Topic: Let's make a Game Design Doc, guys! (Read 30391 times)

Boro_Bandito · « **on:** 27 Feb 2010, 20:33 »

This is where we come up with a design document created by the members of this forum! I was thinking recently that I wanted to get my creative juices flowing, but didn't feel like contributing to a Writing thread, so I figured this would be a really cool thing to do as a forum and still be creative. Through polls and discussion, we're going to pick all of the features that would go into making a hypothetically awesome game, every facet of game play and game design is going to be outlined in our design doc. We can go as in-depth as everyone wants to go, the more specific and fleshed-out our end result is the better!

First thing we need to do is pick what type of game we want to make. If you don't see the option you want up there already, nominate it and if someone seconds it I'll add it to the poll. Keep in mind the "type" that I'm using is different from the genre, a.k.a. fantasy, sci-fi, horror etc. That's all for the next poll.

Game Type: Role Playing Game/Adventure

Game Genre: Horror or Western

Next Step Guys! Write a 1 to two sentence pitch for a video game idea based upon the above (intentionally broad) categories. Because the game genre was tied for this round of voting, it can be either Horror, Western, or both!. It must be an RPG, and can but doesn't have to include Adventure elements in the pitch. Once your pitch is written, it needs to be nominated at least once by someone else, and then it will go into the next poll. Get writing!

JD · « **Reply #1 on:** 27 Feb 2010, 21:10 »

Let's make it an Arr Pee Gee

Jimmy the Squid · « **Reply #2 on:** 27 Feb 2010, 21:22 »

I'm going with Adventure but I mean that in the same vein as say, Legend of Zelda with like, puzzles and shit but also fighting bad guys and such. Totally open to an RPG though.

Dimmukane · « **Reply #3 on:** 27 Feb 2010, 22:17 »

I was thinking something along those lines, too.

Boro_Bandito · « **Reply #4 on:** 27 Feb 2010, 23:28 »

I'm also open to the idea of making a hybrid game, that's like two or more of the above.

KvP · « **Reply #5 on:** 27 Feb 2010, 23:48 »

I have made RPG design documents and let me tell you, you will get bored.

est · « **Reply #6 on:** 28 Feb 2010, 00:16 »

Putting the combat mechanics together, making sure it scales well with levelling and any items you pick up and then testing it over and over is a fucking drag.

est · « **Reply #7 on:** 28 Feb 2010, 00:16 »

Counterpoint: I love figuring out the maths behind it though, so that part of it is actually fun.

Inlander · « **Reply #8 on:** 28 Feb 2010, 00:42 »

Let's make a nice game where nobody gets killed.

Spluff · « **Reply #9 on:** 28 Feb 2010, 00:43 »

Car Salesman Simulator

scarred · « **Reply #10 on:** 28 Feb 2010, 01:33 »

Quote from: Jimmy the Squid on 27 Feb 2010, 21:22

I'm going with Adventure but I mean that in the same vein as say, Legend of Zelda with like, puzzles and shit but also fighting bad guys and such. Totally open to an RPG though.

yes yes action RPG plz

Storm Rider · « **Reply #11 on:** 28 Feb 2010, 02:43 »

I would make a Zybourne Clock joke but I don't think anybody else here would get it.

Melodic · « **Reply #12 on:** 28 Feb 2010, 02:49 »

we're gonna make a zombie game goddammit

McTaggart · « **Reply #13 on:** 28 Feb 2010, 03:49 »

I am so over zombies by now.

LTK · « **Reply #14 on:** 28 Feb 2010, 03:59 »

Adventure is defined vaguely enough that all of the others (except sports) could be an adventure game, so I'll go with that. And because I am totally sick of Dwarf politics in Dragon Age, I advocate linearity!

Inlander · « **Reply #15 on:** 28 Feb 2010, 04:41 »

Quote from: Spluff on 28 Feb 2010, 00:43

Car Salesman Simulator

Minigame: keep the pigeons from shitting on the cars in the lot!

smack that isaiah · « **Reply #16 on:** 28 Feb 2010, 09:37 »

Quote from: Spluff on 28 Feb 2010, 00:43

Car Salesman Stimulator

Is it bad that I read it that way first?
Is it worse if I have a friend who's in the process of becoming a car salesman?

snalin · « **Reply #17 on:** 28 Feb 2010, 13:14 »

MMOFPSRPG!

Ozymandias · « **Reply #18 on:** 28 Feb 2010, 13:19 »

FPS/Heavy Rain style adventure

Alex C · « **Reply #19 on:** 28 Feb 2010, 13:51 »

Eew, no.

