# Game Design Document Template Replace every line in brackets. Keep the overview to one page, and delete any section your game does not need, with one line saying why. ## 1. One-page overview _Anyone who reads only this page should be able to picture the game._ - Working title: [name] - Team and contact: [names, roles, email] - Version and date: [v0.1, Month Day, Year] - One-sentence pitch: [who the player is, what they do, and why it is fun] - Genre and influences: [genre, plus two or three games it borrows from and what it borrows] - Platform and controls: [PC, console, phone, browser] with [keyboard and mouse, controller, touch] - Target player: [who this is for, and how long a session lasts] - Core loop: [the actions the player repeats, in order, in one line] - Goal and ending: [what the player is trying to do, how they win, how they lose] - What makes it different: [one or two sentences] ## 2. Design pillars and non-goals _The three ideas every decision is tested against, and what you will not build._ - Pillar 1: [short phrase] because [why it matters to the player] - Pillar 2: [short phrase] because [why it matters to the player] - Pillar 3: [short phrase] because [why it matters to the player] - Non-goals: [features you have decided not to build, so nobody starts them] ## 3. Gameplay and mechanics _The rule book. A programmer should be able to build from it without guessing._ - Core mechanic: [the actions, the interactions and the rules that together let the player beat a challenge] - How the mechanic fails: [what happens when the player gets it wrong] - Controls: [input] does [action], for each input - Rules: [the full list, including how the game ends] - Progression: [what changes as the player advances: new mechanics, harder challenges, unlocks] - Economy and resources: [what the player collects or spends, and where it comes from] - Tuning values: [name], starting value [number], why [reason], for each value you expect to change ## 4. World, story and characters _Only as much as the game needs. A puzzle game may need a paragraph._ - Setting: [where and when, in two or three sentences] - Story outline: [beginning, middle, end, in a few lines] - Player character: [who they are and what they want] - Other characters: [name, role in play, how they behave], for each - Tone: [three words, and one sentence on what the game never does] ## 5. Levels and content _The list of everything the player will see, and one level described in full._ - Level list: [name, what it teaches or tests, rough length], for each - Featured level: [goal, layout sketch or map, what is new here, the hardest moment, how it ends] - Content count: [levels, enemies, items, lines of dialogue], with a target for each ## 6. Art and audio direction _The look and sound in words and references, before anyone makes an asset._ - Look and feel: [three or four adjectives, color palette, camera view] - Visual references: [image or game], and what to take from it, for each - Key sound effects: [event] makes [sound], for the sounds that carry information - Music: [style, where it plays, how it changes with play] ## 7. Interface and player feedback _How the player learns what is happening without reading a manual._ - Screens and menu flow: [title, settings, play, pause, results], with how each one is reached - On-screen information: [what the player always sees, and what appears only when needed] - Feedback: [how the game shows success, damage, progress and danger] - Accessibility: [text size, remapping, color choices, subtitles] ## 8. Technical notes _Enough for the programmers to start. The full plan belongs in a separate technical document._ - Engine and version: [engine], [version] - Target hardware: [minimum device or specification] - Saving: [what is saved, and when] - Risks: [the parts nobody on the team has built before] - Technical document: [link], owned by [name] ## 9. Scope, schedule and team _Who does what, by when, and what gets cut first if time runs short._ - Milestones: [prototype, vertical slice, alpha, beta, release], with a date for each - Owners: [name] is responsible for [area], for each person - Asset list: [art, sound and code you must make or license] - Cut list: [features in the order you would drop them] ## 10. Open questions and change log _What is still undecided, and a record of what changed and why._ - Open question: [question], owner [name], decide by [date] - Change: [date], [what changed], because [playtest result or reason], by [name] --- ## Example: one-page overview for Lamplight Ferry - **Working title:** Lamplight Ferry - **Version and date:** v0.3, a one-page overview for a class prototype - **One-sentence pitch:** You pilot a small night ferry across a foggy river, choosing which riverside stops to light and visit before your lamp oil runs out, so every trip is a short route-planning puzzle. - **Genre and influences:** A 2D top-down puzzle game. It borrows the route planning of delivery games and the resource timer of survival games. - **Platform and controls:** PC and browser. Mouse only: click a dock to set the next stop, click the lamp to trim it. - **Target player:** Puzzle players who like short sessions. One river takes five to eight minutes. - **Core loop:** Read the waiting passengers, plan a route, spend oil to light a dock, carry passengers, earn oil back as fares, repeat until dawn. - **Goal and ending:** Deliver as many passengers as possible before dawn. The night ends early if the lamp goes out, and the boat drifts back to the start. - **Design pillars:** Every choice costs light. A trip is readable at a glance. Failure is quick and teaches something. - **Non-goals:** No combat, no character upgrades, no story told in dialogue. - **Core mechanic:** Lighting a dock costs one unit of oil and reveals the passengers waiting there. Carrying a passenger to the stop they want pays back two units. The challenge is the fog: unlit docks show only a silhouette, so the player must decide which stops are worth the oil. - **Tuning values:** Starting oil 6, fare 2, dock cost 1, boat capacity 3. Capacity is the first value to test, because it decides how far ahead a player can plan. - **Scope:** One river with 9 docks for the prototype. Milestone one is a paper version played with coins as oil, before any code. - **Open question:** Should a passenger wait forever or leave after a few turns? Decide after the first playtest. From Game Design Degrees, gamedesigndegrees.com/resources/game-design-document/. Free to copy, change and use.