Game Design Documents - A Comprehensive Guide

[@SerketStudios888]

Additional Resources: Develop Games: develop.games/ GDD Wikipedia: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Game_design_document GDDs of other games: gamescrye.com/resources/game-design-documents/ Anatomy of a Game Design Document: tinyurl.com/Anatomy-of-a-GDD One-Page Template: tinyurl.com/One-Page-GDD Full GDD Template: tinyurl.com/Full-GDD-Template Alt Blank GDD Template: tinyurl.com/Blank-GDD Pozefsky Template GDD: tinyurl.com/Pozefsky-GDD Mass Flux GDD: tinyurl.com/Mass-Flux-GDD Double Coconut GDD: tinyurl.com/Double-Coconut-GDD Notion: www.notion.so/templates/design-doc-template Confluence: www.atlassian.com/software/confluence/templates/design-system References: Healthy Gamer + PirateSoftware: kzbin.info/www/bejne/qKOXfZ2wl6uXZ9E How to Sell More Games on Steam: kzbin.info/www/bejne/nqWZqatvmtNgkLc BTP Pass the Game Challenge: kzbin.info/www/bejne/aoPWaWeqatlrjZo Design Doc Elements: kzbin.info/www/bejne/h4ScdIyrirSgi5Y Adam Millard Elements: kzbin.info/www/bejne/r6u2q32ndqasrsk Sequelitis: kzbin.info/aero/PLu5a9-aw8CA_xRgSUtUjcEem6d_cJk9Mx Boss Keys: kzbin.info/aero/PLc38fcMFcV_ul4D6OChdWhsNsYY3NA5B2 Designing for Disability: kzbin.info/aero/PLc38fcMFcV_vvWOhMDriBlVocTZ8mKQzR

[@vabenchu]

Is this the video mentioned in today's pirate software stream?

[@ultimaxkom8728]

- - - 21:51 - - - Table of Contents Introduction Summary Inspirations Player Experience Platform Development Software Genre Target Audience Concept Core Loop Theme Primary Mechanics Secondary Mechanics Tertiary Mechanics Elements Combat / Al Progression Art Design Visual Effects Lighting Audio Music Sound Effects Audio (*duplicate) Music (*duplicate) Sound Effects (*duplicate) Game Experience UI Controls Menus Diagetic Menus (*Diegetic) Market Requirements: WIP Minimum Viable Product Stretch Goals Systems: WIP Work Packages: WIP Base Prototype Gameplay Pass Media Pass and Playtest Battle Pass (Heh) Second Playtest and Story Elements Final Feature Pass Polish Pass Demo Pass Release Pass Extras Pass Activities: WIP Tasks: WIP

[@nathanlamberth7631]

Writing stuff down is paradoxically less effort than not writing stuff down. When you’re remembering something, your brain is expending constant energy in just holding onto it. Once you write it down, the brain can refocus on other areas and higher level connections without wasting time of basic fact recall.

[@SerketStudios888]

Yep. The human brain is a moist computer in itself with resource allocation and garbage collection.

[@LucidVisions]

This has actually changed how I view note taking wow

[@visibletoallusersonyoutube5928]

And yet unloading all that responsibility off your brain results in a brain that can't handle that workload anymore. You lose the skills and are required to rely on more unloading. Potentially requiring you to work harder for the rest of your life.

[@iansullivan9738]

Eww, moist computers

[@ultimaxkom8728]

Hmmm, moist computers~

[@grixxy_666]

The fact you cared enough to put an intermission in this video is fantastic. I and other ADHD people greatly appreciate that thank you

[@SerketStudios888]

I got the idea from Code Monkey after seeing him put intermissions in his longer courses. But yeah, a break helps in so many ways.

[@LoboGuarah]

I'm another adhd'er and i up this comment.

[@UlshaRS]

A well appreciated pause to collect and prep.

[@Hersatz]

For the love of God, do anything except a monolithic text-based GDD. It will become a TLDR brick that nobody will ever want to approach with a 10 foot pole. Use design document formats where appropriate with a multi-modal approach: one pagers, storyboard, flowchart, wireframing, greyboxing, etc. Prioritize image over text and use text as a way to explain the specific semantic of the system that cannot be explained through visualization in enough details. The two ''One-Page Designs'' videos on KZbin are great examples of what I mean.

[@Dracky3k]

I totally get what you mean, my usual go to advice when documents get too big is move it to a system of markdown documents that you can concatenate down to a pdf if needed and that also gives you the power of using git to control it and also inline flow charts, obsidian does this really well these days sometimes you can't beat the utility of just being able to email a single pdf to potential investors

[@SerketStudios888]

Yep. As I said, a picture's worth a thousand words and a video is worth a million. Show is better than tell, just that not everyone necessarily has that in the beginning or even for small projects with short turnaround (like a weekend game jam); but as mentioned, that's something to work on in parallel. For our game, some of the footage used in this very video actually serves that purpose as a supplement to showcase the result we're aiming for (like Isaac, CotL, and Necrodancer especially). I also didn't show this, but we have spreadsheets for character stats, item lists, and bosses as well prototypes of early VFX tests and concept art of enemies and obstacles that are still barely more than sketches on a napkin.

[@thiagosoares7414]

Remember that GDD is for work not for people play. Professionals must read documentation to understand and work, not to be entertained

[@23rbnHD]

This is genius. Entertaining, in depth, doesn't drag on yet seems to cover more than one might anticipate.

[@SerketStudios888]

Thank you for the kind words.

