Mood boards
September 16, 2009
I’ve just begun work on my second iPhone game. This time around I would like to share more about the processes i’m using. These are by no means industry standards, they just represent my personal workflow.
The first step for me is the idea. I don’t have a specific method for this, I get inspiration from things I see around me. I probably come up with around 5 ideas before settling on one that I like. The idea for this particular game came about because I was inspired by an image I saw.
At this point I would normally begin coding but I was inspired by this post I read regarding mood boards and decided to apply the process to this game. I bought myself a Moleskine sketchbook and began collecting various scraps, images, doodles, and notes. I’ve really found this process helpful in defining the look and feel of the game. I hope time spent on this will shine through in the cohesion of the final game.
To ensure I get the right look and feel i’m using my Wacom drawing tablet along with inkscape to complement the moodboarding. This is very much an iterative process, trying things out in digital format and refining my mood board. I’ll share some of these designs with you in the coming posts.
Oh and, being a developer, I couldn’t help but begin coding alongside this process. I’ve rapidly programmed a basic working prototype to ensure that I could achieve the core gameplay.
Does anyone else use moodboarding or do you have alternative techniques?
When you are brainstorming ideas, how much thought do you give to the technical constraints that might make the idea infeasible? I’ve found that I have a very critical view even at the idea stage and this stops me from exploring ideas I would like to, its a strange problem.
Also, it seems you might be quite a visually oriented person. I simply cannot draw and so my ideas only ever end up as lists of bullet-points. This works for some people but I do really wish that I could compliment these lists with images and doodles that help represent the idea from a visual perspective. I like the idea of collecting scraps though, I might have to give this a go.
James
http://www.roguepirateninja.com/
James – At the brainstorming stage I try not to focus on technical constraints but I do have in my mind the platform i’m developing for. I think it’s important to push yourself and attempt things that are slightly beyond your skill level.
I don’t think it matters that you cannot draw. You can always represent the elements of your game with simple geometric shapes. I’ve found collecting scraps to be a great way to quickly generate the mood of the game and further explore my ideas. I didn’t spend much time on this on my first game and think it suffered as a result. This time I plan to spend more time exploring and cultivating the idea.
A good suggestion. I’ll be trying that out for my upcoming game project.