Have you ever felt as though video game design was beyond your intellectual reach? Is it your fantasy to finally finish that incomplete design document? Have you ever felt it was your duty to answer the call of those needlessly completing terrible video games?
If so, you’re in luck. We’re going to design a video game.
In a series of Scrawl video game design seminars, you, the reader, will produce a video game design document. Everything – the mechanics, the narrative, the style – will be decided by you, the Scrawl readership.
Every week, a ‘seminar’ will be posted. You’ll be expected to contribute to that seminar in the comments below. You propose an idea, we approve it, and add it to the body of the next week’s post. Of course, just because an idea is carried forward doesn’t mean it’s immune to criticism. If you have an issue with one of the ideas, say so — we’ll amend the idea if we deem it to be a valid point. We’ll do our utmost to keep the process as transparent as possible.
Whilst we hold little doubt about your creative talents, me and Sal will carefully and impartially moderate every proposed idea. Only the most developed submissions will make it to the next seminar. So, the more considered and articulate the concept is, the more likely it is to migrate into the final document.
If the design progresses to a substantial level, Scrawl, as the document’s owners, will consider submitting it to a publisher with your approval. Why do we own the document? Well, it’s simple: any profit – no matter how insubstantial – derived from these ideas will be donated to a charity. Which, we don’t know. Again, you decide.
And because the first seminar may need a ‘warm-up’ period, there will be a two week interval until the next is posted.
This week, we’ll need to establish the game’s ‘focus’ (I’m desperately trying to avoid the word ‘genre’). Will our player be shooting things? Collecting items? Jumping platforms?
Be big, be bold, be beautiful.
While this sounds great, the general feeling of having someone else holding another person’s Design Document isn’t necessarily comfortable. Some people dump their heart into those very same documents, but not to have it moderated by someone else.
With that said, I can understand if some of the ideas being shot out aren’t completely genuine.
Wow, this sounds like a pretty neat little idea. I don’t think I’ll contribute much, as I working on a design document of my own for personal use, but I’ll definitely be watching to see what happens here.
I guess Ill break the ice here. Lets go for something unique. How bout a shooting platformer who collects items along the way? (collectibles, for achievements). Kind of like Bionic Commando, except not bad.
We won’t have him swinging, though, but thrusting in air. He can thrust forward, up, or down. Kind of like Pikachu’s agility in Super Smash Bros. He starts off with thrust then earns new abilities down the line.
Third-person then? Well, this thrust, what would power it? A jetpack? Or something else?
Natural ability? Something like this? http://i56.tinypic.com/295eaae.png
Maybe make him wind-oriented?
Low key, the whole ‘shooting’ aspect to games is ubiquitous this generation.
I agree with falsate…lets focus on something a little more unconventional than a shooter.
I’m thinking an RPG style, open ended world. Lets say its a mixture of an Action RPG Fighter. Think…Devil May Cry, in a Final Fantasy World, with real time Combat.
Hrm.
I’m honestly picturing FF Versus XIII when I read this.. Wouldn’t that essentially be an action RPG, with no need for inclusion of a fighter?
I guess the fighter inclusion was for a deeper feel of the combat. What I’m picturing in my mind is say…lets pretend We’re Dante, and Vergil and Nero are fallowing us around al la Final Fantasy VIII. The game could be both on a large scale, like Final Fantasy Versus XIII, but also take place in houses, small villages…pretty much bring back what Final Fantasy lost. Being action based, like being able to jump, and have magik say mapped to a couple face buttuns, along with melee attacks, we present an ACTION/RPG without the use of a sub-menu.
I like visually seeing who’s in my party out of Battle…that way, when the Battle starts, they’re either right there to help, (which makes sense if we can see the enemies) or we’re not surprised by a group of level 80 monsters when we’re trying to level up our level 30′s :S
Thanks for the response, folks!
@Falsate — I certainly understand your point. I didn’t mean the original post to sound so, well, serious? If people contribute, and then want said contribution to be revoked I’ll happily remove it.
