Build a Game Design Document

floatingwoo

Anybody ever use this website? I found it on gamasutra. Just wondering if anyone here may have used it for writing up a game design document.
https://www.dundoc.com

Braydon_SFX

Never used it but looks cool!

floatingwoo

@Braydon_SFX Hey man, What ever it takes to stay focused, right?

floatingwoo

For that matter, how many people actually take the time to write up a game document?
Anyone on this forum like to chime in on this? Just a simple yes or no would suffice. I would really be interested.

ant_lad

I write a plan for just about anything I begin. If it gets stuck with, plans get expanded. It keeps you on track with what you started out to do.
With game design, or most any design, if you want to change things you have documented they can always be thought of as a new revision of the product, ie- future updates/expansions/part 2 & 3

The_Gamesalad_Guru

I always plan my games and write out my logic outlines.

ookami007

I usually create an outline of the game, sometimes the story behind the game and then sketch out what I want the screens to roughly look like.

It really helps to give me direction. If I get stuck, I take a break and move a different part, then come back later with a fresh perspective.

floatingwoo

@ant_lad
@The_Gamesalad_Guru
@ookami007
What sort of sections would you have in your outline/plan? Functional things like
Game Mechanics
User interface
Art and Sound
LevelRequirements???
Was it written from the users perspective?

Franto

I remember trying to write a game design document several times over the course of a few years. Even as far back as 9 years ago. I finally took the plunge into actual game development through GS nearly 2 years ago. I did actually write a new design document prior to joining, but it was for a game meant for desktop.

Thunder_Child

Never used this site but after a few months of struggling on which direction to go...and not having to back up and start over I actually took @The_Gamesalad_Guru advice and now I write down tons of things before I started on my last version of slots...and two since then. Doing so I have built a match 3 game...from a base template of course in 3 days and I have only two builds of it. Before I used to write everything down I would surely add weeks to a build by going back because I didn't plan.

Here is a good example...doing this one page surely saved me many many days of on the fly coding.

So basically I am agreeing some sort of documentation helps. Even if through a website.

Socks

@floatingwoo said:
What sort of sections would you have in your outline/plan? Functional things like

A thread/question like this will invite self-selection (and no little amount of conformation bias), you will generally get responses from people who find game plans useful (or are otherwise supportive of the idea), so although it might be useful for sharing techniques and ideas with regard to game plans, it won't tell you much about how prevalent the practice is (if that was your goal). I suspect people's approach to game design differs radically, so some people probably couldn't function without a well worked out structure, whereas other people would probably find the process a hindrance (with the majority of people existing somewhere in-between). I'd also say "What ever it takes to stay focused, right?" is kind of begging-the-question, the central idea supporting game plans is exactly that, to focus and clarify the creative process, so I'm not sure you can reasonably assume that in the question, for a lot of people a game plan will do exactly that, focus the creative process, for other people a game plan will be yet another distraction taking them away from the actual process of getting on with making a game (like constantly logging into GameMaking SDK forums )

So, each to their own, a game plan will be genuinely useful to some people, depending on their particular style of working, and to others it will be another unnecessary distraction.

floatingwoo

@Socks initially I was just inquiring to see if anyone had used the site. My second question on who actually takes the time to draw a game design document up was me looking for a way out of doing one. Ultimately my interest is in finding some useful techniques for making one. If I'd only taken the time to write up a "what am I inquiring about this time" document.

Socks

@floatingwoo said:
If I'd only taken the time to write up a "what am I inquiring about this time" document.

Lol

The_Gamesalad_Guru

I would say I'm inbetween. I can write logic in my head and play through it and see the blocks that may result et.. Other more complicated logic i write out to refine it. @RP and I do creative sessions to brain storm stuff before and while we're developing a game. I usually do test bits of code for stuff i think will present an issue to perform in GS. Once this prep work is done we begin building out the game. He does the art concepts while i build the base game mechanic. We have our process down as we've been creating together for about three years. Each person will develop their own process but just going ahead blindly and throwing things together isn't a process..lol