Discussion What inspires you?


This was something I originally thought of putting in the "How much time do you spend on.." thread, but then it mutated in my head and became something more deserving of it's own thread.

The question is simple. What inspires you? It can be anything from what inspires you to make games, do art, or anything of that sort, and the inspiration doesn't have to be just Pokemon inspirations. It can be a book, a certain moment in life, a movie, or another artist or person in your life.

I'm still working on my response to this question, because oh dear, where do I begin?


Have they found the One Piece yet
Whenever I need inspiration I just boot up Skyrim and run around the overworld for a while until I find something interesting. "Interesting" could be anything from an unusual piece of terrain geometry to an object like a chair or other set piece used in a peculiar manner.

In theory, anyway, I don't do this nearly as often as I probably should. Or with as many different types of games as I probably should. Regardless, whenever I play Skyrim these days I usually can't do it for long before I start to want to make games again.


Someone who does something.
This is a pretty rare occasion because I'm actually going to talk about myself and motivation/inspiration in a positive manner for once.

As much as I'd hoped to be original, @Dragonite kinda beat me to it. A lot of inspiration for me has come from games like Skyrim and Fallout. Most of the time it's just level and character design concepts, but there was that one time I pretty much ripped off the whole story of Fallout 4. I spend a lot of time in those games, and there's a lot in them that I think could work really well in a fan-game.

There are some other, more surprising places in which I find inspiration for things. Such as the TV show Fraiser. I like the way the show more some more serious storylines, yet was still able to keep it interlaced with humor. That's the type of stories that I've been aiming to make a lot more recently - sometimes sad and depressing with a happy or at least good ending, yet still lighthearted and fun.

Another place I find inspiration and try to emulate (thought pretty much always failing) are some of the older writers of history, such as Shakespeare and T.S. Eliot and Hemginway. They're all great writers who were able to pack such meaning and emotion and profoundness into their work. I try hard to do that, but sometimes it just doesn't come off all that well.

That's pretty much it.
Adding to the "playing other games for inspiration", I think a fun way to look for inspiration is to play games that are very unlike Pokemon games. You might discover something completely out of the box that you haven't been looking for! (I've actually got a sidequest in mind inspired by, of all things, the Webkinz Wish Factory)

Another form of media I think can offer great creative ideas is podcasts. I've noted that, since the rise of Welcome to Night Vale (starting about 2012), there started to be a lot more fictional podcasts with "weird" premises. (Night Vale showed that even the weirdest stories could take off, and that it didn't take many resources to start a podcast) And podcasts, as an audio-only format, often find unique ways to tell their stories as well. I've heard stories told as a doctor's notes in a tape recorder, messages left on someone's answering machine, someone talking into a CB radio, relaxation cassettes with hidden messages inside, and on and on. It's a fun way to see how strange ideas can work!

I think the general history of podcasts is a bit similar to Pokemon fangames, in a way-with Essentials making it easier to create a fangame, the community interested in fangames grew, and there came to be new and unique narrative frames inside of these games. (Bonfire Stories, B&G, etc.)
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Starving Bittersweet Artist
Phew, inspirations. Don't even get me started. Like Sparta I'll try to stay positive, because it mainly involves how I grew up. :blush:

When I first started drawing (keep in mind I was nine) I... believe I started off with tracing. In particular, Sonic characters. I think it was back when Sonic DX was a thing, but I'm not 100% sure. It's a weird thing to say these days that you're into Sonic, maybe because the game series has been given very little justice over the years, but I still have a sporadic interest in Sonic. Then, there was Final Fantasy 8. It was a unique FF game that I had never played, but seen through the eyes of my brother. FFVIII not only got me into Final Fantasy games in general (I've still never directly played one, though...), but strangely enough, got me into Mythology. I didn't study it as intensely as my brother, but I was always interested in the crazy stories about what sort of trouble Gods and Deities were up to. ...Oh, by the way, don't eat really good fruit, you might get pregnant.

Anyway, that leads me to Digital Devil Saga. LOTS OF MYTHOLOGY IN THAT GAME. I was way past tracing at this point, but I'll admit... I was WAAAY too young to be playing a SMT game. (At least 14 for a M-Rated game.) Sure there was Mario and Zelda, that had already been integrated into my life, but Digital Devil Saga was in a league of its own, cementing my love for SMT, as well. I was going through a sucky period of my life at the time though, suffering through years of bulling and taunting for my hair, my oily skin, and whatever else dumb kids can think of. Digital Devil Saga awakened in me my dark sense of humor, although I wasn't aware of it at the time and wouldn't be until about 10th or 11th grade, so you can only imagine what sort of weird things I was drawing at the time. I suppose you can say I went through my "drawing edgy" phase, and way before puberty! Where I also got "edgy" for a while. ...Phew, I went through a tortuous journey.

