オーディエンス - Who is it for? What existing content appeals to them and why? What makes your game concept fun?
Goals - What is your goal date? Do you plan to launch to LAND, mint assets, and/or submit your Experience in a Game Jam?
Risks - What are each team member's strengths and weaknesses? How does this affect your creative priorities? How will you adapt? (e.g., if no team member can animate, you can purchase assets, use templates, and keep animations simple to finish the project on time)
BRAINSTORM: What is it?
Explore Your Concept
Diverge - Brainstorm as many wild ideas as possible with an open minded approach. This is not the time to filter ideas, but to expand your creative potential with "yes, and" thinking. Keep this list - you may use it to modify your concept later or make another game!
Converge - Combine interesting ideas into a fun and feasible game concept.
Refine Your Concept
Vision - you'll refer to your project vision many times to be sure you're staying on track:
Write a short description (0-140 characters)
Create a bulleted list highlighting the most interesting and fun things about your project as if you are pitching it to a player
GAME FLOW: How does it work?
GAMES ARE EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING
Players learn by taking action, observing the results, making conclusions, and experimenting with new understanding (facing the same challenge or the next one).
Draw a diagram and write out the player experience for 30 seconds of gameplay. Include:
Core loop - What is the main repeating flow of your gameplay?
Secondary loop(s) - How will secondary loops motivate or help players to complete the core loop? Do you need to add any feedback loops to balance the game positively or negatively?
Focus on the meaningful decisions players will make repeatedly to have fun.
Hint: Even if players can't win, they'll keep playing if they can influence the outcome.
Types of Decisions
Short-term - tactical, reactive
Long-term - strategic, proactive
Timing of Decisions
Real time - pressured by game events
Turn based - time to plan decisions
Characteristics of Decisions
Trade-offs/Risk vs. Reward
Immediate vs. Persistent Effects
Indirect "Ripple" Effects
Meet Short and/or Long Term Goals
Economic/Resource Management
Survival/Situational
Influences on Player Decisions
Preferred play style(s)
Personal beliefs/feelings
Assumptions from previous games
Conclusions of how your game works based on information or experiential learning opportunities you provide
PROTOTYING: Is it fun and feasible?
Test Game Loops
Without building anything in Game Maker, create a paper prototype to roughly "play through" the core and secondary loops of your game (use board game pieces, dice, rough sketches, etc).
Write down your reflections, discuss modifications, and test new ideas to refine the gameplay. Modify your Vision to take these things into account.
Test Logic in Question
USE LOGIC AS INTENDED
Innovation is exciting, but playability is most important. An Experience using logic beyond the intended purpose:
may not function consistently in the current version of Game Maker
may become difficult or impossible to play when future updates of Game Maker introduce new features and make changes to improve performance
Create simple test logic in Game Maker to verify interactive content you aren't sure how to build yet. Explore alternative logic if needed or simplify logic by modifying game loops or narrative.
Optional
If you have time, you can create an extremely simple "vertical slice" of your game, which is usually focused on one play area or quest. This can be useful for pitching for funding or partnerships, but isn't required for a Game Jam. Use time wisely depending on your situation.
2. CREATIVE CONCEPT
GAME WORLD: What does it look and feel like?
What is the time and place of your world? Who lives there? How does the player fit?
Decide what you need and create some design references
Define your art style and general needs - How many assets will you plan to create? What is the mood? Will you customise with a specific colour palette, lighting, or camera effects?
Define your narrative and general needs - Who lives in your world and who are they? What is their purpose? How many characters and props will you need?
Define your gameplay and general needs - What variety of quests will you include? How will you design logic so it can't be broken if triggered out of the intended order? How polished will your logic be?
You can create design references with any software allowing you to paste photos. You can also create a Pinterest board, sketch by hand, or use AI to generate visual and textual aids to guide your project.
VISUAL HIERARCHY: What elements are top priority?
Art can take up much of your project time if not prioritised carefully.
Create a priority list for emphasis using various types of visual elements. Are the following types of art elements high, medium, or low priority?
Landscapes - create impactful views through your landscape
Landmarks - to centralise your theme and guide player to areas of gameplay at a glance
Structures - more detail on structures meant to be explored, less on visual fillers
Rooms - a balance of detail and space to breathe both physically and visually
Characters & Props - quest related
Details - what visual effects, lighting, etc will add emphasis, but not decrease player focus
