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I get dozens of emails each week from people wanting me to consider their game ideas. I hate to ignore any email, but I ignore this kind. If someone sends me an idea, it tells me that they got excited about the title of this page but didn’t read the post itself. If they had, they would know that there is really no point in sending me game ideas.
The only way you will ever see your game on a screen is if you make it yourself.
For a more complete explanation of why this is so, see my article on Why Won’t Developers Listen to Your Game Idea?
Now on to the main post….
You have a brilliant idea for a video game. It’s creative, original, intriguing, and fun. You can picture it vividly—the breathtaking visuals, the jaw-dropping action scenes. You can’t wait to play it, and when you tell your friends about it they can’t wait to play it either. Your only problem is, you don’t own a game development studio. How do you get your game idea made?
Then you meet me. You find out I make games for a living, and before you can stop yourself you’re telling me about your idea. Your eyes get as wide as the twin moons over a desert planet, your hands scrub the air, spittle foams on your lip. I understand your game idea, I say it’s pretty good. Then you ask me, “What should I do to get a real game development company to make this game?”
How do I know you ask me this? Believe me, I know. I’ve worked in games for almost fifteen years and this is the number one question I’m asked. But no, that’s okay, it doesn’t bug me. Ask away—I’m happy to offer some advice.
I’m going to answer your question by asking you two questions. First: Is your idea really a game idea? Second: How are you going to climb the Ladder?
Is Your Idea a Game Idea?
Let’s start with the first question. You’ve got an idea for a “game.” My first question is: Is your idea really able to be made into a game?
When a game development team starts building a game, they start with a Game Design Document, or “GDD”. Usually this is a literal document but sometimes it’s a more informal thing: sketches, whiteboard drawings, memories of fevered conversations. But the best game studios strive to record their design in a written, illustrated document. In order to have even the remotest chance of getting your idea published you need to turn it into a GDD.
A game design is much more than a game idea. It’s a detailed specification for how the game should work. What does each button on the controller do? What does the HUD look like and what do each of the pieces do? How does enemy AI work? What pickups can players gather and what do they do? The game design describes every part of the game and tells how all the parts fit together to create a fun game.
This raises another question. What makes a fun game?
There are many possible answers to this question. No one has found a sure-fire formula for fun. Sid Meier says that a game is a series of interesting decisions, and this is a helpful starting point. Players have “fun” when they have to make choices. But not just any choices. Fun choices have to be intriguing, meaningful—interesting. How will your game design produce interesting choices for the player?
This is a hard question. Let me show you two examples that illustrate how hard this is.
The original Half-Life took the gameplay of Quake, then amplified and extended it in many ways. One of the ways they amplified the gameplay was to add a Reload button. Now ten years have gone by since Half-Life was released, and games like Halo have made Reload commonplace. But at the time it was a risky design. In earlier games you never had to reload, so Valve was making weapons harder to use. Players could easily get annoyed—”Why do I have to keep hitting Reload every ten seconds? None of the older games made me do this. Why can’t the gun just reload itself?”
Valve took a gamble on reload and the gamble paid off. Players loved Reload even though it made more work for them. Why? Because Reload creates interesting decisions.
When you’re fighting enemies and your gun has a little ammo left you don’t want to spend the time reloading. If you’re sure the area is clear of enemies you will reload. But what about those times when you’d like to reload but you’re not sure whether an enemy is about to pop out at you? Then the choice of whether to reload becomes an interesting decision.
Half-Life was more fun as a result of Reload even though Reload made the game harder. Now let’s look at another example.
Doom 3′s design called for the game to be set in darkness. Many of the rooms had only one light and some were completely black. To counteract this, the game gave the player a flashlight that could be used to light up any environment. Yet the player could not shine his flashlight and wield a weapon at the same time. This created a decision: do you want light or protection?
Many players hated this game feature. It seemed arbitrary and unrealistic. It often put players into impossible situations where they could either see their enemies or fight them but not both. Players would find themselves either staring helplessly at oncoming bad guys or blasting away into blackness.
Half-Life’s reload feature and Doom 3′s light feature are similar in many ways, but one of them was fun and the other was not. If you can understand exactly why that is, you’re one step closer to turning your game idea into a winning game design.
Most game designs also talk about the game’s setting, story, and characters. But I want to stress that this part of the game design usually accounts for less than a fourth of the total document. When people tell me their game ideas, usually their idea is 99% setting and story and only 1% gameplay. I have to tell them that they don’t have a game idea—they have a story idea. A game design is not a story design. If you want your idea made into a game, you’ll have to fill out the details about how the game actually plays—what the player actually does, how he moves his character, how he interacts with the world.
It’s hard for most people to think through how a game should actually play. Here’s a helpful hint for how to do this. Write a “Five Minutes of Gameplay” document. A lot of studios require this, and it’ll help you think through your game.
In this document, you’ll describe, in absolute detail, what a player does in your game for about five minutes of play. When I say detail, I mean detail. Don’t say, “The player goes North.” Say, “The player pushes forward on the left joystick.” Don’t talk about what the player thinks or decides: just show what he sees and describe what he does with his hands. If you can describe five minutes of your game’s gameplay in that kind of detail, you’re well on your way to writing a great GDD. In fact, you can put your “Five Minutes of Gameplay” document into your GDD as a kind of overview of the game.
How Will You Climb the Ladder?
You are not the only person in the world with a brilliant game idea. There are hundreds of thousands—perhaps millions—of gamers all over the globe who have ideas for games. How are you going to make your idea stand out? How will you get it to be one of the few that actually gets made?
You need to be realistic about this challenge. There are perhaps 8,000 people working in the game industry right now. Most of those people have their own game ideas that they want to make. They’re not sitting around wishing someone would give them a great idea. They’ve already got ideas and are just waiting to get the power and status and respect to form a team to get them made. So these people—game developers like me—are your competition.
And if you’re not already working for a game company, you’re at a disadvantage. A professional game developer has all the connections. He can walk across the hall and talk to a potential financier for his game—someone who knows and trusts him. A professional game developer also has expertise. He knows how games are made. So if you’re not already making games for a living, you have 8,000 other game designers ahead of you in the queue.
In fact, even if you’re already a professional game developer you have a huge mountain to climb. Very few people in the industry get to run their own game project. Of the few that do, many of those projects are based on movies, TV shows, and other properties, so even the project leader has little creative control.
So there is a tiny, tiny fraction of people who have game ideas and actually get to make them. Yet even then their job isn’t easy. They have to sell their game to publishers, explain and re-explain it to their teams, and ultimately convince gamers that their idea deserves the $50 it costs to play it.
There’s a huge ladder above you—a huge pile of people you have to compete with, overcome, work with, and convince. How are you going to climb it?
It is possible to climb it. Some people do. I did. In fact there are two different strategies for how to get to the top of the ladder and make your game.
