Games Design Document (GDD)

Year 9 Games design document  Task 16.5.13

The Game Design Document (GDD) it the blueprint from which a computer or video game is to be built.  As such, every single detail necessary to build the game must be addressed in the document (or support documents). 

If it’s not in the document, then it probably won’t be in the game.

The purpose of a game design document is to unambiguously describe the game's selling points, target audience, gameplay, art, level design, story, characters, UI (user interaction), assets, etc.

In short, every game part requiring development should be included by the developer in enough detail for the developers to put it into place.

The majority of video games should require an inclusion or variation of the following sections:

•   Story

•   Characters

•   Level/environment design

•   Gameplay

•   Art

•   Sound and Music, User Interface, Game Controls

You are going to compile a GDD for an imaginary game of your own.

On the shared area is a GDD for a game called

‘Flint O’Connor and the Jewel of Halin’.

This describes the outline for one level of the game.

Overview:

This is like a quick description of the world the game is set in, the genre.

How the main character got here. What are the obstacles that will impede him are.

Gameplay:

How does the character defeat his enemies, reach specific points on the level? Does your game involve close quarter fights in order to reach goals? Solving puzzles? Does the player collect power-ups which help him to reach his objective? Can the character collect weapons? How do they work?

(See blog on Super Mario)

Characters:

Hero

Who is the main character? What makes him interesting?

Enemies

Easy enemies. They are different insects in our example game.

Medium enemies. They are wild cats in our example game.

Hard enemies. Something bigger, faster, stronger, hardest to defeat.

Flowchart:

Describes the geography of the game and whom the main character will encounter. Illustrate this using rectangles. (See the example GDD).

Map Overview:

The geography and crucial architecture of the game seen from above. (Plan view).

The document you need to create should be similar to this in layout although with less detail.

You should describe the following:

Overview	Text only
Gameplay	Text only
Characters	Text	Design
Skills and Procedures	Text
Flowchart	Text	Diagram
Map Overview		Design