Table Of Content
Begin with a brief summary of the plot, highlighting the main story beats, and then proceed to offer more comprehensive details about the characters and settings. The gameplay mechanics section should offer a comprehensive analysis of the game’s mechanics, controls, and user interface. It should elucidate the player-game interaction and the anticipated user experience. 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.
What are the Basics of Making a Design Document for Video Games?
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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. There are complete books and sites with materials about how to describe game mechanics, so we’ll not elaborate with examples here. Doing some research I came across the term, but couldn't seem to find an industry standard or template to help me get started. Each of these categories of accessibility can be more deeply assessed with thoughtful considerations. For example, if your game has very complicated control schemed, odds are that it lacks motility accessibility.
Story
Hopefully, you can clear a path towards creating a game design document by creating or following a game design document template. Remember to be specific with certain aspects of the game design document, as the more precise, the easier the team can communicate ideas with one another and turn out a great product that you can be proud of. The plot, the characters, the core concepts, the game mechanics, etc. Large and overly detailed game design documents generally require a lot of upfront work, are almost always out of date and can be restrictive, particularly if the design of your game is likely to change over time. Remember how we mentioned that there isn’t a specific template that everyone can recommend?
3. Game Mechanics
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Building a fantasy or general world may be more labor-intensive on your brain, but it is your chance to really flesh out what world the characters will interact in. Your target audience is the main gamers that you are making this for. For example, The Witcher is geared mostly towards young to middle-aged males who enjoy story-driven RPGs. However, that isn’t to say that games that take place in established universes aren’t good too. In fact, when they are good, they’re really good, as they have to be new and innovative in an already established timeline and setting.
In today’s highly competitive game industry, having a clear GDD can give developers a significant advantage. It showcases professionalism, strategic planning, and attention to detail, which further attracts investors, publishers, and players alike. Start by writing the central concept for your project in the middle of the board. The Grim Fandango and Silent Hill 2 GDDs are good examples of how to incorporate visual elements like flowcharts, relationship maps, and concept art into your GDD. Before that, I advanced my expertise in engineering, management, traffic marketing, and analytics working for large game development studios with a $1M+ monthly income.
Why is a writing a game design doc important?
You’ll find the Level Design board on your Game Design Plan board. Double click on the Level Design board to open it and get started. You’ll find the board for brainstorming on your Game Design Plan board.
As Steven Spielberg says "All good ideas start out as bad ideas, that's why it takes so long." Not every game has characters—but if your game does, it's useful to have notes and sketches here for who they are and how they'll feature in the project. 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. If you are a solo developer, you may still find a GDD helpful as a reference for yourself (perhaps when you are mired in the "swamp" of the development process to go back and have an answer for "what was I thinking?").
The document should evolve alongside the game, reflecting changes and new decisions made during the development process. In the game design document, it's important to detail how the UI will integrate with the overall game design. The UI should be efficient and align with the game's aesthetic and narrative.
Are game design documents obsolete?
Once you have your game’s core, you must then make sure all the features and systems that follow enhance the core itself. Whether it sounds easy or difficult to answer, it’s always good to use examples of other games. You may have to come back and revise your design document to fix instances where you weren’t specific, but that’s fine. Such a service exists, and is offered by multiple game design studios, including Game-Ace.
Similar delineation ensures that each member understands their specific duties and how they contribute to the project's overall success. Additionally, the document should outline the responsibilities of executives who are crucial in steering the project toward its goals and ensuring it remains on track. Therefore, the design document includes a catalog of required art assets and provides a coherent plan for their integration into the game. Furthermore, the game design document should clearly outline the objectives and goals that the player is expected to achieve. This includes a comprehensive list of the skills, power-ups, and abilities players will have to overcome obstacles and progress through the game. This detailed planning in the game design phase ensures that players have a clear sense of direction and purpose as they navigate through the game.
Next, describe the various objectives players will encounter within each level. These could be things like puzzles, combat encounters, or collectibles. Discuss any environmental hazards or obstacles players must overcome, and explain how those elements contribute to the game’s overall challenge and pacing. The Level Design section describes the layout, progression, and goals for each level or area in your game. Start by outlining the structure and flow of your levels, including any branching paths, exploration elements, or gating mechanisms. Then outline the game’s objectives — both short-term goals within each level, and overarching goals that span the whole game.
So in turn, each feature should be a separate document that links back to the master doc. Feature documents focus on a single aspect of the game, in just enough detail to outline the goals, the game mechanics of how it will work, and the desired player experience. Most people who are interested in creating game design docs are new to the industry. Your instinct might be to leap directly into a massive game design document, but please don’t waste your time and energy yet.
In a classical waterfall model each step of the workflow is considered to be more or less completely separate. You spent time crafting the perfect GDD and then “threw it over the wall” to get it built. Since you perfectly scoped out the video game design document in advance, you knew exactly what to build, which tools to use for it and which team skills to acquire in advance.
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