I think after that I got into Tales, but it could have been a couple of years beforehand. It all started with Tales of Symphonia, and it just sounded odd to me at first, this weird RPG. That, and back then I didn't think the graphics were all that appealing, so it was just some strange thing where I thought it was way too obscure to like. ...I very quickly changed my mind, let's just say. Somewhere between Tales of the Abyss and Vesperia, I think I got to play Okage: Shadow King and Psychonauts, although I do have memories of maybe playing Okage beforehand. ...We have an odd history with our games, and my memories are a bit clouded from beyond 12th grade, mainly because bullying and depression. I think that's also when we picked up Persona 3, although it took me a bit to realize it was an SMT game, because it was so different. ...I was influenced by a lot of dark games, eh? Okage and Psychonauts was different though, and I think that's when I realized the type of humor I liked. Speaking of which, I wasn't just inspired by games! There was also Youtubers and shows. I started off with PewDiePie, but moved on to people like The Cinema Snob, CaptainSparkles, Cryaotic, and many more that I stumbled onto over the years. The first animated series that really got my blood pumping was Avatar: The Last Airbender. Man, that show... I wish I can buy the soundtrack, or something. Then there was Gravity Falls. Great show that took an unexpected turn in my mind. Then Regular Show, which came to me at the exact time, and I found myself relating to a lot of the problems the characters had, especially in the later seasons.

There's way too much Anime for me to even mention here, I do a lot of binge watching, but I think the first Anime that really spoke to me on a "weird but enchanting" wavelength was Mononoke. NO, not the movie; the animated series. Trust me, it's weird. Not hard to follow, just... weird. There was Fullmetal Alchemist, which took me a while to really try and gather the courage to watch (just thought it would be too confusing), Hunter X Hunter, which was something completely unexpected to what I was thinking, Free!, my first gay Sports Anime, Soul Eater, Tiger and Bunny, Shaman King-- and way too many others to mention, like I said. I then watched Power Rangers several years ago, eventually catching all the way up to Dino Charge. ...Not Dino SuperCharge, though, I kinda dropped the show after that. Still love Power Rangers though, and I've been curious about the new movie and the new series Ninja Steel for the longest time. I've caught up to Ninja Steel, but it hasn't established too much yet. Around the same time as Power Rangers, I really got into Star Trek. I didn't expect I would like it so much; turns out I was dead wrong. Deep Space Nine especially cemented my love for Star Trek even further, because they were willing to essentially break Roddenberry's dream of what the Federation was vs. what it should be.

And, well. There's all the artists I encountered along the way, kind people, my family, etc. I mainly try to stick to things that motivate me to draw Q-nnections (KirkisaJerk, MyNameisMad, Tezuma Osaka), but I have many more in my back pocket. It's unfortunate that I never really made friends, but if I wasn't for my influences, I would be in a totally different place, and a different person. I thank my influences for keeping me relatively on track while I still go through varying difficulties in my lifetime. :party:


Insert internet reference here
I'll try to keep this one short, but inspiration can literally come from anywhere for me.
Usually I like to contemplate the work of my favorite creators. For me, when it comes to design, drawing and "traditional art", it's Frank Miller, Wes Anderson and Van Gogh or Caravaggio.
As when it comes to writing and stories, I look at Christopher Nolan, Gonzalo Iñarritu, Tolkien or George Martin. But mostly, if I need inspiration, I listen to music that makes me feel like a hero or hypes me up, usually soundtracks. Some artists I love to listen to is Hans Zimmer (my God, this man is a gift from the Heavens), John Williams (also amazing), Koji Kondo, David Wise and Woodkid (not a soundtrack composer, but this guy is amazing). The last one's album, Golden Age, is awesome. If you want to check him out I recommend listening to: Iron, I Love You and Golden Age.
That's basically it. Now I gotta go listen to Flight from Man of Steel! Bye!


A wild Minun appeared!
Whew I can't say I get inspired on a high level like the guys above me ... but I do it differently depending on what I'm trying to do...

for gameplay I normally have a small idea/base of the game and then think of what aspect is missing/could get more attention. Then I think for my self and go through lots of different games that do well in that aspect. Also feedback is great for ideas and finding weaknesses.

For Art I just google ... mostly Google pictures with some words on my mind ... sometimes also Wikipedia if I want to go symbolic. But then again I leave the art to other people that are a lot better than me at this whenever I can.

For story and music I'm helpless beyond saving ... gladly there are enough people here that do pretty well on these things.


Other creators(fangames, youtubers, artists i follow) inspire me a lot. Especially when the creator doesnt have a big audience but still pours a lot of passion into their work.

Fashion magazines have been a surprising source of inspiration when it comes to character design. They offer a lot of options to dress characters in a unique way. Its important that characters be distinct and memorable.

Photos of interesting places around the world help me think up ideas for places I want in the game. Places like the yuanyang rice terraces in China

Also quotes from good books or just interactions from real life inspire me sometimes. I usually follow a lot of accounts on tumblr/twitter that post that kinda stuff