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and 
February 2001
The ABC’s of Running a Development Project
By Perry
Rodgers and Marc Mencher
The ABC’s of Running a
Development Project attempts to define the primary stages and steps in
managing a development effort. Although many of the ideas presented here
apply for Project Managers at a development company, this article is
written from the perspective of a Producer at a publishing company.
THE CONCEPT AND SELLING IT
TO MANAGEMENT
It is important that your
project begin with a solid foundation. In the case of a creative effort
such as a development project, a solid foundation is the essential
heart-felt vision or high concept that will serve as the
"spirit" of the project. This vision will be the driving,
motivating force that will spur you and your team on to its
manifestation through the sleepless nights and the real world
constraints. Alan Ball, Hollywood screenwriter, recently pitched three
projects to his agent. From their conversations, his agent could tell
the one project that Alan was most passionate about and suggested that
he pursue it further: American Beauty. Any great work, anything
worth doing, especially a project that will consume perhaps two years or
more of your life, must begin with this spirit.
As a Producer, your job is
twofold:
Step 1: Conceptualize,
or otherwise recognize a concept that
you believe in.
Step 2: Sell
the idea as a sound business opportunity to the executive staff at you
company.
Undoubtedly, you will be
asked to present your concept as a business opportunity to management.
This may be necessary, for example, to secure funding for prototype
development of the concept. Consider preparing the following materials
for your presentation:
1. Concept Paper
The concept paper acts much
like a resume as it serves to briefly identify the high points of the
concept. It is also the important first impression that many will have
about the concept. Start by identifying a memorable working title by
which to refer to, and then note the genre, hardware platform, and
target demographic. Provide a one line visual description of the product
(Marketing people will appreciate this.) Then elaborate some on the
concept in the body of the paper. The personality of the game and
characters should be defined as should the general macro design (e.g.,
number of world, levels). An example of play control is useful to give
the reader an idea about the interactivity of the game. Defining the art
and music style with reference to other games is also beneficial.
Let’s look at an example:
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BIG TIME RODEO
CONCEPT PAPER
Genre: Arcade Sports
Platform: PlayStation 2
Target demographic:
Male/Female 12 – 24
High Concept: The sport of
Rodeo meets Nintendo’s Punch Out
You are rugged cowboy Jack West
or cowgirl Amber Gayle competing against a host of eight other
cowboys and cowgirls vying for the Rodeo National Championship.
The goal is for Jack/Amber to
work their way through the Rookie, Semi-Pro, and Professional
circuits. There are five competitions in each circuit. Each
competition features four of eight rodeo events, including bull
riding, barrel racing, and calf roping.
Human opponents, bulls, and
broncos, will all have personalities of their own. In bull
riding, you will start by riding relatively tame bulls with meek
personalities in the Rookie circuit and evolve to take on
"Black Bart", the meanest bull of them all, in the Pro
circuit.
Play control is unique and
requires dexterity and learned skill to be successful. For
example, when a bull bucks, the player must push down (back) on
the controller to counter and stay on the bull.
Art style is cartoon, much like Punch
Out or Hot Shots Golf, in attempt to lighten the mood
of the game and establish it as an arcade game.
Music is up-tempo, sing-along,
Western, a bit goofy perhaps. |
2. Sample
Artwork
Given the visual nature of
"video" games, it will be invaluable to include sample artwork
with your concept paper. In the case of Big Time Rodeo, still
sketches of Jack and Amber, Black Bart, and then perhaps a mock screen
shot of Jack aboard Black Bart will help to convey the style of the
characters and the arcade/cartoon nature of the game.
Continued
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