Using the VNA Ideation Game at Global Game Jam

An experimental study conducted at the Global Game Jam in Tampere in 2010 and 2011 examines whether the choice of ideation method meaningfully affects the quality of game ideas produced during a time-pressured jam. Comparing the Verbs, Nouns, and Adjectives (VNA) card game against a theme-tuned "Extinction" variant, a method called "Keita's Way," and an unstructured "Au Natural" control, the research draws on 188 recorded ideas from 42 participants. Its central thesis is that ideation methods themselves shape outcomes, and that structured tools can be tailored to a specific design constraint, such as a jam theme, to improve results.

The headline finding is that the theme-tuned "Extinction" VNA variant performed best overall, producing ideas that were both theme-related and rated as interesting, with every one of its ideas judged interesting by at least one rater. Standard VNA generated the largest volume of ideas, 100 of the 188 recorded, though its output was less consistently tied to the theme. Among the 11 finalized games, only 8 could be traced back to recorded ideas, a limitation that complicates the link between ideation and final product.

The evidence carries important caveats. Rater agreement on overall idea quality was low, with no idea receiving more than three votes from seven researchers, while theme-relatedness showed stronger consensus, with 26 ideas rated theme-related by all raters. Conditions were uncontrolled and recording was not standardized, so the authors present their results as hypotheses. They conclude that a vague, Takahashi-inspired approach performed poorly, that unstructured natural ideation under time pressure outperformed it, and that a tailored, fast-paced ideation tool may generate ideas more quickly and in greater proportion of interesting, purpose-suited concepts, pending confirmation with larger samples.