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[FARTRON]

Allow me to take this opportunity to pose a question I've been meaning to ask here.

How do people go about formulating their game design?  Napkins?  Something more formal?  Do you just start drawing/coding?

[Guert]

I believe your question is quite relevant fartron but perhaps it would be more fitting if you started a thread in the art section.

I think that this thread is getting too much attention and that your question is worth it's own thread!

Later!

[Derek]

I believe your question is quite relevant fartron but perhaps it would be more fitting if you started a thread in the art section.

I think that this thread is getting too much attention and that your question is worth it's own thread!

Later!

Splitted and moved!

[ஒழுக்கின்மை (Paul Eres)]

Depends on the game, most of the time I co-create games with friends and we talk about ideas and save the conversation logs as notes.

[Derek]

Most every game I've worked on began as just talking, and from there I hit my sketchbook and start drawing.  When it comes time to organize thoughts and ideas, nothing beats Notepad!

[Impossible]

Similar approach to Derek and Rinku.  Usually it starts out as a conversation and quickly (or not so quickly) after the conversation I start developing a prototype. If the game isn't abstract and requires art I'll do mockups of it before I code a prototype.

[AdamAtomic]

yah notepad.exe and scanner/tablet PC ftw

sometimes i do a rough draft or notes with pen in a RL notebook, its hard to doodle or connect random ideas in notepad sometimes.

[Madgarden]

For me, the idea starts in my head and plays out to near completion. Then I either jot the idea down in a huge list of ideas in my personal wiki and forget about it, or I make a new wiki page for the project because I'm so excited about it.

Once I get to this point, I create a fairly concise and logical TODO list of the main points and milestones of the game. No needless documentation (takes time, effort!) Then I proceed to work through the list, prioritizing and updating as needed. At around 90% completion, I get a new random idea, quit the current project, and repeat the whole process.

[Bezzy]

I talk about it, caffiene brain storm it, and then let it settle for a long long time. I'll think about it from time to time, and explore it more. I'll tell people about it in a monotone voice, and see if it gets them excited despite an unenthusiastic presentation (that way you know you're not bullshitting someone).

I try to establish how I'm going to restrict myself. I try to figure out how I want the game to "feel" (a theme, but also, how it feels to control), and don't let myself bullshit through this one: I work out in great detail how the controls should work. I don't want them to be an afterthought. I try to play the game in my head in order to break it, almost like grey-matter prototyping and playtesting. I try to meditate on the game and explore the depth and breadth of possibilities in the system I've imagined, and try to tie up loose ends, or expand on areas of interest, being careful not to let it creep into a game that I can't pull off. I find that the more I do this, the more inclined I am to a deeper foresight of emergence - you'll probably never forsee everything in a game, but the more you can forsee and make intentional, rather than lucky/unlucky emergence, the better. Even though it's not possible I want to *try* to leave nothing to chance (that's just me... I think you can do excellent stuff with a more iterative approach, and I want to try that out in the future). No alarms and no surprises, please.

When I actually get around to starting the project, I'll write a design document, but it's mainly a tool toward getting things straight in my head - it stops me bullshitting myself if I can read back my reasoning for something working. I can then highlight risk areas where I'm not so sure of the end result, and give it the right amount of attention (prototyping to prove/disprove rocky ideas). The people I've worked with don't particularly want to read design documents... if they want specification at all, they want it concise and neat, so I create that as it's needed, and make the spec to their spec - give them everything that they individually want and need.

This is all dependant on a LOT of time to boil these ideas. If you dive into your game, your only chance at catching emergent problems will be through iteration. This is an alternate approach - burn the game into your brain until you fall asleep playing it in your head. Be one with the system so that you know intuitively what is and isn't possible in the game.

I dunno. I am ranting. There is no "right" approach. This is just mine.

[Outer God]

everything begins with the idea.  think about the game's themes, genre, settings, characters, story, etc.  i then start building on each concept, but mainly about gameplay mechanics, story (if applicable) and characters, and presentation.  if the idea develops further in my head, it goes straight to paper...or a design doc in the form of a word document to be more precise.  i like word cos i can structure it more, give it headings, and hell yes! create simple tables for enemies/items/etc.  at the same time, it's fun to draw mockups of characters and wat not.

i strongly recommend making a design doc.  it doesn't have to be well presented, so long as you (or your team) can understand it, and so long as you get those ideas on paper.  unless you're a living encyclopedia, you're bound to forget some.  i'd usually begin on a game once i'm satistfied with the amount of info i've jotted down, most notably in terms of game mechanics and all that technical buzz.  that way, you can begin programming your engine and controls, while still adding onto your design doc in other areas (story, features, etc) as new ideas pop into your head.  it's also good to get a feel of how it'll be made so you know your limitations.  but, never disregard cool ideas that may prove difficult to implement realistically...better to jot it down then forget about it completely.

i also have another document that i consider my resource/reference document.  i just chuck wat ever interesting and cool ideas i think up or find out about in it, as well as research material that i might find on the web.  whether it's about photovoltaic cells, dragons or gods, research is a good thing, so don't dis it.

when getting started with the actual game, milestones are good way to go.  they don't have to be well planned out, just simple notes on wat you should do next.  you can then keep adding onto your list of milestones as you progress.

sorry about that...i too am a ramble monster :D

[PoV]

As far as games, I tend to start with how a concept would play.  If it's of merit, I expand on it.  Take notes (graph paper, "notepad", voice recorder), sketch out concepts/art style ideas, and add them to the repository.  I have an SVN repository set up for all my random designs, stories, and other ideas.  Unless I'm crazy engaged by it, I move on to the next one.