KvP · « **Reply #20 on:** 28 Feb 2010, 14:09 »

To give everybody an idea of what goes into an RPG design doc, I've uploaded one that I made for Black Isle's Fallout 3 that hews very closely to the template of that game's other design docs. This is one area of about 16 or 17 in the game. In video game terms it would take up probably no more than 2 hours or so, although in pen and paper games you can easily stretch that out.

http://www.mediafire.com/?2dymtvdmymd

Ozymandias · « **Reply #21 on:** 28 Feb 2010, 14:37 »

EDIT: Doctor Who themed FPS/Heavy Rain style adventure game.

Boro_Bandito · « **Reply #22 on:** 28 Feb 2010, 15:13 »

Its looking like RPG is in the lead with Adventure trailing at a distant second, if people want to do a hybrid of those two then I'm down. And KvP, this is just a hypothetical game, when I say make a design doc, I don't mean we're going to put together something hundreds of pages long like for a real game, I'm thinking more of a semi-fleshed out concept that might be several pages in length, give or take depending how far people want to go with it.

I was hoping there'd be a few more strategy afficianados in the place, but I'm fairly open to any ideas so I'm not too stressed about it.

Inlander my perfect game is actually something along the lines of a cross between Animal Crossing/Harvest Moon/Creatures series and Viva Pinata. I didn't think anyone else here would really go for that though,

jhocking · « **Reply #23 on:** 28 Feb 2010, 16:41 »

Well if it's an RPG, here's a concrete list of decisions to focus this process:

What's the setting? (geographic location, time period, etc.)
How many characters will the player be in control of? (1, 3, an army, etc.)
Who is the main character?
What is the player's goal/why are these characters setting out on an adventure?
What is the central game mechanic? (turn-based combat, real-time strategy, something abstract like Puzzle Quest, etc.)

This is obviously not everything the game needs, just a good set of high-level issues to start discussing. Also, there's no specific reason the game has to have every one of these items, this is just a general list that would apply to most existing RPGs. For example, there doesn't need to be a main character; older RPGs in particular had the player define their entire party, so there wasn't any main character.

Spluff · « **Reply #24 on:** 28 Feb 2010, 20:01 »

Wild Western Action RPG

Johnny C · « **Reply #25 on:** 28 Feb 2010, 21:57 »

Quote from: Storm Rider on 28 Feb 2010, 02:43

I would make a Zybourne Clock joke but I don't think anybody else here would get it.

imagine three posts on the edge of a cliff

est · « **Reply #26 on:** 01 Mar 2010, 02:30 »

Quote from: KvP on 28 Feb 2010, 14:09

To give everybody an idea of what goes into an RPG design doc, I've uploaded one that I made for Black Isle's Fallout 3 that hews very closely to the template of that game's other design docs. This is one area of about 16 or 17 in the game. In video game terms it would take up probably no more than 2 hours or so, although in pen and paper games you can easily stretch that out.

That's about what I expected, actually. I've put together some plans for smallish mods to existing games that easily went for about 10-15 written/drawn pages, and that was for something about the size of a Dragon Age DLC pack or maybe even smaller.

That said though, it might be kind of fun to fuck around and put something together, even if it is something small and somewhat manageable.

Let's make an action rpg based on the smash hit 1994 JCVD movie TIMECOP.

est · « **Reply #27 on:** 01 Mar 2010, 02:30 »

MURDER IS FOREVER ... UNTIL NOW

scarred · « **Reply #28 on:** 01 Mar 2010, 03:50 »

Quote from: Ozymandias on 28 Feb 2010, 14:37

EDIT: Doctor Who themed FPS/Heavy Rain style adventure game.

yes

Sox · « **Reply #29 on:** 01 Mar 2010, 08:10 »

Quote from: Inlander on 28 Feb 2010, 00:42

Let's make a nice game where nobody gets killed.

Yeah, a nice non-game with no goal but is a neat little diversion nontheless.
Or a Wario Ware clone.
A friend is going to begin teaching me how to program these myself and we're going to develop some ideas as iPhone applications.

Storm Rider · « **Reply #30 on:** 01 Mar 2010, 11:27 »

Quote from: Johnny C on 28 Feb 2010, 21:57

Quote from: Storm Rider on 28 Feb 2010, 02:43
I would make a Zybourne Clock joke but I don't think anybody else here would get it.

imagine three posts on the edge of a cliff

Game design works the same way.

