Hello, everyone. The point of this thread is to practice your writing skills and to express whatever creative ideas you may have. More specifically, create a video game design document. Make it as detailed as possible, but not as huge as a normal document. PLEASE.
Be sure to specify the genre, title, purpose, age audience, a summary of the gameplay, physics, and plot, technological purpose, and even hype to some extent.
You are free to compare it to any other game if you wish to be explicitly understood. A three-point perspective (Timmy, Johnny, Spike, explained in the wiki following) is also recommended.
Make the intricacies of the game simple and fun. I can say from experience that, say, hacking all that can be hacked in Bioshock is fun. It makes you feel like you have ultimate power over Rapture's security. As a matter of fact, it pays off. Anyone who has seen a splicer been shot by a turret or caught by a security camera will most likely think it priceless.
Now I will speak about medieval/fantasy RPGS. Let us say that you are the captain of some army or control a few guards. Is it not interesting to send a couple of guards after a villager or go to war with other nations? But I am beginning to go off track...
Before you create a design document, think about these:
What can the game character do? Can he or she fly, swim, and teleport?
How many different enemies will the hero fight?
What kind(s) of weapons are available?
How does the player get rejuvenated?
Can more than one player play at once? If so, what are the ramifications of this?
Will the game's perspective be a side view, top view, or first-person and full 3-D view?
What kind of sound track? Rock, rap, techno?
What is the personality of the main character?
What kinds of abilities does the hero receive?
What is the purpose in the game?
How does it appeal to different players?
If you can, how can you interact with the environment-is it destructible? Is it usable?
What type of story do you wish to make? Do you want it to be an epic tale of saving the world, fulfilling your own wishes, or crushing the planet under your heels?
(Courtesy of
http://www.dummies.com/WileyCDA/Dumm...OGRAMMING.html)
Those questions should make you think about others, about the characters, rules, laws, and goals of your universe. You have all the power in making it as detailed as possible. The more detailed it is, the better a game is likely to be. Record all of these in the way a movie script is recorded. Correct any mistakes and make all the elements fit perfectly together. It is also recommended that a storyboard is drawn somewhere.
Do all the abilities fit in and make sense? This is a key part of designing game mechanics.
The purpose of this document is to have a game image vivid in your mind, making it simpler to create a more realistic world. This draws the players into the game.
Idea Sources
Other games: Don't copy another game, of course, but improving and taking a new perspective within the game is fine.
Movies and videos: Watch as many sci-fi movies as possible and see if you can come up with a game based on some of their ideas and content. Of course, you need to get permission from the filmmaker if you use any characters or story lines from those movies.
Real-life games: You can take a game such as hockey and make a computer version of it, or make a futuristic version of it.
Dreams and nightmares: This technique is a gold mine; in your mind, you can try anything out. Go to sleep thinking about games, demons, monsters, or whatever, and hopefully, you will have a killer dream that gives you an idea for a game.
(Most of the above is copied, directly or indirectly, from the aforementioned link, picking important points.)
Again, think about these:
Creativity-Be creative-this helps greatly with the document.
Genre-Create one in a genre you like.
A unique aspect-e.g. (Plasmids in Bioshock, a first-person shooter.)
Difficulty-Think about the type of game and the diffculty that fits it.
Fairness-Make it fair (For example, don't make it like the predjudiced police in GTA: San Andreas.)
Avoid frustration-Try to avoid things that are frustrating to the average gamer.
Here are several links where you can find what I am talking about
:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Game_design
http://www.gamedev.net/reference/des.../2cgamedesign/
http://www.gamasutra.com/view/featur...edback_to_.php
Thank you.
Yes, I copied and pasted. I feel guilty...or maybe not.
