New Project: Top-Down Drifter

I want to get more involved on this site since and posting my thoughts on game design, maybe sharing some of what I've learned and leaving a bit of a log of the projects I've worked on. I've focused only on iOS projects up to this point but I may develop for PC in the future.

A little about myself. I work full-time as a pilot and have a family but I enjoy game design and love making games. There's something about the fact that you can start with nothing and create a hugely engaging experience from nothing just by typing and clicking for a few hours. There is a mix of art and analytic technical skill that go into created a good game and I find it very rewarding. I'm involved in game development because I love having a hobby that is intellectually challenging and after a bit of time and effort I end up with a product that I'm proud of.

Because I'm not financially motivated, I get to make games that I want to play. So for this game, I drew inspiration for the "Coffee Breaks" in Gran Turismo 3. I have vague memories of navigating through cones in a giant parking lot and I also really loved the rally courses in that game where you drove on dirt and mud. I remember not being able to keep the car from spinning out around the hairpin turns at first but after enough practice I could control the car like it was a part of myself. I want to miniaturize that feeling of that one game and allow the player to experience it in short bursts on their phone. 

I think there are several reasons people may play games. I think some are more...valuable than others. So a game that gives you the dopamine rush  of telling you that you succeeded even though you did nothing challenging is not something I want to make, although there are a lot of games out there that people love for that reason.

Some other reasons you might play games:
- Flow - experience an escape from reality/kill time - infinite runners and racing games can give you this sense of out-of-body experience
- Sim - experience a complex or difficult-to-reproduce situation
- Role-play - feel like a hero, feel the emotions of a story
- Learn - I'd be interested to play a game that was extremely engaging but I didn't feel like my time was purely spent on entertainment
- Reward - feel accomplished by solving a puzzle or mystery

I'm just rambling here. What are your thoughts?