20 jazz funk greats · « **Reply #31 on:** 01 Mar 2010, 13:02 »

who the hell decided we need another generic rpg anyway. let's make something unique, like uh, okami or katamari or somethin'.
(i've never actually played katamari, but hey)

Ozymandias · « **Reply #32 on:** 01 Mar 2010, 13:09 »

Katamari Damacy RPG it is

Code: [Select]

A wild man in a bear costume appears! (2M)

What will the Prince of the Cosmos do?
 _____________________
| ROLL      ROLL      |
|                     |
|>ROLL      ROLL      |
|_____________________|

You roll at the man in a bear costume with your katamari! 

The man in a bear costume screams and is rolled up!

You gain 2M!

The King of All Cosmos appears!

The King of All Cosmos scoffs at your bear man!

CRITICAL HIT TO YOUR SELF ESTEEM!

You are dead!

20 jazz funk greats · « **Reply #33 on:** 01 Mar 2010, 13:10 »

ha. not quite what i had in mind but clever.
<3

Boro_Bandito · « **Reply #34 on:** 01 Mar 2010, 13:23 »

I just looked up Zybourne Clock and basically this was a terrible idea guys, lets all go home.

Ozymandias · « **Reply #35 on:** 01 Mar 2010, 13:51 »

Let's do a steampunk Katamari Damacy RPG where you play a Doctor Who themed FPS/Heavy Rain style adventure instead of rolling Katamaris.

evilbobthebob · « **Reply #36 on:** 01 Mar 2010, 15:30 »

Game design documents are so much fun. Oh, the times I've had planning a Star Wars RTS mod that includes four of the major eras (Jedi Civil War, Clone Wars, Galactic Civil War and the Thrawn Campaign, if you're interested). The light, specific intro document was 3 pages long, with charts and things. The long document is 27 pages long, but that's getting a little dated. Currently I'm writing the campaign document, which has to tie together around 4000 years of Star Wars history in an interesting and playable way. Previously I was working on the unit roster. Thankfully another guy on the mod team has done the maths as far as weaponry is concerned, so now it's a case of working out cost/damage effectiveness for every unit and balancing that out. We have around 90 units total.

Of course that's RTS. RPG is, I expect, similar in a number of respects, but the story has to be much better written and the characters have to be engaging. In RTS you tend to be busy killing them and everyone they know. Incidentally, a mod is probably the best way to actually achieve anything that gets planned as the result of this thread. If you manage to find a game that has a lot of the features you need, you're pretty much set. The next part is learning the game engine and putting a team together.

TLDR; I've written a bunch of design documents for a RTS mod. Modding is probably the best way to get any plans made here into fruition.

snalin · « **Reply #37 on:** 02 Mar 2010, 00:40 »

Star Wars RTS mod?

Drawing inspiration from that age of empires 2 star wars mod? It's probably the most well-done and exiting mod I've ever played for an RTS. So if you can do something similar.

What game are you modding?

Please tell me it's Rome.

evilbobthebob · « **Reply #38 on:** 02 Mar 2010, 01:46 »

Ohoh no. It's actually one of the many attempts to make Star Wars: Empire at War into a decent representation of the Star Wars universe. The mod has been going for years, but it only recently got anywhere, mostly due to a shortage of graphic artists and previous leaders' refusing to consider outside sources for models. It's going to be space-only in its first incarnation; apart from anything else, we've remade every single space map from scratch.

Rome: Total War would actually be completely terrible for Star Wars in a number of ways. First there's the whole lack of space battles; then there's the problem with the whole lasers thing; then there's making the campaign map resemble a galaxy and working out transport between planets. SW: EAW is just a lot easier to make mods like this. http://www.moddb.com/mods/ultimate-empire-at-war if you want to check it out; I do not recommend you download our old version, because basically it sucks.

20 jazz funk greats · « **Reply #39 on:** 02 Mar 2010, 09:23 »

Quote from: Inlander on 28 Feb 2010, 00:42

Let's make a nice game where nobody gets killed.

2nded.

audiosurf+frequency/amplitude+aion's custom character creation system.
not an mmo. no zombies.
someone make it happen.

Boro_Bandito · « **Reply #40 on:** 02 Mar 2010, 11:12 »

I'm not sure if I ever made my intentions clear, but I'm not actually suggesting that we actually make a game, guys. This is just an exercise in writing, in a way. If anyone here wants to take a concept further they can feel free, but I'm no game designer and I know jack about programming and the only art I know how to do is sculpture.

