Game Design Document 101: Steps and Best Practices for 2024
Published: 2024-04-08 09:17:39

Game design is one of the most exciting industries to work in at the moment. It’s your job to entertain millions of people around the world, providing hours of enjoyment. Not to mention, gaming is the highest grossing entertainment industry right now and is likely to be worth $321 billion by 2026.

However, the path to designing a game is not always easy. Teams of people are often involved, including artists, developers, designers, and product managers. That’s why a game design document is always an essential tool during this kind of project. For a game of any complexity, this is where a game design document can really help, even for puzzle games, which 65% of people are reported to play.

## What is a Game Design Document?

A game design document is a comprehensive guide that clearly explains what your game is and how it works. It can be a single page or several pages long. When writing your GDD, envision clearly what you want it to accomplish and construct your document appropriately.

You must include the following key elements in your GDD:

The idea behind your game (concept).

The timeline for milestones in the development of your game.

Concept art, storyboard, character profiles.

These basic elements are enough to get your basic game design document started.

## Why Should You Create a Game Design Document?

First of all, the game design document records the difference between your past and present self. Your game design document reminds you of your original plan, and that’s why you should also update it regularly.

Clearly spelling out your plan in the GDD increases your ability to see the project through to completion. It provides critical information for essential stakeholders.Just like any other documentation, the GDD preserves knowledge that would otherwise be lost or forgotten.The document is still valid even if the details change over time.

### Provide a Roadmap for Game Development with Clear Milestones

In the game design document, you can provide information for all stakeholders in your project.

If everyone is on the same page, you can be assured that your game will develop according to plan. You’ll be able to match your GDD to a project management tool that can help you turn the idea into a reality.

### Ensures Smooth Execution

The smooth execution of the project depends on each contributor’s thorough understanding of requirements, technical specifications, platform dependencies, design decisions, and the purpose of the story.

The faster and more effectively you can develop your game, the more efficient you are with your budget. You can release your game on the market much more quickly and start reaping the benefits, potentially paying back investors.

### Makes your Game Vision More Effective

A good GDD means the vision for your game can come to life more readily.However you imagine your game actually being designed, written, coded, developed, and sold, it is more likely to become reality if you articulate it in a game design document.

In a way, a GDD helps develop the culture in your team because everyone understands the vision.

## Who Writes and Who Reads the GDD?

You need artists, designers, developers and more to design and develop a game.That’s why you should use collaborative documentation software to create your game design document. This is how you support multiple contributors.

Document360 is one of the best tools for creating your game design document. This is because you can easily update your documentation, collaborate on content, and include visuals. The creatives behind game design enjoy using our intuitive, user-focused software.

So the writers of a GDD include everyone who was initially involved in the conception of the project. This can even include supporters found through crowdfunding campaigns or investors interested in financing your project.

Thus, you can host the GDD on a knowledge base that enables authors to write the document and also includes read-only users.

## What to Include When Writing a Game Design Document

When you create your game design document, you can include several key elements that will ensure your document is as comprehensive as possible.

### Game Concept

Simply put, the game concept describes what the player will actually experience when playing your game. For example, your game concept could be an MMO that takes place in a sci-fi/fantasy realm where the players use magic beans for currency.

### Game Features & Mechanism

Include the features of your game in this section and how your game works, including the story, characters, unusual selling points, visual style and anything else that ultimately contributes to your game.

### Visuals and Sound

Tell your readers what your requirements are for visuals and sound, which is an important part of bringing the game to life and creating an immersive experience. You might suggest the type of music, overall style and impression of the landscape.

### User Interface & Controls

The way a user interacts with the game is through the user interface, so you must include information about its design and how users can control their character or manipulate the game. With mobile games dominating 50% of the gaming market, simple controls are a top consideration when designing the game.

### Technical Requirements

The technical requirements of your game are important, such as platform processing speed, memory capacity, storage, compatibility, and more. These will determine how you market and sell your product to potential customers.

### Timeline & Major Milestones

In this section, you’ll want to include the target release date, development milestones, dates for marketing campaigns, and so on. You don’t have to stick rigidly to these deadlines, which can be fluid and flexible depending on circumstances.

## Steps to Follow When Writing a GDD

When you write your GDD, you can go through a particular process to construct your document in the same way, every time. No matter what new game you want to develop, the structure behind the GDD is always the same.

### Brainstorm Your Ideas

First, brainstorm your ideas for your new game. What story do you want to tell? What is unique about this particular game for players and why will they find it interesting? How will you engage your players as they move through the levels? How is it different from other games already on the market?

### Give Your Document a Structure

Your GDD should not be a wall of text produced in Microsoft Word. You should use dedicated documentation software to give it a structure and guide your readers through the information you want them to understand. Use categories, links, and headings.


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