The Definition of a Game Design Document
Game Design Document
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A Game Design Document (GDD) is a difficult beast to tackle and can be very time consuming. A good place to start is to choose a GDD rubric or format. Formatting is really up to you. It is just easier to grab a preformatted GDD and adapt it. I prefer to use and adapt the GDD rubric created by Chris Taylor. The sample can be found on the internet. However, to keep this blog simple, I will post a simple GDD created by Mark Baldwin, referenced to me by David Spears, at the end of this blog as an Appendix. Please reference the Appendix during the blog as needed. Getting Started
At this point, you should have a basic idea what your game is about, and what type it is. You should have a good grasp of what you want. If you don’t, I highly recommend you do the design exercises I suggested and blogged about earlier. Workflow
The workflow is the steps you are going to follow in order to fill out your GDD. If you created a Game Proposal or a similar document, take this time to fill in as much of the GDD with the Game Proposal as possible. This will always be your first step with any new GDD. After you complete this task, you will want to come up with a way to work through filling in your GDD. I have found this workflow to be good for me. You may use any workflow that is good for you. • Prototype game feature or gameplay. • Fill in GDD with new design data obtained through prototyping. • Repeat Even though the workflow is simple in theory, the GDD can be very challenging. Here is an example of a GDD by Chris Bateman for the game Play With Fire. As you can see, filling in the areas of the GDD can be hard. Work from at a high level at first. Fill in the details as you go along with the development phase. Good Habits • Keep it brief. Only place information in the GDD that is useful. • Use the GDD to answer questions. If your GDD cannot answer the question,
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A Game Design Document (GDD) is a difficult beast to tackle and can be very time consuming. A good place to start is to choose a GDD rubric or format. Formatting is really up to you. It is just easier to grab a preformatted GDD and adapt it. I prefer to use and adapt the GDD rubric created by Chris Taylor. The sample can be found on the internet. However, to keep this blog simple, I will post a simple GDD created by Mark Baldwin, referenced to me by David Spears, at the end of this blog as an Appendix. Please reference the Appendix during the blog as needed. Getting Started
At this point, you should have a basic idea what your game is about, and what type it is. You should have a good grasp of what you want. If you don’t, I highly recommend you do the design exercises I suggested and blogged about earlier. Workflow
The workflow is the steps you are going to follow in order to fill out your GDD. If you created a Game Proposal or a similar document, take this time to fill in as much of the GDD with the Game Proposal as possible. This will always be your first step with any new GDD. After you complete this task, you will want to come up with a way to work through filling in your GDD. I have found this workflow to be good for me. You may use any workflow that is good for you. • Prototype game feature or gameplay. • Fill in GDD with new design data obtained through prototyping. • Repeat Even though the workflow is simple in theory, the GDD can be very challenging. Here is an example of a GDD by Chris Bateman for the game Play With Fire. As you can see, filling in the areas of the GDD can be hard. Work from at a high level at first. Fill in the details as you go along with the development phase. Good Habits • Keep it brief. Only place information in the GDD that is useful. • Use the GDD to answer questions. If your GDD cannot answer the question,