[@mosescosme8629]

I'm a D&D forever DM (by choice, I love it too much). The last game I played was so fun and the narrative so good I was hoping that one day I could maybe turn it into a video game. Just a few weeks ago I found out that as a TypeScript dev of 5 years, I actually already know everything I need to code out the kind of game I want this to be. But the GDD was pretty intimidating. This video was exactly what I needed to help move me along my path. Thank you, Serket.

[@SerketStudios888]

You're very welcome. Also, pretty sure the Primeagen has made games in TypeScript before.

[@orange-vlcybpd2]

I'm absolutely convinced, that commercial contract software developement can (and should) learn a lot from game development.

[@Dracky3k]

Being in commercial dev myself, there's alot that can be cross pollenated. for a quick example commercial could prototype better and game dev could project manage better

[@l.a.w.6494]

Probably a two way street

[@vast634]

You can practice writing a GDD by writing one about an existing game. That lets you learn to abstract a gamedesign by observing it.

[@Kavukamari]

a Game Design Document is a Document containing the Design of a Game, such as a video Game. it can help Game Designers Design using a Document containing many Design details for Games.

[@SerketStudios888]

Yeah, the wikipedia article really leaves much to be desired.

[@Dracky3k]

@@SerketStudios888 The missile knows where it is because it knows where it isnt...

[@l.a.w.6494]

Lol Chat gpt 3

[@nolly_nd]

"A floor plan". I've always considered this analogy as the one that describes it the best; something that is fully laid out on the table, informative enough even without high technical knowledge and in such a "place" where everyone can see it. Lots of good info here. Loved the whole vid and good luck on the Alchemask (pretty cool name btw).

[@SerketStudios888]

Much appreciated. Glad you enjoyed it.

[@Rakadeja]

I resonate with the egyptian theme, so I watched this whole video. I have been working on a GDD for my project and going out of my way to find all of my scattered notebooks and stuff to truly define how every feature actually works. I already feel like I have a weight off of my shoulders just from fleshing out the details as to how the Character Creator is going to work. Instead of digging through a stack of notebooks and searching them for any hints/clues etc., or even getting confused by what I've put into Codecks - I now have a Google doc with sections that have comments that either link to, or include scans from my notebooks. It's so worth it, man. For your own sanity, for your own sake. It can help you feel like you have a cohesive project instead of a fever dream you'll never complete.

[@SerketStudios888]

Appreciate the high praise. And yeah, we lean hard into the Egyptian theming.

[@drewdowsett]

I've been developing for over a decade now, and I learnt quite a few things from this video! Well done Serket Studios, this is such an amazing video, and no doubt will be a staple resource for Indie Devs.

[@SerketStudios888]

Thank you so much. That's high praise. Good luck in your development.

[@karkat2334]

As someone who created a homestuck username when I was 13 and is now working on indie games, I respect the homestuck studio name lol

[@SerketStudios888]

Glad someone noticed.

[@winteriris13]

hell yes my fellow homestucks unite xD

[@hiiambarney4489]

I guess... If I can bring myself to do this step, I should totally add you into the credits of the game. This is exemplary. This video should be a mandatory view for any game dev who thinks about publishing their game.

[@SerketStudios888]

Much appreciated, though credit is not necessary. Just please share the video out with others.

[@hiiambarney4489]

@@SerketStudios888 If I ever come to making a Devlog Channel or the likes, I will point everyone to this video. As of now, I have nobody proficient or even interested in Game Design/Game Making in my group of people I interact with.

[@ollie5470]

This one of the best videos I've seen on the topic of creating GDDs. Thank you for all the the effort and time you put into making this guide. And I love how you broke everything down into chapters with the intermissions. 😄

[@SerketStudios888]

You're very welcome!

[@codernunk]

Adding my comment in support of this video! I don't have the time right now, but I can already tell this is going to be the go-to guide for me once I finally put together my GDD. I greatly appreciate your thoroughness here. Great work!

[@SerketStudios888]

Thank you. That's high praise. Good luck with your game.

[@caseycoker1051]

Thanks for this awesome, comprehensive video! As someone who has just recently started to learn about game design this was extremely helpful for understanding what to consider during the planning phase of a project.

[@SerketStudios888]

That's wonderful to hear. Good luck on your game dev journey.

[@onelegchair]

This video was very good. Must watch for anyone in game dev.

[@SerketStudios888]

Thank you so much for the recommendation.

[@bruceu7048]

Man, I love this video, rewatching it time by time, when dont remember something. Sharing with everyone too. Thank you, brother

[@SerketStudios888]

No, thank YOU!!

[@cemeterygate]

One of the biggest downfalls of KZbin. 10K views in three days, an incredible achievement, but they don't hit subscribe and thus aren't rewarded for your hard work and great informational video.

[@SerketStudios888]

I'm trying to imagine giving a lecture to 10k people in real life and it's just mind boggling.

[@danielalexander8402]

Thank you for this comment! I thought I had hit subscribe but missed it.

[@l.a.w.6494]

​@@SerketStudios888knowledge is the best business. Imagine a realtor getting a 10 percent commission on a 200k house that took 6 months to sell, vs a guy giving a real estate seminar for 200 a ticket with 100 new people attending a day over a 3 day weekend.

[@blackhole7818]

You can only subscribe to limited people now.

[@mikemarrotte]

This is an eternally helpful resource and rich curation of inspiration. Many, many thanks for your time and effort - I will always point people right back here as a foundational resource in my game dev journey.

[@SerketStudios888]

Much appreciated. Sharing the video is one of the best ways to help our channel.

[@panampace]

Never done a GDD but I’ve got a digital sketchbook of over 400 pages for concept ideas, architecture diagrams, and planning out new functions and classes.

