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Cyber and Organized Crimes

Game Design Documents – A Comprehensive Guide

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  • June 29, 2024
  • 39 Comments
  • 1 minute read
  • 11 Views
  • 4 days ago



This is a video many of you have been requesting for some time. I explain what a Game Design Document is, when to use it, and why. I then go over several examples in detail, outlining major elements and the reasoning behind them, to show you what professional docs look like, including the GDD for one of our own titles – The Alchemask.

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Additional Resources:

Develop.Games:
GDD Wikipedia:
GDDs of other games:
Anatomy of a Game Design Document:

One-Page Template:
Full GDD Template:
Alt Blank GDD Template:
Pozefsky Template GDD:
Mass Flux GDD:
Double Coconut GDD:

Notion:
Confluence:

References:

Healthy Gamer + PirateSoftware:
How to Sell More Games on Steam:
BTP Pass the Game Challenge:
Design Doc Elements:
Adam Millard Elements:
Sequelitis:
Boss Keys:
Designing for Disability:

00:00:00 Intro
00:00:53 Overview
00:01:48 Why Should I Listen to You?
00:02:50 What is a GDD?
00:05:39 When to use a GDD
00:08:47 Why Bother?
00:12:50 A Quick Note About Storage
00:14:34 Production Should Freeze the Document
00:16:39 First Recap
00:17:27 Intermission
00:18:26 Our Project
00:19:33 Packaging, Hook
00:21:35 Outline
00:23:34 General Pitch
00:24:59 Inspirations
00:26:37 Player Experience
00:27:37 Platform
00:27:50 Software
00:28:34 Genre
00:29:54 Target Audience
00:34:17 Concept
00:34:24 Core Loop
00:35:59 Themes
00:38:21 Primary Mechanics
00:40:45 Secondary Mechanics
00:41:26 Tertiary Mechanics
00:42:47 Combat, Puzzles, Quests
00:44:07 A Note on Mock-Ups
00:45:45 Story
00:48:48 Art
00:49:22 Design
00:52:17 Visual Effects
00:53:16 Lighting
00:54:26 Audio
00:55:54 Sound Effects
00:56:41 Voice Acting, Cinematics
00:57:51 Game Experience
00:58:00 UI
01:01:49 Controls
01:03:32 Menus
01:06:00 Diegetic Elements
01:07:36 Integration
01:09:02 Bringing It All Together
01:13:09 Conclusion
01:14:15 What’s Next?
01:15:02 Outro

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39 Comments

  • Reply
    @morganp7238 June 29, 2024

    This is a vid that I will come back again. Thank you and good karma to you. Subded and liked.

  • Reply
    @Rakadeja June 29, 2024

    I resonate with the egyptian theme, so I watched this whole video. I have been working on a GDD for my project and going out of my way to find all of my scattered notebooks and stuff to truly define how every feature actually works.

    I already feel like I have a weight off of my shoulders just from fleshing out the details as to how the Character Creator is going to work. Instead of digging through a stack of notebooks and searching them for any hints/clues etc., or even getting confused by what I've put into Codecks – I now have a Google doc with sections that have comments that either link to, or include scans from my notebooks.

    It's so worth it, man. For your own sanity, for your own sake. It can help you feel like you have a cohesive project instead of a fever dream you'll never complete.

  • Reply
    @Cameo221 June 29, 2024

    Wowie, the template is really valuable; I was already making my own and populating it decently, but there were some categories and other chunks that I missed making my own. Much thanks!

    Here's a specific question that's been hovering over me:
    For a game jam context (short turnaround) where everyone has their specific role, the jam starts, and the designer would be scrambling to make the doc while the rest of the team waits. But what can the rest of the team really do when they are totally blocked by design? People could TRY to extrapolate, but maybe that doesn't pan out so easily.
    Would the prototyping already begin while design is making the doc, and rapidly communicating the most important things to work on first in that process?

  • Reply
    @Ocdib June 29, 2024

    Subscribed!!!

  • Reply
    @alexandertownsend5079 June 29, 2024

    @YouTube
    @Serket Studios
    Your algorithm is doing something strange. I watched this video on my phone a few days and am watching it again now as I want to refer back to it, but this time on my laptop. You can find this video either by searching for "what is a game design document" or "how to write a game design document". When I search either of those things on my phone your video shows up near the top of the list, usually top 5. When I do the same on my laptop, I have to scroll a bit further. I don't remember the exact placement, but neither of those searches puts you into the top 5 list. Whether I am on laptop or phone shouldn't affect how you are ranked. Me using a laptop doesn't make your videos less relevant to my search. It shouldn't be deprioritized.

