Writing Game Design Docs You'll ACTUALLY Use (Idea To Demo)

[@AlansQuickSave]

Check out my game here! store.steampowered.com/app/3111150/Secrets_of_Shadows FREE TEMPLATES One Pager Template👉 docs.google.com/document/d/1uQUCjv16S3F1IO1WbURu7_e68Er2qKpljAqQxo9bfbU/ One Pager Example 👉 docs.google.com/document/d/1S_6V6t0IiMiu6cGJpblgr4G9By8KfgqqlnXCxGCUCRw/ Prototype Template👉 docs.google.com/document/d/1AklusfmNx6k1oUY3sc-ReFNWaO0SxUZM9PqTXWVpl_0/

[@moonlitwyvern6840]

GDDs are really helpful imo! I think its important to not get too hung up on them if you're new to game dev, but for structure, scope, and otherwise they are as useful as you want them to be.

[@AlansQuickSave]

100% agree. I think really the only one that is mandatory even for small projects/hobbyists is the one pager, the rest is as useful as you want them to be like you said. That's a really good way to put it

[@faus585]

amazing video!! this is really great help for crafting actually usable gdds LOL

[@blazerthewyvernwriter]

This kinda made me realize two things: 1: I haven't been making game design documents. I've been making game bibles, where I dump most/all of my ideas into a document. I should probably...fix that. 2: Most of my ideas that I REALLY want to work on don't have the most unique ideas, save for a fee. Not that it'd be the worst thing, but uhhh...y'know, it's a bit sad :(

[@AlansQuickSave]

Yea i had the same game bible issue lol, one thing i didn't mention was how liberating it was to actually de-scope and refine all your ideas for a clearer goal. It sounds kind of silly but taking 3 hours to de-scope your project can bring you closer to finishing a game compared to 30 hours of work if your game has spiralled out of control from scope creep. As for the unique ideas, I think even making slight tweaks to a familiar system within a genre can make the whole thing feel pretty different. I like to remix ideas more so than trying to think of completely new ideas - which is wayyy harder... Good luck!

[@dmsys6516]

Your game looks super awesome man!! My GDD is a mess and i constantly need to rewrite the story/lore stuff Just yesterday fixed on a interesting and unique lore and setting as well as more well defined pillars but i need to expand it more but was unsure of how much detail to put to it

[@AlansQuickSave]

Thanks! Story/lore is tough yea I also have trouble with it. My game is not super story driven (and I'm not a writer) so take it with a grain of salt, but the 'Story stack' concept from Jesse Schell has been very very useful for me. It's a similar system to how I write GDDs where you start with the least flexible aspects and work your way up to most flexible.

[@olafmeiner4496]

Thanks for sharing your templates. One question I've always struggled with is how much detail I should go into and how much wiggle room should I leave in my system docs before we start production of that feature. Should I already describe each UI element and the feedback for each input in the first mock-up, or simply state that we want some and then try out through some iteration?

[@nonsense402]

Early docs probably should just outline the core gameplay loop and some plans for extending it. When you go through the design phase, you would flesh it out. Then in prototype, you would tune it or decide if the design is working as intended.

[@AlansQuickSave]

Great advice, I would do this too. I find that UI elements tend to change a lot in the prototype anyways, most likely you will have some quirks you need to iron out when you have people actually playtest too