Try and think of this as ‘a few friends in the pub discussing games’ vibe, I suppose. Even if you don’t contribute an idea, perhaps comment on the common flaws in video games today. Things to avoid, etc.
for my idea. i think we need more games that utilizes the Portable Ops/Peacewalker recruit system. imagine you can build an army the way you want. you can be offensive or deffensive like in AC Bloodlines.
you can send them anywhere in the map to provide you backup and supplies. i think a Dynasty Warriors/Samurai Warriors game would definitely benefit for this
or a drakengard game, with a dark atmosphere like demon souls but you control a more fierce dragon and the controls are just as good as panzer dragoon.
I love the recruit system in both games, and would love to see more of it implemented in other games as well.
Game play mechanics come first, so I recommend a game that does not involve single-button mashing. A game that utilizes strategy and thinking and also tells an engaging story is what I recommend.
The story needn’t be dramatic or grand; it just needs to pique and maintain the audience’s interest. Game play largely tells the story.
(I’m more of a scenario writer, not a game designer, so please pardon me.)
Regarding content being removed, there’s nary a problem with that. I’m only discussing the ingenuity of each individual who might be reticent when it comes to ideas.
On topic, I believe an Action RPG would certainly be interesting as gameplay should usually be the forefront of any video game. With that statement, it’s not meant in the context of inveighing the priority of narratives in a Video Game, but stating the player should participate strongly within it. One particularly Action RPG series that delivers with a multitude of gameplay elements is usually Kingdom Hearts. After the release of Birth by Sleep, the series experiences a change with excellent pacing and diversity (strictly regarding Gameplay elements).
As for the story, I have always cared much more about writing if the developers are equally focused on that aspect. Characters that build a healthy rapport amongst the player, follow up with a detailed back-story and show signs of dynamism. Some stories manifest themselves as an allusion to the real world, but collapse under their own pressure. Others fall prey to a lack of coherency and poor storytelling/plotting. This medium has yet to reach its peak (with respect to those who feel past generations have delivered), but we’d be certainly moving onto subjective matters. It’s important to encompass its key strengths and that is the ability to allow for player interaction and control. We’ll be taking this one at a time apparently, but hopefully we’ll cover the essentials in due time.
” Try and think of this as ‘a few friends in the pub discussing games’ vibe, I suppose. Even if you don’t contribute an idea, perhaps comment on the common flaws in video games today. Things to avoid, etc.”
Very much agreed. In fact, we should continually point out the triteness or shoehorning of any one idea.
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As Acerba said, the story does not need to be too dramatic or take itself too serious because we are playing a game in the end. I would definitely like to know which Themes and Philosophical Subjects (including contemporary works) will be present if under consideration. Personally, I love the mysteries of ontology but not to the point of evolving into convoluted matter. The presence of defining ‘being’ itself is such an abstract concept that we might not find ourselves agreeing in the very end. Symbolically, it’s why games allow for multiple outcomes and the weaving of different ideas. It’s possible to fit ‘a little something’ of everybody into a single game with a plethora of outcomes. That’s the strength of a video game if you ask me.
(And I’ve manage to write about more than the necessary). I understand the meaning of focus, but can this be narrowed down? I have read below some people questioning the scale of this game and I’d like to know as well.
With Objective = Focus. . .
I’ve always look at the majority of works in all mediums as falling under one of the following regarding the objective: Defend (Protecting), Retrieve (Obtain/Rescuing), or Destroy (Elimination). Each term is used loosely, but many different objectives can be summed up as either one or a combination of the above.
Defend: Character/Entity is out to defend something or someone. Example: Protecting a village or person from harm or something else.
Retrieve: Character/Entity is out to obtain or rescue something or someone. Example: The commonly used ‘Search for Power’.
Destroy: Character/Entity is out to eliminate something or someone.
Example: Killing something.
Eventually, all these in itself will fall back on that entity’s motives which can make or break disbelief. This is why I’m asking to define the scale of this project in order to sever the depth of certain thoughts.
Thanks, Falsate.
Thanks for your mammoth contributions.
What if ‘Retrieve’ is simply changed to ‘Find’ – the protaganist in fiction may also be seeking a certain place, rather than something tangible. Unless ‘Discovery’ is added.
This, to a certain degree, is why I didn’t add too much definition to the body of the main post. It would have restricted original thought and created a box for people to work in. As you can tell, this is an experimental idea for myself, and I will continue to refine it every seminar. If you have any more opinions on changing the format, let me know. I have already altered it, slightly.
I would explain the changes here, but sadly I have to be off to work! (On a Sunday, too)