videogame design and programming - 04 conceptualization

Prof. Pier Luca Lanzi

Conceptualization Videogame Design and Programming


Coming up with ideas is dif!cult

Coming up with excellent ideas is even more dif!cult

And coming up with ideas is just the beginning…

Game design is about generating layers and iterations of

ideas that help to re!ne and evolve your original concept


Creativity

•  Great ideas come from great input into your mind and senses

•  Not only playing games, but living a curious life, full of curiosity people, places, thoughts and events

•  Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi describes the stages of creativity as

§ Preparation – becoming immerse in a topic or domain of interest, a set of problematic issues

§  Incubations – when ideas “churn around”

§  Insight – the “aha!” moment, when the pieces of the puzzles, or an idea, fall together

§ Evaluation – when the person decides whether the insight is valuable and worth pursuing. Is it really original?

§ Elaboration – the longest part of the creativity process; it takes the most time and is the hardest (Edison, 99% perspiration 1% inspiration).

3


The creative process is less linear than recursive.

Sometimes incubation lasts for years, sometimes

it takes hours, sometimes it includes one deep insight

and innumerable small ones


“I want to make a game about studying Chinese!”


Ideas also come from analyzing existing games and activities

Develop your critical skills (not just think “cool!”)

Pay close attention to your emotional responses,

to your cycle of frustration, exhilaration, con!dence, etc.

Discuss games with friends, deconstruct games, etc.

Begin a game journal


Brainstorming

•  When there is no time to wait for that moment of inspiration to hit, you need a more formalized system of idea generation, like brainstorming

•  Powerful skill which requires practice – can be done alone or better in team

•  It is all about “asking the right question” (The Imagineers at Disney)

•  It is all about !nding the right balance between stimulation and structure

7


Brainstorming Best Practices

•  State of Challenge – !rst you need to articulate the challenge, for instance, design a game in which players build alliances and then betray them

•  No criticism – if alone, don’t self censor or edit your ides, Write them all down and worry about quality later. If in a team, don’t criticize or ignore your colleagues’ ideas during the process. It’s all about free thinking. Speak in terms of “yes, and …”

•  Vary the method

•  Put it on the wall

•  Go for lots of ideas

•  Don’t go too long

8


Brainstorming Alternate Methods

•  List Creation

•  Idea Cards

•  Mind Maps

•  Stream of Consciousness

•  Shout it out

•  Cut it up

•  Surrealist Games (Exquisite Corpse)

•  Research

9


Editing and Re!ning

•  It should be done on a different day than brainstorming, works on the same principles of brainstorming (e.g., don’t bash ideas)

•  Technical Feasibility

•  Market Opportunity

•  Artistic Considerations

•  Business/Cost/Time Restrictions

•  When re!ning, narrow down the list of ideas to three. Then schedule a second level brainstorming session

12


When your have a clear idea of the key features,

write your ideas up as a short one-page description


Guidelines for the Game Concept

•  The game-concept document expresses the core idea of the game

•  Brief and simple to encourage a "ow of ideas (one page).

•  The target audience is the people responsible for advancing the idea to the next step: a formal game proposal

•  Typically, all concepts are presented to the director of product development (or executive producer) before they get outside of the product development department

•  The director will determine whether or not the idea has merit and will either toss it or dedicate some resources to developing the game proposal.

14


Tim Ryan, The Anatomy of a Design Document, Part 1 http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/3384/the_anatomy_of_a_design_document_.php?page=1


Turning Ideas Into a Game

•  After the game-concept has been accepted, with a list of potential features, it is time to turn the concept into a game

•  Several designers take a shortcut, they begin with a set of existing mechanics, a genre of play

•  But what if the idea does not !t nicely in a prede!ned genre? For instance, it is not really an FPS. Should the idea be modi!ed to be force to !t a prede!ned game genre?

•  Try to experiment with your game mechanics to explore new directions

•  Try to develop a vision of the type of player experience you wish to create. The formal structure will follow from that vision. Perhaps, it will have elements of exiting games, but overall, it will feel entirely new.

16


Designers should not be distracted by the dramatic elements.

Story and characters are important

but they should not obscure the view of the gameplay

They should remain in the designer’s mind,

but secondary until you pin down the formal elements


Focus on the Formal Elements (the question you should ask to yourself)

• What is the con"ict in my game?

• What the rules and the procedures?

• What actions to the players take and when?

•  Are there turns? How do they work?

•  How many players can play?

•  How long does a game take to resolve?

• What is the working title?

• Who is the target audience?

• What platform will this game run on?

• What restrictions or opportunities does the environment have?

•  Are there any particular interaction modes?

18


To Draft Your Game Structure…

•  De!ne each player’s goal

• What does a player need to do to win

• Write down the most important type of player action in the game

•  Describe how this functions

• Write down the procedures and rules in outline format

•  Only focus on the most critical rules, leave all the other rules for later

•  Map out how a typical turn works. Using a "ow chart is the most effective way to visualize this

•  De!ne how many players can play

•  How do these players interact with one another

19


Exercise: Consider one game you like and

try to come out with new design features


Elements of the Game Concept

•  Introduction

•  Background (optional)

•  Description

•  Key features

•  Genre

•  Platform(s)

•  Concept art (optional)

•  Analysis of the market (mandatory)

21


Structure of the Game-Concept Document

•  Introduction

§ These words will sell the document to the reader.

§ One sentence to describe the game in an excited manner.

§  Include the title, genre, platform, and any other meaningful bits of information that cannot wait until the next sentence.

§ Should be brief, the longer it is, the more your vision will seem diluted

§ Example: "Man or Machine is a !rst-person shooter for the PC that uses the proven Quake II engine to thrust players into the role of an android space marine caught up in the epic saga of the interstellar techno-wars of the thirty-seventh century."

•  Description

§  In a few paragraphs or a page, describes the game to the readers as if they are the players. Use the second-person perspective -- "you."

§ Must avoid speci!cs (e.g., mouse-clicks), but must not be too vague.

22



•  Key Features

§ Bullet point list of items that will set this game apart from others

§ For instance, "Advanced Arti!cial Intelligence (AI): Man or Machine will recreate and advance the challenging and realistic AI that made Half-Life game of the year.“

§ Carefully determine the number of features to include (too few will sell the game short, too many will water down the strongest features)

•  Genre

§  In a few words, de!ne the type of game or "avor (puzzle, FPS, etc.)

§  In case, re!ne the genre with additional words (e.g., WWII FPS)

•  Platform

§  In a few words, list the target platform(s).

§  f you think the game concept is applicable to multiple platforms, you should also indicate which platform is preferred or initial.

§  If you intend multiplayer support on the Internet, indicate that as well.

23



•  Analysis of the Competitors

§ List at least 3-5 games that are your competitors

§ In one sentence tell why yours is special

24

very important!

game concept must be anonymous J

your concept must occupy one page at most.

name must be on the other side J so that we can scan the concepts leaving out the names

art should be included on extra sheets (using one side)


Your Homework

• Write down the game-concept document for the game you wish to propose to the class

•  The !rm deadline is October 18, 2012

•  The game-concept document must be delivered in class

•  Students can also prepare a short video to support their proposal (no face shown). The link to the video should be sent to [email protected] by October 18, 2013.

•  The game-concept document must be well-written and accurately proof read.

25

videogame design and programming - 04 conceptualization

Entertainment & Humor

pier luca lanzi9

great ideas

ideas churn

excellent ideas

list of ideas

iterations of ideas

colleagues ideas

existing games