Project Mgmt #1: Visioning
While not the most exciting part of being a creative professional (to some!), effective project management will make a world of difference whether you're working as a team or a one-person extravaganza.
On this subject, I’d like first to discuss visioning: the conceptual foundation for a project. Whether it comes in the form of a pitch deck, descriptive document, mood board, or interpretive dance, the vision serves to establish and communicate goals (commercial, critical, and personal) for a given project. While there are a lot of potential advantages, the biggest is that it creates a sense of focus for creativity and iteration.
I like to frame visioning around the questions "Why are we making it?" and "Who is it for?" Having firm answers here will provide a starting point for the many hundreds of questions and problems that arise during the development cycle. And keep in mind it’s totally fine if the answers are “I’m making it for fun!” and “I’m making it for me!” (as long as it meets with your expectations and goals).
Cohesion and Brand Attributes
A solid vision can create a sense of cohesion. Basically, the more that details of the project arise from common themes/ideas (brand attributes), the more they mesh together.
For example, one of the brand attributes for Leviathan Wilds is "awe-inspiring." This is the notion that most aspects of the game evoke a sense of grand scale. It’s most obvious in the leviathan illustrations (i.e., they look like giant creatures), but it’s also baked into the mechanisms (traversal is the focus, rather than combat). Also, we’ve intentionally pushed a sense of awe into other parts of the game; the speed and power of the climbers, the style of narrative for leviathan intro/outro, and so on.
Other Details
It’s worth cultivating ideas for what your MSRP might be and ideal release timing (again as a touchstone for your goals). I'll recommend that these be slightly wide ranges; it’s tough to estimate early on, but a ballpark idea can help narrow the multitude of options.
Additionally note a few potential challenges and opportunities, especially if you’re making the vision for someone else to follow. These can help pinpoint areas that might be troublesome or identify certain advantages that are worth keeping in mind as the project moves forward.
These can be anything: known risk factors for which you want to research contingencies (factory closures and freight shipping, anyone?) or potential slowdowns related to licensing (not really a problem for us these days, but ho boy have we experienced it).
Conversely, opportunities are just as important to identify, whether it's something in the marketing space (partnerships or compelling content) or ways to emphasize key aspects of the project itself.
Etc, etc.
There’s a lot more that could go into a vision, but remember the document is goal-oriented, and it’s intended to ease the process of decision-making. Too specific, and it can be creatively stifling. Too vague, and it doesn’t actually help with the iterative process.
It’s also worth noting that it’s totally fine if the goals and the vision change as the project progresses. The beauty of a careful and deliberate iterative process is its ability to focus elements that improve the project, increase its cohesion, and better serve the intended audience. If the vision doesn’t serve that, then change it!
In a future post, I’ll share more about the specific visioning for Leviathan Wilds. In the meantime, does anyone have any additional suggestions for other visioning elements? Things that worked really well, or maybe things that didn’t but taught a valuable lesson?
