The following guide could proof to be useful for anybody willing to take their game idea a step further. It formalizes your game idea, checks to see if you have thought about the basics and may even help you promote your game idea.
This guide is written with Sony and Microsoft guidelines for concept approval processes in mind and should therefore meet high standards. I’ve used the knowledge I gained during my education and work experience to write this guide and I hope you’ll find it useful.
What is the concept document?
The goal of the concept document is two fold. On the one hand it helps you explore your game idea, checking to see if you have all the important bits. While on the other hand it helps you promote your idea, to team members, project co-ordinators, gamedesigners or maybe even publishers.
The concept document itself should be a short document that describes the core idea of your game, leaving out the less important details. A short document has several advantages. Adjustments are easily made if you need to improve your concept and reviewers will read your document sooner and faster.
Basically there are three parts to the concept document; its content, its structure and its presentation. All three of these are important and work together to provide a clear document that helps the reviewer of your document imagine the game. Continue reading ‘Guide: the concept document’
