How To Write Game Design Documentation | Ultimate guide on GDD!

[Music] hello there MoonPie today we're going to talk about game design documentation but before that thank you all for over 100 subscribers on the channel oh no no no wait it's almost 200 already so I see that you really liked my last video there were a lot of interesting comments some of them very nice some of them led to arguments which is good it was interesting to know your opinion so thanks again for everything you're the best let's get to the point let's finally figure out what documentation the blue [Music] the game designer documentation is an important part of game development because we can't for example build a building without a plan right it will fall apart it's the same with a game just keeping everything in your head never works believe me I've tried it I still have a few unfinished projects because I didn't know exactly where I wanted to develop them why they were interesting or not interesting and other details that need to be defined at the stage of writing documentation so without a document we will simply get lost in the project forget something and end up with a bad outcome documentation is an individual thing and it can differ significantly depending on both the company and the game designer it can be separate documentation for UI and ux narrative mechanics and other game components but I would divide it into the main three types that I use myself I'll show you some examples of documentation later in this video a pitch usually a short document that describes the general concept of the game and why it will be interesting to users why it's fun and accordingly this type of document is the first step in creating a game we need to know how to present the idea to make it interesting to the producer or the investors to show them that this idea has potential the general or basic game design document as I would call it it can relate to a specific direction if it's a big game or contain all these sections if the project is for mobile devices for example but again it all depends on the game designer and the requirements of the company in it we describe in detail everything about the game features mechanics references Etc technical documentation here I would include balance sheets analytical data related to the game and everything like that now let's take a closer look at each of them what is important when writing a pitch we need to create an attractive picture not literally of course but asking artists to draw you some concept art for your document won't do any harm the pitch should make it clear what the game is about what the player's goal is what the game play is and why it will be fun to play let me show you an example of a pitch for the game Diablo here it may look intimidating a lot of text in complicated terms I know but the good thing is that our society is evolving and so is everything we do including game documentation nowadays documentation looks a bit different here's the second example of an idea pitch it is short clearly describes the idea and most importantly I don't know about you but I wanted to play it so I think this is a good pitch document but maybe I'm wrong so write a comment it would be interesting to know what do you think about this this example has a lot of concept art as you can see which supports the description and gives you a better idea of the finished game and these are two separate examples one with a lot of text and little visuals the other vice versa I'd go for something in between and combine concept art with short descriptions on each slide and also prepare a short oral narration of the game because people perceive information very differently some people pay more attention to visuals some people find it easier to read text and some people understand the idea better by ear so yeah it's just good to be prepared we're going to write a document for a simple mobile game so that we don't have to split it into a bunch of categories so this document will consist of concept where we briefly describe the general idea of the game as in a pitch references it's always good if you have them there can be references to mechanics gameplay or visuals and Etc feature list where we list all the features that will be in the game describe for example controls or enemy Behavior visuals what style the game will be in it would be nice to have a few references and screenshots from them to give the artists an idea of what they will need to do project benefits this is optional as well as almost everything related to game design documentation actually but it is often found in the mobile industry here we will need to describe what advantages the project has and why it should be successful I'm planning a video about the game designer's argumentation maybe it's already on the channel if so you should see a link at the top just click it and go to this video monetization here you will need to describe the methods of monetization if it is a free-to-play project then it may contain advertising and inapp purchases for example currency or character customization for real money it is also more common in the mobile industry but there are many PC games with a model built on in-game purchases such as CS go or Smite the next section is level design which may include a description of locations or their number whether it will be procedural generation or levels will consist of chunks or maybe it will be separate pre-prepared levels that's basically it but I want to give you some important tips for this type of document valuable tips oh yeah if something can be interpreted in more than one way it will be interpreted differently than you intended this is one of the most important things when writing documentation despite the fact that you should try to keep things short you still need to make sure that it is as clear as possible the so-called door problem let me explain let's say we wrote that there will be doors in our game but this raises a lot of questions can the player open the door does he need a key for this will the door open only in One Direction or both if the player can open doors without a key can he open all doors or only certain ones if only certain ones how how will he know which doors he can open and which ones he can't so you understand what I'm getting at this happens with any feature and perhaps not these but completely different questions will arise when the programmer is making the functionality for your idea therefore make sure that we have describe the feature as clearly concisely and understandably as possible and don't get angry at the poor programmer who did not do it the way you wanted because you thought it was obvious each of us has our own unique experience and we see the world very differently and the second tip is that references are a musthave If instead of painting how a barrel explosion should look like in the game you can just insert a little GIF animation you should do exactly that the person who will make this thing will immediately understand what and how to do it and you will save your time so everyone wins and the last type is technical documentation it can contain graphs balance sheets probability calculations and other stuff like that and to be honest I don't have much experience in this that that's why I propose the following way out of the situation I will ask my friends who are balance designers for advice and make a separate video on this topic as soon as I can because of course I do balance for my projects but let's just say I do it in my own way and it's not always right but I want to give you the most effective and relevant information in these videos so don't miss the game design trick at the end of the video love everyone subscribe to the channel if you are here for the first time and of course if you have any questions or disagree with me feel free to write a comment that's all I wish you success in your game design Endeavors see you [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] soon K Des documentation the blueprint off the mind got to get it right got to let the ideas unwind WR it down line by line word by word capture every detail every thought unheard from the character to the quest the rules and law every element matter [Music]

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Length: 8min 20sec (500 seconds)

Published: Sun May 26 2024