To work out the logical layout of a game, I’ve always used pen and paper. I usually end up with pages of bullet points, diagrams and logic trees.
This works, but I wonder if there’s a better way to plan a large project. How do you guys do it, and in particular: does there exist any software that really excels in helping someone plan this type of project? I’d love to find something very visual and intuitive.
Or is old fashioned pen and paper still the best set of planning tools out there?
For personal use, I think pen and paper is still the way to go (along with piles of Word and Excel documents). Basically, if it works for you, run with it. The only time you really need to worry about putting things together in an organized and presentable form is if you need others to understand it.
I lie down on my hammock and design/write features i have to do on paper. It’s a nice break from monitor’s light and awakes creativity - I like doing that. Then i pull out one page to write detailed list of things i need to do next days, as small as posible (single function, asset import, e-mail).
If there are deadlines (dates) i put them into google tasks.
I was surprised when i watched Indie game the movie and they showed dirty used pages just as mine. Happy that my way is not that bad way and works 
Depends if I have to plan for pleasure, work, set objective or whatever. But paper is involved.
Echoing hippo, depends on the circumstances of the project. So assuming rightly or wrongly you are a solo or small indie team…
As a qualified project manager having previously worked on national government projects for a few years ( which was utterly boring ), I’m of the opinion that for indie game dev it really doesn’t matter how you work. So long as you are enthusiastic, committed, and deliver, who cares? Do what you feel comfortable and organised with. No one approach is going to have that much of an impact on your project. If you really want to try out something more “formal”, look at Agile development.
Everything here starts on “dirty used paper” or in a project notebook ( flow diagrams, concept sketches etc ). I’ve started doing more digitally using the wacom so I can share it more easily with the team and back-up remotely. The team use Window’s snip.exe for screengrabs and draw annotations freehand over the top before pasting the clipboard back into skype for discussion. It’s a really quick way of accurately communicating ideas to team members spread around the world without us having to sign in to some shared whiteboard app and wait for stuff to upload. Obviously text goes into docs and not paper as my pen writing skills have declined into a scrawl over the years.
Thank you for your responses. It looks like I figured correctly: my current method’s about as good as I can expect. Though that Agile software looks interesting and is exactly what I was thinking of.
I know, and I agree. The only reason I posed this question was in case there were methods of which I was unaware. Maybe I’m unaware of what I don’t know, you know?
Anyway, thanks again. And I’ll keep checking this thread if more responses pop up!
It depends on where I am at the time:
Out of office/in bed - my mobile phone’s notes
In office - a txt doc
other - paper and a damn fine pen!
I’ve wondered from time to time, how well a decent tablet would help out with some of the paper period of planning…as in replacing it. The ability to type, doodle, record, take pictures…
Got me thinking how useful it might be to have a stylus for the iPad. Found this review of 12 styluses.
Now I wonder if the software exists to not only draw, but complete the workflow by emailing/ftping/transferring the “slides” elsewhere so they can be used in project communication, and to keep and quickly flip through a sketches deck.
Try ‘Lean’ rather than its over-hyped c#/java business development cousin ‘Scrum’.
Agile development is very interesting and provides a lot of versatility and more ease in the project.