Re: Structured Game Design (Warning: Long Post)

[Damballa]

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GM, Bob, Jim and Sally...
Well, that's my two cents on the topic. What do you think? What structures have you found that help you design games?

What an outstandingly useful design tool!  I had so much fun doing that, it was hard to stop.

Thinking around other systems of Games design, I take a leaf out of production design/Art direction/Fashion by putting together a ‘style-sheet’ – a loose collage of thematic pictures culled from magazines or scanned in-&-printed out (anything you can put your hands/scissors/craftknife on), pick out a cool new font I feel represents both the aesthetics and ‘dynamic’ of the game and then print out some keywords and phrases; then I spray Photomount on it all/slop out the PVA and stick it down on a big plain A2 piece of paper.  I try to design the games’ logo/title too on the same sheet.  

After looking at all this disparate information, I try to unify the lot by painting on top of the images and text with acrylics – general mood washes of colour, maybe certain abstract patterns that will later become a graphical representation of information in the game, the basis for a physical visual system.

When it dries, this ‘style-sheet’ will be the basis of any future Graphics or illustrations I need done or commissioned.  The great thing about collage is that you don’t have to be a great draftsman or graphic designer to complete one.  Just good sense and a steady hand.  It’s like having your own talisman of what your game’s all about.

Afterwards, you might feel inspired by your own work enough to get yourself down your local friendly model shop and cobble together some actual 3D models stratch-built along the lines of this aesthetic you have on your ‘style-sheet’.  The more diverse the sources of these models, the more fun (and you’ll also have your own unique set of sculptures base on your own vision).  Think like ILM when they originally had to come up with models for ‘A New Hope’.

Of course, also making up your own GM screen, character sheets and unique miniatures for your new RPG along these hodgepodge, jury-rigged and make-shift D.I.Y. lines is like setting sail into the grandeur of your own make-believe cosmos...

Hello,
Scuse me folks - this thread isn't a discussion venue.
Best,
Ron
Also:
3) When posting to this forum, realize that it's tantamount to committing to being a game publisher. If you consistently flake out on the project, or are posting "a neat thing" to generate responses and dialogue, this adds up - you get the reputation as a wannabe designer rather than anyone worth paying attention to. Eventually, your posts will generate 0 responses and when you get your good idea that you're really committed to, it's too late - the Forge won't be helpful to you.

Whoops.  Sorry about this post (newbie).   Please delete as you see fit.

[Ron Edwards]

Hello,

This post was split from Structured game design in the Indie Design forum. Continued discussion here is welcome, in the "ideas about design" category.

Damballa, one tiny moderator comment - please review the Site Discussion stickies to learn more about posting and replying at the Forge. PM me if you ever have any questions about policies or moderation.

Back to the discussion.

Best,
Ron