Documentation

Documentation. My worst enemy. I've been struggling with it since the first year. I've never got into the habit of writing my design documents along the way of creating actual assets, so I usually have to do it the night before hand-in... And it's really hard to recall and properly describe a month's worth of work in one night.

Although, even that I hate it so much I understand the importance of documentation and why we've been doing it as a part of our course. It's essential in process of game creation. If company hires hundreds of workers it's easy to lose track of who is doing what and whether they are doing it correctly -  so here's where design document comes in handy. 

Here I'm going to make up a game as a practice for my Final Major Project for my third year. Actually it's going to be based on a game that I played as a kid, but I can't recall its title now. I've never been a fan of racing games but I really enjoyed that particular one and I wish someone would do a remake of it.  

Audience: 15+

Genre: sport/racing

Platform: Xbox 360/ PS3

Overview: 

Futuristic, slightly cartoony (similar to Borderlands) hover-board racing game. The main character is a teenager who built his/her own hover-board from scratch and takes part in illegal, amateur midnight races (tutorial part of the game). He/she is really good so he/she gets a chance to take a part in real tournament (main part of the game). The competition is dirty and dangerous, there's only one rule - whoever is the first on the finish line wins the race. The hover-boards are highly customisable and there're also many weapons to be used. 

Lead Character:

customisable, player can chose gender and face characteristics, but it's always a teenager from a lower class family (to support the story)

Outfits and hairstyles can be changed and tattoos and accessories can be added along the way between the stages of tournament. These additions can be purchased for points that player earn by winning races.

 About 8,000 tris

 

 NPC:

Varity of opponents from different social classes (can be distinguished by outfits and hover-boards advance level)

different kinds of enemies with different race styles:

• Tall, slim enemies that prioritize speed
• Big and heavy enemies that trying to knock the player down
• Small enemies that mainly use weapons and traps to eliminate others.

5,000-6,000 tris each

Vehicles:

hover-boards reflect personalities and race styles of their owners.

Player can customise their own by spending points gained on winning races.

Environments:

tutorial part of the game: futuristic but dirty slums areas

main part of the game: variety of racing tracks. Some wild and rough environments like deserts, ice fields, jungles as well as futuristic, technologically advanced racing arenas with holographic billboards and screens.

Many ramps and shortcuts to be discovered by player. 

Props:

Plenty of weapons to choose from like bombs, rockets and traps like force fields.