Before starting the exercise write down a short pitch, stating:
1-what the city is about (1-2 sentences)
2-what the player actually does in the game (1-2 sentences)
3-what the expressive goal is i.e. how the player is supposed to feel (1-2 sentences)
Roleplay the following scenarios as a form of critique.
Pitch
Funder solicited proposals for an anthology game based on Italo Calvino’s invisible cities. For the first round of selections, the proposals are delivered in the form of playable prototypes and elevator pitches. Funder is not looking for potentially profitable projects, but for projects with cultural significance that appear feasible in the given time frame (deadline mid semester).
Developer is presenting their idea and a prototype, trying to convince Funder to fund the project.
Scoping*
Uh oh, funding for the anthology project has been cut!
Consultant has been hired to trim down the Developer‘s project to the minimum.
Go through each feature, element, location etc, and determine whether or not they are crucial for the project:
-Do they support the theme of the game?
-Can they be combined with other features to save time?
-Can you achieve the same expressive goal with less effort?
-Is the time to develop the feature proportional to the time the player will spend on/with it?
Consultant has to cut the project down to 50% of its current scope.
Developer is not arguing against the cuts per se, they are only trying to save the spirit of the project.
*The scope of a game is the planned complexity of a game (in terms of feature, content and systemic detail).
It’s quantitative and qualitative and it’s usually defined in a game design document. Two related concepts:
Feature Creep: adding more features after the scope has been defined.
Overscoping: aiming for more than you can achieve in the given timeframe.