Comm Lab 3: Concept Document

CIS 300 September 12, 2006

The focus of today's lab is thinking about how to construct a concept document. Remember, the concept document isn't a treatise - it's more like an ad or a resume.

The example in Rollings & Adams gives a good picture of making the concept doc. It should be easy to read, punchy, clear, and direct. Remember, in the real world, this document would have to counter the short attention spans of publishers!

Tasks

(1)        Exchange the proposals you brought to class with another group. Spend 5 minutes reading.

(2)        Using the proposals from your partnered group, spend 15 minutes creating (as a group) an outline of a concept document for *their* game. Use the scheme in Appendix A of Rollings & Adams:

1              High Concept Statement: A short statement of the core vision of your game.

2              Features: A bulleted list of the key features of the game

3              Overview: Summarizes the important traits of the game. May include Player Motivation, Genre, Target Player, Competition, Unique Selling points, Platform, and (most importantly) Design Goals

4              Additional Details (story, characters, music, or anything else interesting)

(3)        Exchange (2), and spend 5 minutes reading your partnered group's take on your game.

(4)        Spend 20 minutes discussing (2), 10 minutes for each group.

(5)        Submit (2) to CMS at the end of class.

By Friday at midnight, submit via CMS the following to Assignment 1

(1)        A Group Charter. The charter specifies

                        - A working name for your project

                        - The name of your development team

                        - A short (1 paragraph) description of your game

                        - Your project leader

                        - Your lead programmer

                        - The members of the development team and their contact information

                        - The development roles (responsibilities) of each group member

                        - Your weekly outside of class meeting time and place 

By Monday Monday at midnight, submit via CMS the following to Assignment 2

(2)        A concept Document draft.