GCG: 'James Portnow’s Game Design Challenge: WWII'

GameCareerGuide.com, Gamasutra’s sister site for game development education, is running a weekly game design challenge, getting game students and other aspiring game developers to flex their creative muscles. This week’s challenge is to breathe new life into a World War II shooter game, on a budget and under management’s conservative eye. As the assignment details explain: Your lead designer comes into your cube and collapses on your beanbag. "We need to think of something quick," he says. "We have to pitch a World War II shooter to corporate in a week, and if they don't like our pitch," he pauses, "we have to make My Little Pony Ice Cream Birthday Extravaganza for the DS." A moan the likes of which can only come from a man who sees his soul departing issues from between your lead designer's lips before he continues: "Here's what I know. They want something new. They want to revitalize the World War II genre, but they don't want anything tacky. Vampires and zombies are going to be a hard sell (though if it's good enough, we might just do it). They are also concerned about budget. If we can find tricks to cut costs, we'll stand a much better chance. They already have a license for the Unreal engine and want to put it to work making a shooter, but all that really means to us is that the camera has to be first-person or Gears of War style third-person perspective (though the latter option is more expensive). Got any thoughts?" Anyone can participate. Professional game developers are welcome to join the discussion on GameCareerGuide.com’s forum, especially to give guidance and feedback to the lesser experienced. For complete details of the WWII game challenge and information on how to participate, visit GameCareerGuide.com.