22 Nov 2015

Game Design - Docs, docs and docs...

So I've been scouring over every bit of information to find the best ways to document a game idea, from the early drafts to the final versions. From what I've learned so far (Kindly be warned that I have just scratched the surface here. The more I learn, I'll keep updating this post) a game documenation comes from 5 separate areas of expertise - Writing, Art, Design, Technical and Marketing. Barring my limited knowledge in coding, I'm not much upto the task of Technical documentations right now. And I have no shame in admitting that I know jack about Marketing.
So for the time being I'll concentrate on stuff that I CAN cover, which all would be next in my to-do-list.

Writing
Art
Design
  • ·         Story
  • ·         Script

  • ·         Art Bible
  • ·         Storyboard & Mockups


  • ·         Proposal
  • ·         Concept Doc
  • ·         Flow charts
  • ·         Design Doc (GDD)



  • Story           - Game Narrative, Backstory and context of the game
  • Script          - Cut scenes, Dialogues
  • Art Bible      - Look and feel of the game
  • Storyboard  -
  • Proposal      - Unless you have bucket-loads of money, you need to learn how to  pitch your ideas, to those who have $
  • Concept Doc- Goes along with proposal. A very rough draft of the game idea
  • Flow Charts - Tracking the flow of levels, worlds, menus
                           -Players decision making process
                           -Character arc/ Character development
  • Design Doc - The leviathan of all the game documents.......
Game Design Doc (GDD)
This one mainly covers the Functional Specifications, Gameplay, Game Mechanics, Worlds/Levels. After referring to a lot of GDD's I think I'll present it in the following format :
  • Table of Contents  - Its good to start with an appendix of the contents in the GDD
  • Intro/Overview      - Understanding the game, General Info(Console, Genre, Demographic)
  • Story Overview     - Just a brief idea about the story in which the game is set
  • AI                        - How world reacts - Independently or to Player's actions
  • Game Elements     - Characters, Items, Objects/Mechanisms
  • Game Progression - Break down of Level/ Stage Design, How difficulty increases
  • GUI and HUD       - Main Menu, Interactive interfaces (Mouse clicks, keys, tap/swipes etc.)
  • Game Mechanics   - Levitathan inside the leviathan...............
Game Mechanics
  • What/How the gameplay really is
  • Camera, Controls, Characters
  • Avatar(s) components and capabilities
  • How Player controls Avatar/ Physical commands for player movements / Avatar's movement model
  • How game control shifts over different levels/stages/worlds
  • Non Playable Character(NPC)s
Now, I have noted down some other stuff, which I'm still figuring out where to fit best:
  • Hitpoints
  • Replayability
  • Multiplayer

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