WHAT IS THE PREMISE?
The premise is your story stated in one sentence.
It is the simplest combination of character and plot and typically consists of some event that starts the action, some sense of the main character, and some sense of the outcome of the story.
Some examples:
- The Godfather : The youngest son of a Mafia family takes revenge on the men who shot his father and becomes the new Godfather.
- Moonstruck : While her fiancé visits his mother in Italy, a woman falls in love with the man’s brother.
- Casablanca : A tough American expatriate rediscovers an old flame only to give her up so that he can fight the Nazis.
- A Streetcar Named Desire : An aging beauty tries to get a man to marry her while under constant attack from her sister’s brutish husband.
- Star Wars : When a princess falls into mortal danger, a young man uses his skills as a fighter to save her and defeat the evil forces of a galactic empire.
—Truby, John. The Anatomy of Story: 22 Steps to Becoming a Master Storyteller (pp. 14-15). Faber & Faber. Kindle Edition.
Some Game examples:
- Katamari Damacy: Use a wand to roll up apple peels, cardboard, bushes and eventually trees and buildings to a gleeful soundtrack, to see what happens.
- Overwatch: Bizarre hero characters with quirky powers, join forces in short team-based skirmishes trying to find the best combination of skills and teamwork.
- Legend of Zelda—Ocarina of Time: Link travels through time gathering the powers of the Seven Sages in order to defeat Ganondorf, the King of the Gerudo Thieves, who tricked him and subsequently transformed the beautiful Hyrulean landscape into a barren wasteland.
- Fortnight: A colorful battle royale game with fanciful outfits and silly dance moves, inviting 100 players to land on an island, then fight it out until only one survives.
Review your summary, and your inspirations, and the answer to character and plot questions. Then write a premise for your Game Design Document.