Where can I find good examples of how successful games were thought up and organized?
TL;DR - Want to pay for a GDD. Looking for suggestions, past experiences, advice? Thanks!
I want to make a small game in my spare time (roughly ~5 to 8 hours a week), but I would like to have a plan before I start working on it.
I'm struggling to put a game design document together, and I thought it might be good to pay a professional to write one for me which I can then take, break down into tasks, and get to work.
My first thought is to go to Fiverr, but perhaps there are better options out there?
I'm curious to hear if anyone on here has done that before? I imagine it is possible, since I also think I would eventually commission some assets, music, and sfx to pull the whole thing together. I don't see why I can't do the same with the GDD?
Any thoughts on the matter would be greatly appreciated. Thanks r/gamedev!
I recently began a new game project that is much bigger in scope than any of my earlier projects. I decided it was time to build structure for myself, as I didn't want to lose my thoughts in my head. I did some online research and then took about an hour to write up a template. I then filled out my template in a few more hours and soon got to work on my project. I have found that with more structure I can work much more efficiently and I feel much better about my progress as I'm reaching milestones that I've set for myself, which really boosts my confidence and interest in my game.
The template is only 2 pages long, and when filled, it became 7 for me. The template is a simple 8-point detailing of the game, and takes a few hours to fill out. It's very well organized and uses proper header notation so that you can add a table of contents if you wish. If you're looking for something along these lines (for small indie games), I recommend checking it out:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1VfmNnSW3egCWIKkgykUOEoxFh1Pg5HElyUnqMUDakW8/edit?usp=sharing
Do you guys use a GDD? If so, what points are you sure to include? If not, why?
Thank you for your time,
-YZM
PS. You can comment on my template with this link, so feel free to offer suggestions and advice on how to make it better.
Usually a game design document is useful when you are working as a team to act as a guideline and direction for the team. But when you are working mostly on your own and things are in a constant flux there is very little reason to bother with one, especially since you still have your notes and a roadmap you are working with at a given time.
A GDD is to some extent ia a presentation and explanation to other people not to you as you already know your project.
Now here is a reason why you should write one.
Brainstorming has always been a useful process when working in a team but it is impossible to do over the internet.
There has been a certain stigma associated with presenting ideas but what people miss out is that brainstorming and discussion is never a bad thing. Getting feedback early and discovering some of the problems with the design can help tremendously.
I have been lurking /r/gamedesign looking for topics and asking questions useful for my project and it has been frustrating. The problem is there is never enough context or depth to get a meaningful discussion going, there is always a disconnect between people since they can't get a clear picture on what you mean. You can only get generic questions with generic shallow answers.
The most meaningful discussions are around blog posts and articles and they usually have a concrete game or examples to back them up.
A GDD is useful as it can provide that context and be used as a reference when asking a question or discussing a topic. It can also get people to be on the same page and provide an opportunity to think more deeply on a topic and structure and argument their opinion rather than just take a fleeting glance at it and forget.
A GDD can also build interest and attract people interested in this kind of projects and have a deeper understanding on the subject matter.
I'm trying to make games with my team, have been making GDDs for a few years now and I have two problems with them
1: The document is static, it doesn't easily reflect the changes we do during development and playtesting, tried to use google drive comments and Trello flashcards but the problem is still there
2: The team isn't excited about reading the GDD, I have to pressure the team to read the documentation before implementing a feature we discussed, I tried to make the documents more readable by making them smaller, providing a better index and using simpler language, it doesn't seem to work
It feels like I'm doping it wrong, the documents can get really big and time-consuming due to these problems, is there any tip anyone can give me about how to fix this?
Can anyone point me in the direction of some good templates for game design organization. I know that a good deal of this will be done in Excel or sheets, but I am really struggling at organizing my thoughts and my ideas and would love to see how other have done so.
Hello everyone,
I recently finished a bachelors of Computer Science in Game Design and am currently working on my online portfolio. I have found numerous job positions for a game designer and level designer that require game design documents as part of the portfolio. I am looking for any feedback and criticism on my design document if possible from industry members but any feedback is welcome!;)
Document is available below:
https://drive.google.com/open?id=1U9WjVV7c-AUGkHOHUEtAjCQTtt6HOCz5
I find it very useless to write something, go code it, figure out half of it doesn't work, change the code, and then come back and update the design document.