The first strategy is to work your way up. I studied computer science in college. Along with my studies, I also did extra work teaching myself linear algebra, C++, 3D rendering, and game programming. By the time I graduated from college I had written two game demos. I showed them to game development studios and before I even graduated I had landed my dream job working for Origin Systems—at that time, the biggest game developer in the world. I worked as a programmer for a few years, then moved up to lead programmer and ultimately producer and director. I worked for four different companies on a dozen different projects, many of which were canceled. But a few projects shipped and a few did well, so I was able to keep climbing. It took ten years, but I got to design games and lead large projects. If you have the talent, the dedication, and the people skills, you can climb the ladder this way.
One step you can take that will shorten your ladder-climbing journey is to study at a game development education program like the Guildhall. I teach game programming at the Guildhall, so maybe I’m a little biased. But every one of the programmers we’ve graduated so far has gotten a good job in a real game development company, so obviously we’re doing something right.
No matter how you start, getting to the top of the game industry is a hard, long, difficult climb. If you want to make big, sophisticated, AAA titles, it’s the only way to go. But if you’re willing to make smaller games there’s another strategy that is both easier and faster.
The casual game market is growing rapidly and offers lots of opportunity. Casual games are the sort of simple, quick games you play on websites like Armor Games or Shockwave or on your cell phone. They’re usually created in Flash or Java and are relatively easy to make. In the last couple of years I’ve made a dozen or so Flash games, and they’re a lot of fun to make and play. Best of all, you can make a game all by yourself or with just a couple of friends. You don’t need millions of dollars, a hard-to-find game job, or even a publisher. You just do it!
There’s even money in it. If your games get popular enough they can get sponsored by a website. Websites will usually give you either an up-front license fee or a cut of the money that they receive from advertising. You’d have to make a lot of games every year to make a living this way, but it can be done.
Casual games are a tremendous opportunity. The downside is that they’re casual. They’re not big, grand, gorgeous experiences like BioShock or Fallout 3. If you can be happy just making modest, simple, fun games, you can be happy in the casual game market.
Whether you decide to climb the big ladder to making big games or the small ladder to making small games, you can get your game idea made if you work hard and stick with it. No matter whether you decide to make big games or small games, you have to start with more than just an idea. You have to turn your game ideas into game designs by thinking through the details of how your game actually plays and by discovering how to make it fun. This skill, too, comes with practice.
Best wishes as you start your journey. Drop me a line when you have questions. Let me know about your successes and I’ll celebrate with you.
Good luck!
238 Comments
Hi. I’m currently studying to be an art major (freshman in collage), and as of right now, concept art, story-boarding, and prop making interest me the most as far as career’s go.
now personally, i have two ideas for video games, one of which I’m trying to base mostly on tried and true methods, with a single major twist, and is meant to build upon the recent success and innovation’s in the survival horror genre. the setting being a city full of hallucinogenic gas, and you having a gas mask that lets you swap between the real world and the hallucinatory one for a certain amount of time, with difficulty progression increasing as the city grows increasingly dangerous as it falls into chaos, and the character becomes increasingly addicted to the gas, forcing you to reduce time spent wearing the gas mask by experiencing violent withdraw symptoms. many things are meant to be taken deadly serious, with such occurrences as accidentally killing schoolchildren under the gases effects helping to give you an idea of the dark tone this game should have, but the main draw should be how the real world, and the hallucinatory one interact with one another. the hallucinations are often caused by visual cues in the real world. for instance a poster of a t-rex in a window can have you fleeing for your life from an imaginary t-rex, or my personal favorite, a rambleing woman screams to you that there are bugs, giant bugs everywhere, which makes you start to see the bugs as well, and as she hysterically explains what these”bugs” look like, the bugs around you will actually change to match her description of them. but why would you every take the mask off then if you’ll have to face these monsters you might ask, well im working on it, but right now my best explanation is that, you know when you get really drunk, and then wake up somewhere with no idea how you got there? yeah, its like that. when you get stuck in the real world, you can escape by going to the hallucinatory one, and vice versa. (i have much more to say but i’ll get on with the other one, and try to keep this one shorter)
the second is meant primarily as a sturdy storyline that provides as many opportunity’s as i could think of for developers to show off graphics, backgrounds, characters, and enemy’s, partially by trying to minimize pickup clutter (no guns on the sidewalk, very few corpses would remain after death, and no mass of glowing orbs to pick up, like in god of war for example, which would also mean fewer cookie cutter items like vases to smash, whether that’s a good or a bad thing I’m not entirely sure, but the level progression i had in mind doesn’t really lend itself well to that sort of thing), partially by setting up a few character creation contest’s, and partially by giving a story based reason to allow for a great deal of variation in both scenery and character design . Unique, but at the same time familiar and accessible, with a flexible enough story to allow for plenty of tinkering according to the desires of those creating it. Although admittedly there’s still a great deal of emphasis on getting just the right voice actor for the main role, because that’s where most of the humor comes from (i imagine this game as a very tongue in cheek one, and try to gear it towards that outcome so that the main character will be considerably more memorable, and so that the game will be funny, because i like funny things), since originally the concept was for a comic book (not the super hero kind, i swear.), but then i realized that the diolauge was more suited towards being spoken rather than written, but the story was too lengthy for a movie, and there is no way they could get those kind of effects in a tv series, and then there was the whole, giant enemy’s being suspiciously like boss battles, before i realized; you know what, I’m writing a video game and i didn’t even know it….
aaaaaannnd, I’m rambling.
but MAN! do i want to talk about these games. must…. refrain… from doing…. so….
so i guess i’ll just point out that
!!!!!!!MAIN QUESTION HERE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Since its painfully obvious that my ideas will probably amount to a total of jack and squat, what if i wanted to pitch something much smaller, say, a level design for an underwater portion of a game that focused on navigating a character up a large cylindrical room with various glass windows that would be destroyed by a large creature outside as the character (or possibly an npc) walked past them (resulting in them being promptly eaten unless, say, a quicktime event is successfully completed), causing the room to fill at varying speeds depending on how far above the steadily rising water line the window was broken, with windows below the water line not affecting the speed of which the water rises and with with the high pressure torrents of water above the water level having the added option of potentially blocking pathways by forcing the character into the water below if they attempted to walk through them where they could potentially be eaten, with certain puzzle elements actually forcing the character to lure the creature to higher levels, then leap off into the water and swim to an otherwise unreachable platform/walkway before the creature makes it back down to the water line and eats you?
