User:Jasandrea/GCPP

Grand Crafting Puzzle Project Organization
I envision puzzle ideas going through a series of high level stages. Not all projects will be in the same stage at the same time, but they'd all progress through them to the consideration of which ideas should be completed. I'd assume that the Ringers could declare an idea non-workable at any stage in the process.


 * Submission and Idea Development - Ideas are submitted via a wiki submission form. Ideas are discussed, critiqued and improved. I'd propose a minimum time for any project of at least 1-2 weeks in this stage to assure ample time for discussion.


 * In order to pass from Idea Development to Prototype Development, an idea must be deemed Codable by a consensus of developers via a wiki style vote (ie, you can't just vote, you have to vote with a reason). An idea deemed Inappropriate (for not meeting any of the specific criteria (no perfect solutions, etc) by consensus will be discarded. Anyone may cast their vote, and change it at any time after the minimum time, and once it seems clear a consensus has been reached, an organizor should move it on to the next stage.


 * Prototype Development - A project team (including the submitter, other designers, coders, a coordinator/manager, and artists) is assembled and game concepts are refined between game designer(s) and the coding team. Design and task splitting is done. A prototype is developed on Game Gardens. Obviously there's a lot more detail here in terms of dividing up work and project management, but those details may vary from project team to project team. I would suggest a targetted maximum time for games to exist in this state, but as long as they're not still in prototype development while most other ideas are long past that point, I don't think ideas need to definitely be eliminated here.


 * Once a prototype is in a playable state by consensus of members of the project team, it's passed into playtesting stage. The project team may also, by consensus, declare an idea unworkable at Prototyping and eliminate it. It could also be eliminated if no work was being done and a new project team couldn't be found to take it over.


 * Playtesting - people are invited and encouraged to test the new prototype game on Game Gardens and provide feedback on the wiki page for the game. Changes to the game are made based on consensus amongst the project team. An idea could be dropped by consensus of the project team.


 * Consideration would happen amongst all ideas that were in playtesting and not eliminated, choosing amongst them for the best prospects for completion. I would anticipate a general vote of people who had been involved up to that point in selecting the few games to be fully completed.


 * Completion - a few chosen games are finalized on Game Gardens, with as many game play details and art details worked out as possible, bugs quashed, scoring methods completed, etc, leading up to Selection of a final choice for integration into the game. The project teams might be supplemented with new resources to help get things completed.


 * Selection of a final game to be integrated into Y!PP could be done in myriad ways, I'd imagine. Selecting the final candidate would no doubt be followed by some time for it to be properly integrated with the Y!PP platform, some reworking of things like scoring models, etc, done by Three Rings in house, followed by Ice Testing.