Thousands of people dream of one day creating their own game. But will it be successful or will it fail at the project stage? This is largely determined by the quality of the written documentation.
Why do you need gdd?
What is a game design document? Thanks to the game design document, each team member sees “the whole picture”, which makes it much easier to understand the current tasks on the project. In addition, the design doc records all the improvements and edits that arise during the development process. The documentation is written by game designers with the support of all key specialists.
When working with small projects, game design documents are usually created as a separate file. For large-scale developments, special cloud storages are used with dozens of separate technical specifications.
What does the gdd write
As a rule, the game design document contains all the necessary information on the project. Below we list the most basic points:
- Table of contents. The first page usually describes the hierarchy and structure of the project. There are also links to all important files and sections, which greatly simplifies the search for information about a specific feature (project features);
- Here we write a short description of the project: name, platform, technologies used and target audience of the game;
- In this section, we give a clear and detailed description of the gameplay. Important! Coordinate the described mechanics immediately with the programming team to avoid problems in the future;
- First of all, we describe what the player sees during the core gameplay (base game). It is important not to clog the screen with unnecessary information at this moment. Give the user the information they need, but make sure they don’t distract from the gameplay. This paragraph of the game design document is written jointly with a team of artists;
- Mockup of interfaces and main menu. At this stage, graphic sketches (diagrams) of all game windows and interfaces are created. They are numbered and a short description is written for each screen;
- Game features. This section describes the key mechanics: training, inventory, dialogues, global maps, leveling, and others. It is obligatory to create a mockup for each feature;
- Functional sections: game balancing, admin panel (necessary for multiplayer projects), statistics collector (for f2p games), as well as a description of the minimum playable version of the game (prototype) to check the relevance of its basic gameplay.
What should not be writing in gdd
In order not to overload the game design document with information, you should not include the following points there:
- Description of animations. They should be described in separate tasks for animators. For example, if we are talking about a shooter, try to indicate the specific action of the weapon, taking into account the peculiarities of the engine and the visual style of the project;
- “Heavy” references. As a rule, you need a lot of examples and they “weigh” well. It is best to keep pictures in separate folders, and link to videos;
- Texts and literary descriptions. It is better to create separate xml-files for them, which will be convenient for programmers to use.
- After writing a design doc, it is coordinated within the team. It is especially important to find a common language with the programmers, who are responsible for the implementation of the conceived mechanics.
After that, the next stage of development begins: detailed documentation for each feature is written, tasks are set in the task tracker, and work is carried out with comments that arise during the creation of the game.
A few more useful tips:
- feel free to illustrate the information with pictures. It is strange to describe a window or a character without attaching its image to the text;
- large files with references (pictures, videos) greatly “burden” the document, and the quality of these files significantly deteriorates. Pictures can be uploaded to a file hosting service or taken out in a separate document, and the video can be uploaded to YouTube, adding only links to the GDD;
- sentences should be short and informative. Remember – we are not writing a novel, but a guide to action;
- the document must be in order: the text is neatly designed, and each link is in the right place with a signature. Find more info here.
Outcome
I will sum it up with a fairly simple thought. The most important thing in working with game design documentation is that it must be and be relevant throughout the life of the project. The support of the GDV saves much more resources than it takes. And this process, in fact, does not take as much time as it might seem at first glance. Plus, it is a key tool in the work of a game design specialist, and the final result of his work largely depends on the quality of the GDD.
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