Have you ever wondered what was the right way to document your Game Design? Did you go online, got 125000 search results and didn't know where to start reading? Me too! This post/template will help you get started on your quest for amazing Game Designs.
Some clarifications before diving in
When we first shared this post (a few months ago in Reddit), some really constructive and passionate discussions emerged (and we all became better Game Designers because of it).
There were a few points that kept showing up the most and I'd like to clarify some stuff that will make sense once you've been able to read the whole thing:
Using a GDD is a thing of the past. When you write a GDD you need to jump right into describing the Game Mechanics.I'll probably write a full post discussing each topic in the future, but for now:
1.- Like every other industry, the game industry evolves, and the techniques that are used one day quickly become a thing of the past. Specially on a young industry that is still developing it's processes, metrics, etc. Whatever you like to call it (GDD, Wiki, Board. ), the important thing is to have something that describes your game project (or any other project for that matter) before jumping into production .
Here at Trick we name them GDDs and we also use boards (Trello) for managing tasks, and try to divide our project in two week milestones (somewhat resembling Scrum).
We don't use a monolithic GDD that evolves during development, but rather a document that can be used by the team to get up to speed. Then, a few corrections are made to reflect the feedback or ideas of the team during the Game Design phase.
Once production has started, we no longer update the GDD, all new ideas go straight into the board, some of them prioritized (Priority 1 to 3, being 1 a Must do, 2 a Will do, and 3 a nice to have) and some of them into an "Ideas" column to be evaluated at a later time.
In summary, whether you use a GDD or something else, we recommend Game Designers that are just starting to please, please, please , consider writing down your ideas into some type of document that other people can read and understand.
2.- I think the answer to this is one is that "It depends", which should have been made clear in the post. If your game is something like Tetris or Space Invaders or Asteroids. in other words, games where the Story is practically non-existent and they won't have any effect on the game mechanics, I agree it's the right thing to jump right into Chapter 4 of the template.
For a game like the one we used in this example, it felt natural to describe the characters, what they could do and why, in order to give some context. ( The Gnumies can merge, which translates into a certain game mechanic, and they are fighting German the Germ , which explains the game enemies).
Ultimately, it all depends on your game and your Game Design style. Just take into account that there is an Intro section where you can briefly describe (in one or two paragraphs) the overall mechanics, and the intention is that whoever reads the document can immediately understand your game's genre and high level mechanics, regardless of if you jump straight into a full fledged description or take a detour explaining some backstory first.
That was the first question that came up when I had the great idea that would make me rich (JK of course, I'm still poor). At that point, I didn't even know that I wanted to write a Game Design, and for that I needed to create a Game Design Document (GDD for short).
Doing some research I came across the term, but couldn't seem to find an industry standard or template to help me get started.
After going through a few Game Design books (I highly recommend Jesse Schell's Book of Lenses), and reading all I could online, it was time to create my first GDD. Through the years and iterations it has evolved into the following template, which we use every time we start a new game here at Trick.
Here's a description of each section in the GDD (you can download the template in *.doc format here => Trick's GDD Template )
A summary of what this game is about, without going into much detail about game mechanics or anything else. After reading the Project Description, it should be clear what type of game you are trying to make (Social, Casual, Hardcore, etc.) and the genre (Puzzle, RPG, FPS, etc.). Of course, you can add more information that feels relevant to your game.
This section would ideally be one or two paragraphs long. No more than a page for sure.
This game design document describes the details for a multi-platform touch based 2D puzzle game with novel mechanics and an original story and characters. The game plays like other match-3 games but introduces some innovations. The name is to be defined but candidates are…
The reason we start with characters is because you need to introduce them before the Story. If your game doesn’t have Characters and/or Story, you can just jump to the Gameplay section and remove Sections 1 to 3 (or leave them empty).
An example of character descriptions:
Gnumies are the main characters in this game. These creatures are happy and wealthy, but not greedy. They are wealthy because their ancestry is related to money, or Numismatic, thus their name: Gnumies. They’re hairy and come in a variety of colors.Red Gnumies are passionate and break stuff. Yellow Gnumies are electric and jump up and down. Green Gnumies are tranquil, relaxed and easy going. Blue Gnumies are a little sad and grumpy.Gnumies also have a lot of arms, anywhere from 1 up to 4, and their arms have hands. They have a firm handshake and can combine when holding hands. Gnumies like rough play and leave everything messy…
You can also add some character artwork here.
“An important part of the art of storytelling is to create characters that the guests can empathize with easily, for the more the guests can empathize with the characters, the more interesting the events become that happen to those characters.” – Jesse Schell, Book of Lenses
Having introduced the characters, it’s a good time to talk about the events that will happen throughout the game.
Gnumies are happily playing inside their castle and causing mischief. The Butler is going insane, but everybody is enjoying. Joker makes jokes.German is home watching TV and his mother bothers him. So he goes out to spy on the Gnumies. Outside it's raining and German is looking envious through the window, getting all wet. A strange mysterious person-something gives him a key that he can use to enter through a backdoor. He goes in with his army, kidnaps and jails female and baby Gnumies, and kicks everybody else out of the island…
“Resonant themes elevate your work from craft to art. An artist is someone who takes you where you could never go alone, and theme is the vehicle for getting there.” - Jesse Schell, Book of Lenses
This is important for when other people read your design. Overall, the theme speaks about what kind of story you want to tell: is it comedy, is it the real life or is it just fantasyyy. :)
This is a game about sadness and hardships. There is action and happy moments but between each chapter the story must progress in a way that clearly states that the Gnumies are sad because they lost their home. It must also have a sense of humor and be funny.
You can skip this section if you think it’s irrelevant for your game.
So, you have a Story, but how will the game take your players through that story.
“The world of your game is a thing that exists apart. Your game is a doorway to this magic place that exists only in the imagination of your players” – Jesse Schell, Book of Lenses
The game starts with a short intro scene where the Gnumies are getting kicked out of their homes. Then they land in an island and the first chapter begins.The first chapter is the Tutorial. This can be skipped. Here the levels are few and the Butler introduces the user to the mechanics.Once the player beats the tutorial he can advance into the First World Forest World. When the player beats the Forest World, he gets the First Key and then can choose to open the Volcano World or Icy Mountain World. Once he defeats one of these worlds….It’s very important to develop the world like a place were not only this story, but multiple stories could be happening at the same time. This opens the door for sequels and merchandise.
“ The game begins with an idea.” - Jesse Schell, Book of Lenses
This is (probably in 99% of games) the most important section of the GDD. It’s where you describe what your Gameplay (yes, with capital G), will be like.
Since this section can become humongous, we went ahead and divided it in sub-sections that made sense to us. Of course, this is a very subjective topic and what works for us may not work for you.
In short, why is the player playing your game? It’s good to add this information to a separate section so you don’t have to guess while reading through the whole GDD.
Overall (long term): Help Gnumies return homeGameplay (short term): Defeat the enemies, advance to the next level, etc…
This is not the most intuitive section, but it really helps to narrow down your scope if you think about what are the skills your player needs to master in order to play your game. Believe us, writing this list will help you find problems in your Game Design. For example, you may be trying to develop a game for kids but realize you require them to do something that is too advanced for their age, or some inputs may be good for Mobile but not for a Console with a Joystick. Also, if your game is going to have Custom HW built around it, then this list will allow you to figure out what components you’ll need to make it work.