[@SerketStudios888]

Concepting is definitely something that can be done in parallel with a GDD.

[@macksnotcool]

Glad to see this video has absolutely exploded! It's a really great video.

[@SerketStudios888]

It just keeps going up and up. O_O

[@MattEatsMochi]

phenomenal collection and explanation. so glad to have this pop up on my home page and to have you as a fellow goblin.

[@mentalsmoge1128]

I was about to begin developing my first game. I'm glad that this video showed up in my recommendations before I started. Super useful information that hopefully will save me a bunch of time 👍

[@SerketStudios888]

Happy to have helped in that regard. Good luck with your game.

[@smokeback]

Awesome thanks glad someone did a full breakdown why this is important because it would as help create your own gdd based on type of games you focus on making

[@SerketStudios888]

You're welcome. Glad you found it helpful.

[@elizabethmonroe2290]

KNKL AND Pirate software?!?! You have my attention! Both Kienan and Thor have my absolute utmost respect and tbh i wasnt expecting to hear both mentioned in your references lol

[@SerketStudios888]

Yep. Both are awesome dudes who have a lot to teach people. I have tremendous love and respect for both of them.

[@ka_okai9]

Thanks for sharing your knowledge friend. I ve been doing this by instinct but its reasuring to learn that creating GDD s is actually a well known good practice. nice video mate Thanks again

[@SerketStudios888]

Thanks very much. Am glad you found it helpful.

[@DaGreenGh0st]

I actually do remember a tetris game with a story lmao. The blocks were alive and they had giant eyes. It was a weird and surreal game for PS2 lol. Thank you for this video though! It's given me a clearer picture of how I can keep the game development process quick and simple without sacrificing depth!

[@SerketStudios888]

You're very welcome. And yeah, I think I remember that game as well.

[@Delmworks]

I got flash-banged by the Healthy gamer GG clip and thought I was on the wrong channel for a hot minute

[@SerketStudios888]

Lol, weren't expecting a celebrity guest appearance, eh? :U

[@saaddurrani9652]

very well made guide for making GDDs

[@ProjectShinkai]

spent years working on an indie fighting game without a clear vision. really spinned the wheels. reworking it with a clearer vision. and making a small GDD.. so much better.

[@SerketStudios888]

If I were to make a game spin-off for my novels, an anime-style fighting game would be the most-fitting, I think, since a lot of the plot involves trials by combat in enclosed arenas. I'm not normally a fan of fighting games apart from Smash Bros, DBZ, YYH, and Mortal Kombat. Never was into Street Fighter or Guilty Gear, for instance, though Injustice and MvC might be up my ally. I guess I did also play the Simpsons arcade game back in the day, now that I think about it. At any rate, I wish you luck on your game and happy to hear you're making a lot of progress.

[@LostHabit]

So so so so so grateful for this video at this time

[@SerketStudios888]

^_^

[@IngoLingoAnimations]

Nice and detailed! Gonna have to watch multiple times.

[@SerketStudios888]

No worries. That's what timestamps and 2x speed are for. :U

[@morganp7238]

This is a vid that I will come back again. Thank you and good karma to you. Subded and liked.

[@danielmisra2912]

very well put together video and very informative. thank you

[@aliridha1082]

This is an awesome guide, thanks a lot!

[@Demonskunk]

This is a very helpful video. I’m trying to think of how a GDD might be applied to a tabletop game.

[@SerketStudios888]

Most of the same fields will still apply, just that instead of an engine and coding, you're coming up with pieces, cards, dice, and other mechanics. It might be helpful to look at other board games and try to reverse engineer a GDD for them.

[@Demonskunk]

If you’re looking for input/feedback for your game’s POV, I just have one strong request: Have a front/back/left/right sprite and attacking sprite of your character. The WORST thing about Cult of the Lamb IMO is that you can only attack left and right, and it’s not immediately clear how far forward or backward your attack hitbox extends.

[@SerketStudios888]

Hmm, well COTL has some directional weapons too, like the tentacles or the blunderbuss. Things that you can aim in a direction beyond just left or right. Either way, we plan on making the aiming its own separate control with a reticle and then you hit based on things like range. That's the plan at least.

[@theimperialkerbalunion7568]

Ive heard the advice that its best to make the prototype first, and then write a gdd to cement the fun you found in the prototype, so u can expand it to a full game. Though this doesn't apply to games that are hard to prototype

[@SerketStudios888]

Doing a prototype first can sometimes be useful if you're still learning the engine, if you already have an idea of what mechanics you wanna implement, or if you just wanna tinker; but generally, the plan will inform what you need to prototype and it's a lot easier to change things on paper than it is in the engine. Sometimes, in the prototyping stage, you can discover things that cause you to re-examine the base plan. This occurred, for instance, with our submission to the Pirate Software Game Jam, wherein we wanted to combine deck building with matching element recipes, but the deck-building portion just wasn't working out in the prototype in the allotted time, so we had to scrap it and change some aspects of our core loop. The two are meant to work in tandem, but often having a plan of action helps you focus and avoid choice paralysis.

[@theimperialkerbalunion7568]

@@SerketStudios888 yeah that makes sense. I suppose making a barebones deaign doc, making a prototype, then updating rhe design doc would work. I suppose since its a living document, prototype exists as one step in the process

[@Oygurd]

Reminded me to update my obsidian on the current semesters game, thanks!

[@Apc7th]

This video is a true help.

[@timmygilbert4102]

After 22 years, i use just in time documentation. I wrote down high level stuff, but only wrote down about system and sub system when i start xorking on them.

