As the second to last lecture we had a fairly important one, to me at least. We went through a briefing about a big aspect of the project - the pitch and design document.
The lecture and mostly the attached examples were really helpful in nailing down or at least giving you an idea of what it should be. To put it simple, a design document does not have a predefined word count or format. What distinguishes it, is the game itself. The document should cater to the specifics of your creation. Since we set off on this journey we were told that we have two aspects of the document: the fun part- Development process and the not so intriguing, at least to myself, Sales aspect.
As of the pitch itself ... Needless to say it requires a lot of preparation. This was mentioned by the lecturer too, however in my opinion it is not as simple as that. A person who is assigned to do this would have a plethora of different skills, the main one being skills in people interaction and a hell of a lot of psychology. What I mean to say is that, in my opinion, the successful pitches work when you have a passion about the project, be prepared and most of all know what you are going up against.
"Great game concept + Meticulous preparation + A bit of luck = Success!"
It is your personal way to get through the thick skin of the big fishes who you are supposed to bring on your side. This seems like one of the hardest aspects of this whole game, as it can be a challenge to get backing from a person who is higher up in the food chain than you are. However, in the pursuit of the big market and exposure, there is not room for repetition and mediocrity. So as long as you trust in your product and most importantly - your team, this whole deal goes from a nerve wrecking feat to the drive to accomplish a passion project and see it being materialized.
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Furthering our tasks
As I mentioned last few weeks we decided on the bigger individual tasks. Of course, prior to that we decided to create the foundations as a team, mainly because the most important part is the vision of the game we are going for.
To set this off we did our shares and this time we decided to review the accomplishments.
Beginning with the User Interface created by Euan. He brought an amazingly polished and fully thought out design of the visuals a player would be presented when playing. All his work would most likely be on his blog, however I am going to take the liberty to attach a preview to it here.
No clarification required here as he did it all perfectly.
Next off Connor showed us what he envisioned the lore would be from the brief brainstorming we did so far. Deriving from the detailed and immersive design he brought to the table, it was clear that he enjoyed it and the result was clear. Previously we decided upon the idea that we are having a simple yet immersive story (as immersive as it can be for a mobile game such as ours) that does not restrict the player from diversifying. However, we are going for the aspect of uniqueness which was greatly brought in by Connors ideas. He fleshed out the idea we had for every character class to have a different story, expanded the world with zone history and tyrannic kingdoms.
A valid example here would be a quick snippet of our characters story and how they came to the point of no return.
- One of our characters is a rogue and what gets him involved in the feuds that are going on is the disappearance of his only sister.
- The other one is a warrior from the kings guard and due to a revelation he decides to do something worth remembering.
- Last but not least is a hunter that finds him/herself in the midst of the destruction of their village.
As of me, I had my time with Gimp and sketched simple character figures and building designs that could be a lead into what our vision of the game is. Having in mind that visual art is the sole aspect that could change rapidly with every different idea that is brought into or out of the game, I decided to keep it universal, yet still bring something unique or special to our game world.
As buildings go I showed my visions in different styles mainly due to the fact that we were thinking of different locations, cultures and therefore different structure designs. Focusing on the building part of the game, a player would be presented with different options of structures required to grow his town. Doing so different buildings with different designs have different properties which is hopefully understandable to all.
The characters however being the challenge they are, turned out pretty well if I could say so myself.
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