Twisting familiar mechanics

As a game developer, your goal will always be to create new interesting games, but as we can learn from other game developers' success stories, a successful game is always a mix of novelty and familiarity. If you think about most of the games available today, you can clearly see how each of them is an iteration of an older game or well know mechanics. Very few games are completely new and with never-seen-before core mechanics.

In fact, your role as a game designer is not to invent a completely new set of mechanics every time, but to pick a set that works well with the game you're making. Using existing mechanics, refining well-known concepts, and falling back on clichéd settings is totally fine (if you think about it, many multimillion dollars franchises do exactly that). Just make sure that you have a very clear goal of what you want to achieve and how the mechanics you picked are helping you deliver on your vision.

Don't be afraid, there will be plenty of space for innovation and creativity even working on proven mechanics. More importantly, there will be plenty of occasions to work on truly innovative games in your career. Just keep in mind that, as a professional game designer, your goal is to design compelling game experiences and not to do something new and different at all costs.

It must be clear at this point that everything that goes into the game concept will have a direct impact on how the game is going to be designed. This is why it is so important that it is defined as a first stage and must be kept in mind for the whole development process.

It must act as the ultimate reference, a guide to keep the vision clear and the project on track during the difficult and exciting times ahead when the proper development begins.