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Plan for Eric C. Tomlinson
Plan for Eric C. Tomlinson
| Name: | Eric C. Tomlinson | |
|---|---|---|
| Date Posted: | Oct 12, 2004 | |
| Rating: |  2.0 out of 5 | |
| Public: | YES | |
| Comments: | YES | |
| RSS Feed: |  or Subscribe with  . | |
| Profile Page: | View profile page for Eric C. Tomlinson |
Blog post
Well, it has been a long time since I posted a plan. I now have at least something to show and hopefully get feedback about it. In the link at the bottom of this plan, resides our initial design(definition document) document. We have worked very hard over the last 3 weeks to get all the ideas down on paper and actually to make sense of it all. While it is still only 85% complete, we do have a good base to build our requirements from so we can get the artists, modelers, and programmers going on starting their portions of the project.
We have quite a large team by most standard for GG indie development so it has been very hard logistically to pull all the resources together to get each common goal completed.
So with out further ado, here is our initial definition document. It is a zipped Word document and is not for the faint of heart. It currently has 99 pages.
[EDIT]Link Removed[/EDIT]
Enjoy and please comment so we can make it better.
Thank you
Eric C. Tomlinson
We have quite a large team by most standard for GG indie development so it has been very hard logistically to pull all the resources together to get each common goal completed.
So with out further ado, here is our initial definition document. It is a zipped Word document and is not for the faint of heart. It currently has 99 pages.
[EDIT]Link Removed[/EDIT]
Enjoy and please comment so we can make it better.
Thank you
Eric C. Tomlinson
Recent Blog Posts
| List: | 04/28/05 - Plan for Eric C. Tomlinson 10/12/04 - Plan for Eric C. Tomlinson 09/21/04 - Plan for Eric C. Tomlinson 09/14/04 - Plan for Eric C. Tomlinson 09/03/04 - Plan for Eric C. Tomlinson 07/28/04 - Plan for Eric C. Tomlinson 07/15/04 - Plan for Eric C. Tomlinson 06/28/04 - Plan for Eric C. Tomlinson |
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Submit your own resources!| dakz0rz (Oct 13, 2004 at 02:39 GMT) |
I hope it all goes well for you
| Joshua Dallman (Oct 13, 2004 at 06:40 GMT) |
Seriously though, I skimmed through the entire document and Jesus HC, I hope you have tens of millions to spend and at least 4 years of development time to kill, this thing looks more complex than Fable (I don't think Fable characters have a "smell" attribute). If I can offer constructive criticism, I'd say this: scale it back, scale it back! You have everything and twelve kitchen sinks in there -- ragdoll physics, aging characters, earthquakes and hail, tamed and untamed pets, marrying and child-rearing -- but less is more. Focus on the core elements that are fun and stick to those. Imagine a film-maker brainstorming ideas and saying "that sounds cool, let's add it... that sounds cool, let's add it..." over and over -- the film would end up soup. It would have everything but taste like nothing. A game like Zelda doesn't have 1/100th of what you have in your game... but it has a distinct flavor, and that's what makes it good -- its focus.
Also, your "what makes this game different" section is meaningless to a non-ultra-hardcore gamer. I play RPG's and even MMORPG's and it's not clear to me at all how your game is different -- it just looks like more of the same, the "let's skate to where the puck is now" syndrome. I realize your design document is not a marketing piece, but this is perhaps the most important thing you can convey to your consumer -- why they should buy your game instead of someone else's -- why they should spend time with your game at all -- what the unique selling point of yours is. It should be crisp, concise, and obvious. Unless you want only ultra-hardcore gamers to buy and play your product -- all 100 of them (basically the size of the dev team you'll need to make this game).
Anyway, best of luck, I'm sure further revisions will bear fruitation for you, and I'll definitely be watching this project.
| Eric C. Tomlinson (Oct 13, 2004 at 12:46 GMT) Resource Rating: 4 |
Thanks for the encouragement.
@Josh
We realize that the document covers a lot of like to have features. We are planning on doing this as a phased approach. We do not expect to get this finished in a year but have planned on getting a full beta in 2 years. After the core system is created, we will be adding features piece by piece.
Our difference is that while playing a character to it's highest level, you then can retire and "raise" a new character based on your skill sets and your mate's skill set. We also want the game to be skill based instead of class based so character development is fully decided by the player.
Thanks for the feedback and I think you might be suprised in a year.
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