Big Game Project!
New Year, New Course, New ProjectThe last thing I posted on this blog was a project we made during our first year, in the program, which was way back in 2015. And now, almost two years later, I’m back at it again with the Big Game Project (BGP). During this course we have eight weeks to take a game all the way from idea to reality. The game will also have has the possibility to be featured on the Gotland Game Conference 2017 (GGC) show floor, if all goes well. So what game am I making? The SummoningThe world as you know it has been ruled by a demon overlord for decades. A demon who commands his troops of henchmen from the safety of his desolate realm. The last remaining human resistance is falling apart, and the few remaining villages are submitting to slavery. But a chosen few experienced soldiers have come together to make a final assault. Those brave soldiers have to make their way in to the heavily protected base of operations located in an ancient burial ground. The base, in which all the evil in the world is originated. The base, in which the gate between realms is located. The base, in which they will have to summon the demon overlord, against his will and slay him, once and for all. The Summoning is a top-down perspective 3D game that will pitch players against each other in an environment of asymmetrical gameplay. The game combines some of the mechanics of a real time strategy game and an action adventure. It is set in a fictional world inspired by the Asian Japanese mythology and religion. In The Summoning you either take on the role as one of the chosen few human soldiers, whose mission is overthrow the ruling demon overlord who’s been tormenting the world. Or you take on the role as that very demon, as you try to prevent the humans from succeeding with their mission. The Team and IWe are a group of six people working on the game: Three programmers and three graphical artists, including me. We all have different roles and responsibilities within the group so that everyone can have an extensive involvement in the creation of the game. The game concept is originally mine, naturally making me the original designer of the game. However, the role of lead game designer was given, by me, to another one in my group as I wanted to be the producer of the game. Any design choice I would want to make as a producer would therefore have to be approved by the lead designer first. The Game Design Document (GDD)I know this might sound contradictory, but I was the one responsible for writing the design document. This responsibility would usually fall upon the lead designer, but since I’m the original designer I felt like I had to be the one to communicate the idea. The game idea I had was pretty complex, so the design document was really important. So I set out to do some research to help me understand how to make “The Perfect GDD”. Apparently, there are no standards for what a GDD should be and include. Some definitions contradict each other, some resemble super detailed schematics and some even take after concept documents. What I had to do was to find the components I like, and make my own structure. For the content of the GDD I found a really useful article on Gamasutra (http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/131632/creating_a_great_design_document.php ). The article focuses on how to make your GDD readable, interesting and how to maximize the usability of it. Some of the key points I used for my GDD are:
The GDD ended up with around 30 pages, with plenty of pictures and mock-ups. As instructed in the Gamasutra article I printed the GDD to make it more accessible. The results were most definitely satisfying. Having a printed and easily readable GDD next to you at all times made people naturally use it more often. Sticky notes were inserted to find chapters quickly and highlight markers were used to highlight important points.  |