Contents

Overview Blue Sky Meetings The Design Document Production

The Design Document

OK. The meetings are over, time has passed and the designer appears with his magnum opus to the gaming world. What is this thing? What did the designer intend? How much latitude do you have artistically? These are hard questions to answer, game designs and designers come in all flavors, shapes and sizes. I've never seen two alike. However, most design documents should and will speak to a set of game elements critical to the art team. Following is a discussion of these elements and hopefully answers to the questions above:

Read the Whole Thing

I said it above and I'll say it again-read the whole document. This discussion will focus on sections of the design that related specifically to artists but remember you will find pertinent and interesting items throughout the document. For, example, much of the business/marketing writing may seem like a waste of time, it's not. Held within are the desires, requirements and most importantly the expectations of people who you may not see but will definitely impact your work. Understanding how the folks outside your team are thinking is crucial. Another good example are the game play dynamics/mechanics-the basic rule system for the game. Understanding the core game play will help you avoid designing characters, objects or scenes, which won't work when placed in the game. While a ceiling dangling, fire-ball shooting slug boss may be a cool idea it won't be all that cool if the player character can't jump high enough to reach it and doesn't have a projectile weapon--meaning the player can't fight your cool boss (generally not a fun thing). Al is another area often overlooked. In my documents I include a small paragraph that outlines character/object- If the character kicks it better have legs. If it shoots rockets, it needs a rocket launcher. I think you get the point. Other Al items can be subtle. If the characters stop and look around when they hear the player, you need to make sure they have heads that swivel, bodies that rotate, etc.

Game Look and Feel

A section on the game's look and feel is intended to communicate and reinforce the overall graphical style of everything from the characters to the environments. Unlike many other areas of the game design, the game's look and feel is almost always decided up front-otherwise you end up the "Gamorama Eclectia"-a hodge-podge of imagery without a cohesive theme, look or style (generally not a good thing). Input should be given during the 'blue sky' meetings and/or art specific meetings during pre-production. It is during this formative period that you can affect the look of the game-and it's a look you will live with for the duration of the project. So keep you eyes and ears open during this process and when reviewing drafts of the design document. It is also helpful to clarify the look and feel during the design creation process. If the wording is ambiguous or unclear, don't hesitate to ask for clarification. Varying from the game's overall look and feel is ill advised. Following is a sample description of the look and feel of a mock game titled Mega-Game:

1. Look
   Mega-Game will use an edgy, hyper-realistic style to portray a dark, alien, devastated look with some lighter environments used for balance and contrast. Each game environment will vary significantly from the others containing different music, sound F/X, color schemes, backgrounds, and NPCs. The look will generally become darker, stranger and less "normal" as game play progresses. At the game start the look will resemble that of Star Wars, toward the end it will have a more post-apocalyptic Terminator 2 look.
   
   
2. Feel
   The feel will be that of a lone person or group on an almost hopeless campaign to stop a universe threatening evil. The player should feel an overall sense of an ongoing and increasing destructive force, veiled in mystery and intrigue throughout the game. As the player progresses, the story and the player's ultimate objective will become more clear while the feel becomes more and more twisted and evil. An increased sense of a maniacal and ruthless presence, which must be overcome, gets stronger and stronger.
   
   There will be a strong emphasis on ambience in Mega-Game. The backgrounds will be "alive" with activity; utilizing background animation, palette shifts, etc. The music and sound F/X will be used primarily to enhance this "live" and realistic feel.
   
   
3. NPCs
   All NPCs (non-player characters) will be rendered in 3D. They will look and behave as "realistically" as possible. In general, this means that a large strong looking NPC would cause greater damage and have greater resilience than a smaller NPC. (Note: Obviously, some smaller NPCs will be capable of inflicting heavy damage, much as a rattlesnake can severely damage a human).
   
   NPCs will look and feel dangerous, aggressive and deadly (the bad guys). This is important, as the player will only be allowed to fight with "bad" dangerous entities. Mega-Game will NOT allow the player the opportunity to attack any entity which is non-aggressive.
   
   
4. Backgrounds
   All backgrounds will be rendered in 3D. As discussed above, each level will look unique and, in general, the levels will become increasingly dark and twisted as the game progresses. Ideally, the player should be able to identify any level within the game purely by its background.

Level/Environment Description

In general each level of the game will be described within the game document. There should be somewhat more latitude here than in the overall look and feel. That is, as long as the overall game look and feel is followed, the specific look of any level can vary somewhat. It is critical to understand the plot line as it relates to the current level. In the overall description above, it specifies that the game will become progressively darker and stranger. If the current level is at the beginning you'll have less latitude to "go-crazy", while if at the end of the game it is almost a requirement. During production you'll want to work closely with the level designer who will be laying out the level. A few important items to note when designing the look and feel of a level:

• Always keep in mind the player characters' skills-can the character jump, run, swim, climb, etc. While you may not end up laying out the level, your artwork will affect whoever does and ultimately the fun/challenge of the game.
• Which characters are specified for the level and how do they behave. Character behavior will often dictate the architectural/terrain style-wall climbers need lots of open walls to climb, water dwellers need lakes, rivers, aqueducts, fountains, etc. Fast characters need open or guided areas to move within; characters with projectile weapons or tools require room to shoot and objects to hide behind during firefights.
• What type(s) of game play are designed for the player in this level? Is there a significant amount of movement (hoppy-jumpy), hand-to-hand combat shooting? Each requires architecture, terrain and/or objects to aid the game play. A good example of game play affecting art is related to "jumping around". Does the game play dictate "death falls" (falls where the player is killed if a jump is missed). If the answer is yes, you need to create buildings/terrain with gaps high enough to "kill the character". If the answer is no, you'll need to avoid high jumps, or, create "nets" (objects/terrain that catch the player during a fall.)

