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[Cassyblanca]

Cassyblanca

[Design Discussion Part 1] Concept Document

Time for a series of design-related discussions. Please keep in mind that these are intended to be MATURE DISCUSSIONS related to DESIGN of Video Games. NOT kid-ish whining about what others use, and NOT a place to ask for help, but a place to DISCUSS Design Theory and issues related to them.

Part I: Concept Document
In the first part of the Design Discussion series, we're going to be discussing the Concept Document. The Concept Document is similar to the design document in the sense that it gives some details about how the game runs, but it isn't nearly as detailed and is intended to sell the idea to publishers in order to get the green light on development, or to get funding for a project. The Concept Document contains information such as the initial summary of the back-story, unique selling points of the game (why the publishers should WANT your team to make this game for them to sell), and the general concepts behind the gameplay, genre, etc.

As an example, I've attached a Word document (Office 2007 format. If you want another format, let me know) version of the Concept Document for my current project, Plix!, which was due as a college assignment.

There's such a double standard about religion in the modern world. Catholics can gather, wear white robes, and say "In nomine Patris, et Filii, et Spiritus Sancti" and be considered normal.

But if my friends and I gather, wear black robes, and say  "Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn", we're considered cultists.

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[nitz]

nitz

Re: [Design Discussion Part 1] Concept Document

Interesting that you call it a 'Concept Document'; We refer to the docs in two major parts: the Design Doc (Publishing & Production), and Technical Doc. Though you seem to be covering the same basic info.

http://thegroupofthey.com/

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[Cassyblanca]

Cassyblanca

Re: [Design Discussion Part 1] Concept Document

The Concept Document is more or less the what comes before the main work on producing the Design Document and Technical Document, nitz. This is what's introduced to publishers to gain funding for the project. You wouldn't go through and create an entire Design Document or Technical Document before you go to the publishers. More or less, it's the beginnings of a Design Document, without getting to the point where it can be classified as a full-out design document.

There's such a double standard about religion in the modern world. Catholics can gather, wear white robes, and say "In nomine Patris, et Filii, et Spiritus Sancti" and be considered normal.

But if my friends and I gather, wear black robes, and say  "Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn", we're considered cultists.

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[nitz]

nitz

Re: [Design Discussion Part 1] Concept Document

Oh, so that's what we called uh. What was it... Ah, the name escapes me for the time being. Regardless, that's what basically ends up being the intro to the design document. Also: The more fleshed out an idea is, the more likely you're going to get a green light. If you've got a design doc drafted up, or even a tech doc and you pitch that? You're looking at a better shot.

http://thegroupofthey.com/

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[Cassyblanca]

Cassyblanca

Re: [Design Discussion Part 1] Concept Document

I'm not saying not to have some of your design and technical documents done, I'm saying that it's best not to have a large amount done. What happens when the publishers get their dirty hands in there and decide to require you to change things? Or worse yet, you put a lot of time and hard work into a design and technical document for a project, only to have it turned down? That's the primary reason for doing something such as the Concept Document

-Edit-
On another note, perhaps I should've chosen a different subject for the first part of this. Nitz and I seem to be the only ones participating at all ._.

There's such a double standard about religion in the modern world. Catholics can gather, wear white robes, and say "In nomine Patris, et Filii, et Spiritus Sancti" and be considered normal.

But if my friends and I gather, wear black robes, and say  "Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn", we're considered cultists.

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[nitz]

nitz

Re: [Design Discussion Part 1] Concept Document

That, is called life. Haha. How often do you hear about projects in the works for years, only to hear about the funds being pulled after months and months of development? Or giant revamps in what the game was? Happens

http://thegroupofthey.com/

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[AoDC]

AoDC

Re: [Design Discussion Part 1] Concept Document

Looks way too basic. Expand further.

And a lot of what you said is debatable and way too hopeful. Realistic goals are better.

while still leaving the future option open for expanding and creating ports for Linux or Mac-based computers to play the game.

*Mind explodes* I'm guessing you're doing XNA. Good luck with ports.

The main target, however, is XBOX Live Arcade

Way too hopeful.

while the reason for the PC support is that Windows is the most widely-supported operating system

People will still have to bother with runtime garbage anyway.

Realistic goals with a deep description are more effective than a bunch of brief out of this world's.

And sorry for sounding like an !@#$%.

the a o d c

[Cassyblanca]

Cassyblanca

Re: [Design Discussion Part 1] Concept Document

Somebody woke up on the wrong side of the nest this morning.

Those aren't really the parts I'm using for the concept document of the actual version of Plix!, a couple parts in there exist solely for the purpose of making it "sellable to publishers." Think "role-playing" that I'm some third-party development team trying to sell the idea to a large publisher; Expanding things to other platforms and names like "XBOX Live" make publishers cream themselves and make it a little easier to sell a game idea.

On top of that, for the real thing, I am planning on using an arbitrary library, and the only thing that will be necessary for porting will be changes in what the graphics engine uses. The Windows version is going to be using Managed DirectX, the XBOX 360 version will be XNA (the only real problem I have with that is having to send all of my audio through XACT for the XBOX version), while I can use Mono & OpenGL for the Linux and Mac versions, all while changing nothing about the Game Engine's code.

There's such a double standard about religion in the modern world. Catholics can gather, wear white robes, and say "In nomine Patris, et Filii, et Spiritus Sancti" and be considered normal.

But if my friends and I gather, wear black robes, and say  "Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn", we're considered cultists.

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[nitz]

nitz

Re: [Design Discussion Part 1] Concept Document

Then what are you planning for audio in the Win/Mac/*nix versions?

http://thegroupofthey.com/

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[Cassyblanca]

Cassyblanca

Re: [Design Discussion Part 1] Concept Document

For those, I'm planning on using OpenAL, possibly through the TAO Framework. Look, since the topic of this isn't drawing much discussion, and it's suddenly become about "Plix!", I'm just gonna lock it.

There's such a double standard about religion in the modern world. Catholics can gather, wear white robes, and say "In nomine Patris, et Filii, et Spiritus Sancti" and be considered normal.

But if my friends and I gather, wear black robes, and say  "Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn", we're considered cultists.

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