MayI recently presented some of the planning documentation for our CDX game at SXSW. Thinking that this may be of wider interest, I've sifted through the archives and found the full set.
Clearly these types of diagrams need context so I have summarised what each type indicates below. The best context is of course the game, which is available here (kindly sponsored by Adobe - Thanks guys!)
Episode diagrams
Due to the limited budget the game is principally set in one location; Adam's Apartment. It acts as the game space in which four types of activity can occur; 'Conversations', 'Games', 'Tasks' and 'Explore'. A fifth, 'Interact', was identified as a non-led activity which would occur naturally at the end of each episode.
The diagrams show how each episode is constructed from these basic building blocks. Approaching it in this way gave us a clear sense of narrative pace and balance of the episodes, allowing us to quickly understand the level of interaction required to complete each episode.
View all 'Episode diagrams' on Flickr
Event structure diagram
Although each episode structure was incredibly simple, we needed to find a way to visualise the sequence of sub-events and interactions that make up each event type. We developed something that feels akin to a Gannt chart with core dependencies and contigencies weaved throughout.
This diagram is the route-map to the game. It went through a number iterations, with more detail being added at the story developed. Interestingly, each episode's events tree is controlled by a single XML file, based directly on this diagram.
View all 'Story Plans' on Flickr
These diagrams aren't presented here as 'the way to do this stuff', just simply the way we once did it. In my experience, a flexible approach to documenting ideas/concepts is incredibly important otherwise the method begins to control the outcome.
If anyone has any other interesting methods we'd love to see them.