on play
As a designer of games I always strive to have a deeper understanding of what it is that I’m designing. What are games? What is play? What is fun?
My latest attempt at answering these questions started at the Tale of tales website. The discussion was actually on a different subject but for me it turned into a discussion about games and toys. I believed that one of their projects was more of a toy then a game. But then I started thinking; what is the difference exactly?
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’
Fun in fun out is a very simply idea that I like to work by. It simply means that if you enjoy what you are doing, the result is going to be better and more enjoyable. I’ve always believed that it is important for people to do what they enjoy. It’s a lesson I learned the hard-way, but now I’m privileged that I’m doing work what I really like. But still I’m always on the look-out for possibilities to make my work more enjoyable.
But since my employment at Playlogic I’ve been working on ways to translate this personal working method to a work philosophy for everybody at our company, as I strongly believe that fun in fun out works. But in a daily reality filled with many deadlines and stress, how can there be room for fun? Projects need to be finished on time, there’s no room for playing around in the boss’s time, is there? Continue reading ‘Fun in fun out’
