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Proper design documentation can be one of the most important elements of video game production. Without them, team members may struggle to stay on the same page when designing features, and development can run horribly awry. Many studios use Game Design Documents (GDDs) to communicate their vision for a game to other team members or stakeholders. Though the days of any sort of monolithic GDD format or design bible are long gone, they still have a place in many designers' and teams' methodologies.
Create a Reference for Your Entire Team
Flesh out the game world by describing the game’s setting, key locations, history, and lore. If you are creating a narrative-driven game, you might also consider our resource on free tools for creating story-based games. A character web that shows characters' relationships can be very helpful (again, as long as it is clear and easy to parse) for projects with multiple characters and interpersonal dynamics. It's good to keep your goals in mind at every step of the way, and having a dedicated goals section in your GDD can serve as a beacon for tough decisions along the development process. There are a lot of different ways to show information and, a lot of the time, different types of data can be easier to understand and easier to work with when it’s presented in a particular way. One-page designs work well because, just like the builder’s blueprint, they allow you to communicate an entire idea on a single page.
Project Overview
Reference examples are included to provide the development team with a comprehensive understanding of the game’s style, gameplay, and mechanics, and to establish a standard for quality and design decisions. Creating a traditional written GDD involves the meticulous crafting of a comprehensive and organized document. This document then functions as a central reference point and directs the game development process. It furnishes programmers and artists with the requisite details for executing the game. You wouldn’t build a house on a flimsy foundation, so you shouldn’t build a game on one, either. This guide takes a look at the benefits of a game design document, and how you can put one together for your next game design project.
Game Director vs Creative Director: Understanding Their Pivotal Roles
Whether you even need a game design document or not can be a surprisingly divisive issue. Assembla is an all-in-one platform that combines project management, version control, and collaboration tools specifically designed for cloud based game development. To learn more about how Perforce hosted by Assembla can help you accelerate your game development read our article on Cloud-Based Game Development with Perforce. If I learned nothing else in during my education in game development, I learned the importance of tuning variables. These are any aspect of the game that can be tweaked to change the experience. In a racing game this could include the time it takes for nitrous to charge, the number of AI competitors in a race, or the time limit of a lap.
Return to your docs to keep you grounded, but also to edit, rewrite, and reimagine them. Keep in mind, the video game industry is massive and diverse, with wildly different paths to success. AAA teams, indie developers, and solo developers have completely different needs from their documentation. Looking forward to starting the conversation about how this document can be changed or improved. Ultimately, it all depends on your game and your Game Design style. The lead game designer typically writes the initial drafts of the GDD.
Who Writes the GDD?
Some of these sections might not appear in the GDD itself but instead would appear in supplemental documents. For the sound section, share your thoughts about the game’s musical style, and any specific themes or motifs you want to incorporate. You can also include high-level thoughts on sound effects, especially any unique sounds for specific actions or events in the game.
Gameplay Mechanics & Progression
How to write a Game Design Document in 2024 - Game Developer
How to write a Game Design Document in 2024.
Posted: Tue, 15 Aug 2023 07:00:00 GMT [source]
Concept art makes this complicated weapon feature much easier to understand at a glance. Then finally crimes – a phase at the end of each mission where players compete to steal away a specific power-up they want from their allies. This is the equivalent of making a business plan (with financial projections, business model, and etc.) for a tech startup who needs to constantly iterate and pivot.
Written game design documents
It’s a living document, so your first draft doesn’t have to be great — just get started, and you can refine it over time as you have more ideas. If you’re looking for a way to jump start your game design document, start by copying and pasting this outline into a blank Word or Google Doc. As you write, feel free to change or reorganize the structure as the needs of your unique game become more clear. Remember, there is no one “right way” to write and develop a game design document.
However, for larger and more complex games, as well as projects involving multiple team members or external stakeholders, a GDD becomes increasingly important to ensure alignment, communication, and project management. The Game Design Document (GDD) is typically authored by a team of game developers, with the primary responsibility often falling on the lead game designer or project manager. It is a collaborative effort, as it requires input and insights from various team members, including artists, programmers, writers, and producers. While many might shudder at the thought of 100+ page design documents – and yes, those are artifacts of the past – at some point there is still a need to communicate the vision of your game to people. To consistently share your vision and inspire your team and stakeholders, consider writing your ideas down in a Game Design Document (GDD).
So you’ll need to put a lot of thought into it, explore how similar mechanics work in other games, and write it all down as detailed as possible. If your team has game writers, you’ll probably want them to help you draft this section of the document based on their own story and character ideas. It’s not uncommon for this section to basically be a summary of a separate, story-focused document that the writers are busy creating as a supplement to the GDD. Also, remember that writing a GDD is a big job, but it’s an iterative process.
Similarly, planning for localization early might impact how your dialog is stored or displayed in game, and allows your team to budget appropriately for localization costs. List out any technical requirements for the game, including system requirements for players and what software and hardware are required for development. Explain your choice of game engine and discuss any additional plug-ins, middleware, or other gaming software you will leverage during development. Also list out what platforms your game is targeting and if there are any differences in features, support, or requirements for each platform.
For example, in the early stages of your project, you probably won’t know exactly how each mechanic is going to work or what everything will look like or what the name of the level 2 shopkeeper’s dog will be. Which can be useful, as it allows you to keep every detail of your game in a single location. Otherwise, it can be extremely difficult to know what should be in it, how detailed it should be or what it should even look like. Or even just to your future self, so that you can keep track of what it is you’re making.
Your design document might do one of these things or it might do all of them but, what’s important is that you understand what information your design document is supposed to provide and who it’s going to provide it to. However, while long written documents, that describe every detail of your game, may be considered old-fashioned, at some point, you are going need to communicate your game’s details and ideas to another person. “Mystic Quest” aims to deliver an engaging action-adventure experience with a captivating story, intricate puzzles, and intense combat. The GDD serves as the blueprint to guide the development team in creating a compelling and immersive game. It’s important to start thinking about accessibility early because the way you design certain systems – for example the UI – can make or break accessibility features. By planning for accessibility early, you can save yourself from costly rework later in development when adding accessibility to features often reveals a mismatch in design requirements.
Your introduction is often a high-level pitch of your game where you explain the core game concepts and what makes this game unique. For use throughout the entire GDD, from change log down to individual mechanics, decide on some icons that your team can use to quickly communicate information. They also help diversify the document and break up the blocks of text.
I cap it off with a quick outline of the drivers for the players to play through the experience. You should create all of your documentation with these goals in mind. You need to understand that in the end of the day, game design is a maker’s craft, which means studios want to see what you’ve made, so they understand how do you make your design decisions. If you have ideas that you are not sure if they should go in the game or not, just add them here so you don’t forget them. Doing some research I came across the term, but couldn't seem to find an industry standard or template to help me get started. 2.- I think the answer to this is one is that "It depends", which should have been made clear in the post.
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