[@SerketStudios888]

I've heard of Agile software before, but never heard that term applied to documentation. Though it makes sense and we even refer to it in the video - albeit it not by that name - when we talk about realistic constraints and problems that arise during development. If the formula needs to change based on new data, new information ... if the plan meets reality and it clearly no longer works, then obviously change it to be in alignment with actual reality. Just that some people aim for perfection and either stick too rigidly to their plans or don't bother making plans at all, neither of which is really helpful.

[@timmygilbert4102]

@@SerketStudios888 it's iterative development, agile is one of the formalisation of iterative development. All development are iterative, some pretend they are not, the real enemy is dogmatism, I have seen agile enforcement so bad it kills project. Planning isn't as important as having a target, scope creep is easy to deal with by just dropping feature, however moving target kills a project because you don't know what you do. I only do just in time planning, at the scope of a feature. In fact I do start with scope creep at each feature, then sort elements based on priority, then figure out the MVP, once the MVP is done, I implement extra until I'm bored or need to progress elsewhere. The other thing is it's okay to ship bad games and move on, make a sequel that's better if you couldn't do it the first time, but wrap up and finish the damn game. Documentation is a loose term, the game is the documentation. What matter is the ease of implementation, if you have a nice wysiwyg interface, that allows fast implementation, there is probably no need to document because sketching directly in the DCC is frictionless. However if the interface is finicky code from which you need to figure out how to architecture elements, then extraneous documentation help because the problem mapping is different from the implementation. That's true for GUI, visual relationship are hard to tell if you have to implement them into assembly. If you try something new, no planning will help you, you can't plan for uncertainty, if you can plan it, it's not original, that's okay though, you don't always have to reinvent the wheel. Evaluating and dealing with uncertainty is the biggest planning skill you will ever develop. Uncertainty is risk, the more you have it the more threat there is in a project. The real purpose of planning, is not to figure out what to do, but to evaluate where the uncertainty are, one if these uncertainty is resources allocation, do you have enough resources to finish the project. Thus scope creep is really the increase of uncertainty relative to resources available. Scope creep is not only dealt with reduction but also better tools and process, like automation and workflow, that make the cost and uncertainty of implementing feature go down. I currently have no project to show up because I choose the dark path to explore new mechanics, instead of freaking out and making another indie cozy rpg rogue like shooter farming, because I'm no longer scared that, if I don't finish a project, people will think I'm a fraud 😂 I'm too old for this.

[@ProjectShinkai]

im actually doing a project with basically 2 GDD. one ios just one page long with the core features for my vertical slice. the second is a full one where I write in it every day and has everything id like to have if the vertical slice is successful.

[@Dracky3k]

Those are typically called Dev logs and its great that you're keeping notes like that as it makes it so easy to go back and find out why you made a certain decision

[@VillainViran]

I learned how to use articy because i think it'll come in handy, but I'm not super sure why yet and I'm gonna watch tbis tomrrow lol

[@SerketStudios888]

Whatever works for you. Ultimately, these are all just tools.

[@captainawesome2226]

My experience with GDD's is that no one starts working on anything until you supply them with one, then once you have, no one starts working on anything anyway. I've literally had people on my projects refuse to do any work because there was no GDD, then didn't read a single word of it when they were supplied with one. Even if you link them directly to it and on the first page it lists the version of the game engine you are using, I bet both my ass cheeks the first question you get asked will be "What version of the engine are we using?" Repeat for every page of the GDD. I've never had anyone read a GDD and ask me relevant follow-up questions. And I had a 92% GPA before I quit uni out of frustration. The nightmare really set in when I realized it wasn't unique to university. I honestly have no idea how some "game designers" expect to be paid for their "work". If you don't believe me, try run a game development studio with a handful of employees that aren't friends or family. No one does shit, but on pay day they all want their paycheck.

[@SerketStudios888]

That sounds more like an accountability, management, and communication issue. That your team members aren't being held to live up to their part of the job - be it for a school project or out in the working world. Unfortunately, you're right that this can and does sometimes track into the real world wherein some people have entitlement complexes expecting everything and offering nothing. If it makes you feel any better, that's not unique to game dev, but all domains. It's more of a human thing. Best I can say is figure out what incentives need to be put in place (positive or negative) to get them to do the task you're asking of them and ask them why they're not doing it.

[@sean7221]

Seems like a symptom of "modern day" companies that employ DEI policies

[@Kavukamari]

31:53 advances in metalbending have really come a long way haven't they....

[@Dracky3k]

First Pro bending and now Fortbending

[@feebleturtle8922]

Thank you so much for this video it is very useful and informative

[@SerketStudios888]

You're very welcome. Glad you found it helpful.

[@Cameo221]

Wowie, the template is really valuable; I was already making my own and populating it decently, but there were some categories and other chunks that I missed making my own. Much thanks! Here's a specific question that's been hovering over me: For a game jam context (short turnaround) where everyone has their specific role, the jam starts, and the designer would be scrambling to make the doc while the rest of the team waits. But what can the rest of the team really do when they are totally blocked by design? People could TRY to extrapolate, but maybe that doesn't pan out so easily. Would the prototyping already begin while design is making the doc, and rapidly communicating the most important things to work on first in that process?

[@SerketStudios888]

Depends on your specific needs and use case. In our case, Dracky and I (Maru) had already done small prototypes of this project once before that then got scrapped and eventually we restarted from scratch. We largely collaborated together on writing the GDD. I wrote the first pass, he looked it over and added a bunch of the market and tech stuff. We discussed things together over Discord VC. As things came to mind, we'd each edit here and there. So it's probably a good idea to have all members of the team at least be involved in the GDD creation. However, depending on your needs and working methods, if someone is clearly more of the "planner" type, maybe they take the lead on that while others get about doing concept stuff and grey boxing.

