IMGD 1001: Brainstorming Your Game by Mark Claypool - - PDF document

imgd 1001 brainstorming your game
SMART_READER_LITE
LIVE PREVIEW

IMGD 1001: Brainstorming Your Game by Mark Claypool - - PDF document

IMGD 1001: Brainstorming Your Game by Mark Claypool (claypool@cs.wpi.edu) Robert W . Lindem an (gogo@wpi.edu) Outline Motivation Intro to brain storming Exercises Claypool and Lindeman, WPI, CS and IMGD 2 1 Motivation Building


slide-1
SLIDE 1

1

IMGD 1001: Brainstorming Your Game

by Mark Claypool (claypool@cs.wpi.edu) Robert W . Lindem an (gogo@wpi.edu)

Claypool and Lindeman, WPI, CS and IMGD 2

Outline

Motivation Intro to brain storming Exercises

slide-2
SLIDE 2

2

Claypool and Lindeman, WPI, CS and IMGD 3

Motivation

Building a game (or doing anything interesting)

is tough!

That's why you are here? ; -)

Need to wrap your mind around the problem

Divide and conquer: split the problem into

manageable parts

Iterate multiple times Build team ownership

Ownership = commitment

This process is done at multiple levels, usually

with different people involved

Claypool and Lindeman, WPI, CS and IMGD 4

High-Level Process: Brainstorming

Start with a vague notion, and go from there Move towards concreteness Don't throw away ANYTHING!

There are no bad ideas

Write down every idea (on Post-it notes, a flip-

chart, whiteboard, etc.)

Don't make judgments on quality at this time MAIN IDEA:

Everyone should feel free to contribute

slide-3
SLIDE 3

3

Claypool and Lindeman, WPI, CS and IMGD 5

High-Level Process: Prune the Tree

Now the group should have all ideas out

there on Post-its, a whiteboard, etc.

First, remove anything obviously

irrelevant, but be CAREFUL!

Now remove or combine redundant

things

Claypool and Lindeman, WPI, CS and IMGD 6

High-Level Process: Draw Relationships

Now draw charts for each of the

remaining things

There are many solutions, so you will

need to iterate

slide-4
SLIDE 4

4

Claypool and Lindeman, WPI, CS and IMGD 7

High-Level Process: Validate the Design

Go through each object in detail, and

verify that it meets all the requirements

Claypool and Lindeman, WPI, CS and IMGD 8

Gamestorming Process

Come up with a one-sentence description

  • f your game

This is tougher than you think!

Use free association to generate ideas

No culling! Use Post-I t notes

Group related ideas together, consolidate

Move the Post-I ts around Set aside unused ideas (might revisit them)

Drill down through iteration

slide-5
SLIDE 5

5

Claypool and Lindeman, WPI, CS and IMGD 9

Gamestorming Drill Down

Perform this process at a high level, then Same for...

...the STORY in your game ...the STRUCTURE of your game ...the ART in your game

Visuals/ sound/ "look and feel"

...the INPUT CONTROLS of your game

Generate a timeline for when each thing

will get done

Assign a team member to the task

Claypool and Lindeman, WPI, CS and IMGD 10

Exercise 1: Do Now!

15 min: Intro/ Style/ Story 15 min: Art/ Sound/ Tech 10 min: Discussion

slide-6
SLIDE 6

6

Claypool and Lindeman, WPI, CS and IMGD 11

Exercise 2

Mario Super Smash Bros Brawl

List 6 favorite characters Group yourselves by favorite characters

Now, you want (or need) to add an additional

character!

But consider a 2-d version (like would be made in

Game Maker)

Brainstorm

Phase 1: Think of all possible characters, features,

characteristics, needed tasks (5 minutes)

Phase 2: Group/ Prune/ Tree (5 minutes) Phase 3: Discuss as a class (5 minutes)

Claypool and Lindeman, WPI, CS and IMGD 12

Do you have...

A feeling of how complex this is? Goals? Main mode of interaction?

Button-masher, platformer, etc?

Motivation for the player? Humor? Violence?

slide-7
SLIDE 7

7

Claypool and Lindeman, WPI, CS and IMGD 13

What Next?

Go home and do the same thing in much

more detail for your assignment

This should be fairly formal

Read through the examples Don't write like you speak Include appropriate visual support Be thorough, ITERATE!