What do you want from a game?

[JamboGT]

First off this may be in the wrong place, if it is please feel free to move it as i wasn't sure.

Ok,

At the moment I am currently studying Computer Game Software Engineering, this is mainly a programming and maths intensive course. However, I do have a few modules on game design and have recently recieved my assignment which is to complete a game proposal and game design document.

Together this will consist of around 50-70 pages of work so its quite an intensive process.


I have decided to do some research and want you guys to help!

What I am asking is, first of all, what kind of game would you like, am leaning towards a racing game but am open to suggestions and what gameplay features would you like or have always wanted in a game?

Many Thanks

James

 

[J-PaP]

My response is more generic.

I want the following from games:

1. game needs to take a decent amount of time to finish the main part. ie minimum 40-50 hours. One thing that annoys me regarding anything nintendo is that each time i give in and try their product i will finish it in about 12-15 hours.

2. rewards for progress/achieving certain things.

3. the game must be hard/challenging but not impossible. Sure im happy to lose/die but at least make it possible. Most frustrating is when you can finish all of a game bar 1 tiny last bit (eg. ridge racer on psp. I'm about halfway through the final tournament that is 1 in 20 thousand people are expected to pass. Though this bit is not as bad as long as it doesnt have some integral reward to it.

4. game must have variety. Even if it a single or tiny part that is different to the rest of the game. It helps break up monotany.

Think thats all for now.

 

[JamboGT]

Thanks for the input, I may post up some of my work as well if you are interested, I have a month to do it....

To be honest i should have started a month ago!

 

[GTP_ENERGIYA]

I'll say the same things as J-PAP. another idea if it's a racing game, have normal track racing & maybe open world racing like an endurance race like racing from new york to chicago. samething like test drive.

 

[Digital-Nitrate]

First off this may be in the wrong place, if it is please feel free to move it as i wasn't sure.

You might want to move your thread to the Gaming in General forum, if nothing more than to open it up to multiple platform point of views.

Regardless of that this sounds like a fun project, and as far as thinking outside the box in terms of current and future gameplay features, you may want to take a look at the following thread I started a while back, as it has some articles and thoughts about the future of gaming, and what is popular now and what may be popular in the future:

• What exactly is a next generation game?

 

[JamboGT]

You might want to move your thread to the Gaming in General forum, if nothing more than to open it up to multiple platform point of views.

Regardless of that this sounds like a fun project, and as far as thinking outside the box in terms of current and future gameplay features, you may want to take a look at the following thread I started a while back, as it has some articles and thoughts about the future of gaming, and what is popular now and what may be popular in the future:

• What exactly is a next generation game?

Thanks man, I was considering putting it in the gaming in general area however I thought I might get more traffic here as it seems rather sparsely populated there!

I shall have a read over that thread now.

Game Design Assignment


Assignment specification for 2008/9

Please read the whole of this document carefully.

Introduction

This is a written assignment for CM405, in which you will produce two documents, a Game Proposal Document and a Game Design Document. The hand-in date will be advertised separately. This assignment is worth 50% of the total mark for the unit. It is an individual assignment and should be all your own work. Students should not collude or plagiarise work. Appropriate action will be taken, according to University of Northumbria regulations, if collusion or plagiarism is suspected.

The learning outcomes to be assessed by this assignment are:

4. An understanding of core design and implementation issues for computer games software engineering projects
5. The ability to create a games proposal document encompassing the above issues


The Game

You are invited to create a game in your imagination to be described in these documents. The game must be for PC, X-box 360, Playstation 3 or Wii (one only). The game will be a single-player game (sorry, we had to have some restrictions) and will be a sizeable and complex project – the sort of game that would be a full-price release. You are aiming for a top 10 hit game.

The game can be any genre you like, but the exclusion of multiplayer means that there are some genres you may naturally want to avoid (MMORPGs, beat-em-ups, Guitar Hero&#8230. You may use any setting you like, any theme you like, with the following warning: be careful about overtly exploitative, explicit or offensive subjects. Your documents have to go through our systems, and as such should not offend us, or our internal or external examiners. Use some common sense, and if in doubt ask a tutor. You may imagine that you have gained the rights to any intellectual property you desire, so for example, feel free to make a game called “The Wombles Big Adventure”. If you do this you should be true to the original I.P. (Wombles do not, as a rule, go on the rampage with a minigun&#8230

There is one game which you are not allowed to do: the “Lord Of The Rinse” game from the seminar exercises.