[@WilmarNM]

Great video! Good luck with your project!

[@SerketStudios888]

Thank you!

[@tjb3171]

This is a great video, thank you!!!

[@SerketStudios888]

You're very welcome. Glad you found it helpful.

[@DavidZobristGames]

Made a couple of released games somehow game design docs always kill my motivation to finish the game. I do balancing spreadsheets and localization tables to do some kind of framing.But mechanicaly i build one block on the other with a key goal in mind. And I got a Trello board with high level ideas on 1-2 words and low level specific tasks for the day.

[@SerketStudios888]

You can certainly use Trello for that. We even mentioned it as an option. The fact that writing a GDD kills your motivation seems strange to me since I usually find it helps me get excited planning out my vision. If I'm working on an idea for a game and it's not exciting me, or I lose motivation and follow-through, that probably means the original idea wasn't good enough to hold my interest, since no one will care more about your project than you do. Alternatively, it might mean you need to inject fun into the process and gamify your work and pushback on all the burnout and stresses of life, the universe, and everything. I know Sasquatch Studios just released a video talking about what to do if you suddenly find yourself hating your game during development. Conversely, if the project is the first thing on your mind when you wake up and the last thing on your mind before you go to bed, it's probably a winner and worth pursuing.

[@DavidZobristGames]

@@SerketStudios888 Yeah also there is something like an initial romantic period with game ideas too. For me it lasts 2-3 weeks. So making my notes ( trello) doing some lose form of docs or just keep on thinking about it will do. I know that just starting into it will also make me stop it after the honeymoon. So i dont start prototyping that quickly anymore. IF it survives the honey moon time I might start the prototype.

[@captainawesome2226]

@@DavidZobristGames Honestly I find the ad-hoc approach to game development the best (and/or agile) until you have industry-level skills. Things change so rapidly when you are just starting out (i.e. the first 5 years) that there is little point spending a huge amount of time on a GDD. I've seen people go all out on a GDD, then when it came time to implement their very detailed plan the team realized they didn't have the skills to execute any of it. 2 pages max. If your team doesn't know what a "platformer" is or a "racing game" etc and what sort of mechanics those genres entail, the GDD is the least of your problems.

[@DavidZobristGames]

@@captainawesome2226 The biggest take away from the video which i agree with.. Its much more efficient if you know what you gonna do. But I would as he also suggested keep some major pillars of design goals and as you mentioned keep the rest agile.

[@pirateKaiser]

amazing video, thank you!

[@SerketStudios888]

You're welcome and thank you.

[@turbo8628]

Liked and subbed. Great video on GDD

[@SerketStudios888]

Thank you. Glad you liked it.

[@ProjectShinkai]

I been thinking about this

[@villain_devious]

i was gonna ask if there was any problem in making a video showing my whole GDD, but as i was thinking about it i realised that even tho i might be the only one to bring the game to its full authenticity, if a Big chinese company decide to steal the idea it would be very problematic for me or anyone who share their GDD. Who ever is the first one to develop and share it will get eyes and attention towards them which will result in a big share of people actually liking or having bigger feeling towards your competitor (im sure there are more reasons, but tbh i doubt they are as relevant as this one). One can still try to share all the GDD when the game has a "minimum viable product" version of the project, atleast at that point your game would be already getting attention and be atleast 1/3 or 1/2 made, which would intimidate whoever tries to steal. I brought up that subject because sharing the GDD is actually a great idea to shre knowledge and show how everything connects as well to show how serious you are with the project. Ig the best way to show you can do it is still doing it XD

[@SerketStudios888]

Early on in my game dev career, I tried recruiting a very well-known Unity dev to come work for us. He asked about our project and I was reluctant to tell him for exactly the reason you just gave about feeling guarded about your ideas. He gifted me with a much-needed wake-up call as to how things actually work in the industry and basically said I shouldn't worry about such things at this stage since I didn't even have anything worth stealing yet. I've since met a number of other professionals who all say the same thing. Ideas come quick and cheap. They're a dime a dozen. Execution is what matters. Look at all the big AAA studios shitting the bed right now, even after making huge successes. They can't even keep their OWN house in order, let alone someone else's. Worst case scenario, they steal your idea and make it great, but you have a track record since you published your whole process online to say, "Look, I was here first, they copied me. Boycott their shit if you care about independent creators like you say you do, and come buy MY game that's gonna be awesome because I poured blood, sweat, and tears into my dream whereas they just used glorified slave labor." Make people put their money where their mouths are and actually follow-through on their espoused principles. If you do well, then YOU'LL be the one everyone tries to copy but can never replicate. Imitation is the highest form of flattery. If they're trying to steal from you, it means you have something of value to offer in the first place.

[@villain_devious]

@@SerketStudios888 Shitting their beds XDDD i really appreciate the knowledgeable reply hehe altho i still believe that there is gains on stealing projects from someone, its just like atealing in the streets "is that person in condition to fight back?", "what they carry is worth the trouble?". I brought this up because my GDD is like Highly detailed, if a chinese (i keep saying chinese because of mihoyo XD) company stole it it would be right to the production state, people on this market have an eye for good projects to steal, so sharing it in a state you arent ready to compete for sure is a mistake (specially cuz your target audience will be having fun with their game while you produce yours) Ig this situation is a BIG depends, where in most cases you dont need to worry about it, most people out there are making games for them and people like them, companies and people who steal dont really bother with games that arent trend. My game will be a big hit! (hopefully hehe) and being the first one to make this type of game is a huge win, as miyamoto musashi once said "its easier to win when you are already ahead". again, thank you so much for the knowledge! ill make sure to subscribe and check the rest of your videos because thats my first time finding your channel hehe

[@AdeelTariq0]

Don't mistake charismatic for wise. And being charismatic is a quality of a lot of so called 'online gurus'. Not necessarily of wise people.