You know what, i suck at summarizing, and have too many ideas for my own good. i just…
i don’t know if my ideas are any good or not. In all honesty i don’t know anyone who cares enough to give honest feedback, or knows enough to give particularly helpful feedback, because im sorry, but “yeah i would totally play that game!” doesn’t help me at all when what i really need to know is “will this particular character translate well into a 3D perspective?” or “is this scenario going too far to be funny?” and especially “how the hell am i supposed to translate this techno jargon to figure out whether i can actually do this on a computer? just how hard is it to create good looking smoke!” and its great to read from someone who knows what they’re doing in a genre I’m actually interested in, rather than people who’s dream is to teach, rather than do, or strive to settle for less than what they actually wanted. And i just hate the feeling that I’m going to be sucked into that because i just couldn’t try hard enough, or didn’t start early enough, or couldn’t find the right people. I’ve already been told “they’re called starving artist’s for a reason” and “oh you could never be THAT good, you’d better do something else.” for most of my life. I don’t want them to be right. But if they are, then, well… sooner’s better than later when it comes to completely replacing your goals in life.
i just can’t shut up can i? which is especially weird since most of the time you can barely get me to say two words to somebody. but hey, its videogames, one of the greatest art forms the modern day has to offer (despite stupid arguments to the contrary), so you should probably just count your losses and be happy i didn’t type three (or four) times this amount about how much of an honor it would be to be a part of some masterpiece of gaming and exactly what i thought i had to contribute to the industry(or that i didn’t go into how much i want to be a part of the creative team in charge of a clever children’s cartoon or animated movie, which is pretty much on par with being a part of a team that designs video games).
sorry if i wasted your time, aww who am i kidding, THAT i wasted your time, and thank you if you read this far. i know how rare and difficult that is in the era of 140 characters or less, but once again, thanks.
Could you please explain your question more thoroughly?
I actually think your hallucinogenic gas concept is awesome. I’d love to see that in action. It really is a genius concept. The question, of course, is execution. Getting yourself into a position to actually make that idea will be a long process. You’ll have to learn to love the process itself or you’ll simply give up. So my best advice is to learn to make games, learn to love making games, and then perhaps eventually you’ll get to make the game you love most of all.
hi jeff im eleven and a made a game up for 3ds only its a fighting game called kids super fighting torement theres only 28 charaters and two lendary people called shawn and kevin and you can design your own charater and fight thorght people and wifi battles to and add friends so can you please acsppect it.
I think you’d need more information bud. Just saying
Hey I am trying to make games also, I have lots of ideas but I suck at art, I was thinking if you would like to team up, we could work on it together and work our way up the ladder to make a game. Your gas mask idea sounds awesome. Do you have a Facebook so we can continue talking if you would like to.
Hey kid – watch out for pedophiles trying to pose as interested in helping you build your game – stranger danger. Don’t give your FACEBOOK info to STRANGERS.
Would it be possible to outsource thru various NDA’S and if so would it be possible to put together a team and what would cost of such be. Also who would I need to hire first. Producer, programmer, etc…
I agree also that Grace’s gas mask video game idea is great..so much so that I would think someone may steal the idea if it stays on line…
But to Jeff:
Thanks a lot for writing these tips…I have an idea for a game as well…I feel so strongly about it that I’ll be working on on the GDD right away. My only question is regarding the outline of the GDD..your explanation above is very helpful, however I would love to use an example of a finished GDD as a reference while I’m creating my own…..are there any examples you may be able to point me to? Any available ones on line?
My background is no where near the game industry…I work in Medical billing and am not attending college at the moment…I don’t even play video games as much as I use to anymore…but I do feel passionate about my idea because primarily because of one word that comes to mind: “fun” …the game I’m thinking of would be marketed more to adult males and will bring to life an imaginary playground game EVERY guy in the world played as a kid….
Thanks…..I appreciate your help in advance
Jovani
How do you keep a company or programmer from just stealing your idea and leaving you out.
Hi Jeff,
Thank you for you articles of insights on the gaming industry. Your articles of insight have been much appreciated. Some of these posts and replies were definitely interesting to read; many hopeful, aspiring game designers.
I have some questions:
1. I have been told from a family friend who worked for EA, that when you are hired by a video game company, you sign an exclusivity clause that states that any work you do while you are under their employment is the company’s. How can you safe guard your project from your employer if they deny wanting to produce and publish your game?
2. You have made mention of Unity as a favorite program for would be game developers; what is the industry standard currently for consoles? Is it still the Unreal Engine for AAA titles?
3. Do you have any other sources you can refer me to that deal with creating a 3D game?
You’re input and suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Keep up the good work friend!
Ya know, its kinda funny when you say that most game ideas are “99% setting and story and only 1% gameplay” because its completely backwards for me. I have a (or at least what i consider to be) an amazing idea for an MMORPG, i already know how almost all of my gameplay will be like but i have absolutely no idea what the story, setting, races, or anything like that will be.
I suppose that’s also why i’m reading your article, so i can know how to get my idea out there, or at least get a basic understanding of it.
Hi I have a idea for a game taking place in the time of Sparta. It involves helping Sparta and other people or Greek gods fight off mortals cursed by hatease. This game allowes you to to play as a half blood of one of the major gods and work your way up to a god as you slay zombies,save gods,and fight bosses like cursed minor gods. I was also thinking of a side mode wear you could create a empire,pick a god to follow,and fight zombies. If my game were to be successful I would name it age of the undead
I’m going to keep this short. Honestly I get more ideas than normal people do and I come up with a lot of game ideas I’ve even tried 2 make them myself with unity but I don’t get very far my latest idea is for a mmorpg I can wright much more but the fact is I can wright down every little quest item weapon skill dungeon monster npc and the list goes on I have the whole game layed out just want to know how can I get help to get the game made or what can I do with my idea becuase (my brain doesn’t stop working)I would studie but no money for it so I need some advice what 2 do with this game idea/ready to be made game and I can go very deep into detail about everything in the game I would even sketch the cretures and stuf but my drawing skills are not that good thank you very much.
http://www.jeffwofford.com/?p=151
Though I read the message you posted on the particular website, I have a nice idea for a game.
First, though, I neeed to know how to develope it alot more. And also, it is sure to make a smile.
Starlight
Is a Role-playing,action, and mind twisting game.
It al starts when a young boy named Tamaki starts practicing his achery. The a comet falls out of nowhere into his backyard. He see that green acid and twelve constellations come up. The costellation the comes too him is CAPRiCORN. Next he inherited the powers. He now notices that eleven other comets come someplace else in the world. As soon as his teacher comes he talks to him about this stuff. Then the costellation Persius comes up and gets angry. So he challenge him to a fight.( Instructions ) When he wins the Celestial spirit forms into a ball equalling a element. The element he get is metal. He adds it on to the other for. ( Water, earth, fire, air ). So on and so fourth.
Starlight II Devouation town.
After his battle with John, Tamaki goes on to Devou island. He soon meets soon adventures. Like his first one. Still only owning one constellation, His first battle is with his brother Crow.( Instrutions )
When he wins his brother retreats into the air. He soon gets a letter from his archery teacher. The letter says.
Come with me to the new galaxy called Core. This galaxy has promblems and we need help.
When he reaches the galaxy which is called Devouation town he meets his archery teacher. So on and so fourth
Starlight III Wizard mix.
When Tamaki finally deafeats Crow, He is done with the Constellations. He now gets a wand with a sharp tip at the end. He now knows that he is a wizard. Also John and others have the wizard power. They soon no of the evil Hades ( greek mythology ) coming to destroy all galxy. They four join forces to deafeat him.
After the deafeat of Hades, They all meet Crow. They all battle along and have fun. IN wizard mix they five all reatreat back to Devouation Island. And find greater evil. They sense its HAdes again but this time Something darker….Evil Zeus.