One more thing – the game will contain at least one element which is novel. Originality often comes from combining old ideas in new ways.


The Documents

There will be two separate documents produced, a Game Proposal Document and a Game Design Document. These documents are similar to the form of document that several development companies use in the industry (thanks to Alex Busby for his helpful research in this area). The Game Proposal Document would be the original, small document aimed at convincing a company to give a “green light” to a game project. The Game Design Document is a more in-depth description of the game. The Game Design Document you will be required to make will be in some ways a cut-down version of the kind of document that would actually be used.

Part 1. Game Proposal Document

The game proposal document will contain the following numbered sections.
It may be that some of the sections seem irrelevant to your particular game. Please leave the section in, with an explanation of why there is no need for it. Do not add any sections of your own.

1. Game title
2. Target demographic
3. Features Summary
4. Genre similarities and differences
5. The innovation
6. World Setting
7. Main Characters
8. Story
9. Gameplay Mechanics
10. Settings/scenarios
11. Hardware Specs/platform
12. Development tools
13. List of team members
14. Risk analysis
15. Schedule
16. Personal statement

1. Game Title: Obvious

2. Target demographic: 7-year old girls (or whatever)

3. Features Summary: A quick blurb about what is different about this game – the sort of thing you would find on the back of the box.

4. Genre similarities and differences: What genre is this game in (if it is) and in what way is it similar or different to the norm.

5. The innovation: what is the thing (or things) that is (or are) different about this game? What is your novel element?

6. World setting: a brief description of the world/environment setting of the game.

7. Main Characters: a brief description of the main characters involved in the game.

8. Story: a brief outline of the background story and/or narrative elements to the game.

9. Gameplay Mechanics: a brief outline of gameplay features of the game. What these are depends hugely on the game. Anything you want to say about the game but cannot think where it might go, could go in here.

10. Settings/scenarios: Different types of game can be “chunked” in different ways (levels, missions, tracks, scenarios etc.) In this section give descriptions of 2 or three of these “chunks” as examples.

11. Hardware Specs/platform: if it is for a P.C. outline the minimum specs required for this game. If it for one of the consoles state which one. Give briefly the reason(s) for the choice of platform.

12. Development tools: what tools will be needed for the development of this project?

13. List of team members: list how many team members will be needed in the following categories:
• Modelling and animation
• Level design
• Coding
• Music & sound effects
• Other

14. Risk analysis: Analyse the risks which this project faces.

15. Schedule: Estimate the time taken for the stages of production.

16. Personal statement: This is a section where you should describe why you are excited about this project, what makes it the one you want to spend the next couple of years working on.

It is strongly recommended that you complete most of this document before proceeding to the Game Design Document, as this will help you on the way. We know that there are parts of this document which you will find difficult (risk analysis, scheduling) and we hope to provide some seminar support for these.

Explanations here should be brief, it is anticipated that this document will be about 2 sides of A4.



Part 2. Game Design Document

This document will be quite a bit larger than the first document. Like the first document, we are providing a specification for the sections to be included (un-numbered). Please provide all the sections specified, in the order specified, even if they are irrelevant (explain why). Unlike the Game Proposal Document you may add in your own sections if you wish as you feel appropriate, if they are helpful in fully understanding your game.

Some games have a large variety of certain aspects, for example an RPG may have hundreds of weapons available. To avoid this document getting completely out of control we have the rule of 3. For any aspect that has large numbers like this, we require you to use a shortcut: fully describe 3 of the elements (e.g. weapons) and give an overview of the rest describing general characteristics, spread or range of differences, and an idea of the numbers involved. If you are starting to describe more than 10 of any kind of thing, or aspect, you should use the rule of 3.

A real Game Design Document would include graphics of various kinds: concept art, maps, diagrams etc. There is no requirement to do so for this document, we recognise that you are not necessarily artists. If you have an ability and want to put in a few such graphics then feel free. Think about where they will be useful. Do not spend your whole life on these to the detriment of the requirements of this (or other) assignment(s).

