Is anyone interested in talking to me about a software idea I have for the video game industry? I wanna know if its a good idea, and if it can be successfull, thanx guys.

Quote:Original post by thecorpament
Is anyone interested in talking to me about a software idea I have for the video game industry? I wanna know if its a good idea, and if it can be successfull, thanx guys.

It might be a good idea to first post something about your software idea here, you know. You haven't really given anyone anything to respond to yet (well, except for replies like this).

Good point Trapper Zoid...well its basically just software that will help ease the design of video games by helping designers to create the three main documents necessary to develop a game, the design document, technical design document, and maybe a proposal document. Similar to what software like Palo Alto's Business or Marketing Plan Pro does for business and marketing plans, I was thinking this would help the design process. The planning beforehand would make the game quicker to develop, no more experiences of team members not being on the same page when it comes to design, a way for non-programmer or non-artists to go about documenting game ideas, basically a word processor at heart, but so much more. I'm not suggesting industry standards or anything for these documents, just something to make the design process easier. Tell me what you guys think, I need some honest feedback. Or if you have any questions or anything. I'd buy if it would save time and hassle during the design/coding process, but thats just me.

What you're describing sounds like one of two possibilities. Either

a) a template, or

b) a randomizer.

Either doesn't sound like very marketable material. I can go download templates for design docs already, and randomizing various concept segments into a cohesive game idea sounds rather lazy (not to mention ultimately confusing).

I guess your description is just a little lacking. What exactly would the assistant software DO for the user? You said a word processor at heart, so are you talking about something similar to Mad Libs games? (ask for 3 nouns, 2 verbs, and 4 adjectives, and it fills the blanks in a pre-made scenario in with your choices). It certainly doesn't sound revolutionary or useful as it stands now, but I'm sure you've only given a rudimentary explanation of the concept.

I guess it would be more of a template, with instructions and examples. Alot of wizards to make the process easier, like character wizards, or level wizards etc. And it would be able to be uploaded to the net and updated during the design process. The idea is actually extremely marketable, definitely not revolutionary yes, but in terms of the video game industry as a whole it just may be. If you think in terms of every video game designer who needs these documents to make a game, I mean really to design a game without these documents would be not only foolish, but the result would probably be a failure. I guess what it would come down to then is do people want to open up word and create these things, or would they rather use a program like this thats feature rich and industry-specific. Thats like saying why would a screenwriter buy Movie Magic Screenwriter 2000 when they could just do it in word, or why would a someone starting a business use Business Plan Pro 2005 when they can get a book from the library and open up MS Word. The logic and argument of why something like this wouldn't work is flawed when you look at these cases. So what do you guys think?

As large and complex as some of the companies in the industry has gotten, its hard to believe that they don't already have something similar in place. Its not like these companies and studios still practice adhoc development. As far as I know, alot of the games that have 1 year life cycles already have very rigorous documentation mechanisms in place. And like they say, when something ain't broke, don't fix it.

However, it might be a better idea to market towards smaller independent studios to help them streamline their processes. Though from a software standpoint, smaller teams have slightly different dynamics.

Thanks for all of your feedback guys, so I've really been thinking about this the last few days and that it could actually be a somewhat successfull at least attempt at some software, so what type of features would designers and programmers like to see in a program like the one I'm proposing. Be specific, maybe this can give me some ideas as to whether or not this is indeed a viable concept. You guys are telling me a product like this would be better marketed towards small independent developers, in another forum people were saying how it would be better marketed towards management, expressing how they could save time and money during the development process.