Affordances of brainstorming toolkits and their use in game jams

Brainstorming is an important part of creative design, related to exploring the associativity of different ideas and the combination of their parts. Previous work has investigated social interactions, productivity, techniques, and quality of brainstorming activities. The paper contributes to this body of work by studying the design affordances of brainstorming toolkits, and the relationship between idea associations and brainstorming. We examined 21 brainstorming toolkits designed for creative brainstorming within the context of game design, which led us to four tiers of design affordances that specify the supportive qualities of toolkits for brainstorming. To gain further insights into the use of tools, we surveyed game jams participants about their brainstorming activities and the use of tools at Global Game Jam 2017. We found a large number of participants using traditional stationery to aid brainstorming and a common usage of mind mapping and rearranging post-it notes. These findings inform our discussion of how idea creation is leveraged by a hybrid use of traditional and digital tools.