SERVICE SUMMARY
BOOTCAMP:
GAME VISION
This bootcamp trains the team in all Marie’s popular talks, theories and methodologies on game vision. The team and Marie then uses the knowledge together to establish a creative framework with a rich, synergistic feature set that binds the gameplay together into an iconic, rich, stimulating and fun player experience. The bootcamp starts by looking at the game from the very top – the game pillars. It unites them, finds synergies and fleshes them out into commandments. This establishes a strong, deliberate creative framework. The team then gets to bounce all their feature ideas against it to see what fits & sticks. Features are ranked on how well they align with the vision, and their backlog priority changes accordingly. In the end, the team and Marie then identify cuts and ‘holes’ in the current design and work to re-shape the feature set to compliment the newly sharpened game vision.
OVERVIEW
This bootcamp runs over five days – browse the schedule below. Sessions can be substituted on request to make tailored program.
The first day is about getting to know the project and start analyzing it to identify areas of improvements.
MORNING
BRIEFING: Marie meets the team and gets up to speed on the project
AFTERNOON
PLAYTEST: Marie plays the game with the team and takes some notes
ANALYSIS: Marie starts writing her analysis on the game based on everything she’s seen
The second day is filled with Marie’s own analysis and recommendations on how the game could be sharpened.
MORNING
ANALYSIS: Marie keeps working with her analysis
AFTERNOON
PRESENTATION: Marie presents her analysis
DISCUSSION: Marie and the team discusses the conclusions of her analysis
The third day is about aligning the team on a refined vision and what the game should be at launch.
MORNING
TALK: Game Pillars Evolved – LOTR version, that teaches how to form game pillars that are distinct, inspirational, aspirational and informative, and how they all interlink
WORKSHOP: The team maps up their pillars, writes statements, aligns on overall themes and lastly draws synergies from it all, to find what helps make the top-level vision more coherent
AFTERNOON
TALK: The Steam Page, that walks through how to design your Steam page, as a tool for alignment
WORKSHOP: The team is divided in groups who make separate versions on what the game would look like at launch
The fourth day is when the team finally aligns what the game should be at launch, and starts mapping it up to see how it all works together – and where it doesn’t.
MORNING
PRESENTATION: Each group presents their version of their Steam page
DISCUSSION: The greater team discusses takeaways, things in common, things that separates and re-aligns together what the vision is
AFTERNOON
TALK: Too Many Features, Too Little Time? Kill your Darlings and save your game
WORKSHOP: Map up the game vision together using Marie’s vision matrix
DISCUSSION: With a joint understanding, and knowledge what everyone’s darlings are from the previous exercise: Which features should be cut? Where is there a need for more uniting features for the game’s pillars to come together?
On the last day, the team works together on areas needing design improvements to elevate the vision and make the game’s ‘soul’ come together.
MORNING
IDEATION SESSIONS: Marie sits with different feature teams to discuss and suggest design improvements and solutions to features in need, for example to fill the ‘holes’ in the design that were identified the previous day, agree on what to cut, replace darlings or add new synergies
AFTERNOON
WORKSHOPS: Creative exercises such as brainstorms and affinity charts, combined with analytical breakdown, to find features that synergize, ’round out’ the game vision and makes it feel more cohesive
TESTIMONIALS
"Great experience"
The biggest help for us was definitely her extensive AI knowledge, where she shared her best practices from past AAA games she worked on. She went into several advanced topics. It was especially great to hear her thought process when creating the behaviors of enemies, and how she user tier lists when designing enemies. Her hands-on combat experience was very valuable to us, and we learned a lot from her.
After a week of bootcamp, our team is now well set to tackle our coming milestones, but her expertise could really be helpful again in the future. “
"Creativity was booming"
We found Marie easy to work with. She was responsive, flexible and tailored her program and content to our wishes. She also took the time to walk around and help everyone in their thinking, making sure no one was stuck, and even went above and beyond by spending some time playing and giving feedback on a game in development. All in all, we loved working with her and definitely want to bring her in again!"
SERVICES OFFERED
Schools & indie studios
This service includes:
- A full week of bootcamp
- Analysis, lectures, playtest and workshops
- Real game idea or fictional game
- Within your creative boundaries
- According to your scope constraints
- Online or in-person
€3500
(excl VAT & travel)
Incubators & funded studios
This service includes:
- A full week of bootcamp
- Tailored schedule as per your request
- Analysis, lectures, playtest and workshops
- Based on improving your game
- Within your creative boundaries
- According to your scope constraints
- Possibility to swap in any of Marie's sessions
- Online or in-person
€5000
(excl VAT & travel)