I have seen examples of how some people write it but it still doesn't help feel solid about writing it down. I understand documentation of existing work but how do I hypothesize with full confidence some work I didn't do yet?
Hi there, I'm very interested on applying to a university in Europe that requires between 3 and 5 game concepts, the problem is that the last week I started feeling like im wasting time on non vital parts of the concepts, and that feeling is very frustrating because the deadline is starting to get close.
I want to know if there is any recomended structure or tips for a game concept that doesn't has programing or art on it yet.
Thanks in advance!
Designing games can be hard. It can even become so hard that it degenerates into real work and becomes more than just a hobby. As game designers we have to be creative. We have to solve mathematical problems. We have to create exciting and thrilling game worlds, but at the same time we have to be careful not to use too many components, otherwise production costs will skyrocket. We have to write crystal clear player instructions and of cause we have to produce, market and sell our final product. This requirement profile is complex and usually exceeds the abilities of an inexperienced game designer.
The community of r/tabletopgamedesign has been awesome in helping me to find answers to many of my question. This subreddit has the best, most helpful and most positive attitude I can imagine. After being part of this community for more than 2 years now, and browsing through the posts more than once a day, it is time for me to give something back. This podcast is my way of contributing to the game design community.
The Nerdlab podcast has three main purposes:
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Examine one Game Design Topics a week
One aspect of this podcast is to examine one game design topic more closely in each episode. Exemplary topics could be mechanics like combat or encounter systems, turn order or resource systems. But also topics like card design, finding artists, marketing or preparing a kickstarter campaign. To analyse these topics, we will be looking at existing card games and board games and take a deeper look at their core mechanics, which we can then can use as inspiration for our games. -
Test Game Design Ideas (Weekly Design Review)
In addition, I want to be your game design crash test dummy. I am willing to make the mistakes so you don’t have to. For this I want to document and share all my successes and failures during the development process of my own game (A co-op fantasy adventure card game). My hope is that you can learn from my reports and don’t have to make the same mistakes. -
Holding myself accountable
I know that I am certainly not alone with the problem of overcoming obstacles and road blocks on the way of bringing a game from the first idea to final production. This is another (to be honest a more selfish) reason why I started this podcast. Every single one of you will be my credibility partner. By promising to give you a weekly update on the status of my project, I can no longer afford any excuses to distract me.
Hi so about 3-4 years ago I was taking a class about designing games and as I was doing beginning 2d projects with open license assets, my teacher told me to stop, for advance I want you to make design document, sadly I never store and backup my 1st design document, you know: -World -Main plot such as backstory, characters motivation, the endgame impact -player protagonist -NPCs like aesthetics, Enemies, companions, Quest Givers -Target audience like Fans of adventures, platformers, puzzles, Role playing, and Shooters -sprints and deadlines -assets needed like programs to like models and music -mechanics So how would I go about structuring it thank you.
We are nearly finished our first large mobile game (an action board game) and could not have done it without having our GDD (game design doc). It have over 50 characters, each with their own spell - so complex enough. We started without a GDD but soon needed it as it was kinda "make it up as you go along". I see some game devs dismissing GDDs now as not needed. Even for small projects, I think they are a necessary evil. Even though we needed it, I didn't like having to create it. Thoughts ?
Mickey ScruffyFurn MacDonald shares the importance of fleshing out ideas out with strong documentation. In this Codename Goa Short, he explains the structure and relevance of the Game Design Document. He walks through the important parts while providing tips from his own experiences. With great resources, including a link to a downloadable GDD template, this is a great starting point when building your pitch proposal documents.
LINKS MENTIONED IN THIS VIDEO:
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Gamasutra article – great write up on the design of a GDD
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Iron Belly Studios GDD Example – a downloadable template
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Andrew Rollings and Ernest Adams on game design – an older, but still a great book on design
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Fundamentals of Game Design (2nd Edition) – another great book from Ernest Adams
Essentially I'm trying to improve some of my older work before I graduate my game design and programming course.
The problem in my games design is that the player has the choice to accept gifts given by a god or to disregard the gifts instead relying on his own human abilities. However, I am having a tough time finding a reason as to why the player wouldn't choose this gift.