Following is a sample level description:

1. The Final Chamber
   
   A huge spacious cavern with organic walls similar to those in "aliens". The Final Chamber is suspended from the ceiling of the cavern. Several "bridges" lead to the chamber from the edges of the cavern. Thousands of characters are moving en-masse across the bridges and into the chamber where they are destroyed. The chamber pulses rhythmically creating a deep horrific sound, which emanates throughout the cavern. All visible light pulses to the beating sound.
   
   Due to the damage inflicted by the crashing ship (previous level) and the damage done by the player reaching the Chamber, the entire cavern is being rocked by sporadic quakes and explosions, falling debris rains downward and the bridges leading to the chamber shake, pieces snap off dropping to the cavern floor far below.
   
   The Chamber itself is a roundish structure with the sinewy biomechanical supports leading to the ceiling and floor of the cavern. Within the chamber are a handful of elite enemy characters who orchestrate the death march of the other characters as they enter the chamber and are absorbed by the machinery at the chamber's core. Additionally, there are large automatic defense systems used to guard this humongous machine and its ruler
   
   
   1. Look/Feel:
      • The inner sanctum-A holy worship of evil (think: Hellraiser).
      • A dark place, full of death and suffering.
      • Visually stunning, glowing, shaking, lots of movement.
      • Note: The last level of the game.
   2. Path: Diagonal down, Horizontal .
   3. Gameplay/Dynamics List:
      • Intense action/platform.
      • Heavy fighting.
      • Slide dynamics.
      • Timed escape.
   4. Story Elements:
      1. Make way to the Final Chamber.
      2. Fight to "inner sanctum".
      3. Defeat Boss.
      4. Escape the level before the cavern collapses killing the player

Note the inclusion of look/feel, the basic pathway, game play dynamics and story element bullet points. These are all intended to help the artist and level designer focus on items crucial to the game play and/or look and feel.

Characters

Some of the largest parts of design document (at least in my case) are the character design sections for the main player character(s) and the numerous NPCs (non-player characters-enemies, monsters, etc.) Hopefully the designer will have created a template used to define each character. This helps the readers by providing a consistent format, which allows the focus to rest on each character's specific traits. Character design is an area ripe for artist creativity and input. As long as the artist understands the purpose of the character and its actions he can generally embellish and refine to his heart's content (limited by those two pesky restrictions: time and money). I break down my character designs into the following sections: description, reference, health and damage information, Al notes and animation list. Each is listed below with a brief description of its intended purpose. Combined the information provides a set of guidelines while still leaving lots of room for interpretation.

• Description- A one or two paragraph outline describing the initial vision for the character and an overview of its attributes.
• Character references-Visuals, drawings, videotape or other pre-existing material used to clarify the look or actions of the character.
• Health and Damage-How much damage the character can take and how much it can deliver (per attack type). This item is often overlooked by artists and can be extremely important. Does the character need recoil animation frames or death animation frames? How powerful is the character relative to other characters? Does a single blow significantly damage the player character(s)?
• Character Al-A description of the character's behavior, movement and actions. Again, this section is often passed over by artist yet it is key to defining the character's structure, look and the set of animations required to enact the behavior.
• Character Animation List-A summary list of the animations required for the character. It is strongly recommended that you complete any animation list with the other items that define the character, often the list will be missing animations (nobody's perfect), or they will be inadequate for the artist's purposes.

Following is a (short) sample character description:

1. Robossassin.
   1. Description: A strong, thin, almost wiry character whose metallic structure closely emulates that of the human body (metal plates for pectorals, thick cable for thigh muscles, etc.). Moves extremely smoothly-like ninja assassin. Carries a powerful energy gun (one handed it acts as a machine gun, and also be used two handed as a sniper rifle) and long serrated knife.
   2. Reference: "Joe Pineapples" of the ABC Warriors.
   3. Health: 75 health points (medium strength).
   4. Damage: (Note player has 150 health points.)
      • Machine gun attacks = 3 damage points per bullet (bursts of 10 bullets per firing).
      • Sniper Rifle attacks = 40 damage points each.
      • Knife attacks = 30 damage points each.
   5. Basic AI Behavior:
      • Standard patrol behaviors (path following, stationary guard).
      • On activation:
        1. If player FAR enters SNIPER_ATTACK
        2. If player MEDIUM enters MACHINE_GUN_ATTACK.
        3. If player CLOSE enters KNIFE_ATTACK.
        4. If player NOT_VISIBLE enters FIND_PLAYER.
      • SNIPER_ATTACK:
        1. Aim- delay period.
        2. Fire.
        3. Advance toward player.
      • MACHINE_GUN_ATTACK:
        1. Scream- delay period.
        2. Advance while firing. Alternate strafing per attack. Lt. to Rt., then Rt. to Lt.
        3. Check weapon.
      • KNIFE_ATTACK:
        1. Alternate between straight thrust and backhand slash.
        2. Scream-delay period.
        3. If player CLOSE enter KNIFE_ATTACK.
   6. Animation List:
      • Stationary guarding pose w/ occasional head turns, weapon checks and other appropriate idle behavior.
      • Patrol walk w/ occasional head turns.
      • Stalk walk (when pursuing player).
      • Turn from patrol or stalk walk.
      • Gun to/from sniper rifle aiming/firing position.
      • Machine gun strafe while "stalk walking".
      • Take/replace knife from sheath.
      • Knife thrust.
      • Knife slash.
      • Recoil on damage.
      • Death-fall to ground
      • Death-explode.

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Production