advice on planning out a game?

Im wondering if anyone could give me some advice, or point me to some tutorials about mapping out a game before dev. What are some of the key considerations, layouts, standard practices etc?

I'm wanting to make a level/area game, so there will be many backgrounds, would it be best to keep them on the same .fla or import them to keep size down?
also I am going to be keeping score and allowing saves, can those be done if I'm importing files?

Thanks

Mark

Mark,

Your question is confused. Are you referring to planning a game, as in ordering of classes, functions and structure of the game engine or level design? They are quite different topics...

For planning I say paper like a comic, a story board, lists of features, lists of options, elements and all that stuff

Thats what you wanted? or what is the question?

Well, what I'm wondering about is the organization of the files etc.
is it better to keep all the graphical content on one fla? are there problems with keeping scores and saving games when imported flas are involved?
Im just kinda stepping into the world of gaming, I know this is a big favor to ask but I wonder, would anyone be able to evaluate my concept on how I plan to do it now?
if so, please give a quick "yes" and I will post it.

Cheers

Mark

Well, some times depence on the size of the game, as you put it, sound like a big project

I do bunch of games and for me is allways the same, I sit in my couch and I start drawing and thinking in ideas, after habving one, I create a new carpet with the name of the game, then diferent carpets, one with the graphics, another the sounds, the .fla files and everything I need

But for the game I integrate everythng in a single .swf because my games are too small, so, there are no problems, just when a game is complex I create different swf's for each level to load, I put some passwords for my players to select a level to load and somethings like that I use

I hope this help just a little bit