1. Game Design (spilldesign Våren 2018)#4
Game Design (spilldesign Våren 2018)

2. Recap The Game Designer High-Concept
Concept constraints and considerations

3. Concept Constraints and Considerations cont...

4. Concept type New concept Follow-up concept Add-on concept
Remake concept
”Single” idea
”Multiple” idea

5. New Concept
High risk
Hard to estimate
Costly
Creative

6. Follow-up Concept
Low risk
Manage expectations
Uninspiring

7. Add-on Concept
Prolong product life
Cheap(ish)
Low tech risk

8. Remake Concept
Risky from market perspective
Low design risk

9. ”Single idea” concept
Very high risk
Hard to estimate

10. ”Multiple idea” concept
Moderate risk
Hard to estimate
Costly

11. Platform Considerations
Display
Sound
Storage and memory
CPU & GPU Power
Controls & Interface
Network capabilities

12. Display Considerations
Standard Definition (SD) – 640x480
High Definition (HD) – 1280x720+
Aspect ration 4:3, 16:9, 16:10 etc.
PC resolutions – 1920x1200+
Portable devices resolutions
Contrast & Brightness
Color reproduction

13. Sound Considerations
Stereo
Surround sound
Headphones
Portable systems

14. Storage and Memory Hard Drive space Internal memory Install space
Cache space
Save games
Internal memory PC
Console
Portable

15. Power Considerations
CPU(s)
GPU
Memory
Sound

16. Controls and Interface Considerations
Joypad
Keyboard & Mouse
Touch screen
Custom devices
Control conventions
Interface conventions

17. Network Considerations
Server
Client
User Hardware

18. Technology Considerations
External technology
Internal technology
Tools
Editors

19. Market Consideartions
Target audience
Past products
Present products
Future products
Release window

20. Production Considerations
Time
Human Resources
Talent
External talent

21. Classroom exercise: Write High Concept for an existing game Must be:
Recent
High-profile
Document in english

22. Early Concept Phase Guidelines

23. Challenge Constraints

24. Challenge Ideas

25. The Concept makes or breakes the game

26. Concept mistakes can cost millions downstream

27. Most ideas never make it into concepts

28. Most concepts never make it into design and implementation

29. One clever idea does not make a great game (usually)

30. Ideas are cheap – production is costly

31. Avoid design by consensus

32. Do not fall in love with your ideas

33. Know games

34. Know the gamer

35. If you truly believe in an idea – be prepared to fight for it

36. Re-iterate concept until good

37. The Concept

38. Concept document(s) Comprehensive Complements high concept document
Story
Setting
Game component breakdown
Interface & controls
Multi-player gameplay
Single-player gameplay
Characters AI
Etc.

40. Competetive analysis document
Provides overview of competing products
Research on
Current products
Upcoming products
Brief text per product
Positives
Negatives

41. Risk assessment documents
List of risks specific to the concept
Should include
Chance of risk
Effect of risk
Resolution of risk

42. The ”Pitch” document Sales document External use Based on high concept
Time and cost

44. How to come up with a good game concept?

45. Fundamentals:

46. ”Something you would like to make”

47. ”Something you would like to play”

48. ”Something you truly believe others would like to play”

49. Why do people play games?

50. ”People like a challenge”

51. ”Provide a sense of achievement”

52. ”Provide a sense of mastery”

53. ”Opportunity to socialize and belong to a community”

54. ”Provide an emotional experience”

55. ”Provide for exploration and discovery”

56. ”Facination, inspiration, fantasy”

57. ”Give the player an interactive experience”

58. ”Escapism”

59. What do the players expect?

60. Consistency

61. Direction

62. Immersion

63. Incremental challenge

64. Repetition

65. Fair chance

66. Conformity

67. Conclusion

68. Tutored

69. What the players don’t want...

70. Getting hopelessly stuck

71. Inconsistent difficulty

72. Unfair opponents

73. Repetetiveness

74. Bugs

75. Mandatory exercise #1

76. 3 parts
High Concept
Competetive analysis
Risk assessment

77. Student formed groups (3-4 students per group) – ask me before making smaller or bigger groups!
Delivery as 3 separate documents (.pdf format)
In english!
Deliver by: March 12th! ( documents to me – – topic should include ”oblig”)

78. High Concept A game of your own idea – quality of idea not important
Size of the game idea should be a typical ”tripple A” game (i.e. Something you would buy in shop at full price)
The purpose is to communicate the concept/idea as clearly and precisley as possible!

79. Keep in mind that the target audience are not gamers
Try to make the document as easy to read as possible
Focus on overall idea – not the details.
Use previous lectures as guideline!
Use common sense – think about what you are trying to do!
Reiterate your document!

80. Competetive analysis Focus on relevant games Do your research!
No need to write a lot about each game – keep it brief.
Purpose is to communicate that you have an overview and insigth into the game genre (of your game concept).

81. Risk assessment
Focus on what you believe are specific risks to your game.
Write down the risk, what would happen if the risk occurs, and what one should do if so happens.
There are no definite answers here – use your head and think things through!

82. READ THE EXERCISE TEXT!