Creative Vision

Creative Vision

Establish and maintain creative coherence by defining core vision and ensuring all disciplines serve it.

The Vision Hierarchy

         Creative Vision (What experience do we create?)
                    │
    ┌───────────────┼───────────────┐
    ▼               ▼               ▼
Art Vision    Sound Vision    Tech Vision
    │               │               │
 [Assets]       [Audio]         [Code]

Creative Pillars

Define 3-5 non-negotiable experience principles:

PILLAR: [Short Name]
STATEMENT: [What this means for the player]
MANIFESTS AS:
- Art: [How art supports this]
- Sound: [How sound supports this]
- Code: [How mechanics support this]

Example:

PILLAR: Atmospheric Dread
STATEMENT: Players should feel isolated and vulnerable
MANIFESTS AS:
- Art: Dark palettes, obscured vision, decay
- Sound: Sparse, ambient, silence as tool
- Code: Limited resources, no map, permadeath

Experience Promise

One-paragraph core experience:

In [GAME], players experience [CORE EMOTION] through
[PRIMARY MECHANIC]. The world evokes [ATMOSPHERE] while
players [CORE VERB]. Success feels like [SUCCESS EMOTION]
and failure teaches [FAILURE LESSON].

Vision Document Sections

1. Experience Promise - One paragraph
2. Creative Pillars - 3-5 with manifestations
3. Emotional Journey - Start → Early → Mid → Late → End
4. Target Audience - Primary, Secondary, Not For
5. Reference Works - Games, films, art with aspects to draw
6. Anti-Patterns - What to explicitly avoid

Vision Alignment Check

For any work, map to pillars:

• Supports - Actively reinforces
• Neutral - Doesn't affect
• Conflicts - Works against (drift indicator)

Ask: Does this reinforce the experience promise? Evoke intended emotions? Suit the audience?

Detecting Creative Drift

Warning signs:

• Style inconsistency with established work
• Emotional tone mismatch
• Features that don't serve pillars
• Scope changes without pillar review

Response: Acknowledge → Trace origin → Evaluate (evolution vs loss?) → Decide → Document

Director Coordination

Store vision in .studio/creative-direction.md.

References

• references/pillar-design.md - Crafting effective pillars
• references/emotional-design.md - Designing emotional experiences