104
Video Game Design Composition
Designers may post the storyboards on a wall and use string to connect the
different levels. This can help show the team how the levels connect to each
other. When the entire player movement is mapped through each room in each
level, a game layout chart is created. A
game layout chart
displays an overhead
view of game.
To show a video-game
publisher the game concept, the
storyboard panels can be artistically
refined with color, clean lines, and
typeset text. These display boards
can be used as a
predevelopment
tool
to help market the game and
obtain financing. Showing the
investors and clients the complete
game story in graphical form
helps them visualize how the final
product will appear.
World-Design Document
In addition to the storyboards and game layout chart, the design team
uses several other documents to convey the story. These documents together
form the world-design document. The
world-design document
lists the
items needed to create the game worlds. Each element of the game must
match the theme and mood of the story. If a character or button looks out of
place, it can ruin the conveyance of the story through the game. The design
team uses the world-design document to ensure all elements of the game fit
the story. Two documents commonly included in the world-design document
are: 1) the environmental illustrations document and, 2) character design
and model sheets.
Environmental-Illustrations Document
Creating the imaginary place that fits the mood, theme, and feel of the
story can be a challenge. Each object must fit the original concept of the game
when creating a scene.
Environmental illustrations
show the details of the
virtual world in the game, as shown in Figure 3-13. Artist and game writers
cooperate to create these illustrations, which are included in the environmental-
illustrations document.
If the environment is not a real-world setting, the artists must imagine the
environment from scratch. Creating drawings and features that have never
existed before can be very exciting. The designers are free to create a new
world. This world can have talking plants, a swirling sky, very hot or cold
atmosphere, nonhuman characters, unusual dwellings, and more.
Concept sketches are created for original story ideas before the final
artwork is created. The design team needs to sketch individual pieces of
the game environment and sample scenes for approval. Each object and
scene needs to be compared to the story to see how it will work in the story
environment.
CHEAT CODE:
PREDEVELOPMENT TOOL
Predevelopment tools are
documents and other items used
before the project is approved for
design. In many cases, the predevelopment tools are used
as pitch documents to sell the game to a publisher.