If you have specific reasons for any aspects described you may wish to provide those explanations. It is nice to know that you have thought things out rather than just picked a load of stuff at random.

For the following description of the Game Design Documents, section titles and so on are in bold text and explanations are in normal text.

Title page with the name of the game, the platform and a very brief description.

Then your game will need the following lettered sections. Please note we assume all these sections because that’s how the marks are allocated. Guidance is given as to what you should and/or might want to include in the sections.

A: Game overview:

The overview contains the following stuff:
Key themes/ambience/attitude: The overall feel to the game. Is it scary, is it comic and so on.
Overall style: The visual style used.
Camera: Fixed? Roving? What is the viewpoint?
Control: How is the player-character or pieces controlled
Interface: How is information presented to the player?
Menus: What kind of control is there outside the game environment?
Saving/loading: How is this achieved? Are there limits or can the player save at any time? What information is stored when saved?

B: World:
This section has subsections to describe the world

Setting: What is the overall setting of the world (description)
Physics: What physical laws govern this world?
Overview of game flow: Most games can be compartmentalised in some way: levels, scenarios, missions, worlds, race tracks, geographical areas. In this section give an overview of this organisation. A map or diagram may be helpful. Descriptions of the individual “levels” comes in the second major section.

C: Characters:
In this section the characters that inhabit the game are described. If your game is a RTS it may be appropriate to call these “units” instead. The following types of characters may be described:

Player Character(s) This is the character or characters that the player controls.
Arch-enemies These are the big baddies
NPCs other significant characters in the game
Drones characters of which there are many instances (e.g. imps in Doom)
For each character describe the following aspects:
Physical Appearance
Character Traits
Moves/abilities
Relationship to Story: describe where they fit in the narrative if relevant.
Personalisation: Probably only for player-characters, describe to what extent the character is configurable in appearance or characteristics, if appropriate. For example, in an RPG the player chooses character stats, or in a skateboarding game they may get to choose the clothing.

D: Story:
This section describes the narrative elements of the game and contains the following segments:
Setting: The background
Flow: How the story progresses
Events: What specific events occur
Motivating Factors: How the story is used to motivate the player.

E: Gameplay:
This section describes elements of playing the game and has (at least) the following segments:
Win condition(s) What the player has to do to win the game
Death: How death or failure is handled in the game
High flow of the game: an overview of the way the game progresses and the elements involved.
Hours of gameplay: An estimate of how long it would take to complete the game
Game Mechanisms: combat systems, XP and levelling, magic systems, all that sort of Jazz
Resources/items/attributes: A description of items, pick-ups attributes, power-ups, resources to be managed (including health and money) and all that sort of Jazz.
Weapons: You know, the things that you splat things with. What are their strengths/weaknesses. Do they need ammo? How easily available are they?
Replayability: Anything that has been done to increase the longevity of the game.

F: AI:
This section gives (brief) requirements for the AI systems of the game. This may fall into 2 categories.
Characters: How the characters in the game behave.
Computer opponents: In some games you play against a simulated human opponent.

G: Descriptions of individual “levels”
Most games can be compartmentalised in some way: levels, scenarios, mission strands, worlds, race tracks, geographical areas. If in doubt about how this might apply in your game talk to your tutor for advice. Give an overview of all of the “levels”, but for three of the “levels” give an in-depth treatment with the following details:

Name
Description
Geographical Features
Inactive scenery
Active/interactive objects
Puzzles/traps/environmental challenges
Player specifics for “level”: If there is anything that changes for the player in the chunk.
Characters for “level”
Weapons
Items
Music & Sound effects
Challenge(s). Each “level” may have one or more tasks associated with it. For each task outline:
Communication: How the task is given to the player
Requirements: What has to be done
Reward: What the player gets for success
Consequences of failure
Any other details.


Marking Scheme

Because of the flexible nature of this assignment it is unreasonable to give a very granular marking scheme. We should not, for example, wish to penalise a pacifist game by specifically allocating marks to the section on weapons.

