Also known as a Project Vision Statement, this is a quick sentence that helps define the product you’re making, who it is for and what value it provides. Deceptively simple, it helps consider many different aspects of a game and how it will fit in the wider marketplace. Crucially, it helps the whole team come to an agreement on what we are building.
The statement depends on certain Key words, which combined create the whole phrase. They are
- For: — the main demographic that the game is for
- Who: — the need of the demographic; what urge are you satisfying
- The: — the name of the game
- Is A: — what type of game is it; could be genre, sub-genres or other descriptors
- That: — what does the game do for the player.
- Unlike: — who is your competition
- Ours: — what are your key hooks
As far as I know, the original design of this tool comes from the SCRUM product management framework.
- On a whiteboard, write down the key words as follows:
- Hand out sticky notes to the rest of the team
- Give some time for people to write one idea on each sticky note for each key word.
- After time is up, have everyone come up stick their thoughts on the whiteboad and present their view
- Discuss
Let’s say we are making a dating simulator where players have a time machine and can travel through time.
In this case the Agile Statement Might look like this:
- For: — female gamers in their late teens
- Who: — have a love for history and historical romances
- The: — Temporal Tenderness: Love through the Ages
- Is A: — 2D, visual novel dating simulator
- That: — allows players to travel through time and date historical figures
- Unlike: — other historical dating simulators such as Regency Rendezvous
- Ours: — Allows players to visit multiple epochs, forcing players to be aware of the evolving courtship customs, rituals and faux-paxs
After completing the statement, you now have a two sentence way of describing your game and what makes it special.
- MDA Framework
One of the most widespread ways to analyze a game holistically. - One Pager
A critical part of pitching a game idea to the wider team. - SWOT Analysis
An easy framework for analyzing the competition. - Bartle’s Player Types
One of the oldest & most widely used player categorizations - Personas
A technique to humanize the intended players of the game - X-Statement
The first step in development after having the game idea.