What is a game concept?

Imagine a game that you have played from beginning to end or one that you have loved and played for a long time. Would you be able to write a two-to-five pages short presentation on that game: a presentation that describes why it is fun, how to play it, what it looks like, and for what kind of player it will be a great experience?

Now, imagine doing the same for a game that doesn’t exist yet—a game that you would love to make or play, but that is only an idea in your mind. Would you still be able to describe it? To put the vision on paper… That presentation is known as a game concept.

The purpose of a game concept is to describe a game with enough detail to distill and communicate its vision to the reader. To explain what makes it fun, who’ll enjoy playing it, and why we should make it a reality.

One of the main responsibilities of every game designer is to make sure that, at every stage of development, the vision behind the game is clearly documented and communicated to the team.

Note

The earlier you are in the development cycle, the more abstract this documentation will be. What starts with a short high-level concept will eventually turn into a full game design document that can easily span over a hundred pages. Later on (especially if you work in an Agile team), your documentation efforts are likely going to shift into feature specs (a focused design document that only will be used to explain a single standalone element of the game) and small user stories or tickets mentioned in Chapter 1, Introducing the Game Production Process.

As one of the very first steps in the development process, the game concept is the most abstract document, so it is paramount that it stays focused on the core aspects of the game. After all, you only have a few pages to describe the whole thing. You don’t really want to linger on your main protagonist’s story for four pages and then describe how the game works in the remaining few lines of the last page.

A game concept is a holistic view of the game; it describes the game and what the team will put into it (not just the designers; it contains early artwork and technical and marketing information).

Exercise

This is your first exercise. If you have a game idea already in your head, try to put it on paper: a couple of pages would be enough. If you don’t have any particular game idea in mind, try to describe a game that you have played and loved enough to know all its rules and secrets.

There’s no need to read the rest of this chapter. Do the exercise now, before reading anything more.

Once you are done, carry on reading this chapter. You will find more exercises to refine your initial concept and expand on it. By the end of the chapter, you will have the opportunity to see what mistakes you might have made in your initial concept and end up with a solid presentation that will serve as a framework for creating more game concepts.

Remember—at this stage, it is not important to come up with solid ideas for the next big blockbuster game or the next indie hit! This is just an opportunity to improve your skills in writing this type of document. Feel free to be as ambitious as you like with your concepts!