📄 About Pre-Production 📄
Table of Contents
About
We completed Pre-Production in the eight weeks prior to Production. The goal was to establish structures to support and guide our team during Production. All team members worked 8-10 hours a week to create documents and timelines.
For more information about our Production process check out the Production Page!
Key Takeaways
- Use meeting times for decisions, not dicussions.
- Organization is flexible. Focus on ease of use, not perfection.
Project Formation Timeline
| Date | Milestone |
|---|---|
| November 2024 | Initial team formation |
| January 2025 | Game pitch finalized |
| February 2025 | Project greenlit by WPI |
| April 2025 | Core team formation |
| Summer 2025 | Brainstorming game concepts and onboarding initial contractors |
Pre-Production Timeline
October 2025: Developing Vision and Pillars
Vision
Project Misfits is a zany, feel-good adventure game that encourages players to reflect on finding their self worth. In a world that twists traditional fantasy, the protagonist inspires other characters with their optimistic and empathetic perspective while avoiding violence.
Pillars
Traditional Medieval Fantasy - with a Twist!
- The world includes a castle, great hall, throne room, and other medieval stereotypes
- The world has a level of modern technology that is believable and subverts traditional fantasy tropes (i.e. Adventure Time)
- A refrigerator, but not a smartphone
- A postage system, but not a motor vehicle
- A 50s diner, but not a skyscraper
Non-Violent Design with a Feel-Good Story
- The world includes a castle, great hall, throne room, and other medieval stereotypes
- Violence only used when absolutely necessary
- The story does not avoid conflict, but uses comedy and comfort to address it
- Gameplay requires clever thinking to overcome challenges
- Accessible gameplay for players with a variety of skill levels
- Simple set of actions with mechanical depth
- Players should NOT become frustrated by gameplay
Exploration of Self Worth and Unconventional Success
- The understudies are the heroes
- The story shows non-standard success using "sidekick-level" skills
- Both protagonist and antagonist find self worth within themselves
- All characters have opportunities for growth
- No character is inherently evil or malicious
- The protagonist succeeds because of the intersection of their skills and mindset
Lesson 1: Use meeting time for decisions, not discussions.
We often did not get to all of our planned points during meetings, and we struggled to collaborate when there was too much discussion. Lack of proper check-ins made us feel like we were not making progress on things.
Early November 2025: Background Research
During this phase, we looked into relevant topics and disciplines to help inform Production. For more information about our findings check out this page.
Late November 2025: Game Design Document (GDD) 1st Draft
The Game Design Document was a core element of pre-production. We created our GDD as a centralized place to store specific and detailed information regarding the design of our game. We set up the GDD such that each section would later become bibles during Production.
December 2025: Created Sprint Tracking Spreadsheet and Asset Lists
In the last stage of Pre-Production, we created organizational documents to track our Production progress. For example, spreadsheets for tracking tasks and asset creation. Check out the Production page to see the documents and how we used them.
Lesson 2: Organization is flexible. Focus on ease of use, not perfection.
We were open to organizational changes to make documentation, communication, and organization more accessible to all team members. We saw these tools as living rather than set in stone (e.g. Google Drive, Asset Lists, or Discord Server). This flexibility kept things easy to use and keep track of, especially when transitioning into Production.