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Current topic: How to design a Pet Game via making a design document
January 10, 2006
Wow. After sleeping since August, Xenallure has suddenly acquired a lead programmer and kicked into full gear. I am working madly to get things cleaned up as we pick up some staff. Today I wrote about two pages explaining Xenallure's genre, the gameplay of that genre, why this appeals to players…
June 08, 2005
First, for anyone new to this journal, a more organized and slightly edited version is now available HERE!
That said, I also have some new writing theory to journal about for the first time in months. This is related to the Dramatica theory of writing, as well as the cult that has grown up around J…
That said, I also have some new writing theory to journal about for the first time in months. This is related to the Dramatica theory of writing, as well as the cult that has grown up around J…
December 16, 2004
For anyone who has been following my attempts to design a romance RPG, I thought I'd give you all an update on how that's going. When the Collabortive Game Story Project began in the writing forum, I used my initial survey vote to specify that our collabortive game must have a romance element. Ot…
October 27, 2004
As research for my novel I recently bought the book _Animal Myths and Metaphors in South America_ Ed. Gary Urton. So imagine my surprise and delight to discover that the second paper in the collection, _Animal Symbolism, Totemism, and the Structure of Myth_ by Terrence Turner, turned out to be an …
September 21, 2004
First, go here and read this article, "What Kind of Designer Are You?"
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Okay, have you figured out which kind(s) of designer you are? Good. Only problem is, these are ALL the wrong way to design a game.
You are the god, but you exist to entertain your worshippers. Only a gamer can design a ga…
.
..
...
Okay, have you figured out which kind(s) of designer you are? Good. Only problem is, these are ALL the wrong way to design a game.
You are the god, but you exist to entertain your worshippers. Only a gamer can design a ga…
September 16, 2004
Let's talk about the visual aspects of character and race design. Now, there are two kinds of characters/races in any game, playable and non-playable. MMORPGs usually have several playable races, while RPGs and platformers can have anywhere from one to several dozen playable characters. There ar…
September 10, 2004
For the Game Designer
Assuming you (the game designer) have located a concept artist, you need to provide them with some instructions. Fortunately most of the necessary info is already contained in the design doc, particularly the type/style of art that is going to be used in the game should be des…
Assuming you (the game designer) have located a concept artist, you need to provide them with some instructions. Fortunately most of the necessary info is already contained in the design doc, particularly the type/style of art that is going to be used in the game should be des…
September 10, 2004
Just in case you forgot, we're supposed to be compiling all these design decisions into a game design document. Take a look here for some sample design documents. Pick out the one closest to the game you want to make, load it up in your word-processor, and fill in the parts you already know: A do…
September 08, 2004
I have mentioned the difficulty of studying plot in the 'wild, living story'. So let's try capturing one and vivisecting it. Here's the method recommended by the Romance Writers of America: Think of the book you've already read that had the most similar plot structure to what you want to write. B…
September 08, 2004
- Plot
- - Beginning
- - - Initial Incident
- - Rising Action
- - - Resolve to Action
- - - Failed Attempt(s)
- - - Complication/Reversal
- - - Further Attempt(s)
- - Climax
- - - Crisis
- - - Resolution
- - Ending
- - - Denouement (Closure)
While characters and worldbuilding are the flesh of a story, the plot …
- - Beginning
- - - Initial Incident
- - Rising Action
- - - Resolve to Action
- - - Failed Attempt(s)
- - - Complication/Reversal
- - - Further Attempt(s)
- - Climax
- - - Crisis
- - - Resolution
- - Ending
- - - Denouement (Closure)
While characters and worldbuilding are the flesh of a story, the plot …
September 02, 2004
I suppose I had better cover naming techniques before I move on from worldbuildng to plot. Fortunately naming is one of the easiest, most mechanical and formulaic tasks in worldbuilding.
There are 5 kinds of names:
'Real' Names - Look in your phone book or a baby name book.
Meaningful English Names -…
There are 5 kinds of names:
'Real' Names - Look in your phone book or a baby name book.