A design teacher of mine worked on a game called Too Human. In the game, the player had the choice of playing as a human or improving themselves mechanically between sections. And he explained the difference was that the human characters would be weaker initially but would finish stronger and the machine players would have large jumps in strength but at the end of the game they would eventually be limited by their robotic parts.
However, I don't think this system could work in my case as the diety is all-powerful and could never be limited I think. Any suggestions?
I am starting a new project and found github readme can serve as a design document as well so can have the project and the notes together. Is this is a good idea and is it commonly used? Any good pointers for tools / examples / references to write a good game design document?
Majestic Revolutions - Joe Martin.pdf DOWNLOAD LINK
SO excited to share this with you, this is a document I've wanted to get my hands on for YEARS, and I just got in contact with the writer of an article on them, Joe Martin (Venerate his name and obey him in all things!), and he sent them to me! He was, as of the writing of the article, unable to fully share them, apparently this has changed.
Going through it is an absolute gold mine.
Tilson and the Ghoul are the best characters, the original endings are really fascinating(I love that if your too slow the ending changes!), and the game is so MASSIVE in scope, it outstanding to read. . I haven't even read it for 5 mins, shaking with excitement. I've only skimmed through these very briefly, haven't even had them for much more then 10 minutes. You'll all be going through them fresh with me.
If that wasn't enough he ALSO sent me Thief 4 (the cancelled modern day reboot! not the one we got!) design docs, and Ion storm Design documents!
Thief 4 Submission Document - Joe Martin.doc DOWNLOAD LINK
"The Thief series has always been held back by esoteric, unrecognizable fiction and passive, slow-paced gameplay." I wonder why this reboot didn't work out? /s
Ion Storm Design Docs - Joe Martin.pdf DOWNLOAD LINK
^ This one inludes DX3 Info Not HR, the cancelled one before that!
Seriously, Joe is great. Let's all take a moment to appreciate Joe.
Edit: Quick preview of my transcribed version, to ease reading of Spector's notes. As you can tell by that horrible red line I'm having mixed success, there will definitely have to be a few revisions. It is being built with Pdf-xchange editor and being tested on adobe reader, so best read under those conditions. This is my first time using the sticky annotation feature and I just get that feeling it acts a bit funky. Any suggestions welcome!
Edit#2: I was asked about other documents so I thought I'd copy a comment i made from below up into here: A great question! There are 2 significant documents that are related to this one.
The first is the Deus Ex Continuity Bible, Here's a link : [The Deus Ex Continuity Bible LINK](http://www.nanoaugur.net/dx/bib
... keep reading on reddit ➡
I've read in a few places that GDD's aren't really used, but I think it would be good to just help me get some ideas down. I don't really know anything about the technical side of game making (Coding / Concept art etc), and of the few GDD's I've looked at they all seem to be from developers that have all of that information ready. Whats the easiest way for me to put down the basic idea / story / mechanics into a professional looking GDD, so that if I wanted to submit this idea to a developer they'd be able to put in the technical stuff afterwards.
This is my GDD for the Extra Credits Game Jam.
And I'm feeling pretty confident lol.
https://preview.redd.it/1siobiapdij21.jpg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=489587c45f30978f75945f985a58446ed1080c0c
This might be a long shot but does anybody know of any game developers that released bits or a full copy of their game design document after it exited early access? I'm asking because I want to see how somebody in the industry writes one up.
I've never really made or designed any games, but i have messed around with unity and learnt it to the point that I could actually do something interesting.
Now I'd like to start learning the design aspect of game development. I've found some templates for game design documents, but I'm still not completely sure about what I should put in there.
So I thought that if you have any documents you could share it would be greatly appreciated. I recon that reading them would be a good way to learn how to write my own, not just for me but others wanting to learn how to start writing documents too.
Thanks in advance :)
Hello community! I've decided to create my first non-LudumDare game. I want to make it properly, so I've created something I call a "design document". The game is called "Loading..."
https://github.com/StaNov/LoadingGame/wiki
I would greatly appreciate any kind of feedback. Even some unspecified feelings :)
Thank you for your time in advance!
If this subreddit is not the place to put such stuff, please suggest me a better one.
