25 Mar 2012
School
Department
Course
Professor
Week 5 Lecture 1
Game Design Document
Communicates vision in sufficient detail to implement
Informs team members of the big picture
A formal statement of the design assists in seeing the relationships between all game elements
and gameplay
Types of Design Documents
High concept document
-tool to sell your game concept
-two to four pages
Game treatment document
-sales tool with more detail than the high concept document
-summary of the basic game design
Character design document
-design one character in the game
-includes moveset
-includes concept art in different poses
-includes the character’s backstory
World design document
-general overview of the game world art
-types and locations for sounds
-includes a map
Flowboard
-document the structure
-links among gameplay modes and shell menus
-list available menu items and player inputs
Story and level progression document
-tell the story
-record the player’s progression through the game
Game script document
-specifies rules and core mechanics in enough detail to play the game
Player-Centric Design Approach
Player-centric game design is a philosophy of design in which the designer envisions a
representative player
Two duties in player-centric design:
-entertain the representative player
-empathize with the representative player
You are not the representative player
You are not the player’s opponent
Core Mechanics
Core mechanics generate the gameplay