also, without knowing who will be on deck to help with the graphical stuff, and modelling and shaders,etc. one persons idea will not be enough anyway. i know there are members who have the skills to make this project look great. another issue is, what type of project will this be? stylized or photorealistic(i vote for stylelized, it would be more fun to create imho)?

I think that game ideas posted by you & Guardian are very original and would make a great story-base for a game but... Pappenheimer has a point about what is expected to be presented here.

I guess that, when considering what project would be best to go with, people who will be evaluating these projects need to see several very important aspects like: Will the game be 2D or 3D oriented and to what extent? How many levels will the game have? How many models will be sufficient to populate the game-world? How will game battle-system look like (if it has battles)? Will the game be single-player or will it have hot-seat or multi-player option? Should levels have segmented or non-segmented loading system? ...and many other.

Only thing that I find not to be possible to predict is Milestones, since no one knows how big the game-team will be and what skills will be the team's weaknesses?

IMO, descriptions, lists and schedules are sufficient.
It is about estimating the amount of work.
This doesn't require any pics so far.
IMO, you even need more detailed descriptions within the lists.

For instance:
1x player model, it never fills more than a quarter of the screen, about xx polygons, only 1 skin, texture size of only 256x256, no normalmap, rigged(needed for ragdoll physics), animated, 3 animations(sitting in the car, jumping when winning, whining and falling to ground when loosing)--- things like that... only this simple but necessary asset will need more than 50 hours, because it has to be more than good, it has to be magnificent, it has to be worked over and over again to wow the gamers, to fit with the design of the other game assets and the needs of collision and whatever.

It is about whether the game needs 20 graphical assets (IMO the absolutely minimum), 200 or 2000.

It is about calculating the needed effort to finish the game.
(Because only a finished game is a game.)

ok, i understand what you mean, thanks for clarification.

The game concept is the key point in my opinion; I love a great game story, but it can't guarantee the success of the game. Don't try to write long design docs; mine will be very short and will (hopefully) explain everything clearly.

Last minute request:

In case any of you are thinking of including me in this project, please do not. I'm currently very busy and I really don't have the time to work on this anymore.

Thanks.

Ok, here's my game design doc. It's far from being finished, but it should show a clear picture of my idea: The Arcade Room

thanks george, thats helpful. i am going to have to get some visuals done though to make mine look like that.

This thread is way too long for me to read atm...

my personal resources that I can contribute.

time @12-20 hrs/week
3D skills Model/Texture/animate(primarily blender use, but not limited to)
hard edge and Organics/character work
2D texture painting/seamless texture painting
Programming...not so much I am competent, but I see there are many more competent personnel here than myself.
and lastly break-dancing/Pizza guy.

you have forgotten one of my all time favorites..
"Joust"

At a first glance the idea reminded me to "Kino One", at a second thought I think it is one of the best idea considering the team, because you can let them work on the different parts without too much concerning about cooperation, and the gameplay of classics need less explanation than a new concept.

"Create your own version of your favorite games by getting more lives for them,
customizing player’s and enemies’ behaviors, and so on."

This is not a bad selling point.

But the graphics still need an own twist.

Maybe, one could write a story with little riddles as well.
For instance:
A small boy (first person, no model needed) discovers a hidden room at his uncles room, filled with collected arcade machines of him, covered with dust. He has to push a box to a machine to stand on it when playing, the machine doesn't start unless he finds the plug and it in the socket, before he can play.
He has to hide, when the aunt is calling for him and looks into the room. (No model for the aunt needed, the boy is "discovered" when the door opens before he found a place to hide.)
The goal is to play all games before the adults find him... things like that...