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Game Design

Game Design. Concept Paper (One-pager) Executive Summary (Game Treatment) Design Document Technical Document Production Document Design Journal Post-mortem. Design Document. Description of entire project

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Game Design

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  1. Game Design • Concept Paper (One-pager) • Executive Summary (Game Treatment) • Design Document • Technical Document • Production Document • Design Journal • Post-mortem

  2. Design Document • Description of entire project • Acts as a script; it should be giving every other professional involved with the product a more than firm idea of what they need to know to implement their portion of the product. • Story, characters, features, user-interaction, look & feel, assets, etc. • Living document • Good design not only about ideas, but it's also about the implementation of those ideas.

  3. One-pagerfrom http://www.gamasutra.com/features/19991019/ryan_02.htm • Introduction • Background (optional) • Description • Key features • Genre • Platform(s) • Concept art (optional)

  4. Common Mistakes • The concept is totally off base or inapplicable to the company's current plans. • In terms of resources, the document asks for the moon. • The document lacks content. • The game isn't fun. • The game-concept document employs poor language and grammar.

  5. Design Questions(adapted from Tim Huntsman - Lead Designer for Acclaim‘s WWF Franchise) • What are current trends? • What do people want? • What tools/assets/technology do we have access to? • What has been done and how was it done? • How does the front-end flow? • What options or mods should we allow? • How is the pacing? • How difficult are the levels? • Cut scenes vs. run-time movies? • Replay value?

  6. Development Ladders Art Director Lead Artist Senior Artist Artist Junior Artist Audio Director Audio Lead Senior Sound Sound Eng./Comp. Junior S.E./Comp Chief Technology Officer Director of Technology Lead Programmer Senior Programmer Programmer Junior Programmer

  7. CEO VP of Production Executive Producer Producer Associate Producer Assistant Producer QATesting Design/Production Ladders Chief Creative Officer Creative Director Lead Game Designer Game Designer Level Designer/ World Builder

  8. Design Considerations • Cooperation, Conflict, Confusion • Formal Abstract Design Tools (Church ’99) • INTENTION • Making a plan in response to the current situation in the game world and one's understanding of the game play options. • PERCEIVED CONSEQUENCE • A clear reaction from the game world to the action of the player. • STORY • The narrative thread that binds events together and drives the player forward towards completion of the game.

  9. Design Dos(Adapted from Tzvi Freeman) • Describe the body AND soul • Make it readable • Prioritize • Go into details • Demonstrate • What AND how • Provide alternatives • Make it “living” • Info should be locatable • Make it look important

  10. Design Don'ts • Never overcomplicate a game if you can help it • Never make the same mistake twice • Never take control from the player if you can help it • Never forget the controller or I/O device you will be using to play the game • Never assume the player knows what you're thinking.

  11. Design Don'ts • Never break the established rules unless you TELL the player • Never assume technology can fix bad design. • Never assume the license is all you need • Never cheat the player • Never design morality.

  12. Design Document #1:Overview - recap and revision of the original concept paper • The User Experience • Genre, Type • Compelling aspects • The Platform • The Users • Time • Game-play time • Product life

  13. Design Document #1:Overview • Overview • Basic Concepts • Navigation Chart • Scenes and Action • List of Resources

  14. Design Document #1:Basic Concepts - feel for the game, why things are the way they are, and what the essential, indispensable elements are • Storyline • The background story • Storyline or object of the game play • Rules of the game • Heroes and Villains • biographical information and descriptions. • Novelties and Compelling Features • This is your chance to state the things you could not bear to see disappear from this project, and justify your emotional attachment to them. • Navigation Chart • (An illustration of how parts of the game link to each other.) • Entry and exitMain menu • Level movement • Access to preferences and credits • Global Behaviors • (Ensures that your game will have a consistent feel to it, avoids serious run-ins with the programmers.) • Run through all the standard elements of your project (sprites, buttons, life-bars, input devices, and so on) and describe their behaviors in every circumstance you can imagine. Your programmers will shower you with wreaths for this one. Later, you can go change things on them - as long as the objects remain consistent, and everything is justified. • Illustrate the motion of each animation, at least in stick form. For 2D scrollers, fighters, and the like, you'll want to describe things cel by cel. With other projects, rough sketches of general movements and their approximate duration in microseconds may be enough. • If you are relying on a specific input device, justify your button-mapping and button-combination decisions. • Scenes and Action • (In an adventure game, this will take up most of your document.) • Include preferences, credits, and main menu. • In subchapters, lay out consistent behaviors of local elements. • Very often, a storyboard (that is, a series of panels illustrating each scenario) is provided. In many projects, however, this is clumsy and impractical. • Lists of Resources • You'll have to go over this with a fine-tooth comb to make sure it's thorough. Leaving out even a few items, or failing to describe them clearly, could prove a major source of exasperation later on. • This section comprises detailed lists of animations, sounds, music, narration, sprites, backgrounds - everything that needs to be created besides code.

  15. Design Document #1:Navigation Chart - An illustration of how parts of the game link to each other. • Entry and exitMain menu • Level movement • Access to preferences and credits • Global Behaviors • Ensures that your game will have a consistent feel to it. • buttons, life-bars, input devices, etc. • animations, at least in stick form.

  16. Design Document #1:Scenes and Action - In an adventure game, this will take up most of your document. • preferences, credits, and main menu. • In subchapters, lay out consistent behaviors of local elements. • Optional Storyboard

  17. Design Document #1:List of Resources - should be thorough. Leaving out even a few items, or failing to describe them clearly, could prove a major source of exasperation later on. • This section comprises detailed lists of models, animations, sounds, music, narration, backgrounds, etc.

  18. Design Document #2 • Revised game concept doc • Market analysis • Technical analysis • Legal analysis • Cost and revenue projections • Art

  19. Design Document #3: FEATURE-ORIENTED • Goals are broken down into doable bits. 1 FEATURE HEADING 1.1 Contact 1.2 Goals 1.3 Implementation 1.4 Impact 1.5 to 1.8 Tasks & Questions for: • Designers, Programmers, Artists, Sound

  20. Design Document Resources • http://www.ihfsoft.com/designdocuments.htm • http://www.designersnotebook.com/Lectures/BGDNT.zip • http://www.gamasutra.com/

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