Before starting the project I did some research about do and do not when it comes to game development. Several indie developer emphasised the importance of a good concept. Well fine but what the heck is a concept?
According to my understanding a concept guides you through the process of development. For example it can contain a vision, goals and steps how to reach the goals. This includes the way how the game shall function as well (i.e. game mechanics).
Why is it important to think about all these things early in development? The earlier you know which things are required and how they shall work the less time, effort and money you need to invest in development (this is not limited to games; it is important when it comes to software in general). The further you are in the process the more resources are required to change all the things you already did.
Speaking of concept, a good knowledge management is essential. While progressing in development a concept not only becomes larger but more specific and sometimes more complex. How to organise all these information? Especially more complex information can be tricky to organise (e.g. game mechanics). Tables and charts are great for comparison. However, dependency between elements hardly can be visualised. Quite helpful are network visualisation tools (e.g. relationship visualizer as a free extension for microsoft excel in combination with graphviz).
The following picture shows the game mechanics (e.g. how elements depend on each other) in the current state:
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