For when you are truly stuck
The Idea Machine
Four slots, one silly sentence, and the smallest version of it you could actually finish. Spin until something makes you laugh, then lock the bits you like and spin the rest.
Switch a slot off if you would rather invent that bit yourself: the sentence leaves the gap and says whose job it is. The star slot has its own switch, Character or No character, because plenty of games have nobody to be: in Cookie Clicker you are not the cookie, in Whack-a-Mole you are not the mole, and Tetris and tower defence have no hero either. Flip it and the whole idea is phrased the other way round, around the things on screen and the mouse you click them with.
Ideas you kept
Saved to your account, so they are still here next lesson.
How to use this properly
Spin until you laugh
The one that makes you snort is the one you will still care about in three weeks. Boring but sensible ideas do not survive week two.
Lock, re-roll, switch off
Love the flamingos but not the maze? Lock the star and spin the rest. Got your own idea for the danger? Switch that slot off and the machine leaves it to you. That is you designing, not the machine.
Steal one word
You are allowed to throw the whole sentence away and keep a single word from it. "Magnetic" on its own has started plenty of good games.
Build the small version
The panel above tells you what version 1 looks like: one thing to steer, one way to win, one way to lose. Build that first, always.
The whole word list
Sometimes it's easier to read the lists and mix them yourself. Everything the machine can say is in here.