Meaningful English Names -…
September 02, 2004
Back to our circle of story elements:
characters - character dynamic - plot - atmosphere - wordbuilding - then back to characters again.
Having covered the basics of character and character dynamic yesterday, we can now slide around the ring to either plot or worldbuilding. Again, this is a matter o…
characters - character dynamic - plot - atmosphere - wordbuilding - then back to characters again.
Having covered the basics of character and character dynamic yesterday, we can now slide around the ring to either plot or worldbuilding. Again, this is a matter o…
August 31, 2004
As I said before, there's no best order in which to create the various elements of a story; if anything, they all have to be created together because they all affect each other. Also, it depends on what kind of writer you are.
There is a theory of writing called the Circle of Story Elements. It s…
There is a theory of writing called the Circle of Story Elements. It s…
August 30, 2004
At this point in your game design process you, if you are a writer, or your writer partner should begin designing the story to fit with your features wishlist. (The lead programmer should also be planning out how to program these features at this point.) Why am I putting the story at the very beg…
August 29, 2004
Well okay, since nobody has requested any other genre descriptions, I'll move on. If you are using this journal as a how-to for starting your game design, you have presumably now chosen your gameplay genre and worked up a features wishlist. Is any of these a brilliant original feature that you th…
August 25, 2004
Ooh, lucky you, you get 2 journal entries for the price of one today! ;)
Previously, I mentioned the idea of mixing and matching genre characteristics to make your own genre. Well, to do that you have to know what the genre's characteristics are. In this developer journal I will be focusing on how…
Previously, I mentioned the idea of mixing and matching genre characteristics to make your own genre. Well, to do that you have to know what the genre's characteristics are. In this developer journal I will be focusing on how…
August 25, 2004
Hello all, and welcome back once again to Sunandshadow's School of Game Design. Thank you all for the lovely comments so far! :) Y'know, writing this journal takes a good chunk of time, but I'm enjoying it. Maybe if I write enough I can turn it into a textbook - I've always wanted to write a tex…
August 24, 2004
Goodness, are you still here? Guess I must not be the only foolhardy, overconfident designer around here. ;) Well then, onward!
The game development team leader has two main reponsibilities: the game development team, and the design document. So hopefully you like to type, because in between emai…
The game development team leader has two main reponsibilities: the game development team, and the design document. So hopefully you like to type, because in between emai…
August 23, 2004
So far I have mostly talked about designing clothing, which I'm sure is deadly boring to some of you. But I had a good reason for this (other than it being my current job ;) ): Designing clothing is simple. Now, I'm sure professional clothing designers would argue with that. I'm not saying that…
August 18, 2004
Whenever 3-d models are being used to make a game, the most effecient way to generate a large variety of content with out requirng too much modeling work is to design mix-and-matchable elements, as I was saying before. There are two important principles of such a system: a structure of slots into …
August 16, 2004
Step Four
Having done some research and analysis, the concept designer (this whole process works for creators of other kinds of game content like writing and music as well as artists) now has the knowledge base he or she needs to actually design some stuff. So now we need some guidelines for what k…
Having done some research and analysis, the concept designer (this whole process works for creators of other kinds of game content like writing and music as well as artists) now has the knowledge base he or she needs to actually design some stuff. So now we need some guidelines for what k…
August 13, 2004
Step Two
No matter what you're creating concept art for, doing research to find source images is an essential beginning step. As I mentioned in the quote in my previous post, Google Image Search r0x0rs j00r s0x0rs! And then there's always the library, although it sometimes requires lateral thnking…
No matter what you're creating concept art for, doing research to find source images is an essential beginning step. As I mentioned in the quote in my previous post, Google Image Search r0x0rs j00r s0x0rs! And then there's always the library, although it sometimes requires lateral thnking…
August 12, 2004
Gamedevvers, concept artists, developers, lend me your ears! I'm going to talk (and talk and talk... o.O ) about design. I'm going to start with concept design here but in 5 entries of so I will have worked my way up to game design, so stick it out, k? ;)
Despite being the moderator of the writin…
Despite being the moderator of the writin…
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