[Alec]

1. Get naked

2. Invite Derek over

3. ? ? ?

4. A new game is made

[portabello]

My two step game design method:
step 1: smoke a joint
step 2: take a refreshingly hot shower

[Alex May]

Mine stew in my head. When I put them down on paper it's usually after I've been thinking about them for weeks on end, getting more excited each day. It's usually at this point that I realise that they're too ambitious.

[fish]

ideas come to me, in my sleep, when bored at work, when in an altered state, whenever. ideas come to me and i doodle them down. on anything.

ill write words in big letters a bit all over, just putting stuff out there. ill sketch out mechanics, draw little puzzles, whatever.

for some reason i always obcess about finding a cool name imediatly. only if its just a working title.

then ill think about some more. whenever i can think about something else.

then when the idea is starting to take shape, ill open photoshop, take my shitty wacom and start drawing a "design doc".

now im a level designer full time, im expected to write very clear, very neat, very professional design documents. and i hate that. they are tedious, they take forever to write and NOBODY reads them. ever.

so what i started doing is develop a kind of personnal style when it comes to design docs. ill re-doodle all the big ideas in photoshop, and then directly anote them with the wacom. i take a very large image and i just put down all my ideas, little clusters of text and drawings all over. there's no real order to things and its a bit chaotic, but i sometimes have the hardest time putting down so many ideas in a linear fashion.

so in the end, that PSD file contains all the ideas and designs in a very visual kind of way. then i just give that to my team, and we talk about. from there on, most communication is oral. but to present or pitch concepts and mechanics, i found that my "design doodles" work great.

[fish]

My two step game design method:
step 1: smoke a joint
step 2: take a refreshingly hot shower

i liiiike your style.

[Oddball]

I find nothing beats prototyping. A lot of the time what sounds like a great idea on paper turns out to be a bit of a damp squid in practice. So my first step is to get something up and running, even if it's just a small subset of the overall concept. Then any notes I have are commented straight into the code. I have loads of old prototypes lying around because when it came down to it they fell short of the expected level of gameplayabilty[sic].

[FARTRON]

I like these replies, and I'm interested in more.  What sort of ideas are people starting with?  Is it visual in nature, or is it a particular game mechanic that you want to play with?  Do you start thinking of similar games?  Do you have a "theme" in mind; a setting, or story that you want to tell or explore?  What sort of things spark your imagination, and make you start working on a new idea?

For example, I've had a back-burner project for some time based around the idea of presenting aesthetically pleasing, emergent urban chaos in a game, heavily inspired by repeated viewings of Akira and The Battle of Algiers.

Anyway, don't let me pigeon hole any responses, I'm just looking for some ramblings about the creative process.

[Guert]

Hey there!

 With me, everything starts out with an idea for an experience I'd love to feel. Then, I make a little research about the subject, if possible. For example, If I think that it would be very exciting to jump off a cliff and be awarded points on where I will land and how much damage I've taken and not getting hurt, I have my experience idea for the game. Then, I look at cliffs, search about people who parchutes in cliff, think about anything that involves dropping something into a cliff (looney toons cartoons for instance) and look for every idea that would follow the main idea.

 I write everything down on paper. The first piece of paper I find is all I need. I have dozens of concepts at home written on old cereal boxes, napkins, toilet paper (un-used ) and piles of note books. I also go through various quick sketches on how the game would be better represented. First person, thrid person, top view, 3d, 2d, etc... I pick the one that felt the best when looking at it.

 When I can't think of anything else on the topic, I start writting a design document. I use word but notepad or open office works great too. The design docs helps me shape up things before I start coding anything. I keep my deisgn doc clear and very structured so that if I ever work with someone else, the person will be able to pick up the doc and start working right away with it. Creating the document really helps to see if the game has some potential. Is this a good game or a game that'll be enjoyed five minutes and people will get bored with it? The design doc will help me figure it out as I look at the game in numerous angles.

 When the first draft of the game is completed, I start prototyping. This phase is done very quickly since all the main ideas are already on paper. Prototyping also helps to see things I haven't thought of while writting. Especialy about technical stuff. 

 Then, I play the prototype, fix what needs fixing in both the code and document and then, I find (read here force) some person (usually my girlfriend and close friends) to try the game. I listen to what people think, how they react and why they react the way they do. And then again, I fix the prototype and the document.

 When the prototype is pleasing, it's time to work on the main program. But, at this stage, I usually quit because I'm a terrible coder. I don't have friends that wanna code games so they end pretty much there. Sometimes, I use the same tools used for the prototypes but I dunno, I really have to believe in the project to start coding a full game. I just don't like coding

 Luckyly, I like to create mods and maps for existing game so I can use some ideas for games inside mods. Not a perfect alternative but it's a good way to try out my ideas with numerous other players that I don't know.

[PoV]

My two step game design method:
step 1: smoke a joint
step 2: take a refreshingly hot shower

Ah ha, now I see why you go by portabello (portobello?).