It’s not always easy to know exactly where to start when making a game. Random game idea generators are a great way to find a starting place for your game idea that you can get excited about. Whether you need random inspiration for your next big game or just need a quick idea for a game jam, idea generators are an easy way to develop unique ideas easily. There are many different idea generators out there to help you get over those initial hurdles of not knowing what to build. Here is our list of our 5 favorite random game idea generators and what makes each one unique.
1. It’s Snowy Owl Game Idea Generator
This game idea generator is an amazing tool for inspiration and game jams brought to you by the developer SnowyOwl on itch.io. SnowyOwl made this generator as a passion project to get inspiration for their own game ideas and generously made it available to everyone here. It features 6 cards that you can toggle between random responses for goal, setting, genre, art style, twist, and bonus. Once you have flipped over all game topics, it displays a description of your game. The tactile feel of flipping cards to reveal your next game idea and fun art style of this generator has to make it one of the best, going above and beyond plain text boxes.
- URL: It’s Snowy Owl
- Features: A visually appealing tool where users click on cards to generate and reset game ideas, providing a “nice, readable version” of the game concept.
- Benefits: The interactive card-flip mechanism makes idea generation fun and engaging.
- Best For: Individuals seeking a user-friendly, visually interactive tool for game idea brainstorming.
2. BAFTA YGD Game Idea Generator
The BAFTA YGD generator makes idea generation into a fun game with its slot machine interface that’s as entertaining as it is useful. For hosting a competition or game jam where a game generator is required to give you your prompt, this generator would be picture perfect for a fun event needing a dramatic reveal. Its a visually pleasing an fun way to explore new ideas.
- URL: BAFTA YGD
- Overview: A fun, game-styled slot machine that generates game ideas, adding an element of entertainment to the brainstorming process.
- Best For: Young developers and students looking for an engaging way to discover new game concepts.
3. MindScribe Game Idea Generator
MindScribe brings an ad free, clean approach to overcoming the dreaded writer’s block. With its focus on generating game ideas, themes, worlds, and genres, it can be a creative lifeline for developers and creators in need of a starting place. We made this tool to help offer something to game jammers that is clean and reliable to give them an easy head start and we hope you like it! For users looking for more complicated AI idea generation, we would encourage you to try out the MindScribe product itself which is packed with all kinds of features including generating relevant ideas mid conversation and a collaborative brainstorming partner and much more.
- URL: MindScribe
- Overview: A tool designed to demolish writer’s block, offering random game ideas, themes, worlds, and genres suitable for game jams and board games.
- Benefits: Provides endless inspiration for developers at any stage of the creative process.
- Best For: Game creators in need of a broad spectrum of ideas, from themes to worlds, to overcome creative hurdles.
4. Let’s Make a Game: Game Idea Generator
Let’s Make a Game’s a generator claims on delivering over a million unique idea combinations! It’s like having a brainstorming buddy who never runs out of suggestions, offering a refreshing take on genre, rules, setting, and theme. Ideal for when you’re feeling stuck or just want to challenge your design skills with something new.
- URL: Let’s Make a Game
- Features: Offers over a million unique combinations of genre, rule, setting, and theme. Ideal for video and possibly board games, it serves as a creative prompt for new game ideas.
- Benefits: The vast array of combinations ensures a high chance of generating a truly unique game concept.
- Best For: Game developers looking for unique game mechanics or themes for game jams.
5. OccaSoftware Game Idea Generator
OccaSoftware’s Game Idea Generator is what happens when a developer channels their game jam frustration into something amazing. Simple yet powerful and it provides an endless supply of ideas. Occa claims that this generator has +10.000.000.000 (billion) possible idea combinations so if you are going for sheer randomness and originality, this may be your best bet.
- URL: OccaSoftware
- Features: A random idea generator born out of a game jam experience, offering hundreds of game objectives, mechanics, and environments across five unique categories.
- Benefits: Allows for the randomization of one category at a time, providing flexibility in idea generation.
- Best For: Developers seeking to push the limits of creativity with a mix of genre, setting, primary mechanic, goal, and unusual mechanic.
Each tool brings something unique to the table and we encourage you to give them all a try out for yourselves! From the extensive possibilities of OccaSoftware’s to the amazing user experience of of Snowy Owl’s generator. We hope these serve you well in your next game jam or project!