Game Design Documents
Summary
One of the most important sections of this site is the Game Concepts section. In it, I try to make a game design document for the game ideas I have. A struggle I’ve come across is…
What exactly is a game design document?
Generally speaking, the type of document I am trying to create is a document that gives you a good idea of the features and game loops of a game, ideally it should also include an idea of the visual style and feeling of the game as well. These documents should be helpful to developers that intend to make the game, as they’d give an idea of the scope.
What does a game design document look like?
It’s tempting to use a template for a design document, and I think that gives a really good starting point, however that’s unlike what I’ve found when looking at finished design documents. In finished GDDs I’ve seen, the style and flow of them has varied wildly, some carefully tuned to evoke the same feeling the game its describing should feel. Others can feel a bit more dry, reading more like a product requirements document.
Examples of Game Design Documents
#TODO I’d like to do a bit of an analysis of these documents, and find out what they thought was critical, and how much really lead into the final game.
Diablo
GDD This document has a cover page, showing a hell-like scene, setting the vibe of the game immediately. Following that it opens with a brief summary of what this document contains, and the goals of the project.
It then goes over the design of the game, describing the mechanics at a very high level as well as the unique features that set this game apart from others like it (highlighting the key points expandability and replay value as important to diablo’s success)
It follows with the plot and setting, and how those play into the enemies, items, and tone of the game. Those segue into the “Gameplay” section which describe how a player would begin their game and what choices they have to start playing.
The next section of the document covers marketing, and a DLC-like expansion feature that aid in the replayability and lifetime of the game, referencing magic the gathering and its expansions.
Finally, it ends with a section on development, where they lay out how long they expect to take to develop the game, and note some of the key elements that will take a lot of time (art in particular given the nature of the movement and pixel art style) It seems like music was given little detail. They expected 2 months to be spent designing the game, and every two months after that to be a section of programming, interface, level generation, structure, and balance. The final portion would take 5 months and I assume this would also include polish and such.
Grand Theft Auto
Planescape: Torment
Claw
DOOM
Other resources
- This Reddit Post asks for game design documents, and has been my primary source for the design documents linked here.
- gamedocs.org has quite a lot of documents listed, and a separate section for pitches!
Call to action!
Are you working on an indie game? Do you have a design document? Let me know! I’m very interested in gathering information on this topic, and it truly feels like there’s no one right way to do it, so I’m interested in seeing everyone’s opinion on this.