Uniqueness/originality is the wrong target.
If this is your worry, you will never ship (your idea, product, service, charity, game) because your product isn’t “unique” enough.
Why are you going for uniqueness anyway?
Is it for clout?
Is it because some authority (speaker, book, person, etc) said so?
Is it because you worry users who probably never touch your product, or interact with your idea will reject it because it isn’t unique enough?
Why does uniqueness matter anyway?
If you worry that your idea is not unique enough (whatever that term means to you) then you will waste more time trying to make it unique, make it just right – then you ever do from a volume of ideating, building, testing with users.
What happens if your product is considered unique, but someone (a VC, or someone with the purse strings) says “We’ve seen this idea before?” Then what?
What if it’s the next person? Or the next?
Do you scrap it because it wasn’t “unique” enough?
Other thoughts on uniqueness / originality:
– Uniqueness to you won’t be unique to somebody else
– You won’t know what someone else tried, failed at, sits on a computer screen, on a piece of paper somewhere, or is just an idea in someones head.
– Paradox: As as soon as you make it public it is no longer “unique”.
– Paradox: If you publish 2 copies of the product, the second is not “unique”.
Get a piece of paper, pen and really dig into the why — why is uniqueness so important to you?
For me, customers/users/beneficiaries don’t care about uniqueness.
Customers care only about whether it solves their problem (emotional, functional, vanity, branding, exclusivity, etc, etc) plus other factors that you can only find out by talking to them, testing your idea with them, and refining your idea, product.
Try moving from a “it must be unique/perfect” mindset to a “what can I learn, faster about my game” mindset.
– Of course this is easier said than done.
– It’s not easy.
– Nobody likes people rejecting their game, product, service ideas
– It’s uncomfortable
I include myself in this — there’s plenty of things I’m not doing that I should be, and I also spend too much time trying to get “things right” than trying to go for volume, experimentation and learning cycles.
My point — if you can, try to aim for volume of ideating, producing, testing, learning from users. You will more from rapid iterations, from producing from volume that you ever will from trying to make it unique, make it original.
For me, uniqueness is a marketing gimmick.
Try going for volume, reps => ship more, learn more from your games and users/players/customers.
“Yeah, but I can’t afford to do that!” Ok, if cost is the issue – then focus on 1 question – what the cheapest, fastest way you can get some feedback on your idea — then work out what you do about it.
In summary: Go for volume. Ship more. Test more. Iterate more. Learn more