Volition's Challenge
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VOLITION’S CHALLENGE: DEFINING A PROJECT VISION Greg Donovan Senior Producer Volition Project X – List of Features . Super Awesome, Fun Gameplay . Some kind of Multiplayer, probably . Lots of weapons and explosions . Choices . Good graphics . Whatever else the Publisher wants Does a project really need a Vision? What is a project Vision? Vision is a Process culminates in successfully communicating what it is the team is making . Set of tools . Help communicate what game is being made . Help guide: discussion, choices, prioritization It can be really difficult. GOAL: Clearly define “the Box” . Abstract -> Concrete . Tone . High Level . Humor . Core / Pillars . Player Experience Think of “a rock” So, what do you do? . New Genre . New Tech/Tools . New Platform . “New Studio” . Bling Bling is a third person action game about style, music, gangs, and guns. It is the game equivalent of a gangster rap music video. Video . Team Mantras . Concrete Jungle . Your Saints. Your City. Your Rules. List of ‘core features’ . Co-Op . Customization/Player Choice . Combat . Vehicular Gameplay . Variety The project vision should encapsulate the core of the game. It should be something content creators ask themselves when making the game. It’s an “essence statement” that succinctly defines the top level heart and spirit of the game. This needs to be something that’s both meaningful and valuable to both dev and outside sources. The former is more important, though. It should answer, “what is the game about, what are we trying to do?” The Problems . Poor execution . We had a description of what the Vision should be… but never executed on it. The video was a list of features . Too vague… . WTF is a Concrete Jungle? . Your Saints. Your City. Your Rules. …was a SR2 marketing tagline . A list of features is not a vision… OMG! Vision . King of the Carnival! . Fun Trumps All! . Over the Top! . PILLARS !! . VISION WALL !! . TONE VIDEO !! . MANTRAS !! Fun Gameplay Player Choice Saints Row 2 established its identity with over The Saints Row franchise allows players to play the top and how they want. Saints Row 3 will retain and outrageously fun gameplay improve this feature by offering It’s the number one thing the franchise is known more choices for. Saints Row 3 will push the gameplay for players and making some choices tie into envelope and surpass player’s expectations. gameplay. Slick Presentation Cohesion Saints Row 2 was criticized for its Saints Row 2 added features in a vacuum. presentation. Visuals were the #1 criticism, Saints Row 3 will have a more followed closely by stability. Saints Row 3 defined game experience will be competitive graphically, that wraps the tone, fiction and art with gameplay. We will make everything feel like it’s producehave a defined the most art memorable direction, SR-world yet one experience where all major elements play and be more polished and stable than SR1 off of and reinforce each other. and SR2. Over the Top! Fart in a Jar Russian Roulette Peeping Tom The Saints With Super Powers in the Matrix. With Aliens. The Saints Row Way Vision . Key questions asked in late pre pro . Answers established too late . Solid Vision by here! . Not here! Discovery Pre Production Production . High Level Vision team . Cross Discipline GOALS: . Establish the box . Establish better vision tools . Collaborate with team . Remain High level Player Experience Project Pillars Special Sauce Studio Strategy Project Canvas Alexander Osterwalder Zeus : Vision Canvas (WORK IN PROGRESS) Core Vision (Pillars) Core Gameplay Core Tenets Player Experience A modern Western set in post-apocalyptic Rio Sell the experience of a hardened World Exploration gunslinger surviving day to day When I explore the world I feel A hardened gunslinger Ranged Combat in post-apocalyptic Rio. ADVENTUROUS, TEMPTED and I’m deadly in a firefight Player Progression CURIOUS My vehicle is my lifeblood Lootility Mostly an on-foot game I need to see what's going I go where others fear to tread Most gameplay takes place in to happen next. I’m always I take on challenges others will not urban areas tempted to investigate one Supporting Features Rules of the world need to be more thing. Exploring a lawless and broken city consistent and accessible Havens are no picnics but I A world where life is cheap and resources o Not a "everything fits know what to expect. Cover/Traversal System are scarce and goes" world like Outside the walls, all bets Social/Asynchronous Gameplay A hornet's nest of competing factions SR3 are off. Non Modal Missions A wasteland of opportunity to discover More realistic than SR3 when it I am compelled to balance RPG systems : player, weapons, comes to: risk and reward. vehicles Defining my legend through my actions o Art direction Customization I make enemies and allies as it suits me o Tone When I shoot enemies, I feel Vehicles I develop skills to fit my style o Gameplay and EMPOWERED and SKILLED Conversation System I craft and improve my gear with loot Situations Confident, even when Memory System/Player Awareness I play by my own rules and do what I want vulnerable. 