Thats it. By the way Iam Nine.
i dont care if i get paid for my ideas or not or it might be stolen, i just want to see its made n i can play it.. im a fan of mmorpg’s n i think mmorpg should have more in terms of player customization, honestly when a gamer creates a character they put their effort into in making the character as detailed as they want, voice, hairstyles,body, everything was done carefully so i think developers should concentrate more on that to give more choices when customizing character. second thing i noticed while playing ,most games lack the ability to make player create stuff on their own, weapons,armor or skill customization, most of the are preset, n for me following other peoples build is boring, its doesnt make players unique, changing colors on gear freely so that it looks different from others would truly makes a difference in gameplay. it gives player chance to show their creativity.. the surroundings should also have a mind on its own, weather changes, day n night etc should also be taken into consideration
Hi,
I have been thinking about an epic video game idea. You get to ride real cars from all around the world like BMW, Ferrari, and etc. The Map is the whole entire world. You get to drive real planes and real airlines, like a380 Lufthansa, Embraer 190 Air Canada, etc. If you are flying to somewhere, it will take you real flying time. You can save your game whenever you want and you can load where you lef off.
Thank you and I will be waiting for a feedback.
At first i just would like to say thank you for publishing this. it seems that you are quite supportive to poeple who would like to create games. I am an 18 year old going into university next year to study psychology. However, i love writing stories and books. Ive noticed that games such as assassins creed, fall out and halo draw the audience in with their gameplay and story. i usually wiki the background information of most games i play. I would love to see a story of mine turned into a game. To see people interact with a world i have created is the dream. im also a poet and making the audience feel what im saying is a big thing. i was wondering if there was any advice for someone like me. i also draw locations and imgages or characters that i right about.
Thank you for your time
Hello Sir,
I work as a 2d Vector Game Artist. It’s my first job and I’m starting my career with the Game Industry. I have read along and learned that you have been with Gaming for quite a really long while now, I was just wondering, how does the Art side of the Gaming industry rank up the ladders as well? I know there would be things such as being a Lead Artist, a Concept Artist, an Environment Artist, an Asset Artist, so on and so forth. . .
My question is, what should I aim for as the best spot on top of the ladder. What are the things that I might/can/ and will be able to achieve with the art side of games– or is there more than just staying with this branch of games. What is the THE TOP in the career path that I have entered.
Thank you so much for reading through this.
Sincerely,
This is very information, Jeff.
I have a question. I am in the process of writing a Game Design Document, currently on page 63 (have yet to add images for reference and other such info), and it covers everything from environment to combat. The process that I’m using for the document is to write it all myself, and once done, I’ll include a friend of mine (knows about the document because I explained a lot of it to him, but he hasn’t seen it yet) to revise it along with me. The idea is to end up adding/modifying certain things to make a more solid game model.
Our game is like nothing that has ever done before, and while some of the mechanics have been present in many other games, we have combined them from many sources.
That’s fine, but the problem is our game is based on an existing franchise. We would never even attempt to make this thing without their help, and the crude reality is that this is probably never going to happen. However, I am willing to even put in more hours at work and hire programers/artists to get some sort small playable demo that looks good and plays somewhat similar to what I want the game to play like.
Question: If I approached the people who own the franchise with the document and the super short playable demo that I will be dedicated to to look/play very well, is there a chance I might catch their eye and something might happen?
I would say so. Directly approaching the owners of the franchise with a concrete, playable demo could sell them on the idea of making a game.
Thank you!
Hi
I have this game idea, it’s not to make me get a job or anything like that I just want someone to take the idea and make it how or better. But I don’t know who to contact? Any ideas?
Hey I got this idea. I watched the movie wall-e and at the end they go to earth and start creating the world again. so the game would be about them creating the world again.
You could have:
Houses for humans
Robot houses
Robot repair
Human hospital
A farm
And a well
Everything that was also in the movie kinda like the Simpsons tapped out but nothing like it because it is copyrighting but ya. New at this. But obviously you control their actions.
If you questions e mail me. Tra311@hotmail.com
Hey have to say I’m a big fan of the zulu wars and the history of the war but the thing is I’d love to play a Role-playing zulu game on ps3. I’d like to be able to pick as many men as I want for a fight and also be able to control a guy and be able to fight that way. Could such a game ever come out?
Hi Jeff, thank you for sharing this with me/everyone. It was really helpful, I need to start making a G.D.D. I did start thinking of the idea and I am starting it. I have been using U.D.K, right now and I’m just working on the map for the game. I am trying to save up enough money to get 3D Max, so I can start making characters, buildings and environment look more realistic, but 3D Max is quite expensive so I’m also saving up to do my G.C.S.E’s and then heading onto college courses that involve game designing.
I keep thinking though, what if I do head onto college courses that involve game designing and I never make it onto working for game developers. Then I wasted years of my life trying to work for something I will probably never get onto. It is a little stressing to think about what else I would want to do and the only thing I ever thought about was game designing. Well wish me luck and thanks again for telling me/us about your experiences and giving us tips about designing our games.
Hello Jeff,
I have had experience making games in Game Maker and I have experience reviewing games on the internet, so I do understand most of the parts required in making a game. I am a passionate fan of RPGs, and soon enough a design document was borne out of my passion, basically describing everything I would want in an RPG as a fan of such games. I am a writer, so I payed close attention to storyline, and I am a competant artist, and have strong connections in the Deviantart community, so I know many talented people who could revamp my art.
I realize that getting funding will be almost impossible for my game unless I decide to give up pusuing writing as a profession and spending many years in the industry, so I want to produce the game as cheaply as possible. I plan to teach myself Blender with the help of some of my friends in the MMD community, so I could in fact make the models myself. I do have a programmer who knows Java, so the game, slowly but surely, might just hapoen. I will definately animate everything as I have had experience with stopmotion before (it was a hobby of mine), and for believable cutscenes I am prepared to combine the power of Flash with Adobe After Effects for the best quality cutscenes I can get. I have several musicians in my life who can help, some of whom have already completed tracks for the game.
My question is this: Do you personally think Java can handle all this? Flash animations, and Blender Models given the best textures I can muster seem a bit much.
Hey I’m a person who wants to make games, yet I have no experience with programs if you would like can we talk so we can see if we can work together?
Hi Jeff! I a 14 year old freshman and I wanna know what classes I need to take in order to be a professional game designer. I also have an idea for Naruto Clash of Ninja Revolution 4, except I dont know if that’s a game or story idea. Also, how will I get anyone to read my ideas??? Ive typed up a paper of my ideas, storyline, characters, their techniques, and a 5 mintues of gameplay sheet too. Can u please help me? I would really love if you respond so I’ll know what to do. If u want, I could send u my idea paper just so you’ll know what i’m talking about :p thanks!
I just want to play a game that’s just like life. You work out get a job go to jail stuff like that.
