Bethke, Chapter 8: The Games Design Document

The games design document in short details all the information about the game. It can be a more fleshed out version of the skeleton games concept that it was before in the initial stages. This should also outline to all the team members what features need to be implemented for the game.

The Games design document is part of a suite of documents, which include:

· Proposal document
· Art design document
· Technical design document
· Project schedule
· Software testing plan
· Risk mitigation plan

Within i the design document are various sections:

· Section 1: defining the game

Bethke, Chapter 7: Key Design Elements

Key design elements are:

· The business context is important as is the design shape, both are used to refine each other after each stage.

· Finance is also a big factor, which determines to what detail the game can be designed to.

· The design of the whole game will be based on a concise games concept.

· The theoretical games design.

· The technical design side of it.

· The software and approach used for the actual implementation.

· Appropriate prototypes.

· The games development teams i.e. the programmers, animators, actors etc.

· User requirements. This needs to be captured so that the game is user orientated.

· Brainstorming the features of the game by doing use case diagrams.

Studio 10: Scoping your own games concept in AGS

For this term i am required to come up with a games concept which can be implemented into my chosen game engine.
After working with AGS throughout this term, i have become very familiar and comfortable with it, thus it is natural that i use game engine to create my game.
knowing that this games engine is restrited in many ways, i will have to make sure the games concept keeps within these restrictions.
the idea i have is simple (considering the games engine) yet may contain complex interactions giving the user an enjoyable experience.

Concept

Alot of the games pre made on AGS use rooms as the context. i wanted to do something a bit different so i decided to do it within a maze. the character simply has to get through the different mazes , which increase in difficulty throughout. on their way they must collect 4 keys which are used to unlock each passage to the next maze. the purpose of the game is for the hero to get to his beloved who the bad guy has locked away in the final fortress maze. so basically he has to resue her. their will be no combat involved as the games engine does not allow for this. to stop the hero from accomplishing his quest will be the bad guys evil henchman which are scattered on each maze ready to pounce and 'kill' the hero.

Reading Week 1

After reading through chapter 3 of the bethke book, i was able to come up with these points (shown below) which portray why games development is hard:

· Only a few games are profitable, even the big names.
· A substantial plan is needed as to waste the minimum time and money.
· It’s difficult to predict the market in the games industry affecting if your game does well or not.
· Most games fail to meet their financial expectations, thus creating a loss.
· It is difficult to compete against the bigger established names in the industry.