Game Design Document
Template:Video game industry A game design document (often abbreviated GDD) is a highly descriptive living software design document of the design for a video game.[1][2][3][4] A GDD is created and edited by the development team and it is primarily used in the video game industry to organize efforts within a development team. The document is created by the development team as result of collaboration between their designers, artists and programmers as a guiding vision which is used throughout the game development process. When a game is commissioned by a game publisher to the development team, the document must be created by the development team and it is often attached to the agreement between publisher and developer; the developer has to adhere to the GDD during game development process.
Contents
Content
A game design document may be made of text, images, diagrams, concept art, or any applicable media to better illustrate design decisions. Some design documents may include functional prototypes or a chosen game engine for some sections of the game.
Although considered a requirement by many companies, a GDD has no set industry standard form. For example, developers may choose to keep the document as a word processed document, or as an online collaboration tool.
Structure
The purpose of a game design document is to unambiguously describe the game's selling points, target audience, gameplay, art, level design, story, characters, UI, assets, etc.[5][6] In short, every game part requiring development should be included by the developer in enough detail for the respective developers to implement the said part.[7] The document is purposely sectioned and divided in a way that game developers can refer to and maintain the relevant parts.
The majority of video games should require an inclusion or variation of the following sections:[8][9]
I. GAME OVERVIEW
A. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY B. STORYLINE (N/A) C. NAMES (N/A)
II. CORE GAMEPLAY
A. MAIN GAME VIEW B. CORE PLAYER ACTIVITY C. GAME CONTROLS D. IN-GAME GUI E. ACCESSIBILITY
III. CONTEXTUAL GAMEPLAY
- A. GAME SHELL FUNCTIONS
- B. GAME FLOW DIAGRAM
- C. GAME MECHANICS
- D. MULTIPLAYER MECHANICS (N/A)
- E. SPECIAL FEATURES (N/A)
IV. GAME ELEMENTS
- A. CHARACTERS
- B. LEVEL / MISSION / AREA DESIGNS
- C. OBJECTS (N/A)
- D. INTRO SCENE
- E. MENU
- F. HOW TO PLAY
- G. END SCREEN
- V. SOUND
- A. MUSIC
- B. SOUND EFFECTS
VI. CHEATS
VII. MONETIZATION
VIII. APPENDICES
- APPENDIX A: GAMEFLOW DIAGRAM
References
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