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The first real development step toward a solution takes place during the Concept and Planning phase. This is where the Goals, Messages, and Audience for the project are explored and decided. These are the most important questions that will be addressed throughout the project and have the most impact. These answers cannot be described too well. Often, they are not described at all and it is surprising how few clients are ready with these answers when they are asked. Market Research can sometimes provide parts of the answers but the overall goals and messages must, at least, be decided consciously by the client.
Many times a Proof of Concept is a valuable part of the development, to both help visualize the purpose of the project as well as use it as an internal selling tool to gain support and understanding for the project. Usually, proofs of concepts are not used outside a client’s organization.
Lastly, the Requirements Document should address all of the design requirements for the project, including any metrics for how the success of the project will be measured when completed. At the very least, the audience(s) needs to be carefully described, as well as the messages intended for them, and, of course, the goals. This sounds simplistic and obvious, but it is hardly ever done adequately. Every decision from this point forward will be derived and affected by these answers. Part of the Requirements Document should address the proposed Technology for the project, the Market, and the Competition. The most difficult part of this phase is convincing clients that these questions are tantamount to answer as they will be eager to move forward and see "work"(meaning screen designs) and often grow impatient with these "distractions."
Some of the activities conducted during this phase with their resulting deliverables include:
- Project Conceptualization and Scoping: Requirements Document
- Technology Review and Research: Technology Plan
- User Interviews: User Scenarios
- Final deliverable: Proof of Concept
A list of questions to answer during this phase include:
Goals and Messages:
- Primary and Secondary Goals of the Product
- Primary and Secondary Goals of the Client/Publisher
- Primary and Secondary Audience Description (interests, needs, skills, capabilities, assumptions)
- Platform Descriptions (make, models, RAM, hard drives, CD-ROM, data load for each)
- Top three messages the product needs to convey
- Rethink the goals. Are they the true goals or merely the obvious ones?
Content:
- Does this product use primarily existing content? If yes, how is it to be repurposed? In what ways will it be made appropriate to the interactive medium?
- If new, how will it be captured and created? How much will there need to be?
- Does this product use data entered by users? If so, how much and in what forms? What can be done with it once entered?
Structure and Interpretations:
- What is the Primary organization of the content?
- What are other organizations that can be made available for other modes of searching, viewing, browsing, learning, exploring, and understanding?
- What are the main presentation ideas of the structure of the title/project?
- What are the most important and compelling features?
- Are there any novel interactions? If so, what are they?
- What is the level of interactivity?
- Are there any Adaptive technologies employed? Which ones and how?
- Are there any Co-Creative features?
Sensorial Design:
- Describe the overall visual elements and styles of this product (use adjectives if necessary).
- Describe the overall auditory elements and styles of this title
- Describe the overall text elements and written portions of this title
- Describe any ideas about animation style and use
- Describe any ideas about video style and use
- Describe the sophistication of programming needed
- Describe any current authoring systems that are intended for use or modification
Team:
- Who are the primary members of the production team? What are their roles and responsibilities? What is their experience?
- Are there technical, programming, marketing, and media professionals represented on the team?
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