    To anyone else reading this, does anyone have any insight into why this is happening? Is this just happening to me? Is it because I waited a few days? Does the device you view videos from affect how they are ranked? If so, why? There is probably a good reason for it, but I am not smart enough to figure out what that would be on my own. So yeah, there is my question. I am confused.

  • Reply
    @ollie5470 June 29, 2024

    This one of the best videos I've seen on the topic of creating GDDs. Thank you for all the the effort and time you put into making this guide.
    And I love how you broke everything down into chapters with the intermissions. 😄

  • Reply
    @vj6566 June 29, 2024

    me watching even tho I’m not a game dev

  • Reply
    @kennyt5474 June 29, 2024

    Damn i was your 1k sub 🎉

  • Reply
    @timmygilbert4102 June 29, 2024

    After 22 years, i use just in time documentation. I wrote down high level stuff, but only wrote down about system and sub system when i start xorking on them.

  • Reply
    @shorty4224 June 29, 2024

    A question about the mechanics chapter. The elements, combat/ai, are mechanics? And if so, they should be in the secondary or main mechanics. I am making an action-rpg and this confuse me because i don't know we're to integrate my mechanics.

  • Reply
    @23rbnHD June 29, 2024

    This is genius. Entertaining, in depth, doesn't drag on yet seems to cover more than one might anticipate.

  • Reply
    @mikemarrotte June 29, 2024

    This is an eternally helpful resource and rich curation of inspiration. Many, many thanks for your time and effort – I will always point people right back here as a foundational resource in my game dev journey.

  • Reply
    @AdeelTariq0 June 29, 2024

    Don't mistake charismatic for wise. And being charismatic is a quality of a lot of so called 'online gurus'. Not necessarily of wise people.

  • Reply
    @beanerb822 June 29, 2024

    Question, you said you think all aspiring game devs should watch game grump arins mega man video. Its 20 minutes and i could only get through 5. Its kindof gross🤣 ummm i forgot how much bad language is used and it way too distracting for me to actually learn anything. Do you know any other video about video natural learning?

  • Reply
    @nolly_nd June 29, 2024

    "A floor plan". I've always considered this analogy as the one that describes it the best; something that is fully laid out on the table, informative enough even without high technical knowledge and in such a "place" where everyone can see it.
    Lots of good info here. Loved the whole vid and good luck on the Alchemask (pretty cool name btw).

  • Reply
    @4steroid June 29, 2024

    You have saved me. This info is already doing wonders for my game. Thank you <3

  • Reply
    @licenceagreementenduser5832 June 29, 2024

    What's the game at 16:30? Seems very appealing

  • Reply
    @captainawesome2226 June 29, 2024

    My experience with GDD's is that no one starts working on anything until you supply them with one, then once you have, no one starts working on anything anyway. I've literally had people on my projects refuse to do any work because there was no GDD, then didn't read a single word of it when they were supplied with one.

    Even if you link them directly to it and on the first page it lists the version of the game engine you are using, I bet both my ass cheeks the first question you get asked will be "What version of the engine are we using?"

    Repeat for every page of the GDD.

    I've never had anyone read a GDD and ask me relevant follow-up questions. And I had a 92% GPA before I quit uni out of frustration. The nightmare really set in when I realized it wasn't unique to university. I honestly have no idea how some "game designers" expect to be paid for their "work". If you don't believe me, try run a game development studio with a handful of employees that aren't friends or family. No one does shit, but on pay day they all want their paycheck.

  • Reply
    @feebleturtle8922 June 29, 2024

    Thank you so much for this video it is very useful and informative

  • Reply
    @DoctorTaco June 29, 2024

    Great video but my brain powered off when i heard that Turok 2 theme

  • Reply
    @caseycoker1051 June 29, 2024

    Thanks for this awesome, comprehensive video! As someone who has just recently started to learn about game design this was extremely helpful for understanding what to consider during the planning phase of a project.

  • Reply
    @locusttfk4076 June 29, 2024

    I…read that thumb as "god genitals" and boy I was afraid…

  • Reply
    @wakajak8634 June 29, 2024

    There's no way you can watch this video and not think about Starfield.

  • Reply
    @LostHabit June 29, 2024

    So so so so so grateful for this video at this time

  • Reply
    @FURIAfdx June 29, 2024

    when u dont know what u are creating…

  • Reply
    @mentalsmoge1128 June 29, 2024

    I was about to begin developing my first game. I'm glad that this video showed up in my recommendations before I started. Super useful information that hopefully will save me a bunch of time 👍

  • Reply
    @Apc7th June 29, 2024

    This video is a true help.

