Project Title:

''Creating the Remnant Universe: A Video Game Concept''(Link to the project.)

Executive description:

I intend to create a detailed video game concept which will be hierarchically organized on a wiki. This project will test my enthusiasm for detail and organization as well as my commitment to universe building, a skill which is very important to me.

Narrative:

With this project, I intend to create the conceptual foundation for a video game. I will not take current technical limitations into account as this game is not intended for development. Instead, I will work on explaining the game's engine, its primary features, game mechanics and the universe in which players will act. To a lesser extent, I may expand upon elements of user interface and specific characters or places in the universe.

I have chosen a wiki for this project for many reasons.

Wikis are suitable for hierarchical framework. In creating a universe such as this, hierarchy is very important. For example, the game engine will be a topic separate from the universe. Within the universe, there would be such things as regions, races, objects and history. If I came up with an idea for a specific type of sink, it would have a place in the hierarchy and, most importantly, could be found by logically following categories from the general to the specific (Objects > Civilian > Misc > Sinks).

Another useful aspect of wikis is that their hierarchy isn't rigid and pages are not required to belong to one category or another. If I were to come up with dozens of appliances in my universe, only some of which being sinks, I might want to add another subcategory. With a wiki, a few minutes of work would yield: (Objects > Civilian > Misc > Appliances > Sinks). Because none of these pages are in rigid hierarchy (as they would on in a conventional web site), links to the 'sinks' page from other pages will still work. Sorting, re-sorting and adding content will be many times easier on a wiki.

While wikis are collaborative at their core, the majority of the work on this project will be done individually. However, once the project is complete or nearing completion, it will be opened up to the public. Hopefully, contributors will point out errors and suggest new creations. While collaboration is not an objective of this project, it remains an option on a wiki.

This is a personal project

The overall goal of this project is personal satisfaction. A good portion of my casual conversation with friends deals with the many ways in which modern video games fall short. I feel that, if I am to criticize, I must provide an alternative. I must create something concrete against which I can justify my dissatisfaction with video games today.

For this project, I will cover the foundations of the game first and most solidly. These include an overview of the game as a whole and a thorough explanation of each of its main features, followed by pages detailing more specific elements such as resource acquisition, the character customization and the drone system. I will also lay a tentative foundation for the universe, in which much of my creative energy will be focused during the latter stages of the project. I expect this work to be done within a few weeks and to be largely static, expanding only slightly as pages change to accommodate additions to subcategories which I may come up with later.

Once the foundation is laid, I'll consider which elements of the game beg further explanation the most. This is the point at which I will either bring in collaborators or, at the very least, ask the opinion of others. I will begin to gather feedback, improve my foundations where needed and add details as they come to me.

In the end, the success or failure of this project will be gaged by my persistence and creativity. If the game ends up being a thoroughly imagined, interesting concept with plenty of backing details then I will have done well. I will have assured myself that I can come up with 'something better' and have fully realized this game through enthusiasm and commitment. If successful, the project wiki should be an interesting place for anyone to explore, question and contribute to. My report on this project will be posted to my blog, Pining for the Game, the birthplace of this idea. I will judge the scope of the game and its universe based on the amount of content I was able to generate contrasted with the elements I wasn't able to consider. I may ask my friends, the very friends I complain to about video games, to write short reviews of this proposed game as another way of judging the outcome of the project.

Contract for Grade

I intend to shoot for the stars with this wiki. Not only is it the first universe-building project I've attempted academically, but it's the most recent attempt in a long line of bitter failures. I want to contract for 1000 points, hopefully pumping my wiki full of content with updates and revisions at least once every other day as the project starts out (during which time I'll be working on the foundations) to a few new nodes a week nearing the end of the semester.

Calendar

March 31
By the end of March, the foundations of the game will be complete. Though the number of nodes may not be more than a dozen, each of these nodes will be an essay on a main element of gameplay.

April 2
By the beginning of April, I will have gotten the main articles of the universe written and will begin working on the details of the universe, including non-player characters, notable places, specific equipment, etc.

April 21
I hope to have filled out the universe at this point, reaching a significant number of specific nodes containing unique information. I also hope to have some concrete feedback to work into the project, the results of which I can show during presentation week along with the 'finished' project.