A game should always have a unifying theme. Something that connects all the pieces together, that includes music and color as well as the actual details of the world. Pirates seem to be a dream of a lot of people. This dream was used to connect the elements that were put into a game that the author of “The Art of Game Design” took part in.
In order to have a game, one needs an idea. It is difficult to delve deeply into an idea without brainstorming. One way to brainstorm is to just sit and think about something and see where your mind ends up. Another, probably more likely to succeed way, is to write down your ideas. Perhaps start with a word and write the ones that come to mind based off of that word and then continue until you feel you have gotten enough ideas across that you can make what you want to make.
Amanda Potts 