I used Microsoft Word to create the concept documents that will get my initial ideas down on 'paper'. from here it is easier to advance my ideas and decide which one I'd like to take forward into a game design document.
At first I was very exited about Mercenary Mayhem and thought that would be the idea I'd choose, then I began work on my second idea, then the third. I found as I continued with my ideas I found myself swaying towards the idea I originally least liked, then decided there was much more that could be done than I had originally thought.
Here are the concept documents I've created for my three ideas:
Concept Document: Mecenary Mayhem
Concept Document: ARacers
Concept Document: Tynies
After presenting these ideas the my class and tutor it became quite apparent that I should continue with Tynies as it had the most potential. I'm happy with the way things have gone so far and look forward to my progress.
Following on from my last module where I researched into Augmented reality, for this module i'll be coming up with idea for three individual games and producing a concept document for each. Once an idea had been chosen to continue with, a GDD will then be created for that particual idea.
Concept Mindmap
So after doing my research I now need to further my ideas, so I went on bubbl.us and create a mindmap that can be edited from any computer without needed to bring any software with me, this helped quickly adding an idea if I wasn't at home.
This is the mindmap I created for my three ideas, I started with AR GAME in the center and each idea branches off in a section of it's own.
I found this method of idea building to be quite efficient as it keeps visually any ideas you put down and also helps you link and think of new ones related to others with losing your original thoughts.
Now my ideas have been explored I need to start working on my concept documents.
This is the mindmap I created for my three ideas, I started with AR GAME in the center and each idea branches off in a section of it's own.
I found this method of idea building to be quite efficient as it keeps visually any ideas you put down and also helps you link and think of new ones related to others with losing your original thoughts.
Now my ideas have been explored I need to start working on my concept documents.
Market Research
I have the ideas that I want to develop but before I get ahead of myself I first need to do some research into the selected genres look at similar game to the ideas I had, this way I can get a good feel for what works.
Turn Based Strategy
First of all I looked at some turn based game:
Jagged Alliance series
The Jagged Alliance series have been some of my favourite turn based isometric games for years, still going today with the release of Jagged Alliance: Back in Action. The player controls mercenaries and must complete tasks to get money, then the player can renew a mercs contract or purchase a stronger merc. The player isn't able to control anyone other than the mercenaries and there are no vehicles that the player can use.
Fallout 1 - 2
The fallout series (prior to 3 and New Vegas) were a slash between an RPG and TBS, the combat was TBS and that's what I needed to look at, it played very similar to the Jagged Alliance Series and player were able to pinpoint what body part they'd like to attack, harder areas would have a lower hit chance.
Both Series were good to look at because they gave me a good insight of what sort of combat I could include.
Warhammer 40,000: Squad Command
I liked this because it shown a visual clear line of where the units' line of sight was and also where they could move, this could be handy when thinking of augmented reality.
Table Football
As far as augmented reality goes there isn't really much on turn based strategy games however I found this. Table Football is a turn based game that will be released free with the PlayStation Vita and uses 6 AR cards to place a football pitch in your living room, then the players take turns passing, shooting and defending while trying to score goals.
Racing
Now I need to look at some racing games that were also similar to my racing concept, such as:
Micro Machines
Micro Machines is a great example of a game that could take advantage out of augmented reality. The player races around with miniture cars in large scale everyday environments avoiding things like giant toasters and traversing over tables.
Micro Maniacs
Micro Maniacs is very similar to 'Machines' apart from the racers are no longer vehicles but bipedal characters, this is an interesting concept for racing other than vehicles.
I think my idea could work well with augmented reality, repleacing the virtual items in the previous games with real ones placed by the player. There also isn't really anything in the market for racing with augmented reality so this would give the racing idea a pretty unique place.
I have found some racing examples but not really games, more like tests to their tech in action. The sort of things i've found however are quite a few years old too.
Spacecraft Racing
This shows that racing games using AR could work although I don't like how this is limited by the marker cards. Fortuantly recent devices like the PlayStation Vita do not require them.
Pet Management
Now I need to look into the market for pet management games:
Tamagotchi
The Tamagotchi have been VERY successful pet management games, it is played on a small handheld so players can use it on the go, this is a great feature and personally a reason why it got so big. The player can feed their pet, keep them happy, train them and all the other things you'd expect do be able to do. Tamagotchi is even still going today in Japan which goes to show there is still a market for this.
EyePet
The EyePet is also a pet management game only this one uses augmented reality, this is good as I could see how they use it and also see what doesn't work so well. EyePet is suppost to be based in the player's living room or house and the Pet is styled however the player wants, this is a cool idea however it is restricted to only being able to be played in such a large area and the camera cannot be moved during play.
Another thing is while the pet can be customised with colour and clothes, there is only one type of pet and the player can't manage multiple pets or even have them interact with their friend's pets. This is something I will take into account when furthing my idea.