If you are still confused about what is being asked of you there are two other ways to find out what we are expecting:

• Ask the tutors
• We will post example documents on Blackboard. They will not necessarily be in the same format as specified here, but will help you to get an idea of the kind of information required.

Game Proposal Document: up to 20 marks

Game design document:
A: Game overview up to 5 marks
B: World description up to 10 marks
C: Characters/units up to 15 marks
D: Story elements up to 5 marks
E: Gameplay section up to 15 marks
F: AI section up to 5 marks
G: Individual levels descriptions up to 15 marks

Overall quality (how attractive the idea is,
how well thought through it is, coherence, presentation etc.) up to 10 marks



Total up to 100 marks

This is my assignment if anyone is curious.

 

[zazaza]

I think that nowadays a great game it's the one that have a great online. For example, Assasins Creed it's a game that looks awesome, but all of my friends said: it hasn't online... so we'll not buy it. And for example, I don't know if Call of Dutys without online could be best sellers.

 

[JamboGT]

I agree with that but for this assignment it is to be single player.

For that if I was to have a racing game I would just have to leave the multiplayer element out.

 

[Casio]

I pretty much did that exact assignment a year ago.

 

[J-PaP]

Actually I buy my games still for the single player aspect over any multiplayer. COD4 I have played through a fair few times now but have spent no more than 20 minutes online. I know some may say I'm missing out but I have always preferred single player. Same case for the racers that I have with online aspects.

 

[iwantdownload]

know i'm sure i'm pretty on my own with my view but from a game i want:
- a good story
- an relatively easy play through or various difficulty settings that are true to thier name, easy, hard etc.
- something that i could do in real life but can't/ or am too much of a pussy/ too lazy to do (eg. gt5p/ cod 4/ virtua tennis 3)
- a game with cars in
- most importantly something thats fun
- something that is cheap/ pre-owned becasue i'm not made of money

 

[JamboGT]

Ok thanks for all the feedback guys.

Going to ask a more specific question now.

If I was to ask you what features your ideal single player racing game would have what would they be.

Would you like an F1 game? Something like GT?

 

[TB]

If I was to ask you what features your ideal single player racing game would have what would they be.

Vehicle damage.
Weather changes for longer races.
Adaptive AI.

Basically all the wish list items for GT.

 

[Sureboss]

If I was to ask you what features your ideal single player racing game would have what would they be.

Tyre wear
Realistic handling model (ie, FF should handle different to 4WD, RR to FR, etc)
Decent AI intelligence, I don't want the AI to be easy, nor do I want them to swerve all over the place and know where I am.

As for games in general.

Re-playability/value for money

Can I play it again and again? Take Football Manager for example, so many different leagues to play in, I know people who have topped up 100 days on one save. I hate short games, I'll just be getting into it and it ends.

Bug free, any developer which has solid testing periods and got debuggers should produce bug free games, SIs Beta Dream Team have spent 6 months on FM09 and all its dozens of builds. This is one aspect where Fallout 3 falls under very good game, rather than excellent.

 

[Ardius]

What year are you into your degree?

From my experience from my degree, I wouldn't have had advised asking people what they want, but then again I find it relatively easy to come up with ideas (perhaps not good ideas, but ideas nonetheless).
I wish I had assignments as detailed as that, the closest to that I ever had was creating a simple game treatment document around 4 to 6 pages long.

Reading through that specification I'd say if you're going to do a racing game you need to focus on some kind of long and engaging career mode to make the single player last longer. A mix of the kind of career mode F1:CE has along with the wide array of racing classes and events from GT4 would be a good start. Then add in other elements to the gameplay, such as perhaps small amounts of team management or some kind of tuning ability alike to Gran Turismo, but perhaps more in depth.

I realise you probably got given some guides, etc on how to create treatment documents, but for what its worth, here are some:
http://www.gamasutra.com/features/20021220/ahearn_02.htm
http://www.gamasutra.com/features/20060717/ahearn_01.shtml
http://www.gamasutra.com/features/19970912/design_doc.htm

 

[JamboGT]

Thanks Ardius, have recieved a few examples and guides as well as what we have done in lectures.

I have some specific ideas of my own but want to leave it open for a bit before I narrow things down so to speak.

At the moment I am thinking of going down the F1 route, somethin along the lines of career challenge but with a 10 year lifespan.