And its all online be a really cool game just saying
hi i have a great game idea and i know that you get a lot of game idea’s but plz read this.
so you start at the front screen there it sais free play, tournament, mission and shop if you click on free play it will let you pick the level at which the zombies walk at or how many hits it takes to kill one. it is a multiplayer game si anyone can come in to your game.when the game actually starts it gives you a time limit to get resouces (guns, food, shelter) before the zombies come.
the map is the real map it will use google maps or something to make it so the store in your neighbor hood are in the game place in the game. then when the time limit is over zombies come in and the first ones are programmed but when they bight you become a zombie and have to kill other humans. as a human you can make friends so you are not alone having to kill all zombies by your self. Tournament is the same thing but the host gets to pick how long the game will last and when that time has past the last man standing wins a prize and can buy weapon in shop. if you buy a weapon it will let you start out with the weapon so you dont have to go get a weapon or if you join the game late you wont have to run from zombies
thank you very much plz email me i would love to meet up with you. i think you know my email because it asked me to give it at the begining.
I would like to play a game that is on a network such as ps3 or Xbox what my idea is that you are trying I survive the zombie apocalypse but the cool part is that you re online with friends and can make a team then try to survive as long as possible you get to pick different skills such as to be a doctor or a ex marine but u get to create what your character looks like u can pick a certain city you wanna be in and you can have up to 5 people in your team and u can go out to scavenge for stuff and you can also pick out a building that you want or you can go out and find the resources yourself to build a place to stay but your team should have a supply of a special zombie medicine so if a person gets bit they can fix them but if they are to far gone they will just stay zombies and your team can choose to kill you or keep you and it will just be a giant interactive game like here’s the types of people you can be a doctor, ex marine, scientist, hunter, crafter/constructer and u can be man, woman, black, white, Mexican, or Asian those are just your skill sets u can pick your height muscle mass and whole bunch of other stuff you should be able to have pets also only 5 though for each person and you have to find the pets and tame them it can be any animal you find like if you find a horse u can ride it but if u have a eagle it will just fly around and and as you can see I have put a lot of thought into this game and would love to see a game like this and I think it would be the greatest game of all time
Hi. I’m sorry to bother you. I’m on my way to be a concept artist. I will take a drawing degree, I will also do the Online CGMA Entertaiment Design Program (at the same time). I did a graphic design course during my hi-school and I’ve done some work on that. I know Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, ZBrush and 3D Max . But the main question is, I’m on this path to put myself in the industry through a field that I love – art. But I my dream is to be able to see my videogames ideias on the market. Do you think concept art is a good way to start? I am 21 years old now. I don’t want to waste my time on something that won’t get me where I want to be.
Hey Jeff,
That was a good read and it compelled me to share our current project with you. As developers our job is to make products with the tools we have available, or tools we make, to ease the burden of development.
The question we see is, if development and publishing is so difficult, that only trained professionals and large budgets can enter the market place, what does that say about the tools that are currently being used to create games?
With 14 years of game dev experience, we’ve used plenty of tools, made them and been crushed by them. heh. Difficult, yes, but inspiring, absolutely!
It’s from those experiences, we created an app for game development that makes it as easy as taking a picture, called ‘Build A Game’. It enables you to develop and deploy your games with no programming.
http://www.buildagameuniverse.com – short plug
If we view interactive media as our generations form of communication, then we must enable people with the tools to express themselves in what is our most powerful medium to date. The right tools enable people from all walks of life. Just consider the camera. If there were no ‘auto’ option and everyone had to set all the options for every picture or darkrooms were still the only way to ‘print’ your pictures, it would still be a trade limited to only trained professionals. Where would the flickr/ facebook / etc be? Great tools enable people to interface with complex and challenging environments and not even think about it.
The more we focus on the tools to enable the next generation to speak and share their lives and ideas the greater this medium will become.
Just my two cents-
Take care,
Eric
ok, so a buddy and i came up with a pretty cool idea for a realistic video game consisting of diesel trucks, ricing , sled pulling, dyno competitions, show and shine as well as like Diesel Power challenges… i have no desire to collect on any kind of finders fee stuff.. just would really like for a company to come out with such a game.. and make it real.. with all the performance parts companies, sponsors, epa law enforcement, speeding laws, and all that…ford, chevy, dodge all out
I have a few ideas for games but I live. In SA no game designers here so I’m stuck but any way let’s hope some one takes my idea and makes it real the game. Is gona be a mmorpg the map area should be enormous you start off at a random area on the map it can be in a town,forrest,sewer the whole place is invested with zombies there is a story line but it must be so difficult that its only. Possble to do. If. You form a team of around 6 people so you must survive in an abandond world and find other sirvivors but one player can kill another for his loot witch could be ammo,armur,guns,food or even just to build up a reputation as players play through the area they get ranked on points and so more areas open to them with worse enamies but if you die you start from the biggining thus making you unuqe,you can be a thief,hero,loner,groupie or even just form a base in an abandond building where only crtain people are alowed..so that’s ike a short sumary hope it gets made the games of today are so short like 10h of play and I’m already of to the shop to buy another game the only games so far to keep me bizzy for long was finalfantasy,fable,oblithion
Lets say I had the ideal, and I wasn’t iterested on makeing it big, or saleing it. And I have no problem using work from other game to make it simpler. Can I just pay someone to make it for me? How much would it be on average? And would some legal issue hold me back? Thanck u for you time.
Hi..You said that you make games for a living…Well I have an idea for a game.. I was drawing a comic strip one day and I drew a girl playing a video game. Called ZombKill (The combination of the words Zombie and Killing..) It came to me and I thought, Dude, I love to play video games in my free time when I’m not drawing, only problem is that I don’t know how to make a video game.. The game would be a RPG and it would have Autosave points all throughout the game. It would have options to make your character look like you, or as close as the options would allow, since some games are very limited in detail. It would be a mix of Anime and Real life type art, setting and Fantasy. There would be health, stamina, points and experience, sort of combining elements that are used in both borderlands and Legend of Zelda Skyward Sword. Post apocolyptic Setting. It could be multiplayer or online or single player. Intro: Cutscene: Setting: At a park with some people having a picnic, When all of a sudden a zombie off in the distance starts running through the park strait towards you and your friends and attacks the person closest to you and then blood splatter across the screen and then the Introduction Opening and Opening Music to the Begining of the Game, Maybe The Song Cloud Nine By: Evanescence. The Opening would contain Fighting scences from the game, sort of like Final Fantasy Graphics mixed with Resident Evil, The Fighting scences would show zombies attacking people through out the world and people trying to fight back, sort of a Zombie Apocolypse Start. Then after the Song Ends The Title of the Game would Appear: (ZombKill) or Live another day…Something like that.. Game titles aren’t really my thing to come up with…I’m more of outline of the game idea..
But Still When the games starts out it will be on level one. You wake up in a school yard, Then Level 1 begins. “The Zombie Playground” you have a health bar, stamina, points and expierience that u can gain and you can pick up random items and weapons to put into ur backpack. For level 1, make it through the playground without getting killed to unlock the doors of the school and get to the supply closet for extra health, since you’ll only start with 30% health and no weapon, you will have to find items to use as weapons, as soon as u make it into the school clearing the yard of zombies, turn on the alarms outside, and you’ll get 50 EXP. Save as many surviving humans as u can along the way and get them to the gymnasium for safety.
