i think i've gotten better at it but i usually come up with or ask my friends for a word to base my idea off (that's what the brackets at the end of the idea are). then i try to think of how that thing could be used in a game, if i can't think of something i branch off from that word. this may be why sometimes the word doesn't match up with the idea, the word is really just the seed.
thank you! I love ascii art :)