I realise this is ambitious but I don't actually have to make the game so I may as well do something i would love to have!

 

[JamboGT]

Ok, have decided upon the game which I will make.

It shall be called (working title) F1 Decade.

And the main game shall be a ten year career mode encompassing the 1999 to the 2009 seasons.

This is something I always dreamed of having and decided to design a game I want! I have my ideas over what to include but am leaving this open for suggestions also.

Maybe some storylines or rivalries? I am not sure about these but any input is appreciated.

I may use a transcript of this thread in my hand in so keep it clean! Lol

 

[iwantdownload]

Ok, have decided upon the game which I will make.

It shall be called (working title) F1 Decade.

And the main game shall be a ten year career mode encompassing the 1999 to the 2009 seasons.

This is something I always dreamed of having and decided to design a game I want! I have my ideas over what to include but am leaving this open for suggestions also.

Maybe some storylines or rivalries? I am not sure about these but any input is appreciated.

I may use a transcript of this thread in my hand in so keep it clean! Lol

this sounds awesome and good luck with the development process

i would love a storyline. however it always runs the risk of becoming a nfs style cheese fest.

also what i would look for in it would be:
- it being quite easy/ with difficulty settings
- a gimmick
- but most importanly it should be fun

 

[Casio]

The assignment isn't that hard once you get the fundamental idea down, every question you have to answer is stated to you. Just remember to use buzz terms like 'emotional response', 'immersion', game balance, implict/explicit feedback, etc. Do some storyboarding, and level map/charactor sketches and you're home free.

 

[JamboGT]

Hey thanks for the posts. Am not really daunted by the actual task of the assignment, as you say it is there in black and white, this was more about research.

 

[Ardius]

Maybe some storylines or rivalries? I am not sure about these but any input is appreciated.

That sounds like a good idea actually, perhaps have like a challenge mode, where you have to play particular rivalries or attempt to re-create real events, although this would be a lot easier with a bit larger range of F1 seasons, as to be honest, there wasn't that much going on between 2000-2005.
My thoughts:
Drive as Mansell and attempt to beat his various rivals (Senna, Piquet, Prost).
Drive as either Hill or Schumacher and attempt to beat the other.
Attempt to match the real achievements of drivers who won in extraordinary circumstances (such as Olivier Panis Monaco 1996, Nigel Mansell Silverstone 1987, Damon Hill Hungaroring 1997, etc).

Or alternatively, you could just allow the player to create a custom driver and a custom rival and have them replace real life drivers. Then you could create what I think you're suggesting, with a constant story and rivalry throughout the game.

 

[JamboGT]

Hi all I just wanted to say thanks for your input. I have just created the first draft of my proposal document abd thought you would like to have a quick look.

As I say it is my first draft so go easy on me!

Games Proposal Document

Game Title

Formula 1 2009 LIVE

Target Demographic

Generally males the age of 12 and over.

Feature Summary

The game shall be an accurate simulation of the 2009 Formula One World Championship.

Main innovation is the LIVE system meaning you can join in actually qualifying sessions and races as they happen or take part in replays of the races run.

Using live data streamed from Formula1.com giving up to the minute qualifying times, weather data and race times you can race against Lewis Hamilton, Fernando Alonso and Kimi Raikkonen!

An intelligent assist system is available to make the game accessible for all from beginners to pros.

Seasons 2007 and 2008 also included for a comprehensive career mode!

Classic cars and tracks to unlock.

Genre similarities and differences.

And are a large number of F1 simulations on the market but none contain the official 2007 and 2008 cars and tracks whilst only one will have the 2009 options.

There are obvious similarities in that they are racing on World famous tracks in Formula 1 cars.

The differences will mainly be the innovative LIVE features that no other game uses as well as the access to classic cars and circuits of which there are only a handful of vintage cars in the similar games.


Innovation

Obviously in the racing genre it is very hard to have an original and innovative idea. The advances usually come in the form of more cars, better graphics, better physics. That is why I believe the idea put forward here, the LIVE aspect, is truly revolutionary. Many racing games have claimed to put you in the seat of your heroes but none have ever put you in the hotspot as much as this will.