2 Player Co-Op Even though I've seen a lot, PVP, Free for All MP Areas there's some horrifying shit I haven't seen. Nothing comes easy in this world but death. Special Sauce Dev Pillars Core Essence ( 5 sec pitches) When I progress my character We make third person Focus on the Core and gear, I feel RESOURCEFUL city-based sandbox o Do fewer things and do them well. and REWARDED game. A modern Western set in post- The car makes the man. Brains over Bureaucracy apocalyptic Rio When you see my vehicle Our players are agents o Don't let process get in the way of doing Mad Max meets MacGyver you know who I am. of mayhem with lots of what's right for the game. Post-apocalyptic Game of Thrones I know how to use what toys. A hardened gunslinger surviving day to others don’t see. Teamwork As a gunslinger I have to Our players own and day in post-apocalyptic Rio o Work together, be accountable to each keep adapting or I’ll die. share their Mechanical Alchemy other, and push each other to do our best experiences. work. Zeus : Vision Canvas (WORK IN PROGRESS) Core Vision (Pillars) Core Gameplay Core Premises Player Experience A modern Western set in post-apocalyptic Rio Sell the fantasy of a hardened I am a hardened gunslinger exploring a post- apocalyptic urban ruin, forging my legend World Exploration gunslinger exploring post- through my actions. A hardened gunslinger Ranged Combat apocalyptic Rio I’m deadly in a firefight Player Progression By playing this game I want to satisfy: My vehicle is the analog for my horse Primarily on-foot I craft and improve my gear with loot Slower paced than Saints Row My curiosity about the world and the people in it I take on challenges others will not Most gameplay takes place in My need to progress and attain mastery Supporting Features urban areas My desire for better rewards and loot Exploring a post apocalyptic urban ruin Rules of the world are My need to connect with friends and other players A lawless and broken world where life is Non Modal Missions consistent and accessible My desire to express what makes me and my cheap and resources are scarce Lootility More realistic than Saints Row character different A hornet's nest of competing factions Cover/Traversal System A wasteland of opportunity to discover Social/Asynchronous Gameplay Players should be thinking this when they play the game. RPG systems : player, weapons, Forging my legend through my actions vehicles I want to know what’s out there Modern Western I make enemies and allies as it suits me Conversation System I will find a way to deal with whatever happens I can customize my past and present Memory System/Player We __________________ when we play together I develop skills to fit my style Awareness Think : Contemporary Analogs for I go where others fear to tread 2 - 4 Player Co-Op Western tropes. I play by my own rules and do what I want Customization Vehicles Zeus World A dense urban ruin, re-built 20 years after an apocalyptic event that Inspirations occurred in 2018. Special Sauce Team Pillars The factions, intrigue, and ever evolving The Wild West in 2038 where pockets of civilization and factions plot from A Game of Thrones. function behind walls in Havens to guard, trade, and fight for control We make third person Focus on the Core The exploration, freedom, and RPG over resources and power. city-based sandbox o Do fewer things and do them well. progression of Skyrim. A world that functions on technology and resources available in game. The character and tone of A Fistful of 2018. Only a select few control experimental technology from that Brains over Bureaucracy Dollars. time. Society in general makes do with few creature comforts. Our players are agents o Don't let process get in the way of The ever evolving world of The Walking of mayhem with lots of doing what's right for the game. Dead. toys. Outside the Havens, adventurers and scavengers risk danger against The tone, humor, and Spaghetti the potential for extreme wealth and fortune. Outside these walls, Teamwork Western aesthetic of Django Unchained. it’s anything goes in a world full of roving bandits, fortune seekers Our players own and o Work together, be accountable to The traversal fluidity found in and other dangers.. share their each other, and push each other Unchartered and Tomb Raider experiences.