Game Design Documents

Hey all,

I was working on my game design docs for my new project and I began to wonder if anyone out there had a good template they have used in the past to start a GDD.

I usually wing it. I have a ton of docs in my google drive that are almost all completely different from one another lol. Common themes include a brief summary of the game, planned mechanics and some diagrams to illustrate said mechanics. A trend I see in my drive is that all the games I've finished have a checklist somewhere in the doc where I tick off goals. do with that what you will ;)

I wish I still had the template I used on a few of my projects. I dont really use them anymore because I start super small and iterate, but for anything bigger you need something like that. If I come across anything on it i'll let you know, maybe do a video about it.

Thanks man I found an old one I made but it's obviously lacking so I am trying to nail down a standard format

I use a template with these bulletpoints:

• Mantra: 1 line sentence refering to the UX to always remember throught development (ex: Epic robot battles with multiple story paths)
• Summary; A short brief
• Features: List of mechanics and unique characteristics
• Target Platform: Where do I intend to publish my game
• Target Audience; Profiles of who's going to play my game
• Game: Layout of every detail of the game (this usually branch on more points specific to that game, like story, power ups, multiplayer, etc)
• Interface: This includes player controls and how's the input (mouse, keyboard, controller)
• Artstyle: Mostly reference to the art people of your vision
• Music/Sound: What kind of music/sound you want and how is going to play
• Development Plan: A very crude layout of the needed task to develop the game with a time estimate

It might look daunting at first but when I do a GDD with this I catch a lot of design flaws and I always know what do I need to do to keep going with my game.

Jose, do you mind if I feature this in a video? Its a great and tight little method to design something without building out an entire document.

Thank you and not at all, use this info anywhere you want :)

Made a video about a super basic design doc template based on your post man. Thank you!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q96lz725gIw

I just saw that! your welcome mate, nice template, is really short and consistent I like it.

Looks like a great document, straight to the point, not overdone. It's so ease to loose your initial goal! 

I am famous now

Thanks josehzz!

i use google drive they have alot of templates you can use ong there drive

Just dropped in to say Thank You. I just started using the template based on your original design for my small RPG project, and it helped push me forward to continue development.