What games inspire you?

What games inspire you to make your own?

I have many myself, but primarily Ratchet and Clank. Nintendo is another big inspiration, especially Mario Galaxy and Donkey Kong Country Returns.

What games inspire me:

Super Meat Boy

Braid

FEZ

These games show that it is possible to achieve whatever you want, as long as you work for it really hard.

Best inspiration i got so far, was watching Indie Game: The Movie

Team Meat & More talk about, whats it like to be indie, what problems you are facing and struggling with.

I really can recommend it.

Also the Special Edition DLC (On Steam),

where you see what happened after the release of the games,

that were presented in the Movie.

So basically the persons behind the game,

inspired me, not the games itself.

Hopefully more people see it that way ;)

I saw that documentary too, and enjoyed it. Didn't the FEZ developer leave gaming?

for me its the classic RPGs, like the tales of series and suikoden series

There are plenty of games that inspired me, Double Dragon, Contra, Golden Axe, Shinobi,....but the one that really changed my perception, Final Fantasy 7. This was the game that made me go "Wow, how do you actually make a game like that?"

And what about the good old Tetris - simple and fascinating

JUst played Onslaught Arena and Treasure Arena...really addictive and inspiring!

Indie Game: The Movie was very interesting and inspiring indeed. Also I would say games like

Castlevania 3 (Basically only you and your whip, memorable and hard bosses, challenging in general, would say it is a platformer strategy game) Doom (simple action, but not too simple)

Contra (challenging 2d tactical action made well)

original X-Com (good balance of stragedy and management, would say Xenonauts took maybe a bit too much away of the management side)

Mario games (basically source of almost all platformer mechanics ideas)

Diablo 1 and 2 (Story and atmosphere. Also character building at least as important as loot)

Dark Souls (No hand helding or even shoulder to cry on. Challenges seem impossible at first. Also interesting story telling)

Unreal (I think it is a

adventure FPS in interesting world. Also the AI was quite unreal at the time)

Startropics (Game keeps you constantly on your toes by introducing new things and traps)

Tales of Phantasia (Something new to old JRPG battle system. Also good music)

Morrowind (First openworld rpg I have played. It was just the thing what I was hoping when it came out)

Rune (very long adventure with good combat)

Severance - Blade of Darkness (More in-depth combat)

Minecraft (Specially the technic pack part would make exellent game. Loads of clones and I don't know anyone to realize this. It was lots of fun to build and design automated harvester/planting machine)

Hexen (Someday I will make that Hexen, Quake, Diablo, Chivalry action RPG with multiplayer and dungeon editors )

Chivalry (Above)

Dust: An Elysian Tail (Nice to look, I would really like this If there would be less fur and enemy juggling. Only one man (:\P )

Insanity's Blade and Dethlands (I also would like to try this type of gameplay again)

Are we supposed to answer the games that inspire us as gamers or as developers?

As a gamer, I'd have to say:

Fallout 1&2 (branching dialogue and moral consequences. My first truly mature game.)

Minecraft (soooo much freedom! Bought back the joys of my childhood playing with legos)

As a developer:

Dwarf Fortress (embrace complexity/a full indie lifestyle is possible)

Ultima Online (MMOs can be very deep)

Continuum (made me think a lot about netcode)

But lately:

FTL (management overload)

Factorio (automate everything!)

It's funny cause no games inspire me anymore. What inspires me are the ideas I have and the picture of how people will feel experiencing it.

Old political strategy or simulation games.

Hidden Agenda and Conflict in the Middle East Politcal Simulator.

Goldeneye 007, Resident Evil 4, Metroid Prime, Hotline Miami, Orcs Must Die 2!, Counter-Strike: GO, LOZ: Wind Waker to name a few...

It's funny cause no games inspire me anymore. What inspires me are the ideas I have and the picture of how people will feel experiencing it.

That's how I've been feeling lately. The games that inspired me to enter game development are huge AAA productions that will take years to accumulate the skills, resources, and teams to build games that are like my favorite games. Starting small is the most important rule in any creative field, especially game development. As far as small games go, the great smaller indie games are nothing like the the games I'd make so I have to find inspiration elsewhere.

As a gamer and developer, i think the following are worth to mention: The Neverhood, Blocks That Matter, Tetrobot and Co, Fez, Knytt Underground and Limbo.

I concur that Indie Game: The movie was definitely super inspiring.

I get inspired by a lot of old games that I grew up with - Tron, Legend of Zelda I, (Colossal Cave) Adventure, Ms.Pacman, Shadowgate, River raid, Mike Tyson's punch out, etc

But lately I've been finding a lot of inspiration throughout the indie community. Ludum Dare games are incredible (more than 1500 games suddenly pop up over a weekend - whaaa?).

More recent games that got my wheels of inspiration turning are Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet, Knitt Underground, Little Inferno, McPixel, Super Hexagon, Swords & Sorcery, Guacamelee!, Brutal Legend, Capsized.

There's a lot of great stuff - plenty of inspiration, but only so much time!!