Personally, I enjoy the concepting phase. "You know the theme, now what?" That thing. Those first few hours. I love them, a lot of people seem to struggle, only to find out during the ratings phase that there where many more ways they could've interpreted the theme.

I saw that happen so often, that one and a half year ago, I decided to write 'Seven Lenses: Ways to look at a Theme'. I'm proud of that one, and if you decide to read it, don't skip the comments, there's some good ones in there as well. (As maybe there will be for this iteration as well? You decide!)

Not to be outdone (much) by my past self, here are five more ways to help you make the most of a theme. Enough introduction; here are items eight through twelve of a growing list:

• Research: You may think the theme is simple. Everybody knows what 'fire' is right (to name but one example)? Even so, it may help a lot to look up even the basics once again. To come back to the example, what could you do with the fact that fire can be put out in three different ways: take away fuel, take away oxygen, or reduce temperature (and that some ways may be less effective for some types of fire). Who where the gods of fire in classical times? Are there any customs or famous stories related to (parts of) the theme?
• Aesthetic: What if you didn't have to make a game, but instead a drawing, story or screensaver? What would 'adhering to the theme' look like then? Maybe even write part of that story, or draw that drawing. Maybe you'll get some ideas while doing that. If not, just imagine it then, what would it be like to play in your story, drawing or music piece or ...?
• Transplant: You where hoping for that one theme weren't you? Turns out it was the other one. But what if you went with that idea anyway -- could it tie back to the theme that was chosen in some heretofore unexpected way? Imagine if you had to combine your old idea and this 'new' theme -- what does it look like? Is that the only way you can relate that one concept to the other? What parts of the concept that you dreamt up appealed to you, and what was just part of that other theme you hoped for? What can you drop, keep, and/or add?
• Self Discovery: What do you associate with the theme? Has (something like it) been personally meaningful to you? If so, can yo use that? If not, fall back to the old 'draw a big circle on a whiteboard or a piece of paper, make associations, connect them with arrows, and then repeat for each association'. Do any of the associations mean anything to you? This can in general be extended to the other lenses as well. 'Research' coming up empty? Work with some associations of the theme instead, see what comes up then. (You can even loop this back to what one commenter said last time: What items are around you in the physical world right now that tie back to the theme?)
• Mechanical: This method is the easiest for themes dealing with physical objects or phenomenon acting on such, but it might come in useful for more esoteric or otherwise seemingly non-applicable themes. Simply put: What does it do when placed into the world, or to the world (not necessarily in a physical sense -- take 'corruption' for example). How do you translate that into a game-mechanic? (Keep in mind: Are there multiple things the theme does to an environment? What does it do to itself? To people?)

Hope you enjoyed that, and more importantly, found it useful? If so, please let me know in the comments, or even better, perhaps you have some of your own to share! (Don't forget to check the previous installment already linked above as well, maybe I, or one of the commenters already said something similar already!)

Cheers, and if I don't post before that time again, have a great jam! :slight_smile: