhaps suggest improvements, additions, or subtractions from my original thought. In some ways I will bend and In some ways I will not. For instance, the title and my first decision will stand because they are the foundation from which I will build upon for the remainder of this journal.
Also I want to start out by quoting an anecdote. Invention is 10% inspiration and 90% perspiration. The same is true of design. Except that in the perspiration, well over 50% of that is perspired in making decisions. And through the course of game creation many decision are made, decided for, decided against, or not decided at all allowing fate and the subconscious to take control.
Now, What's in a name? A name is how we communication about things. We name them. Adam named all the beasts of the world. A name has power, it gives control over someone or something. A name is usually the first thing expectant or prospective parents think of for their child. So in naming the game I did a great deal of thinking. I wanted a name that I hadn't heard before, but was comprised of parts that everyone knows. I took my favorite mythological beast the dragon and decided that would be half my name. The second part was the hardest.
Firstly I went to a random poetry generator and pulled up the words of adjectives. Forty adjectives graced the screen and I studied them all saying each one with the word dragon either as a prefix or a suffix. Each combination inspired different worlds and different styles of play. Magic Dragon, Sleeping Dragon, Dragon Dying, Rich Dragon. I decided that my game wasn't going to be about dragons. So instead I went to the nouns to see if I could form a new word or phrase that would inspire. Dragon Terror, Dragon Love, Dragon Light and Dragon Grace.
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