Table Of Content
For example, Trello can be great for managing multiple tasks at different stages of development, where each task’s description is detailed on a card that can be assigned to one or more people. Writing down the details of how something is supposed to work can be extremely useful, as it gets the idea out of your head and forces you to describe exactly how it’s supposed to function. Or, if your game has multiple endings or paths that the player can follow, having a place to keep track of them can help to avoid confusion later. Or, you could add a rough timeline with some milestones that you’re hoping to hit during development. Or, if the narrative of the game is important, this is where you might outline the basic story. This might be because you’ve got plans and ideas for your project that you don’t want to forget.
Art Style
This is the section that is most likely to be exposed to external stakeholders so try to include images and visual aids. Finally, mention the platforms your game will be available on, since that will of course influence both technical and design considerations. Paper prototypes can be incredibly useful in solving design problems before spending too much time or money cooking them up in-engine—but they do still take up effort, of course. The important thing is that, whatever you do choose, it should be as easy as possible to understand.
Who Should You Write to?
For example, you might have one feature document for boulder traps, another for the player’s hookshot power-up, and a third to cover how the adaptive music system works. I often see websites sell GDD templates to cater for this supposed need for massive documents. By the way, as you’re reading this post, if you have any questions or issues implementing you can get free help in the #game-design channel in Funsmith Club Discord, or you can DM me there. If you’re ready to go and you’re doing it all on your own – then fine, feel free to dive in and explore for a bit. However, if you’re going to work with even one other person or spend more than a month on your idea, then jumping straight into execution is a recipe for disaster. Here’s where you describe the platforms you’d be launching for and tools you’ll be using or are considering to use throughout your development.
Marketing & Funding
This is another spot where it’s important to include mock-ups or wireframes to help readers visualize the interface layout. Like the Story section, the Art and Sound section is usually an overview or summary of the general direction. If your project has artists, game music composers, and sound designers, then those groups will do most of the heavy lifting by writing more detailed, specialized documents for their own areas. But this section of the GDD can be great to kick off early discussions, and to summarize the larger documents from other groups as they’re developed. Next, define your game’s genre, and provide reference examples of similar games. This helps your team get a better sense of the game’s style, gameplay, and mechanics.
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Neglecting to have a GDD for a large project can lead to frequent changes, a disorganized development framework, unfulfilled producer expectations, and various other negative impacts on the game development process. Importantly, making the GDD enjoyable to read increases its utility. An engaging document is more likely to serve as a starting point for the game’s development, referenced and adhered to by the development team. And there aren’t a landslide of last-minute changes to every part of the game–the game design document is the dam that’s supposed to hold back that flood. Now, just because your game design document should be thorough doesn’t mean you need to have it all described at once. This document is your map, but it’s a map that can grow and change with your game (like the Minecraft map).
Annotated version of an original Deus Ex design doc surfaces - Game Developer
Annotated version of an original Deus Ex design doc surfaces.
Posted: Sun, 13 Nov 2016 08:00:00 GMT [source]
How to Write a Game Design Document (GDD)
Concept arts are used to inspire the team to create the assets to be used in development. They depict characters, locations, objects, and everything else you see in-game. After brainstorming sessions with the artists, they need to bring those abstract concepts to life for the first time. These are not the kind of art that you will directly use in your game. If you’re a business owner who wants to outsource the project, you can put down the budget and time you would wish for the development team to work with.
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Then, you will have a better idea of what your game is about and what name fits it most. Despite the trending idea that GDDs are obsolete and a thing of the past, they are still very much needed. Call it whatever you like (Wiki, GDD, Project Board, Bible…), it doesn’t change the fact that if you start the production without one, success will become highly unlikely for your game. The original GTA (Grand Theft Auto) and Diablo GDDs give a succinct high level overview of the games. Depending on where you are in your planning, this may be a list of ideas for prototypes and a prioritized list of what to include, or screenshots, descriptions, and links to existing prototypes. You can also develop a paper prototype to include in the GDD as a way to illustrate your plans.
With that in mind, start with the basics – or use this 1-pager game design document template to save time. But it doesn't mean that game design documentation has become obsolete – it has merely evolved. The simple process of filling out this GDD template will help you start thinking through your game’s design.
But, if your GDD includes multiple sections and information, organising it in a single file can be tricky and, even with linked section headings, can be difficult to navigate. However, even when it’s split up like this, a long written document can be difficult to organise, difficult to manage and difficult to use. Which, when you’re working with other people, and you want them to build part of your game in the way you imagined it would be, can be important. In this scenario, it can help to think of your GDD as more of a project pitch or business proposal, as that’s pretty much what it’d be.
The final two sections are where most design docs explode in both complexity and length. This is the fatal flaw that creates sprawling documents no one reads. Communication with your team members is at the heart of being a great game designer. And today, your team is smarter, more technically capable and less patient than ever. Yes, building a game engine or complex game elements takes sophisticated technical experience and careful planning.
For decades, the GDD has been an industry standard, intended to provide everyone involved in the game design process with a singular vision. It's a highly descriptive, living document, created through the collaboration of designers, developers, and artists. A clear and well-structured GDD should guide you through the game development process, serving as a master checklist.
Concept art plays a crucial role in providing readers with an understanding of the overarching art direction for the game. It serves as a visual representation that communicates the artistic vision and aids in shaping the development of game aesthetics. Here, you must describe the features and limitations relevant to every platform you want to launch your game on. Remember to include concepts and infographics to visualize your ideas to others. This section should introduce and explain the general flow of your game.
Which games have influenced you to come up with this idea for a game? Whether you’re a game designer or not, it helps the development team a lot to be able to check out a few fully finished games to guide their own direction and fill in the possible gaps in the design. The GDD usually changes over time and becomes a historical artifact the team can use to look back and see how the game has evolved during development.
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