[@SerketStudios888]

Not sure what this is in reference to, but sure. What you say and how you say it are both important. Charisma helps with the latter, whereas you still need to deliver actual value to people.

[@ollie5470]

​@@SerketStudios888 I think he's referring to Jason Thor from Pirate Software. In my opinion I find the guy pretty wise, he delivers powerful advice with mental health and game design.

[@NoCodeFilmmaker]

Bro, your voice is so ASMR lol Great content but I was battling to stay awake 😂

[@SerketStudios888]

I know so many KZbinrs that get comments like that. I'm never sure whether to take it as a complement or not.

[@NoCodeFilmmaker]

@@SerketStudios888 It's a complement for sure bro. In a world that's so rough around the edges, it's refreshing to hear information delivered in a soothing tone. There are KZbinrs that legit sound manic or like they're angry at the audience 😂 I appreciate the level and concise execution 🙏

[@palxz2446]

wait what. wdym this video has less than 500 views. the quality doesnt feel 500 views worth. should have thousands

[@nicks4727]

1k views rn in b4 it blows up

[@Dracky3k]

Let her cook

[@SerketStudios888]

Already up to 2K in 48 hours. Gonna take it to the moon!

[@alexandertownsend5079]

What are ST Cog and LT Cog? I saw that listed under Interactivity on the 1 page and I don't know what that is referring to.

[@SerketStudios888]

Short-term and long-term cognition (i.e. memory puzzles).

[@alexandertownsend5079]

@@SerketStudios888 Thank you. I tried to google it, but google can be less than helpful especially lately with it shoving its AI results and featured snippets in my face.

[@UnderArea51]

QUESTION: Software developers use a development document, “Programing rules.l Are “Rules,” part of the GDD for the coders to be able work on sections - different blocks - then pieced together, I guessing they line-by-line write Pseudo code chunks of the entire program - then translate it into the coding language? Does game developer - programmers work with “Rules?”

[@Dracky3k]

So what you're talking about is what we can call work packages and I'll be doing the next video detailing all of those steps for the technical planning

[@SerketStudios888]

In addition to the work-packages vid that Dracky mentioned, we're also planning a video on the topic of separating out logic from syntax. What you referred to as pseudo-code translated into coding language. The fact that you already know to do that tells me you must have a fair degree of experience already, since it's something that took me many years before I understood. In terms of programming rules, there aren't any besides, "Whatever works." Though there are useful conventions like the SOLID Principles, Clean Code, naming conventions, architecture principles, etc. Jason Storey was talking a bit about this on a recent Game Dev Show episode and the trade-offs between clean code and performance.

[@portraitofacrow]

Awesome video!

[@SerketStudios888]

Glad you liked it.

[@alom200009]

I liked the vision pun 👍

[@SerketStudios888]

My favorite is the "target avatar" pun.

[@UlshaRS]

Doing solo dev and a newb and knew that some form of outline was critical but part of tutorial hell that kept getting missed was this non code starting block😂

[@SerketStudios888]

Yep, even as a solo dev, a GDD can be really helpful. For our submission to the Pirate Software Game Jam, Maru spent the first day making one despite working solo and kept coming back to it again and again.

[@eedoan]

This is cool, but what if you develop a GDD document, and then, when you play it, it is just not as fun as you thought, or maybe it was just not possible to make for some reason? Rewrite everything? That could frustrate the developer (especially with a team) and make it feel like it wasted a bunch of time. I feel like the video should have mentioned prototyping more alongside developing the GDD document at the same time, so the developer can see if the game is heading in the right direction in practice, instead of just in theory. Watching the video, I got the vibe that the developer should plan everything extensively and then start actually making the game. That maybe was not your intention, but it was what I thought while watching. Regardless, it was a great video, I learned a lot, and I will totally use a GDD for my current (and future) projects! TL;DR: The video should have mentioned more prototyping, in my opinion.

[@SerketStudios888]

I can see how you might get that impression and that's something for us to consider in the future. Prototyping is sort of the next phase after planning and we intend to talk about that in its own separate video. Because yes, absolutely, you should be making small prototypes to ensure that your ideas actually work in practice, not just in theory. That said, sometimes it's the case that an idea just simply won't work and you have to go back to the drawing board, which sucks, but that's part of the process. However, a GDD can still help clearing out a lot of initially bad ideas even before you get to prototyping. You wanna plan AS MUCH AS YOU CAN in the beginning; but obviously, it's impossible to account for literally everything, and sometimes those plans need to be updated as you run into reality. The map is not the territory.

[@eedoan]

@@SerketStudios888True true, thank you for the response and keep the good work!

[@sean7221]

A minimal viable product should be produced before the GDD?

[@4steroid]

You have saved me. This info is already doing wonders for my game. Thank you

[@SerketStudios888]

Glad to hear it. Best of luck on your game, friend.

[@ottosyrjala]

Dispenser going up!

[@vj6566]

me watching even tho I’m not a game dev

[@SerketStudios888]

Hey, that's awesome. Maybe someday you could be.

[@shorty4224]

A question about the mechanics chapter. The elements, combat/ai, are mechanics? And if so, they should be in the secondary or main mechanics. I am making an action-rpg and this confuse me because i don't know we're to integrate my mechanics.

