Step 2: Let’s write the Game Design Document ✍️
What is a Game Design Document (GDD)?
A Game Design Document (GDD) is an essential tool in the game industry: it’s the blueprint of a video game project.
In this document, we outline the:
- Gameplay of the game,
- Features
- Game mechanics
- Scope
- Assets
- And more.
The GDD ensures a clear definition and understanding of the game’s vision for all teammates and facilitates the development process.
In the case of our demo, we want to write a concise one-page document.
The One Page Game Design Document Template
This is our One Page GDD template, you can naturally add or remove elements based on your needs.
You can download the Google Doc version 👉 here
Game Title ✍️
- Brainstorm and define potential game titles.
Team and roles 👯
- Clearly outline your team members and assign specific roles to each member.
Game Concept 🤯
- Define your single sentence description of the game that you will use to guide you during design decisions.
Game Genre 🏷️
- Clearly identify the genre of your game.
Game Features and AI tools/model used 🤖
- List and describe the planned game features, along with any AI tools or models you intend to incorporate.
Platform 🖥️
- On what platform do you want to publish it? Remember it needs to work either on HuggingFace Spaces (WEBGL) and/or Windows.
Scope ⏲️
- Establish the expected playtime. We think a 10min maximum play is a good scope for this course.
Art Style 🎨🖌️
- Determine the desired art style for your game’sgame’s assets, such as low-poly, stylized, or realistic.
Level 🖼️
- Define what your level will look like (that will help to know how much assets do you need).
Assets 📦
- Define the assets you need to make this game. We’reWe’re going to talk about assets and how to find them in the next demo unit.
Todo 📝
- What needs to be done, think of this section for now as a brain dump to note everything that comes to your mind that need to be done in the game.
A Game Design Document One Page Example: Museum Robery
To help you visualize better how this tool is useful, we’re going to give an example below with a game called Museum Robery.
Game Title ✍️
- Museum Robery
- Roomba Heist
Team and roles 👯
- Thomas Simonini
Game Concept 🤯
You’re a thief that controls with your voice a robot cleaner in a museum at night and your role is to steal the golden duck. A very expensive statue without getting caught by lasers and guards.
Game Genre 🏷️
- Infiltration
Game Features and AI tools/model used 🤖
Command the robot using your own voice (ASR)
The robot will understand what action to make (Sentence Similarity)
The robot can steal stuff and break stuff
Platform 🖥️
- WebGL
Scope ⏲️
- 10min play
- 3 levels
Art Style 🎨🖌️
- Low poly
- Using Unity Feel library for the nice touch additions
Levels 🖼️
Assets 📦
Floor
Wall
Half Wall
Pedestal
Statue 1
Statue 2
Statue 3
Statue 4
Laser Beam
Paint
- Paint 1
- Paint 2
- Paint 3
- Paint 4
- Paint 5
- Paint 6
- Couch
- Enemy
Player
Number plaques
Grid
Round place
Golden Duck
Statue 1 break
Statue 2 break
Statue 3 break
Statue 4 break
- Textures for floor
- Textures for wall
Todo 📝
✅ Floor
✅ Wall
✅ Half Wall
✅ Pedestal
✅ Statue 1 (unicorn)
✅ Statue 2 (flamingo)
✅ Statue 3 (cake)
✅ Statue 4 (hot dog)
✅ Frame
✅ Couch
✅ Number plaques
✅ Grid
✅ Round place
- Paint
- Paint 1
- Paint 2
- Paint 3
- Paint 4
- Paint 5
- Paint 6
- Enemy
- Laser Beam
Step 2: Room 1
- Room 1 export assets
- Floor texture
- Floor prefab
- Wall texture
- Wall prefab
- Small wall texture
- Small wall prefab
- Install
- Navmesh
- Laser Beam
- Laser Beam movement
In addition to this, I like to write a list of learning goals when I make a demo, in this case my learning goals were:
Learning Goals 🏆
- Make a game from beginning to the end
- Publish it
- Learn to use the Hugging Face API
- Learn better to use Navmesh
- Learn to use sound
- Learn to use animation and break
- Learn to use Feel