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Sometimes you start game development with a single mechanic and see where that takes you. Like "what if you could control gravity" and that might lead to VVVVVV or others. Or it might crash and burn. The advice is to encourage developers to flesh out ideas and vet them rigorously before starting development.

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Sometimes it's complete serendipity. The Rocket League creators were originally making a deathmatch-with-cars mod for Unreal Tournament. Then someone dropped a giant ball into the map, and they realised 'car soccer' was a much stronger concept.

The problem is that you can't, really - not if you're making something original. You have to actually prototype and try the ideas, and the experimentations continue throughout development.

You can only really create a complete "fleshed out" design upfront if you're walking a very well trodden path.

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