Design Document

Game Design

Vishnu Kotrajaras, PhD

What is it? It is a way to communicate your detailed

ideas to all team members.– Concept– Target audience– Gameplay– Interfaces– Controls– Characters– Levels

Used by everyone needs it to do his/her job as best as he/she can.

What about focus?

Need that one too. It’s hard these days to start production

without a detailed design document. Designer need to write and maintain the

document throughout production. Remember, you must still talk and hold

meetings.

Without it

Everyone may interpret the game differently.– Art can’t be used.– Gameplay not represented in the levels.

Creating it

Work with every other member of the team to make sure that the areas of the document affecting their work are – Accurate– Achievable

50-100 pages (longer, and people will not read)– Labeled, so busy member can find areas related

to them quickly.– If need expansion, do a sub document (only give

this to affected people).

Contents

No formula, but usually– Overview and vision statement– Marketing and legal information– Gameplay– Characters(if applicable)– Story(if applicable)– World(if applcable)– Media list

There may be technical detail , but this usually is put in a separate technical specification.

tips Don’t write it until you’ve built and

playtested a working prototype. Keep updating it as you go through the

development process.– Must organise your document well, so it

can be updated easily.– And it is easier for a person to find what

he’s looking for.– Fill out sections as they become clear.

Example (this is a guideline only) Design history

– Version 1.0– Version 2.0

• Version 2.1

Vision statement (totally1-2 pages)– Game logline: describe your game in 1 sentence.– Gameplay synopsis: describe how your game

plays and what the user experiences (keep it short). You should include

• Uniqueness• Mechanic: the core play mechanic• Setting: your world• Look and feel

Marketing information– Target audience: age, gender, geographic

location.– Platform: what? And why?– System requirements: what and why?– Top performers: list other top selling games in the

same market• Sales figure, release dates, sequels, and platform, as

well as brief descriptions of each title.

– Feature comparison: why would a consumer purchase your game over the others.

– Sales expectations: estimate the sales for each 4 months

• How many would be sold globally?• How many would be sold within key markets?

Legal analysis: copyrights, trademarks, contracts, licensing agreements.

Gameplay– Overview: tie directly to your prototype.– Gameplay descriptions: detailed description of

how the game function.– Controls: map game procedures and controls.– Interfaces:

• Wireframe for every interface the artists will need to create. Describe how each wireframe functions.

• Put detail on every state of the interface.

– Rules: define all game objects, the behaviours, and how they relate to one another.

– Scoring/winning conditions

– Modes and other features– Levels: detailed design of

each level.– Flowchart:

• Create a flowchart showing all areas and screens that will need to be created.

– Editor: describe the necessary functions of level editor and details on its functionality.

Game characters– Character design: describe game characters and

their attributes.– Types:

• PC• NPC

– Monsters and enemies

– Friends and allies

– Neutral

– Other types

– Guidelines

– Traits

– Behaviour

– AI

Story– Synopsis: summarise story in 1-2

paragraphs.– Complete story: outline the entire story.

• Structure it so that it unfolds as the game progresses. Write like a player’s guide.

– Backstory: good to have for references even though it may not make it into the game.

– Narrative devices: describes various ways you plan to reveal the story.

– Subplots: describe each subplot and how it ties with the main plot.

Profession system in World of Warcraft

cooking

tailoring skinning

The world– Overview– Key locations– Travel– Mapping– Scale– Physical objects– Weather conditions– Day and night– Time– Physics– Society and culture

??

Media list: list all the media that will need to be produced. – Also, create a file

naming convention.– Interface assets– Environments– Characters– Animation– Music and sound

effects

Technical spec: (prepared by technical leader, usually separate from the design document)– Technical analysis

• New technology: describe new technology that you plan to develop for this game.

• Major software development tasks: do you use engines? Or do you develop them yourselves?

• Risks.• Alternatives: any alternatives that may lower risks

and cost.• Estimated resources required: hardware and

software needed for this development.

– delivery• CD, Over the net, or wireless devices?• Describe hardware, software, and materials

required for delivery.

– Game engine• Technical specs• Design: features, details• Collision detection: how does it work?

– Interface technical specs• Technical perspective of the interfaces,

including the tools you plan to use.

– Controls technical specs• Any specific input devices that require

specialised programming?

– Lighting models: describe what you require• Modes• Models• Light sources

Tekken is one of the first games on Playstation that uses light source.Tekken 3 is the first game that supports rumble joypad.

– Rendering system• Technical specs• 2D/3D rendering• Camera

– Internet/network spec– System parameters

• Max players• Servers• Customization• Connectivity• Web sites• Persistence• Saving game• Loading game

Other– Help menu– Manuals– Setup and installation routine

Appendices– Reference materials that do not belong to

the main text of the design document. See Godzilla document in the book

Starting to write?

Make sure the prototype is good first. Flowcharting the entire game.

– See flowchart for Wheel of Fortune. Make wireframe interface for every screens.

– See sketches from Wheel of fortune.– Wireframe is a good communication tool because

seeing picture is often clearer than words. Expand flowchart and wireframe with bullet

points in the document.

File format of the design document Word Web

– Easy for everyone to access and update. You can easily post links to new sketches, builds, levels.

– Not portable and not easy to printout.– Website can be difficult to code and maintain.– Wiki

Better to have weekly update (not more often than this because people will get bored)– Email everyone about the details of the change.

Work with the team to create each section

http://www.digipen.edu/%7Edquinn/beatman/gdd.html -> an example