Making a game takes a lot of money, time as we've previously talked about. That money and time usually goes to the staff you end up hiring or the people on your team helping you make the game. We've skipped through the whole process of getting a team and finding the right team members or partners but these are topics that we will cover in the near future, so stay tuned! Although, one thing that is also important is after you've found the people you want to work with, you have to get them onboard, which is where a Game Design Document comes into play.
What is a Game Design Document?
A game design document is very useful and widely known in the game development community because it serves multiple purposes. It's basically a document that summarizes the essence of your game. It usually includes a little backstory on how the game came along and where was the main inspiration. It also tells the story of the game. The goal is to paint a picture of not only the game but the world it's in and the vision of where it could go.
The document is used as a way to get people interested in the game by showing them why they should join the team, but it's also a way to get everyone in the team on the same vision. With a detailed Game Design Document (GDD), it can simply be shared internally with the team to get everybody on the same page of where we're going and what we're prioritizing.
What should be included in a good GDD?
The most important part is to have a good description of the end vision of the game with all the characters, the worlds and features. Once you can make the reader dream and imagine your game, your job is almost done. Then, you tell a bit of the 'why' you made it and how long you think it should take to get to the different stages and there you go! A GDD doesn't have to be super long and complicated. It used to be like that, but people quickly realized that the states of games change all the time due to a multitude of factors so a lot of things that were first written in the GDD end up not being relevant anymore, which now creates more work to go back and update it.
Instead, nowadays people opt to write shorter and more concise Game design documents highlighting the direction and the vision of the game. That way, even if a lot of things change about the game, most likely the vision and the general concept of the game won't change.
You really just have to do it once to understand, and once you've done it at least once, you'll feel way more comfortable doing it. We can also help you with your next GDD as we've written so many of them! Simply send us an email at [email protected] and we'll start on it right away!
What is a Game Design Document?
A game design document is very useful and widely known in the game development community because it serves multiple purposes. It's basically a document that summarizes the essence of your game. It usually includes a little backstory on how the game came along and where was the main inspiration. It also tells the story of the game. The goal is to paint a picture of not only the game but the world it's in and the vision of where it could go.
The document is used as a way to get people interested in the game by showing them why they should join the team, but it's also a way to get everyone in the team on the same vision. With a detailed Game Design Document (GDD), it can simply be shared internally with the team to get everybody on the same page of where we're going and what we're prioritizing.
What should be included in a good GDD?
The most important part is to have a good description of the end vision of the game with all the characters, the worlds and features. Once you can make the reader dream and imagine your game, your job is almost done. Then, you tell a bit of the 'why' you made it and how long you think it should take to get to the different stages and there you go! A GDD doesn't have to be super long and complicated. It used to be like that, but people quickly realized that the states of games change all the time due to a multitude of factors so a lot of things that were first written in the GDD end up not being relevant anymore, which now creates more work to go back and update it.
Instead, nowadays people opt to write shorter and more concise Game design documents highlighting the direction and the vision of the game. That way, even if a lot of things change about the game, most likely the vision and the general concept of the game won't change.
You really just have to do it once to understand, and once you've done it at least once, you'll feel way more comfortable doing it. We can also help you with your next GDD as we've written so many of them! Simply send us an email at [email protected] and we'll start on it right away!