Invizimals
While Invizimals is more a fighting game than a pet managements game, it has some really cool features that include augmented reality that I think could work great for a pet management game, the fact the player has to search around for the creature and that they can trade and collect a variation of Invizimals.
After looking at a few of these things I can see that pet management is not only still popular, it can work with augmented reality and there are lots of features that can be combined to still improve upon it. Now I need to go throw a few more ideas down to develop my concepts.
Turn Based Strategy
First of all I looked at some turn based game:
Jagged Alliance series
Fallout 1 - 2
Both Series were good to look at because they gave me a good insight of what sort of combat I could include.
Warhammer 40,000: Squad Command
Table Football
Racing
Now I need to look at some racing games that were also similar to my racing concept, such as:
Micro Machines
Micro Maniacs
I think my idea could work well with augmented reality, repleacing the virtual items in the previous games with real ones placed by the player. There also isn't really anything in the market for racing with augmented reality so this would give the racing idea a pretty unique place.
I have found some racing examples but not really games, more like tests to their tech in action. The sort of things i've found however are quite a few years old too.
Spacecraft Racing
Pet Management
Now I need to look into the market for pet management games:
Tamagotchi
The Tamagotchi have been VERY successful pet management games, it is played on a small handheld so players can use it on the go, this is a great feature and personally a reason why it got so big. The player can feed their pet, keep them happy, train them and all the other things you'd expect do be able to do. Tamagotchi is even still going today in Japan which goes to show there is still a market for this.
EyePet
Another thing is while the pet can be customised with colour and clothes, there is only one type of pet and the player can't manage multiple pets or even have them interact with their friend's pets. This is something I will take into account when furthing my idea.
Invizimals
After looking at a few of these things I can see that pet management is not only still popular, it can work with augmented reality and there are lots of features that can be combined to still improve upon it. Now I need to go throw a few more ideas down to develop my concepts.
Ideas - Refined
After I had a chat with my tutor, he helped me narrow down my list and said which ideas he liked, so we went through the list and crossed off the ones which didn't really have much 'flavour'. Here is what we came up with:
Turn based Strategy - control units of troops on real battlefields
Racing - race around tabletops and surfaces with tiny vehicles
Sniper game - use an AR device (such as vita) to aim and snipe tiny enemies
RPG - control a custom character around randomly generated environments, projected wherever
God game - raise and manage a civilisation
Pet management - look after a tiny pet with augmented reality
Life Sim - Similar to The Sims series only with augmented reality, build house and can interact with friends
Chopper Collect - Virtual chooper flying around real environment collecting items or rescuing people
Jet Fighters - Dog fights in jets flying around rooms
Brawling Fighting Game - fight a life size virtual opponent
Fireman - put out virtual fires in your own home or work place
Rampage - stop and destroy virtual cities as if you was godzilla
The list was halfed and I now only had six ideas, but I still needed to half it yet again and choose three for the concept documents...
I spent a while weighing the possibilites of each idea, what could be accomplished and whether or not the idea would make it as a decent game or a gimmick that'd be played for a few mins before the player is bored.
I decided to go with:
Turn based Strategy
Racing
Pet management
Now I needed to do more reseach into those areas before I further develop the ideas.
Turn based Strategy - control units of troops on real battlefields
Racing - race around tabletops and surfaces with tiny vehicles
Sniper game - use an AR device (such as vita) to aim and snipe tiny enemies
RPG - control a custom character around randomly generated environments, projected wherever
God game - raise and manage a civilisation
Pet management - look after a tiny pet with augmented reality
The list was halfed and I now only had six ideas, but I still needed to half it yet again and choose three for the concept documents...
I spent a while weighing the possibilites of each idea, what could be accomplished and whether or not the idea would make it as a decent game or a gimmick that'd be played for a few mins before the player is bored.
I decided to go with:
Turn based Strategy
Racing
Pet management
Now I needed to do more reseach into those areas before I further develop the ideas.
Ideas
So continuing from my last module I've now taken into account all of the research I've done on augmented reality, now I need to come up with Ideas.
To begin I decided I'd come up with a large amount of ideas first to see what I could come up with before I set my mind on the first few ideas that pop into my head. The following is the list I came up with for game using augmented reality:
Turn based Strategy - control units of troops on real battlefields
Life Sim - Similar to The Sims series only with augmented reality, build house and can interact with friends
Chopper Collect - Virtual chooper flying around real environment collecting items or rescuing people
Jet Fighters - Dog fights in jets flying around rooms
Racing - race around tabletops and surfaces with tiny vehicles
Brawling Fighting Game - fight a life size virtual opponent
Sniper game - use an AR device (such as vita) to aim and snipe tiny enemies
RPG - control a custom character around randomly generated environments, projected wherever
Fireman - put out virtual fires in your own home or work place
Rampage - stop and destroy virtual cities as if you was godzilla
God game - raise and manage a civilisation
Pet management - look after a tiny pet with augmented reality
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