Imagine a tense Qualifying session there it is the final session and it has been raining. The track is drying and you have seen Lewis Hamilton go out with slicks, the first driver to do so (this will be happening on a live video feed you can view in the pits). He immediately goes faster and all the drivers are pouring out onto the track, the AI matching the times set by the actual drivers and following the lines from GPS signals.

You have to go out, negotiate the tricky surface whilst looking for a gap in traffic to set a clean fast lap!

No other game would have this much excitement and tension and that is before a race even starts!

This is why I believe that this would truly revolutionise racing sims as we know it and it also taps into the growing popularity of F1 as a sport.

Also the career mode would be based over three seasons meaning that the cars would not be too repetitive. Further seasons could be made available as DLC to keep revenue streams coming in.


World Setting

The game is a sim set in real world tracks using cars modelled on the actual F1 cars used or being used in the 07, 08 and 09 seasons. The cars would be modelled accurately and would utilise a physics engine designed to be as similar as possible to the real thing, using input from current drivers to achieve this.


Main Characters

For the career mode you would have the option of creating a driver based on you using either image upload or by using a wide variety of tools to create the face you want. This would be used at the end of races for podium celebrations.

Also all drivers from the selected seasons would be available to use in their respective cars as well as some classic F1 aces.


Story

There would be no actual story as the game is a sim based racing game. However using the LIVE mode you would follow the story of the season as it happens.

Also the alternative career mode based on the seasons 2007-2009 would have options to elongate each season to three years, thus giving a career length of 9 years. During this you would have tests and opportunities with various teams as well as having a driver rivalry system. The story of this would be told in short fmv clips or newspaper clippings between races.

 

[Casio]

Need to further explain, why your target demographic is males over 12, what makes the game appeal to them over other demographics, is the game resticted solely to that demographic?

Also leave out the "I believe" a game proposal document generally shouldn't be done from the first person. And producers don't want to hear "I believe", "It will" is much more decisive.

Other than that it'd not so bad, just needs an increase in size of about a factor of 10. 👍 If you can find it I'm happy to send you the one I did last year, just to give a little idea.

 

[JamboGT]

Hey thanks for the input! Anything is a help, will sned you a pm with my email address and thanks for the offer!

On another note there is still a lot of work to do, just wanted to give those that helped some kind of idea as to where i was going with this. I personally would love to play a game that allowed me to do this!

 

[iwantdownload]

that sounds like literally the best game ever

 

[JamboGT]

I just remembered about this thread, I got the design document handed in, got 78% so went well. Its quite a large document but if anyone wants to read it I will see about uploading it.

 

[Raitziger]

Motions to based on physics more than animated events. Using physics many times leads to finding out funny features in games that won't happen when everything is "scripted".

 

[Golfman]

Variety, longevity, originality. That's all. If not original, then at least stick to the first two.

 

[LaBounti]

You are asking for too much . Kidding.
I prefer replayability over longevity. But the rest share a common interest.

But Golfman If you have not played Demon's Souls it may be right up your ally. Its hard as *$%@ but once you get better its unfolds into greatness.

 

[Golfman]

You are asking for too much . Kidding.
I prefer replayability over longevity. But the rest share a common interest.

But Golfman If you have not played Demon's Souls it may be right up your ally. Its hard as *$%@ but once you get better its unfolds into greatness.

Yeah, sorry. I do like replayability. I like to go over a game again and get stuff I missed, or have a game that offer's more the second or third time round. The things I want from a game are, in order of preference:

1)Variety. Keep us entertained all the way through by throwing in new stuff.
2)Longevity. Make it last. Anything less than 30 hours wont do.
3)Replayability. Finished? Give us an incentive to play through it again.
4)Originality. More difficult to do these days, but try to give us something we havent seen before.
5)Good visuals and sound. While not as important as the above, it helps to have a game that you can be proud to show off and that takes advantage of your console. Mine being the PS3, I hate it when developer's don't try as hard as they do on 360. Sad, but true. Thankfully, we're seeing less of that recently - the upcoming Crysis 2 is rumoured to be marginally better on Sony's machine. And Burnout Paradise was slicker or the PS3 than 360, and the recent FF game. Keep it up!