What's the best way to write out a game?

[mlsq42]

You see, I have a couple of ideas for games, but my artistic ability in terms of drawing is 0 Squared.

My programming ability is minimal also.

So, I'm hoping to just write out storys/speech/puzzles and enlist others to do the design and the programming.

With that said, what do programmers and designers look for in a game layout? How should I structure it to make your job as easy as possible?

Thank you for your time, and my apologies if this is in the wrong forum.

[Rui 'Trovatore' Pires]

There have been such discussions before, if you use the search you might find a thread containing all sorts of information.

I reccomend that you check out Al Lowe's design documents, he has them for viewing at his page, www.allowe.com. It worked for him.

[PsychicHeart]

oh. i thought you meant write out a game as in 'make a sendup of it'.... like my upcoming game, Squid Wars, featuring Darth Vinegar, Luke Seawalker and FishFish Banks.

[rozojc]

Following up on "Brisby" yes, it is a topic that has been posted many times by many people (including me). My drawing abilities are also null (although I do know how to program). What I'm doing is the following (it's kind of working for me, maybe it works for you)

1. I did a small research and found programs that allow me not to depend on my drawing skills. Things like Poser (which is expensive but there's a demo or hmm... you know, peer to peer networks like Gnutella), there's a program which you can use to make poses with the characters from The Sims. Also you can use photos for backgrounds and use photoshop or Paint Shop Pro to modify them, etc.
2. I downloaded the design documents "Brisby" mentioned (specifically the Phreddy Pharkas as I know that game so I figured out it would be easier to relate to the document) and I'm looking at how Al Lowe designed the whole game, and I'm doing a design document on my game. This means, description of the story, series of events, a list with all the places (backgrounds) that are going to exist, objects, puzzles , etc..
3. Once I have my characters ready (I'm using poser) and my backgrounds (which are going to be modified photos, and some made with a program called Punch Pro which is for desinging interiors) and my design document, THEN I'm going to program the whole thing. You have to keep in mind that for basic stuff AGS lets you do many things without really knowing how to program.
4. The game I'm making is going to be my first game and it's going to be quite simple in terms of graphics and game length. After doing that (hopefully) if it's decent quality work in terms of puzzles, story, etc., THEN I'll start working on a bigger game and ask for help. I guess that if people have already seen your work and they (at least some) like it, it's easier to get someone who's willing to join on the project.
5. In other words, what I'm trying to do (see if it works for you) is I have a good idea for a big game, but first I'll make a smaller game trying to do it as good as I can so that it's easier (hopefully) to find people willing to join up.

Hope it helps, and let's see if more people reply to this thread.

[magintz]

I keep a notebook by my computer, whenever I have any idea I jot it down, and elaborate with story boards, pictures etc...

My story board (due to artisitc talent is just a bunch of boxes with arrows filled with the following info:

Room Name
Description
Characters Within Room
Puzzles (referenced 1,2,3 etc...)
I then plan out the puzzles by writing what it is they must achieve at the end of the whole level (which could be more than 1 room)
Then divide the final goal into as many sub quests as possible, link them together then work out the technicalitys.

For my current game I had to work out the following.

Underwater in a sinking ship, have to escape before you drown. Divided this into
1) Find suitable way out
2) Gather Objects
3) combine and use to escape

This is a general pattern helpful for writing puzzles

Next you take the room and think what might there be.

1) Escape through a crack in the hull
2) Die

Choose which one you want:

A crack is small, so it needs to be made bigger, using poles, levers, force etc... Then work out the rest from there.

As for dialog, thats the hardest stuff to jot down, but it's always best to start with a large page, write at the the bottom goobye, and at the top hello.

Design it like a flow chart.

Hello
|
Option 1     Option 2 - Option 3
|
Option 4

Etc...

Usually start from the last thing said and work your way back so you don;t miss anything.

[Mr Jake]

I and to some extent mods have been working on an application that allows you to organise rooms in a story board fasion, I think M0ds plans to use it for FoY and hopefully it will be ready for release soon.

[magintz]

soon as in 'm0ds' soon or 'real' soon

^_^

[Mr Jake]

kind of 50/50 :