Early Draft Mission Flow Chart As I am still far from being a master of non-linear design, this post has a bit more discussion on presentation than design. Hopefully, it will provide useful tips for designers to communicate high level non-linear designs effectively with a few design takeaways.
My first recommendation is keeping two copies of any wiki pages you are using to present your non-linear design work. One is for you, and whatever creative madness you need for your design process. This one is hidden from the world, like a corrupt accountant's second set of books. The other is the one you present for feedback and follows many rules and conventions, some of which are project specific and some of which are mentioned here. Keeping two copies of your pages will allow you to edit and update your presentable version of the information you want to share without losing easy access to the personal reminders, references, and inspirations that helped shape your design process.
Here is a logical proof for the statements in the preceding paragraph:
A: A good designer puts more thought into their work than is immediately obvious.
B: Anyone who puts more thought into their work than is immediately obvious is a corrupt accountant.
C: A corrupt accountant keeps two sets of books (i.e. two copies of every page).
A+B+C: A good designer keeps two sets of books.
My first recommendation is keeping two copies of any wiki pages you are using to present your non-linear design work. One is for you, and whatever creative madness you need for your design process. This one is hidden from the world, like a corrupt accountant's second set of books. The other is the one you present for feedback and follows many rules and conventions, some of which are project specific and some of which are mentioned here. Keeping two copies of your pages will allow you to edit and update your presentable version of the information you want to share without losing easy access to the personal reminders, references, and inspirations that helped shape your design process.
Here is a logical proof for the statements in the preceding paragraph:
A: A good designer puts more thought into their work than is immediately obvious.
B: Anyone who puts more thought into their work than is immediately obvious is a corrupt accountant.
C: A corrupt accountant keeps two sets of books (i.e. two copies of every page).
A+B+C: A good designer keeps two sets of books.
My mission flow design at its highest complexity: note I have simpified presentation by removing the paths between 3 coloured arcs
In my understanding, the ideal non-linear mission flow would have at least three separate arcs to give the player options beyond binary choices. I started with the minimum of three, but had a few reasons to justify dropping to two arcs: there would be no areas to support the intended gameplay in one of the arcs as the world had already been built with limited budget for changes, the story could easily accommodate merging two of the arcs due to similar objectives, and I decided to provide less content at a higher quality. The latter was a design choice I made in response to high level feedback that showed people were really excited about the ending of the mission, and my desire to use more budget in that area to create an epic experience. If these changes can be summed in one sentence it is: do not be afraid to simplify and reduce player choice to improve their experience. Consider your personal time budget in addition to the studio budget that you will be spending to develop your mission. I am just starting my career as a designer, and would rather implement a simpler design and spend more time polishing it. Only experience will tell me if I made the right decision in this case, but I definitely made the safest one.
Approved Mission Flow Chart
This final picture is representative of what an executive wants to see. This is the result of simplifying the presentation of the mission design and not necessarily cutting all of it's features. Keep the feature you want fully described in your own hidden page, but update the documentation that the rest of the studio can see. As the approval process gets closer and closer to the top executives, the presentation should start to have this level of simplicity because the nuances of the mission flow are not important to their decision-making process. This chart could have as many arcs as you want, but the boxes should all be individual objectives that branch out to non-linear branches (or consolidate branches when they are completed). You do not have to represent crossing over between paths; although these thoughts should be documented in your own hidden page, even when they could be subject to changes during development. You do not have to represent where the player's choices impact them later in the mission. You do not have to represent other NPCs that are important to the mission, or any elements of randomness or player skill that could create new or extended gameplay: only what the player will be aware of. Show what the player is likely to do in a clear and simplified path that does not describe all the possible interconnections between them or variations based on the path that is taken or optional actions the player can choose to take. A high level graph should contain all the unique gameplay opportunities and requirements to complete the mission but avoid anything beyond the simplest connections between these moments. After all, there is always room to build more non-linearity into the individual branches once the design is approved and the mission starts getting built and iterated on. You don't always know the best structure until later on in the design and production process anyways.
There is no defined etiquette for how a mission flow chart should be styled, but try to be consistent above all else. Use colours to enhance clarity but avoid a rainbow of colours - excessive and clashing colours are distracting. Many Visio themes have a set of 6+ colours that go well together. Try to stick within these or use a colour wheel (color.adobe.com) to create another small, complementary set of colours to use for your mission flow chart. Do not use the same flow chart representations for arcs that are both mandatory to complete and arcs that are mutually exclusive. Use diamonds or another distinct shape to show "and/or" logic to help avoiding the same flow chart representation for any situations that might look the same on paper but would play out very differently in the final game. Remember that the chart should convey information that executives can understand at a glance without creating more confusion through poor communication. Communication is one of the many arts a great game designer must become proficient in because at some point all designs need to be approved by an executive, a publisher, or an audience of crowd-funders.
Don't have access to Visio? Want to create flow charts like this anyways? DO NOT USE WORD. Use Draw for free in the Apache Open Office software collection or other equivalents that can be downloaded online. Using word processors to do flow charts will waste your time. Furthermore, while using Draw you will be learning valuable communication skills and workflow efficiencies that can be applied when you do switch over to Visio, or any other professional flow charting software.
There is no defined etiquette for how a mission flow chart should be styled, but try to be consistent above all else. Use colours to enhance clarity but avoid a rainbow of colours - excessive and clashing colours are distracting. Many Visio themes have a set of 6+ colours that go well together. Try to stick within these or use a colour wheel (color.adobe.com) to create another small, complementary set of colours to use for your mission flow chart. Do not use the same flow chart representations for arcs that are both mandatory to complete and arcs that are mutually exclusive. Use diamonds or another distinct shape to show "and/or" logic to help avoiding the same flow chart representation for any situations that might look the same on paper but would play out very differently in the final game. Remember that the chart should convey information that executives can understand at a glance without creating more confusion through poor communication. Communication is one of the many arts a great game designer must become proficient in because at some point all designs need to be approved by an executive, a publisher, or an audience of crowd-funders.
Don't have access to Visio? Want to create flow charts like this anyways? DO NOT USE WORD. Use Draw for free in the Apache Open Office software collection or other equivalents that can be downloaded online. Using word processors to do flow charts will waste your time. Furthermore, while using Draw you will be learning valuable communication skills and workflow efficiencies that can be applied when you do switch over to Visio, or any other professional flow charting software.
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