I was thinking "King of Swing" wouldn't be a conspiracy shooter.

A lot of this sounds kinda blah, to be honest; about the same level as those horrible episodes of Stargate SG-1 where they're on Earth dealing with that stupid secret agency and guys in suits?

NDS or NIS or NID or something.

You don't necessarily have to be "childish" or even unserious but do press yourself out of your comfort zone a bit. Subvert, mock, create. Think about life.

And don't underestimate understatement. All the best action movies are understated. Watch Die Hard and Rambo. Contrast with Battlefield Earth. BE tries to put an exciting face on absolutely everything. Which won our hearts and the box office?

The other issue is that you mention not having a game design spec and that is deeply troubling. If you're making a game, you need to be thinking in terms of entities and actions and rules. Story and all that can be an important part of an entertainment product but the game design is the spec for your software. Do not proceed unless it's in order. I don't know all the details of everything you're doing but as a rule of thumb, ask yourself if you can make a bare bones prototype without the conspiracy story or characterization and if it still works. If not, you might have a problem.

I just mention this because on my 3rd project I did this exact same thing. After two decent games me and my artist started conjuring up this story with Bigfoot as a CIA agent and I started coding prematurely because I was excited about learning C++, and "learn C++" is exactly what I wound up doing and nothing further. Project crashed and burned. The subsequent project I did iterating prototypes.

Final note. Use a "working title". Tons of folks use them. All the Stargate episodes would have working titles (e.g. "Carl Binder's Replicator Story") and then they come up with a real one much later in the process. The Wii had a working title ("Revolution") as did its predecessors the Cube ("Dolphin") and 64 ("Ultra 64").

You just pull some stupid name out of your rear, use it for the sake of being able to refer to your work, and then later, maybe after reading your first draft and you realize it's about ambition and how the hero really just wants to open a pizza shop, you can call it "Pizza Sauce and Blood" or something.

P.S. may I throw "King of Swing" into my pile then? I'm in preliminary pre-plan plan-making mode for my next project.

@JoeCooper take the name "king of swing" it actually means nothing to me, i can't change my gamedev username so i stuck with that and then added the picture. Also how would i change my gamedev email, i want to change it but i had an old gamedev account with the  same email. What do you mean by design spec, is that what console it might be on, or is that what the game is about? @ Anyone Also what do you guys think about for a scene set in Dubai? Maybe a shootout in the Burj Al Arab or one starting at The Palace, through The Dubai Mall and then up the Burj Khalifa? i have loads of scenes written down and in my head, they just formulate out of nowhere.

Splendid, and don't worry about changing anything.

I'll tell you what I meant by example.

Take Street Fighter for example. You have a game state, which includes where the players are and how they are and their strengths- their health bar? are they stunned? are they in the air? And you have actions. Move left & right, block, jump, and attack, which is subdivided 18 ways plus a plethora of special moves for every character.

It's a game because there are rules and actions and things to consider and this lets you strategize. At any moment you can observe the situation and decide which action is the one to take. They're all important sometimes.

That's the game design.

That, then, is wrapped in artwork. The artwork is important too. It helps communicate the rules through metaphors, thanks to things the audience already knows. You know that a kick might be stronger than a punch and hit from a longer distance. You can infer that the big boxer guy probably has an excellent punch. You can infer that the girl with the mean legs can kick hard.

The music then sets the moods, all the art is entertainment in its own right, it lets you engage with it at a cultural level, and backstories help characterize the characters and are a reward when you win.

These are all tools in your toolbox. "Video games" are entertainment products. You may have noticed that some of them like Microsoft Flight Sim, Guitar Hero and just about any traditional "adventure game" are not the same beasts I describe above, but never mind that for now.

The point is, if you only have the vaguest notion of what your game is, you won't be able to build it. The software design and everything is structured around the rules described at the top. Very tightly. That's the design spec; it describes what the program does, just like if you tried to describe Notepad.

If you're not interested in all that, what you need to do is hook up with someone a little farther along who has an interest in that and ideally has built something before. Complex art is not a good thing for someone very new. You may not realize what monsterous production needs your ideas entail, and you won't be able to pull that together unless you've already got experience, connections and can raise money.

If you decide you are interested in building games yourself, you need to refocus on the core game because these kinds of art needs are simply way too much for you. I get the sense that you're a little newer at this than me, and I wouldn't dive into this. (I've just released my first iPhone game, after several crude Java games I shared with friends.)

This is assuming a lot about you, but you might want to see if another project wants some writing. You'll probably want someone who's finished at least a few crude games or else they're not really ready to start arting it up. Write some short stories in prose or comics or whatever to make a "portfolio" and go to the Help Wanted. Just my two cents.

EDIT: There's also game kits, "game makers" you might be super interested in. They often have bits of the design built in, ready to go for you so you can just art it up. I think. I've never used any but that's a great way to get started from your angle and you can really go nuts.

You are right that i am not a highly skilled programmer (sorry if i dissappointed anyone) the only reason i started this topic was to get ideas for a game that i hope to make in the future, i thought if i got together a good i idea that i really would enjoy becoming a reality i could store it away for later on in my life and then come back to it. i wouldn't have dared jump into this at such a low level of skill, i just wanted to know what people thought of the idea and build on it, i respect what you have said though. Also JoeCooper do you want to or can you look at my first attempt of some coding in c++ for a ping pong game and see why it doesn't work or what i could build on? it would be highly appreciated.

Anymore more ideas for the pot.

Oh well that's really OK, I thought you were building up to like a serious project and just giving a heads up about that, but if you want to just brainstorm here, that is totally fun and I won't rain on it. I'm sorry if I hurt any enthusiasm.

Do you have a thread about your pong game elsewhere on this forum? I'd be totally happy to take a look at where you're at and help along if I can.

No you didn't rain on it or hurt my enthusiasm, it is a very popular thing i think when people get away with an idea, and think its the world, when in truth its a tough thing. i wil set up a new post topic u should look at my profile in a bit.

do u have any ideas about the Dubai scene?

Oh I don't know anything about all that. I found it all yawn-worthy but ever since Transformers 2 I've had no interest in action movies cause frankly I feel like I've seen everything by now.

I like the ideas King of Swing has come up with. And no. No hurt feelings here as well. Its good to have other eyes to take a look at the ideas and suggestions that is being taken and removed for something else. King your doing fine. Everyone has opinions. And its all good for joe copper to help out. Thank you. I hope I have given you, King, some ideas to think about for your game. I enjoy helping out others that need suggestions, ideas, or just want to talk.

Keep going Swing.

Thanks for all the help everyone!!!!! I will probably leave this topic for now to get cracking on my idea, if anyone wants to post anything else they are welcome.

Yes yes, keep going. Sorry I'm not much into it, action stuff just puts me to sleep now so I can't really judge it. Sorry if I sound smarmy here and in other posts. Do let your imagination go nuts.