How To Start Worldbuilding

Summary

The video introduces worldbuilding as a process that should begin with a clear core concept and a set of goals. A concept is the basic idea that defines a world and guides the choices made while developing it.

Concepts can be broad or specific. Broad ideas allow more creative freedom but can make it difficult to know where to start. Specific ideas provide direction but impose more constraints. One way to make a broad concept easier to develop is to combine several general ideas. The narrator demonstrates this with a romance, an off-world human colony, cool swords, speculative evolution, and a natural disaster. Together, these suggest a more focused setting and story.

The narrator then sets out the goals for the world that will be built throughout the series:

• Recognizably Earth-like: Familiar, human-like beings and environments can help audiences relate to characters and their stories.
• Fantasy-based: The world will include improbable or impossible elements, such as magic and fantasy creatures.
• Inspired by mythology: It will draw on familiar mythological creatures as well as less widely known folklore, including Australian folklore.
• Grounded in science where possible: Planet formation, biology, and societies should follow real-world scientific principles when practical, deviating from reality when useful or appropriate for the fiction.
• Home to multiple intelligent species: These species will be developed beyond their biology, including their social and technological evolution.

The central lesson is to decide what kind of world you want to create before developing its details. Combining several concepts and defining goals gives the worldbuilding process a clearer direction. The next episode will begin developing fundamental rules for the universe.

Method for Getting Started

1. Choose a core concept: Identify the basic idea that defines the world.
2. Decide how broad or specific it should be: Broad concepts offer flexibility; specific ones give stronger direction.
3. Combine ideas if the concept is too broad: Look for ways they might connect and imply a setting, conflict, or story.
4. Set goals for the world: Decide which qualities matter most, such as genre, realism, mythology, or the kinds of societies and species it contains.
5. Use those goals to guide later choices: Treat them as the foundation for subsequent worldbuilding.

Speakers and Sources

• Speaker: Matthew, the narrator and host of the video.
• Examples referenced: Star Wars, Halo, The Lord of the Rings (Legolas and Shelob), and the video game Middle-earth: Shadow of War. These are examples, not additional speakers.