LEVEL 2. “THE CALL” After you have rid the school of zombies, make ur way outside to the main gate in the front of the school, and close off the fencing to protect the remaining few, then go to the power house near the janitor’s building, but be careful, turn on the electricity to the school and to the fence as well. When you’ve done this, make your way to town and find the police station, Do not travel at night, find a place to camp. Preferably at the old hotel, there will be one survivor there who has ammo and guns. When u find him, load up and stock up, then rest the next day he will help you get to the police station, but he will be sacrificed to ensure u make that call. At night the roads are too intense and crawling with fleshies.(aka the zombies) In the police station, there will bea radio transmitter, pick it up, dial it and tune it for signal, crack the code and then interecept transmition with the president and let him know about u and the remaining few. Before the fleshies realize u are in there.
LEVEL 3 “a good old friend” After you leave the police station, make your way to your house. You will run into a person who was once your friend, when u see them, a flashback will play, then they will be attacked by a zombie, as soon as u have finished killing the zombie, u will be sad ur friend died, but then ur friend will rise up, but be a fleshie, u will have to kill them, by finding the nearest item to u and use it as a weapon, your gun will be jammed until u get to ur house to fix it. When you get to your house your check upstairs and all around inside the house. Baricade and bar the doors and windows. Then rest up in your room. (you will not notice that there was a little girl who got infected and was hiding in the house.) As soon as you wake up there will be a little girl standing in your doorway, She will have a torn up teddy bear in one hand to her side and her mouth will be bloody, She will stare at you, As soon as you try to reach for the gun She will run towards you and try to attack you, use whatever you can find that is closest to you to kill her, then unjam your gun. Make your way to the church, your house is no longer safe.
Level 4 “God is Watching”
When you make your way to the Church there will be a pastor there by the name of “Padre de Santos”. He will grab you be the arm and quickly rush you into his office. In his office he will shut the door and lead you to a bookshelf, behind that bookshelf, there will be elevator, he will take you to his lab underneath the Church. As it has turned out, he has been working on a cure for the outbreak and is halfway there, but he needs you to collect some ingredients. He will hand you a list and you will have to make your way to the nearest Hospital. But watch out for the Zombie nurses, they have knives and will stab you without question. Gather the Serums that you were required to gather, but shoot the zombies and use what ever you can as a weapon if your gun runs out of ammo, As soon as you complete your task inside the Hospital a vending machine will turn on in the Hall near the exit and you will have to go to it, A package of cookies will drop out and you will need to eat them, they will restore your health to full. Be Sure that the Serums are in your backpack. When you leave the Hospital watch out for the zombies that will try to attack you, if your health drops to 40% in the attack and fight, you will have to recollect the serums from the hospital. As soon as you make your way back to the church, The Pastor will be waving his arms to you and then a Zombie will attack him and kill him. You will have to shoot the zombie and the pastor. Make your way into the church and back into the lab, collect the papers and the books with the information about the cure on them and place them in your backpack. There will be a loud knock on the door, Go to answer it. Before you can answer it, the doors will burst open and before you can grab your weapons, someone will knock you out.
Level 5 “Friend or Foe”
When you wake up, you will be interigated and brutally beaten. There will be a deal of gruesome cutscenes in this point as well as a deal of mature content. Some more towards the female characters. You will have to wait until the people are all asleep and off gaurd, then try to escape and find the exit. When you find the exit, run and find the harbor. On the way if your stamina lowers, find a safely well lighted area to rest a bit and breathe then make your way to the docks at the harbor and board one of the boats and disconnect it from the Dock there will be two scientist who will come out of the bottom area of the boat and introduce themselves and tell you about the cure they’ve been working on. Then an Explosion will sound from the City. (The city will look sort of like Chicago.) After that you will hand the scientists your notes you’ve collected and the serums, after that, they will inject you with a serum and everything will go black and then the credits will roll.
Songs that could be used for the game:
Lacrymosa By: Evanesance
Tournaquet By: Evanesance
Cloud Nine By: Evanesance
Mocking Bird By: Eminem
All that I’m living For By: Evanesance
21 Guns By: Green Day
Ain’t No Rest For the Wicked By: Cage the Elephant
Beverly hills By: Weezer Hurley
Boulevard of Broken Dreams By: Green Day
And what ever else music might be fitting
Hopefully you might be able to do something with this…I just need someone to create the game..I have the ideas..I would only want some credit for the ideas…that’s all :/
I’ve been thinking about something for a while now, and I finally decided I’ll do something about it. I’ve been working on the idea for my game since I was 7. I’m 18 now. It’s been something I think would appeal to a lot of people, I’m not really up for putting my idea here, in this comment section. Though if there was a way for me to email you I’d love to pitch to you my idea. Though I read through your entire post, and quite frankly, I’m at an impasse here. Truthfully, I’ve never made a game in my life, not even a Java based one, I just can’t code to save my life. However, I was “born” into a family where everyone loves games. I know what makes and breaks a game, I’ve taken everything into account and realized that I don’t want to make profit from my game. If the company that backs me does, that would be great. As a gamer, all I want is for people to have fun playing my game. I know they would, the idea has been constantly in my head again for the past year. Where I’ve fleshed it out to an insane extent. I have two problems. I have no name for the game, and I have no way of contacting any developers. I ask you, what would you recommend I do? I’m not normally the type to ask for help on the internet, but you seem to “know your stuff.” Thanks for your consideration. I’ll check this website every day if I have to, and also my email.
I have game in my mind that is diffeerent, fun ,not difficult, i’d like to share it. but at a cost .
How do I market this .
My name is Kate, I have an idea that could be a computer game or a video game. You create a world and you put animals on if you want and make forests grow and stuff. You can watch your animals grow and evolve into humans or something else, and you can speed up this process while watching. You can watch them build villages, then towns, the cities, you can create a paridise or distroy the world you make using a verity of natural disasters. (Maybe later there could be wars.) You can have multiple files so you don’t always have to completely restart. I would deffinatly buy that game, and I think other people would too. please consider my idea!
Hey, quick question:
(some preface):
I’m a physician, with strong leanings towards art and animation and have played v-games competitively and still do. When I was in college I had direct contact with the sega guy in charge of heat.net and many ideas on where to take gaming, most of which I have seen now implemented (finally) in the 2000′s.
I have still a pair of fully flushed out, designed games with maps etc ready to go, whole projects all laid out in a nice computer folder. I can work on the art, and so and of course sole creator of storylines and characters and events etc- but now I need a team. I want to find a group of hungry individuals to work on my project- who have passion and ingenuity. Young of course, not in the work environment and perhaps we can turn these ideas into a source of fortune for them. I just want to see my ideas realized, more than anything. Where can I go find these people and sell them my idea?
i have some great stories that i think would be perfect for games… i really want to see more story driven games and i think i have a few also some very interesting concepts for games please send me an email and i can explain
Hey jeff,
I am taking a game called Enemy infestation, which was originally one of those top down, click on someone and move them games into an FPS.
