A game is like a story or movie, or any other creative work: foremost, you need a vision; and then a way of communicating it effectively to an audience.
The design, mechanics, and marketing are just functional details - essential, of course, but pointless without that overarching vision.
Your vision should be powerful, purposeful, and exciting (to you). It's more than just an 'idea'; there should be feelings associated with it (urgency, mystery, thrills, whatever) and a sense of a consistent inner 'story'. It fuels the passion that drives you to solve a series of problems that lead to game creation.
A relevant short essay: "Drunk, and in Charge of a Bicycle" by Ray Bradbury. (And probably the rest of the essays in his book, "Zen in the Art of Writing"...)
A game is like a story or movie, or any other creative work: foremost, you need a vision; and then a way of communicating it effectively to an audience.
The design, mechanics, and marketing are just functional details - essential, of course, but pointless without that overarching vision.
Your vision should be powerful, purposeful, and exciting (to you). It's more than just an 'idea'; there should be feelings associated with it (urgency, mystery, thrills, whatever) and a sense of a consistent inner 'story'. It fuels the passion that drives you to solve a series of problems that lead to game creation.
A relevant short essay: "Drunk, and in Charge of a Bicycle" by Ray Bradbury. (And probably the rest of the essays in his book, "Zen in the Art of Writing"...)
(Note: I have a game in the iOS App Store)