Swipe This!: The Guide to Great Touchscreen Game Design

App-pendix 3: Gameplay Storyboarding Template

Say you have a great idea for a gameplay mechanic but you aren’t the one coding the game. You could wave your arms around or use sock puppets to communicate your idea, but I find nothing works better than a good ol’ pencil and paper. But because things in games move, you are going to have to storyboard your ideas to help get them across.

Making a storyboard is just like drawing a comic strip. You want to show a sequence of actions that happen in the game. For example, if you want to show how a character jumps over a deadly pit of spikes, you would draw the first panel of the character approaching the pit of spikes, the second panel of the character jumping over the pit of spikes, and the third panel of the player landing safely on the other side and going on his merry way.

Storyboards are simple to use. Just photocopy the template found on the next page. Then grab a pencil or a pen and use the template to help you design any of the following:

1. Movement: How do elements in the game move (from the player’s avatar to puzzle pieces)? How will players navigate their character past a mechanic and hazard? How does a vehicle steer? How does the player select and place a puzzle piece? Or flick an object?

2. Combat: How do enemies attack or how does a specific combat move work?

3. Cause-and-effect gameplay: If the player does something in panel 1, then what happens to him in panel 2?

4. Camera: How does a game camera move to showcase ...