  • Reply
    @Delmworks June 29, 2024

    I got flash-banged by the Healthy gamer GG clip and thought I was on the wrong channel for a hot minute

  • Reply
    @macksnotcool June 29, 2024

    Glad to see this video has absolutely exploded! It's a really great video.

  • Reply
    @eedoan June 29, 2024

    This is cool, but what if you develop a GDD document, and then, when you play it, it is just not as fun as you thought, or maybe it was just not possible to make for some reason? Rewrite everything? That could frustrate the developer (especially with a team) and make it feel like it wasted a bunch of time. I feel like the video should have mentioned prototyping more alongside developing the GDD document at the same time, so the developer can see if the game is heading in the right direction in practice, instead of just in theory. Watching the video, I got the vibe that the developer should plan everything extensively and then start actually making the game. That maybe was not your intention, but it was what I thought while watching. Regardless, it was a great video, I learned a lot, and I will totally use a GDD for my current (and future) projects!

    TL;DR: The video should have mentioned more prototyping, in my opinion.

  • Reply
    @DaGreenGh0st June 29, 2024

    I actually do remember a tetris game with a story lmao. The blocks were alive and they had giant eyes. It was a weird and surreal game for PS2 lol. Thank you for this video though! It's given me a clearer picture of how I can keep the game development process quick and simple without sacrificing depth!

  • Reply
    @codernunk June 29, 2024

    Adding my comment in support of this video! I don't have the time right now, but I can already tell this is going to be the go-to guide for me once I finally put together my GDD. I greatly appreciate your thoroughness here. Great work!

  • Reply
    @ApeirogonGames June 29, 2024

    This is a fantastic and in-depth video, but I have to disagree that the best idea is to write out a GDD as I think it's a very archaic way to communicate your ideas for the game. The reason I say this is because reading takes a lot of time, it's hard to parse information even if it's written in your native language, it leaves people with reading disabilities like dislexia behind, and it also means that anyone who doesn't fluently speak the language it's written in is going to have an even harder time trying to understand what the intentions are.
    What I do is create a visual prototype. It doesn't even need to be playable, but something that you can record and edit together as a video to get the main concept across. This means you don't even have to worry about your code functioning properly, you just need to get the idea across visually. I even use a website editor like Wix or Squarespace to pre-design the UI for the game. I then create a Trello listing out all of the tasks needed to complete the game and assign them to appropriate departments like Programming, 3D, 2D, SFX, VFX etc., which you can later assign to specific team members. I think this is a much faster, more modern, and easier to understand way to communicate your idea to everyone involved.

  • Reply
    @rangleme June 29, 2024

    Thank you for making this extensive and well researched video about the GDD.

    I've been making video games for over 40 years and there has always been an evolution of the best practices used in game design and development.

    While your jargon and my jargon (and every other game designer) will differ, you have good explanations and examples.

    Remember that there are multiple kinds of GDDs required to make a video game: Game Design, Technical Design, Style Guide, Marketing Bible, Production Schedule, etc. These all work together as the GDDs that are the blueprint of your video game's design and plan. Your focus is primarily the specific game designer contribution to that collection.

    I appreciate that you described this as a hierarchy – from the highest level to more specific details. I believe that your process will benefit from including pillars/features lists, flowcharts of various modes and screens, and wireframes of each individual screen or mode. Adding these early in your hierarchy will provide the necessary context for the rest of your design.

    Remember that there are more ways to convey this kind of information including Stone Librande's visual One-Page game designs or Chris Taylor's Whiteboard game designs. I personally use rapid prototyping and visual game designs to rapidly "Find the FUN" and convey complex concepts easily to students and game developers from around the world – many who might not speak English as their primary language.

    I wish you well on Alchemask and look forward to watching more of your videos.

  • Reply
    @cemeterygate June 29, 2024

    One of the biggest downfalls of YouTube. 10K views in three days, an incredible achievement, but they don't hit subscribe and thus aren't rewarded for your hard work and great informational video.

  • Reply
    @IngoLingoAnimations June 29, 2024

    Nice and detailed! Gonna have to watch multiple times.

  • Reply
    @karkat2334 June 29, 2024

    As someone who created a homestuck username when I was 13 and is now working on indie games, I respect the homestuck studio name lol

  • Reply
    @MarioTGP June 29, 2024

    >who are you and why should i care?
    >he's woke and a stick bundle
    >pause video, thumbs down, report

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