Alright with RPG firmly in the lead with 13 points and Adventure in second place with 6 I think I can close the poll, victory for Roleplaying Adventure game as our type of game. This is intentionally a very wide category choice and leaves a lot of room in it for interpretation, that we can narrow down later. Our next choice is what genre our game is, which is very important to setting, but still intentionally broad. If you don't see what genre you want on the poll, tell me and I'll add it. Keep in mind I'm talking in broad genre here, I consider zombie apocalypse a sub-genre of horror, for instance.

Scandanavian War Machine · « **Reply #41 on:** 02 Mar 2010, 11:29 »

how about a survival/adventure rpg-lite set in a high-society dinner party?

You have to wander around the party talking to people to maintain your interest, which is steadily depleting at all times. When it runs out, you fall asleep and become the laughing stock of the neighborhood.

How long can you last?!

Boro_Bandito · « **Reply #42 on:** 02 Mar 2010, 11:40 »

Mystery Added.

Storm Rider · « **Reply #43 on:** 02 Mar 2010, 12:51 »

How would a character creator in an Audiosurf-style game even work? I can't imagine that being anything other than entirely superfluous.

LTK · « **Reply #44 on:** 03 Mar 2010, 03:20 »

I assume the puzzle genre falls under Mystery, then. But what kind of genre is 'Modern', exactly?

Man, I'm usually full of game concepts but this time I'm drawing a complete blank. All I can think of now is what other games have done already. Hm...

Edit: There's one that came back to me. I thought about fantasy RPGs - you know, swords and bows and whatnot - and their xp-based leveling system. I've seen this implemented in two different ways: Either you grow more proficient in the skills you're actively using - fighting with an axe increases strength, for example - or you are given the points after you level up and you can distribute them at will. The former has my preference because it allows you to build your character's skills in the moment rather than doing the math on your character sheet every level. But what I have never seen is the development of proficiency in weapons, in the way your character initially sucks at shooting a bow (or is that shooting arrows?) but gets better the more you use it. I wonder if it's possible that you yourself have to learn it before your character can? Seems like something that Natal could do.

Boro_Bandito · « **Reply #45 on:** 03 Mar 2010, 14:12 »

This is really more genre in how it relates to setting, more than anything. Now that I think about it Modern doesn't really fit, nor does "historical".

I was thinking puzzle would be more related to how gameplay works out, should've been on the last poll, if it would be anywhere. Though if I were to fit it under a broader category would lean more towards how I imagine adventure games to be, with puzzle solving elements and whatnot.

Weapon proficiency and leveling up really brings me back to the days of skill based MUDs, where you'd hack at a rat for 40 times before you had enough proficiency to do any damage to it. Then there was the old Star Wars online method, where you'd pick a weapon to level up in, and you'd hit certain benchmarks that'd allow you to multiclass, get advanced class in something, etc. I really liked doing it that way, but the problem was I never knew really where to kill for my skill level, so I'd think it'd work better for a more linear, or at least offline experience.

scarred · « **Reply #46 on:** 03 Mar 2010, 14:13 »

STEAMPUNK

Boro_Bandito · « **Reply #47 on:** 03 Mar 2010, 14:44 »

We honestly need to track down whoever did their concept art because I really don't think we can top it.

Spluff · « **Reply #48 on:** 04 Mar 2010, 00:02 »

As if Western wouldn't be the best genre. I mean, fantasy is played out - we've got a chance to come up with whatever we want, no commerical limitations, and you want fantasy? Let's get away from swords, or elves, or magic. Horror is great, but an RPG hardly lends itself to horror as a genre. Sci-fi is cool, I have no problems with that and I would have voted for it if I didn't vote for Western. I'm not entirely sure what Modern is supposed to be, and Mystery is generally just used as an element of one of the other genres.

KvP · « **Reply #49 on:** 04 Mar 2010, 00:42 »

I think a horror RPG could be absolutely tops if done right. It was one of the reasons I got so bitter when the Aliens RPG got canceled (that and Alien is my favorite movie EVER) I mean, most horror games tend to go for the jump-scares and the creeping dread, but I think the most horrific thing about Dead Rising, for instance, was that you had to make decisions about who you were going to save. If the characters with lives on the line were actual fleshed out characters instead of just people you saved for points, I think that could be a really compelling game experience.

THESE FORUMS NOW CLOSED (read only)

Poll

What Genre Should Our Game Be?

Author Topic: Let's make a Game Design Doc, guys! (Read 30391 times)