Game Design Studio 1

Week 01: Idea Generation & Presentation

http://www.collectiondx.com/
Today’s Schedule

What are we doing today?

• How to present our Concepts
• Brainstorming ideas
• Pitching ideas
• Post Mortems
Design Documentation
Design Documentation

• Design Documents shouldn’t be thought of as a chore, rather

they are your chance to hone your idea and begin the
implementation of your design
• A game is made by a team, and it is crucial that the team all
have the same shared vision
• What docs are we talking about?
• High Concept
• Game Design Document
• Today’s class will focus on the High Concept
Design Documentation
High Concept

• The High Concept document is also known as the pitch

document
• It is a 1-2 pager that should capture the essence of your
game idea
• This kind of document is not unique to games… they are
used in any instance where you need to present a new idea
to others
• It is often said that if you can’t put it in one page (or a poster)
then you need to refine your idea as it is too confusing!
High Concept
Step 1: Game Premise

• Let’s start with the first section.

• Firstly you should describe the premise of your game.
• This should be the main point of your game in a few
sentences top
• You should consider this your initial elevator pitch too
High Concept
Step 2: Target Audience

• Once your basic premise is outlined you should state who

your target audience is
• This is not just a throwaway decision!
• Your target audience will define everything about your game
• From theme, style, graphics, mechanics, level design and
story
• You do not need to go into a lot of detail at this stage. Just a
general idea
High Concept
Step 3: Genre

• Next you need to outline your Narrative and Gameplay

genres
• You do not to provide sentences or justifications for this
• Just list the genres
• E.g. Survival Horror, Medieval RPG, etc.
High Concept
Step 4: Uniqueness

• Step 4 you should talk about what makes your game cool
• This is perhaps the single most important step
• The uniqueness of your game is the cool selling point
• You should talk about this in some decent detail
• Is it story based? Mechanics based?
High Concept
Step 5: Story Overview

• For this step provide a brief overview of the story

• It can just be the introduction to the story (aka act 1)
• A couple sentences at most
High Concept
Step 6: Gameplay Description

• Similar to story overview talk a bit about the gameplay

• What are the main mechanics?
• What are the main level styles?
• How does your game play?
High Concept
This is a lot!

• This seems like a lot to fit on 1-2 pages! And it is 

• But really, each one of those things needs to be articulated in
just a few sentences at most
• NO DOTPOINTS!
• The tough ones will be describing the gameplay and what is
unique
• But you need to be able to do this… you may be in a situation
where you need to pitch an idea or write the short blurb for
your game in the App Store!
High Concept
It does take work!

• It is difficult to do, and it is something you will need to work on

• If you have trouble with your own games, think about a game
that is similar and think about how you would describe that
one
• We will be practising another one of these later in class
High Concept
Let’s create one!

• Let’s try articulating this for a game that exists to help put the
document into perspective
• We are going to break everyone out into groups of 3-4
• In your groups, choose one of the following games:
• World of Warcraft
• Uncharted
• No Man’s Sky
• Monument Valley
• You will have 15 minutes to create a high concept for this
game
Presenting Your Ideas

• Improving your presentation skills is simply all about practice

• That is one reason we do so much of this in our class
• There is really not much more we can say about this, but any
chance you can, take the opportunity to pitch your ideas to
others in person
• Remember… you need to be enthusatic about your ideas as
enthusiasm rubs off (and if you’re not enthusiastic, why would
someone else be?)
Presenting Your Ideas

• So what do you present?

• Your High Concept doc can double as the foundation for any
presentation or in person pitch you may do as:
• It is short and to the point
• It articulates what your game is all about
• It highlights what is new or different about your idea
• This highlights why the High Concept doc is so important
Let’s Brainstorm Games!
Brainstorming

• We are going to break you into groups of 3-4 again. This time with different
people
• You will have 45 minutes to come up with a game idea
• If you are having trouble we can give you prompts
• The game ideas can be ridiculous you don’t have to actually make them
• Keep it safe for work
• In the next 45 minutes:
• Settle on a game genre and setting
• Brainstorm a number of game ideas (not just one!)
• Choose the best one and write a draft of a High Concept document… it can be
very rough or even dot points
• You will be pitching this to the class after 45 minutes
• Your high concept document can be used for the basis of a pitch!
• Go!
Pitchstorm!
Pitching & Peer Review

• Now is the time to pitch your game idea

• Again do not worry. We are not expecting you to make this game
• You can use it for your assignments if you want though
• We are going to go to each group and have them pitch their idea to the
class
• Each group will be given 2 minutes to pitch then a further 2 minutes to
answer questions
Pitching & Peer Review

• Things to do during the pitches:

• Be supportive!
• Highlight the ideas you find exciting
• Question anything that is confusing
• Provide constructive feedback
• Try not to add your own ideas into the mix… focus on what is presented
Brainstorming

• We are going to break you into groups of 3-4 again. This time with different
people
• You will have 45 minutes to come up with a game idea
• If you are having trouble we can give you prompts
• The game ideas can be ridiculous you don’t have to actually make them
• Keep it safe for work
• In the next 45 minutes:
• Settle on a game genre and setting
• Brainstorm a number of game ideas (not just one!)
• Choose the best one and write a draft of a High Concept document… it can be
very rough or even dot points
• You will be pitching this to the class after 45 minutes
• Your high concept document can be used for the basis of a pitch!
• Go!
Pitching & Peer Review

• Now is the time to pitch your game idea

• Again do not worry. We are not expecting you to make this game
• You can use it for your assignments if you want though
• We are going to go to each group and have them pitch their idea to the
class
• Each group will be given 2 minutes to pitch then a further 2 minutes to
answer questions
What’s Next?
Homework
HOMEWORK WHAT!?

• Your homework for this week is to play games

• Yes really!
• Part of being a good designer is playing and analysing existing games on
the market
• What parts really work?
• What parts really don’t work?
• Next week we will be creating characters and examining archetypes