How I think game design should work is that you first conceptualize your game, second make the framework, third add the content. Meaning create an outline or document detailing every physical feature inside the game. And after the concept is written I think it should be a matter of following some scientific formula to fabricate the framework. And after the framework is made I think you should be able to use template based hierarchies to make limitless amounts of content.

I think it should all be a matter of putting the correct scripts/actors together in well constructed hierarchies... then copy/pasting those hierarchies and modifying them and importing your assets.

Interesting point of view on the philosophy of game design. I personally agree with you, it should work that way. Especially on the point that you should be able to use template based hierarchies to make limitless amounts of content. I share your opinion that game development should be concept driven and not work driven. I think it's up to us as community to make reforms in game development to advance more liberal ideas such as this one.

That's basically an extremely simplified version of how game development already works.

In actuality, all three phases need to be interleaved because of things that you will encounter during implementation: Problems in implementation (conflicts between different design goals), problems with performance, or just deciding that something you made isn't as fun as you thought it would be. The more complex your project, you more opportunities there are for things to deviate from the plan.

Imagine you are trying to create your RPG and you know that you want Items, Classes, Monsters... and you want a lot of them. You should be able to add in tons of monsters/items/quests etc. without changing your original framework. So say you build your framework for the game and it includes all kinds of scripts... scripts for the network, scripts for the hud and inventory, scripts for movement and combat. The framework also includes hierarchies for your Items/classes/monsters/quests etc. So you take these hierarchies and you import your assets into them after you copy and modify them so you don't have to worry about having to rewrite your whole game..

That's basically an extremely simplified version of how game development already works.

In actuality, all three phases need to be interleaved because of things that you will encounter during implementation: Problems in implementation (conflicts between different design goals), problems with performance, or just deciding that something you made isn't as fun as you thought it would be. The more complex your project, you more opportunities there are for things to deviate from the plan.

Well imagine you are so advanced that you don't make any mistakes... and you have all the knowledge to take the game from step 1, to step 2, to step 3 without retracing your steps and having to learn/figure out a workaround.

The point I'm trying to make is that when you create the "framework"... it shouldn't take you a long time... it shouldn't even take you a few days. And I think if it takes you any longer than that it means that you are actually LEARNING how to make your game... meaning you are trying to FIGURE SOMETHING OUT... meaning you don't actually know what you are doing.

So say if you wanted to make a clone of WoW or Halo or CoD or StarCraft or GTA... even in a different language/IDE then what they were originally made in. It shouldn't take you more than a few days to craft the framework because the scientific theory on how to build all of those features already exists.

Now, I'm never going to learn because I think that I would get too frustrated and I think it would be 1000x times easier just for someone to share their secrets. Basically I think the whole industry is a conspiracy and the people you meet on message boards and chat rooms are all wasting their time.

I'm not going to change my convictions... and my convictions are basically this: I believe you can build the framework for a fully fledged MMO(with Quests, Instances, Classes, Monsters, Items, Skills, Abilities)... basically a clone of WoW... in any IDE... in a matter of hours just by combining the correct scripts and actors

Well imagine you are so advanced that you don't make any mistakes... and you have all the knowledge to take the game from step 1, to step 2, to step 3 without retracing your steps and having to learn/figure out a workaround.

Many people can probably make games like Tetris alone without making any mistakes. But as soon as they can, they want to make something more ambitious. No game developer that I have met wants to make the exact same game over and over. Regardless of how impressive a game they know how to make perfectly, ambition leads into territory they aren't familiar with.

The other major thing working against this vision is that you need multiple people to implement large games in a reasonable time frame, and teams of people have trouble agreeing and coordinating on things well enough to follow this kind of ideal development process. It's inevitable that when you split up the work, you're going to have to discuss what needs to be done. Each person's interpretation or memory of these discussions is going to be slightly different, and each person's goals are going to be slightly different as well.

Oh hey look, it's this guy again: http://www.gamedev.net/topic/668444-basically-its-either-a-conspiracy-or-a-waste-of-time/

And this time he has a second account as well! Awesome!

Now, I'm never going to learn because I think that I would get too frustrated and I think it would be 1000x times easier just for someone to share their secrets. Basically I think the whole industry is a conspiracy and the people you meet on message boards and chat rooms are all wasting their time.

I'm not going to change my convictions... and my convictions are basically this: I believe you can build the framework for a fully fledged MMO(with Quests, Instances, Classes, Monsters, Items, Skills, Abilities)... basically a clone of WoW... in any IDE... in a matter of hours just by combining the correct scripts and actors

I agree that in the ideal world, people should be able to make things as quickly as they can imagine them. We'll get there eventually. We're just not there today.

There's no conspiracy, besides the fact that companies won't share their code with each other because they need to make a profit. People simply aren't as perfect of developers as you imagine they should be.