The idea is You are one of two troopers (Cody Stretnon for male, and Diada Gueraz for female). The point is that Humans are at war with the “Jackers” Human-like aliens that take Everything off a defeated ship, even the atmosphere, leaving nothing but a hull., Not even floors or walls.
The player is hoping to be assigned to this war, is ultimately assigned to Redavi, A mining colony far from the action of the third Jacker war as it is called.
As the player is going through training sessions (Tuturial) A meteorite crashes three KM outside the base, prompting the base commander to send out a team to investigate. The team is gone for an hour before they call on the radio, Rayguns blasting, and the team leader screaming about monsters. The radio is cut short. I’v written the rest of the plot, the keybindings, how the damage system works, even some cheats and the stats for the different kind of aliens/humans (There is a class system as well), but essentially, A mutated alien, (Not Jackers, Explained in the plot) Has crashed on Redavi. In the end Redavi is destroyed, and about half the total humans that were on it escape to earth. Tee aliens have different stages of growth.
First the queen. This alien makes cocoons, and is by far the most powerful. You fight around 5 or 6 in the game. They are often seen eating people, usually techies or medics.
Cocoons evolve into grubs after two hours. Grubs (Besides cocoons) Are the weakest aliens. They are about 3 feet tall, hunch over, and have sharp three inc claws on their dinosaur like hands/feet. They walk on two legs.
Next is the warrior, hunter, and thinker. A grub may evolve into any one of these. Thinkers can use guns, unlock doors, and put aliens in Medbeds (Fully heal you/aliens that are put in them, as well as your NPC buddies).
Warriors are like giant grubs, but walk on all their hands/feet, are twice as tall and long, and have even worse claws and teeth.
Hunters have plated armor on their back, and may only be hit from the front, so no surprise attacks on them. Fortunately they are extremely slow but do GINORMOUS amounts of damage if they hit you.
Healers can heal other aliens without the use of medbeds (Much like medics to humans). The aliens only have 30% of their health, but may be revived as many times as they want. Also detailed with the plot and all that, all aliens (But queens, cocoons, and grubs) have a special weakness when they go below half health. Warriors are knocked unconscious, the plate armor falls off of hunters, and I don’t remember right now what happens to thinkers/healers. I believe their special abilities are disabled. Thinkers, have less attack/health then warriors, with queens and hunters having the most attack/health, and queens having the most speed. Warriors run at about the players sprint speed. (Can sprint for 30 seconds, and it takes the same amount of time to regain stamina). Stamina decreases at a slower rate the higher level you are. The gender DOES make a small difference to stats (Diada has slightly better agility/health, while Cody has more damage and defense).
Email me if you are interested at all, because I would love to discuss this in deatail,
Thank you
Nathaniel.
Hey I want to start my own flash game (Tower Defence) and me and my friend already have lots of ideas. I mean lots. We have (almost) all the towers done, enemies included and everything else. I have been starting out to make my game with Stencyl and ive played some games that people have created with them and found them pretty good. You can check them out if you want. I know how to do most of the programing but theres one problem: the illustrations. My sister is pretty much an artist so i asked her to help me with the game and she said yes. The only problem is: i’m not sure she’ll be able to do the sprites I want or if she could use the editor im using (Gimp) to make them. Could you please tell me about a editor i could use to make easy (and cool) sprites for my game?
Thank you in advance.
I’m not as experienced as others in the making of games, but I like making stories. I have two that I’m currently working on, one is mainly a multiplayer game, it’s in the near future, an island has risen out of the ocean named Neo. It has 4 other islands around it acting as the main point for all players of a certain faction to spawn. The player can make multiple characters across multiple factions. The weapons are upgraded to your playing style, you start with a club or a pistol, say you get so many kills with a club, it will upgrade to a bat after so many kills with that it turns into a Mechete and so on, eventually being able to get perks with them. One of the unique features of this will be your characters uniqueness, I you want a 5’9 girl with a pink Mohawk and a green flak jacket, you can. Neo is populated with a wide array I wildlife, if you want a certain camo for your gun you simply go out, kill an animal with a scheme you like, take it to a work bench, and it will create a blue print from which you can spray a gun. The main objective of the war on Neo is to capture “outposts”"depos”"emplacements” and “HQ’s” along with the center fortress in te middle of the island. If the game were to be made, players would go into “mega servers” where they would battle with many other players and Npc’s to take Neo for their faction. During multiplayer if you pick to be an engineer you can build walls, fences, towers, radio stations ( mobile spawn), turrets, and even trenches. Although many of these are already scattered around Neo, the world items are indestructible, whereas say a bunker made by a player could be destroyed.
If you read this, I am no where near finished thinking of things and would appreciate your opinion.
hey, One thing I had an idea about and that I really want to see more of is Zombies Rpg. If you want me details just pop me an email. but even if my idea isn’t picked. more Zombie Rpg games!!!!
Even a good zombie game that you could play that was a Group based rpg, pick a town to stay in and make a base, rescue survivors, grow food make clothes, build defenses, lead scavenging missions, equip survivors, build vehicles etc
Hi Jeff, first of all, great article that realy helped me out. Because this article is pretty old and i don’t know if you’re still answering I’m gonna keep my questions short. I had this idea for an medieval MMORPG in the style of Mount&Blade (infact a little different of course). It tourcheres me for about a year or two now. I talked to some programmers and they told me it would be a damn lot of work. Also MMOG ‘s are very different to “normal” games because they require much resources and different coding languages. I never came in touch with coding… If you leave out php and HTML which is pretty useless for what i like to have. Would you say it is possible to make a detailed GDD without knowlegde of coding? And what do you think about making an “indie” MMORPG?
I have had an idea for a game for quite some time now. But, its follows a series of an already created game that has been cancelled. Should I pursue this? I have 3 pages typed for the game already, sort of like a GDD, but there is no discussion. I am finishing typing it, then explaining my ideas with some of my computer-savy people. I graduate from HS in a few weeks, and am follow a computer science with a minor in programming. Am I even following the right path? One person I associate with is going with animation, and another with sound and music. Am I going right?
Please Email me because I would like to discuss this.
afox242@gmail.com
Aaron
I’m thirteen and have been making flash,scratch and html 5(javascript) games for about…4 years.I also use unity(3d game designer) a tiny bit,I use 3d modelling software,love physics games,randomly generated survival games with zombies(or not) and I have knowledge of raw computer programming languages and logic.I’m a brilliand artist too,and I think all those skills make me awesome.You can contact me by email or skype if you want.
Hi, I have a lot of ideas for games that I genuinely think are awesome, and when I play games I usually find myself thinking what about the game, if and how it was changed, would make the game better in my opinion. I love playing games and really think I have an understanding of what makes a good game. Story, gameplay, pretty much everything I can think of. The thing is I’m crap with computers. I can’t use stuff like photoshop or coding, and it really annoys me because I always think if “I was good at that stuff as well I could possibly make awesome games for a living”. Is there actually any job that involves what I mentioned I think I’m good at but that doesn’t require me to actually know the coding etc.? I think I remember my dad’s friend had this job where he basically explained and sketched the parts of the game, and explained how it was to be made to other people and they were the ones who understood and made it. Does any job like this actually exist?