[@SerketStudios888]

They're definitely mechanics, but they're also their own systems that might overlap with other domains, and it's hard to gauge where in the hierarchy they might fall. So we felt they needed a bit more special attention. For instance, in something like Tears of the Kingdom, you have the weather system that affects the look of the environment, but it also interacts with Link's status depending on what armor and gear he's wearing. In some cases, you can get struck by lightning and take damage, but it's clearly not part of combat. In some cases, the food you eat can mediate effects, but weather isn't food. Or lightning strikes the ground and now the grass is on fire and you can use that fire to light things for puzzles, but it's clearly not a puzzle mechanic. Is the weather system in TOTK primary? Secondary? Tertiary? Hard to say. It has to interact with many other systems and mechanics. Something like this would be the domain of interfaces where you have IBurnable, IFreezable, etc.

[@shorty4224]

@@SerketStudios888 Aha it makes sense. Thank you I struggle with this but also make me think how mechanics interact with each other and is not as simple as this is this an that is that especially in a action-rpg like mine. Good video makes a gdd construction more manageable and professional in a way.

[@swishfish8858]

@@SerketStudios888 Definitely not primary, as its inclusion isn't load-bearing for the primary gameplay loop. With or without weather, the meat of the game would stay the same. Secondary, maybe? As you said, it does affect systems in a way that can radically change the way you interact with them, so it has a strong presence in the mechanical ecosystem. But ultimately, I'd go with tertiary. Mostly because it's not something the player has any control over, and its effects don't determine the course of the game itself. You can largely ignore most weather conditions without real impact on your experience.

[@hihosilver1234]

Great vid bro. As for the Starfield shaming, seems kinda petty when ur a dev, but to each their own. And for the record, lots of people enjoy Starfield. Though ultimately disappointing imo, I enjoyed my time with the gameand i even liked Starfield more than any Zelda I've ever played.

[@SerketStudios888]

We were truly hopeful for Starfield as well, it just didn't live up to the hype in practice. But to each their own.

[@DoctorTaco]

Great video but my brain powered off when i heard that Turok 2 theme

[@SerketStudios888]

It's a game that holds nostalgic value for me, but to each their own.

[@macksnotcool]

Do you recommend SCAD? I am starting there this fall.

[@SerketStudios888]

That was over 15 years ago, so I can't vouch for whether they've changed since then; but I at least had a great experience with the school. All my teachers were excellent. Savannah is a beautiful city. My biggest mistake was not making the most of my time there. So definitely try to learn all that you can while you're there and also supplement with online resources and tutorials. I'm guessing you're majoring in game dev? During my time there, game dev students all learned Unreal. I'm sure since then they've added other engines to the curriculum.

[@alexandertownsend5079]

@KZbin @Serket Studios Your algorithm is doing something strange. I watched this video on my phone a few days and am watching it again now as I want to refer back to it, but this time on my laptop. You can find this video either by searching for "what is a game design document" or "how to write a game design document". When I search either of those things on my phone your video shows up near the top of the list, usually top 5. When I do the same on my laptop, I have to scroll a bit further. I don't remember the exact placement, but neither of those searches puts you into the top 5 list. Whether I am on laptop or phone shouldn't affect how you are ranked. Me using a laptop doesn't make your videos less relevant to my search. It shouldn't be deprioritized. To anyone else reading this, does anyone have any insight into why this is happening? Is this just happening to me? Is it because I waited a few days? Does the device you view videos from affect how they are ranked? If so, why? There is probably a good reason for it, but I am not smart enough to figure out what that would be on my own. So yeah, there is my question. I am confused.

[@SerketStudios888]

There's definitely something fishy going on from YT's end. I myself, when searching from our own account, would sometimes have to scroll relatively far down even with exact names and keywords. I think that's just a byproduct of how the algorithm works since we're still a relatively small channel as of my writing this and it doesn't yet know what to do with us. Another oddity has to do with thumbnails. I made custom ones for all the videos but it will randomly decide to use its own for some strange reason, but only some of the time; and there's no good documentation online to troubleshoot this, but apparently it's been a thing for at least five years. We did just apply for YT partnership, so hopefully that will give us access to tech support on the backend and also, as our channel grows, things will sort themselves out. But it's definitely frustrating at times being a new channel.

[@RoxanneKaiser]

There's a KNKL Show discord??? Whoa!

[@Ocdib]

Subscribed!!!

[@KnownUnknown5232]

Another W vid

[@SerketStudios888]

Thank you. That's always nice to hear.

[@beardordie5308]

I am wary of trying to learn anything from someone who has seriously used Papyrus font more than once. 😂 But I'll give it a shot

[@SerketStudios888]

Lol, that's why it's a team effort - to save us from our worst selves - and also gives us a chance to poke fun at ourselves, which I'd be wary of anyone who took themselves too seriously all the time.

[@licenceagreementenduser5832]

What's the game at 16:30? Seems very appealing

[@SerketStudios888]

That's from Hades. Its tracks your progress.

[@licenceagreementenduser5832]

@@SerketStudios888 Yeah, I recalled that scene now. Thanks! ( I won't tell you that at first I thought this was some kind of DnD game like 「Ruina 廃都の物語」)

[@generalsub7]

Liked and subscribed!

[@SerketStudios888]

Thank you so much.

[@thygrrr]

23:00 what I don't understand is how is this not 100% pure waterfall development?!

[@SerketStudios888]

It could be, but doesn't necessarily have to be. If you're working in teams, a lot of stuff should hopefully be modular and done in parallel. Having a GDD doesn't lock you into sequential order of operations necessarily.

[@alexandertownsend5079]

​@@SerketStudios888So the GDD can also be used to delegate tasks? Also I have questions about some of terms you used in the video? What is prototyping? Is prototyping the same as production? What is a game engine? What is AB testing?

