tutorial : game design document (gdd)elias/csc404/lectures/game_design... · 2020. 10. 8. ·...

Tutorial : Game Design Document (GDD)CSC404

What is a Game Design Document?

Highly descriptive living software design document [1]

Usually in pre-production: before or after pitch

Serves as the contract between designer and client

Acts as a blueprint for future developers

Presenter

Presentation Notes

A GDD is created and edited by the development team and it is primarily used in the video game industry to organize efforts within a development team. The document is created by the development team as result of collaboration between their designers, artists and programmers as a guiding vision which is used throughout the game development process. Lets everyone know who should work on what aspects of the game.

Components of the GDD

Game DescriptionMechanicsControlsAssetsLevel DesignProject Timeline

Any additional components

QuiVR GDDhttps://bit.ly/2GyQYJG

Presenter

Presentation Notes

Fairly flexible but should include at least these components for the purpose of the course For the indie developer this format could be stripped down further: https://www.gamasutra.com/blogs/JasonBakker/20090604/1689/A_GDD_Template_for_the_Indie_Developer.php

Components of GDDGame Description

Game Description - Overview

Introduce the game No specifics about game mechanicsCan include type of game (casual, competitive), genreAim for 1 - 2 paragraphs

Game Description - Characters

Describe your characters – protagonist and enemies

Game Description - Story

Describe premise and how story progresses from start to end

Room for theme of the story (e.g. serious versus casual)

Presenter

Presentation Notes

Can provide samples of stories here (not fully developed but ideas for it) This is optional because some games may not have a clear story…decide for yourselves if this is true for you

Components of GDDMechanics

Mechanics

What can the player do and how?What can enemies (if applicable) do?How do they “increase” the fun?How are mechanics incorporated into story or progression?

Presenter

Presentation Notes

Can provide samples of stories here (not fully developed but ideas for it) Details how mechanics contribute to gameplay Can also get into things like how your scoring system will work

MechanicsIdeally have sections describing different aspects (e.g. power-ups versus enemy versus player)

Presenter

Presentation Notes

Can provide samples of stories here (not fully developed but ideas for it) Details how mechanics contribute to gameplay Can also get into things like how your scoring system will work

Components of GDDControls

Controls

Clear description of how users will control characters

Controls to interact with world, objects, & enemies

Visualize these as clearly as possible

Components of GDDAssets

Assets

Showcasing all assets planned or completed

Include characters, art style, UI design, animations, and audio

Describe the assets – don’t just paste them in the doc

Feel free to add links to art, animations and sound files

Presenter

Presentation Notes

Also provide descriptions of the assets – please don’t just paste them Descriptions could include how you will or are generating them – software used for example could be useful or the pipeline to generate them Art Assets: List each major area of artwork (Player, Enemies, Worlds, UI/Menus, HUD, Effects), specifying roughly how detailed animations and states will be, and however much you know at this point about the pipeline/programs used. Text Assets: Identify major areas (tutorial, tips, scripted dialogue/quests, dynamically presented dialogue, narration), and attempt to gauge the amount of effort required on each section. Sound Assets: Similarly, the major areas (In-game sound, UI/HUD feedback sound, music, voice) should be detailed and described.

Assets

Presenter

Presentation Notes

Interactable objects (1, 3) Scene art (2) Characters (4)

Components of GDDLevel Design

Level Design

Description of how you will structure your levels and why

Level progression from start to end

Don’t need to show all levels

Presenter

Presentation Notes

For example providing an instance of an early game level and end-game level might be useful We don’t require all the levels be shown here

Components of GDDProject Timeline

Project TimelineBreakdown of tasks for alpha & features for beta (subject to change)

Includes responsibilities and due datesWatch out for over scoping

Components of GDDAdditional Components

Additional ComponentsCan include technical description for how you plan to execute certain mechanics (TDD is not necessary)

Achievements (Steam/Trophy System)

UML Diagrams of how classes will be structured

Game Flow Diagram (order of operations from when player hits “Play” until the level ends)

Presenter

Presentation Notes

Technical design documents typically take care of this so don’t need to add an extreme amount of detail

Main Menu

Instructions?

Instructions

Adjust settings

Perform launch

Relay?

Yes

Start

No

Yes No

Launch

General Tips

General Tips

No page limits but please be concise

Try to organize the sections as clearly as possible

Semi-formal tone (Abbreviations, colloquialisms, contractions are OK)

Don’t treat the document as a checklist

Try to visualize as much as possible

Remember to include all features planned either for the alpha or betahttp://www.cs.utoronto.ca/~elias/csc404/deliverables.shtml

Presenter

Presentation Notes

I realize sometimes these sections I’ve listed cannot accommodate everything perfectly – you may have things spilling over between components. So feel free to change your sections but try your best to adhere to the format here. Please don’t write the document in bullet-form.

http://www.cs.utoronto.ca/%7Eelias/csc404/deliverables.shtml

References

[1] Wikipedia: https://bit.ly/2Sxc1ih

[2] Gamasutra: https://bit.ly/2GB2TXh, https://bit.ly/3nrCEDs

[3] QuiVr: https://bit.ly/3iFK56v

https://bit.ly/2Sxc1ih

https://bit.ly/2GB2TXh

https://bit.ly/3nrCEDs

https://bit.ly/3iFK56v

tutorial : game design document (gdd)elias/csc404/lectures/game_design... · 2020. 10. 8. ·...

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