Well, It was good to know more, thanks for your article. I will probably gonna try keeping up with GDD, though my drawing and writing sucks: I actually have everything setup-ed in my brain only. But I wonder: why don’t people don’t integrate to others to create there dream, why we are competing to climb stairs trying to becoming king of the hill so hill bow to our command. I believe in integration, I believe when brains merge there concepts then the outcome would be most beautiful. Just my philosophy: any ways. One question: How GDD should look like? I mean its format and something like that. My best wishes for your game career!!!
Hi I’m in the mist of creating a card game at the moment its not a video game idea yet I’m just trying to get some way for it to get recognised before wasting my money on it so I’m wondering if you might know of an idea or a way for me to make it a big product
Hello JEFF and ALL the People that has commented here.
I want all of YOU excuse my English.
I want to say :
I hope one day all of YOU get your ideas to the screen; at least to be able to play by your own or friends, on your computer .
Is productive, is something that we create in our minds and we want to make it real.
I got ideas too. But I dont know from where to begin. Now that I get the holy chance to find this page; I will try to begin to make my GDD.
I will call ( personally by myself ) GDD – ( Glorious Dream Design ).
I have almost all the tools to do it ( no economic tools ) , but the ones we need to work on the idea in our computers.
So, I will go, I will begin….and I hope one day I see any of you on the TOP.
Thanks………….. always a friend………… RANC
Hey, Jeff. First of all I just want to thank you for this “no BS” post here. I have been working through creating a GDD for my game concept, working through the kinks in designs and such, and I really think the “Five Minutes of Gameplay” thing would be an essential addition, but I am not sure how my personal concept would benefit from such a document. The thing is, the basis of my game is not how the game plays in five minutes, but how the game changes in one, five, twenty hours and beyond. I have always loved the games where player actions change the game world, and I really wanted to expand on that in this game (preferably an mmorpg-style). My worry is that I will not be able to convey the importance of this institution in the “Five Minutes of Gameplay”. As far as five minutes would be concerned, the game may feel like any other of its type, with a few slight differences, but that is not where I want the focus to be. I do not want to go into too much detail on a forum (paranoia at its finest), but decisions should be everything in this game, and not only do I think that people would enjoy having a personality in their character through these decisions; I think people would also really like that their decisions will actually affect themselves, other players, and (potentially) the world around them.
Another worry that I have with this is the fact that I am but a simple gamer, wanting a game that myself and other gamers could thoroughly enjoy. The problem is that this puts me at a disadvantage of not being a artist, programmer, tried and true designer, or anything that constitutes me to create a game concept. As I said, I am just a simple gamer; one of many, I’m sure, who thinks they have a nice and creative idea.
Anyway, if you do happen to read this, all I am really wondering is if you could either put me out of my misery and tell me that it looks like a slow-motion train wreck or if you have any advice on how to move forward. Either one would be nice. Thank you.
Hi , Jeff. I have this really awesome idea for a video game but I’m having trouble deciding if it should be a Disney game or a just a Good Luck Charlie game (yeah , I like that show.)
Hello Jeff. It seems the last reply to this hasn’t been for a while, but I’m just gonna go ahead and throw my idea out here.
I am 19 years old and have been working on this game for about 5 or 6 years, since my freshman year of high school. I plan on going to the Art Institutes of Virginia Beach for a BFA in Media Arts and Animation in 2014.
My game idea is for a JRPG styled and inspired adventure game called “Deox Wars”, taking place on the world of Deox, which is predominantly ocean, with 8 island continents. Each continent is ruled both by its own royalty, as well as an elemental Guardian Spirit, which regulates the climate and protects it from any harm. It is inhabited by 3 main races: humans, Animali- people with features and characteristics of various animals, and Drachen- an ancient race with the ability to transform into dragons.
The story begins on one of the larger continents, called Tuben, where the prince of the continent, Nikolos, and a young Animali girl named Hyli meet on the way to the country of Hephae, where the malevolent military force The Arcana is stationed.
This begins a journey around the world, first gathering a small army (16 strong) to fight The Arcana and its leader, The Emperor.
Later on, Hyli and Nikolos meet Jack, a friend of Hyli’s, though he has amnesia. The three of them learn that they are reincarnations of heroes of legend, and that The Emperor is being possessed by the Shadoweye, the same monster the heroes fought in the past.
The battle system is similar to Persona 3 or 4, with four characters facing off against one or more enemies at one time, with a slight difference:
I call it the Lines system. Outside of battle, the player can choose four characters from the main party to battle together, with up to 4 lines of 4. Lines can be swapped freely between each other, though individual characters remain with their respective lines. That way, a player can create a team with the attributes of their choosing. Example:
1 Line= Hyli, Nikolos, Jack, Character 4
can be switched with another line of four characters, but Hyli cannot be moved into another line mid-battle, indicating that some strategy will need to be used in building lines.
Most travel is done by boat, which acts as a sort of hub: a map screen allows the character to view the world of Deox as if looking at a map, and choose their next destination; The Deck will have Fire Emblem inspired “Events”, which are conversations between characters that can give a little more insight on someone’s personality or backstory, or the plot; and the Captain’s Quarters is a sort of main menu, where Lines can be built, the game can be saved, equipment adjusted, etc.
The World Map will be similar to that of games in the “Tales of” franchise, with a single character traversing the world and interacting with the environment. The player will have the option to choose between Hyli, Nikolos, and later Jack, each with their own abilities.
For example: As Hyli is an Animali Wolf, she has the ability to transform into a wolf. This will allow her to jump higher and farther, to activate pressure switches by sitting on them, or to enter tight spaces.
Nikolos will be able to push objects and flip any other switches, as well as opening chests. Jack will use the powers of the Guardian Spirits to handle environmental obstacles, such as putting out fires with the water guardian, or melting ice with the fire guardian.
As only one of them can be controlled at one time, the player will have the option to “lock” in one of the characters in position; for example if the player were to move Hyli to sit on a pressure switch that also needed a flip switch, they could lock Hyli in place and then move Nikolos to the switch. The two would then merge back into one character and the player could continue on.
As for enemies, the player will be fighting generals of The Arcana, The Empress, The Tower, and The Sun, as well as The Emperor himself. In the Elemental Realm, home of the Guardian Spirits, the weakening of the seals between realms has allowed 7 powerful demons, each embodying a cardinal sin, to possess the Guardians. They must be defeated in order to free the Guardians and gain them as (non-playable) party members.
In typing this, I realize my game idea is very story driven, and there is little by way of technical details. I also fear that in drawing on so many other games, I have created somewhat of a cliched story.
Any feedback would be much appreciated, and thank you for this very informative and realistic article.
Anybody want to partner up and knows how to develope some games i have the game play all ready for this game to be developed and mass produced!!! Please if you are seriously interested shoot me an email/ kevinstrutn@yahoo.com This game is gonna sell a ton of copies!!!
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