[@wakajak8634]

There's no way you can watch this video and not think about Starfield.

[@SerketStudios888]

For better or worse, yeah.

[@patek2385]

I keep everything in my head.

[@Dracky3k]

Ah, a fellow masochist I see

[@SerketStudios888]

You are the 1 in 100, then.

[@patek2385]

@@SerketStudios888 not really. It's just my second game, project is small enough.

[@patek2385]

@@Dracky3k indeed my friend...

[@jackcomas]

nice vid

[@SerketStudios888]

Thanks. Glad you liked it.

[@KennyT_OfMusic]

Damn i was your 1k sub 🎉

[@SerketStudios888]

An important milestone and we are happy to have your support. Thank you.

[@blackhole7818]

Essentials?.... comprehensive guide? Well which one is it.

[@SerketStudios888]

A bit of both. We outline a high-level overview of the essentials before doing a deeper dive into each of them. It's why we have timestamps and table of contents.

[@VideoGameWizardry]

38:25 What is this game?!

[@SerketStudios888]

Twilight Monk. A metroidvania being made by Trent Kaniuga. I included it cuz Trent is awesome and someone else people should be following. Figured I'd pay him back by plugging his game.

[@VideoGameWizardry]

@@SerketStudios888 Thank you it looks really rad!

[@ReedoTV]

tldw; It's Confluence, but for games

[@SerketStudios888]

That assumes people know what Confluence is - and we did mention it in the video - but again, we're approaching it from the point of view this is someone's first foray into game dev and software development, so have to go over the fundamentals.

[@nelcorazs]

Among other things 😉

[@riotfist9747]

Funny enough i have one of those photographic memories,but im wasting it 😂

[@SerketStudios888]

I wish I had that ability. I have whatever the opposite of that is.

[@riotfist9747]

​​@@SerketStudios888 its overrated honestly. Being able to remember a lot of people, layouts, or code to the t is cool,but if it becomes a parlor trick. it's not Infallible either some people dont know that. People with didactic memory are able to keep the memories for longer periods of time. But it depends on the person strengths and things do fade eventually. You still have to study and put effort into things. I personally visual strong so I can remember things visually so peoples faces, code visually, art. Reason why I can do it. But words and names I have an issue with without some effort. Downsides you remember everything and things that you dont 😂😭

[@caedutiger9362]

Man i always struggled to find great examples or inspirations for making gdd, my first one was no short of a mess

[@SerketStudios888]

Hopefully, this made that task a lot easier for you.

[@caedutiger9362]

@@SerketStudios888 This will be my bible when i do another gdd. Thanks for this video

[@beanerb822]

Question, you said you think all aspiring game devs should watch game grump arins mega man video. Its 20 minutes and i could only get through 5. Its kindof gross🤣 ummm i forgot how much bad language is used and it way too distracting for me to actually learn anything. Do you know any other video about video natural learning?

[@SerketStudios888]

When you say gross, you mean like the crude drawings and humor? If you want a cleaner version of the same thing, there are my two videos on Level Design and Enemy Placement within Rune Fencer Illyia that talk about a lot of the same principles. But otherwise, do you think letting a few f-bombs stand in the way of your success and learning an otherwise insightful lesson might put you at a disadvantage?

[@beanerb822]

@@SerketStudios888 thank you for your reply! I really appreciate your style of content much more and leave feeling like I learned so much. Also I grew up in Savannah! We just left last month and moved down to Saint Mary's GA. But I saw you went to scad. Anyway, have a nice day👍

[@swishfish8858]

I think there are versions that were edited down to be appropriate for classrooms, you could look into that. I do really recommend looking at that video though, it's an excellent "beginner's crash course on game design".

[@beanerb822]

@@swishfish8858 ooo really 🤣 they made it PG? I will look into it! Thanks for the tip

[@DanteOak]

Noice

[@CyberBunStudio]

👀

[@FURIAfdx]

when u dont know what u are creating...

[@SerketStudios888]

Yep. This is one way of figuring that out.

[@Anerisian]

Not really true anymore. Games today are developed iteratively, where more specialised tools take over the documentation part of GDDs. Today, the data lives in spreadsheets, in the engine datasets, in wikis, and so on. As for writing down a vision beforehand, that is also vanishingly rare, as there now prototypes, art boards, mood boards, etc.

[@Dracky3k]

while using specialised tools to take over is true, this is typically done by the top 1% of companies that already have deals with publishers or are publishers themselves. Prototyping, art boards and visual guides are all excellent tools to use but the main point of the GDD is communication so limiting it to a single medium will decrease the effectiveness

[@SerketStudios888]

Those tools often come later after the initial concept is fleshed out or in parallel with it (as we mentioned). For instance, RPG stats might live in a spreadsheet, but I'm unlikely to use that for a platformer. So for Alchemask, we have spreadsheets for character stats and items in parallel with our GDD. Alternatively, you might not use such specialized tools for smaller games. Like am I really gonna make a wiki for my game jam entry when a one-page Google Doc would suffice? Probably not. Some of the GDDs I researched when putting together this video were surprisingly sparse for what I'd expect from a AAA. As far as prototyping, sure. You could be working on a prototype and come up with idea based around it; but in this case, we're working from the idea first, with prototyping being the stage that directly follows it.

[@thisisfyne]

More than an hour of tedious garbo for like 5 minutes of valuable information. Uuughhh

[@SerketStudios888]

What do you feel we could have tightened up and presented differently? Keep in mind, we approached this from the perspective of someone who knows nothing about game dev, so it also serves as a high-level overview of the entire process.