Introduction to the Game Design Document

    I read an article explaining why design documents for games are important. Even before reading the article I knew that regardless of whether they were required for the games you create, that they were necessary for me to create a working game. They help keep my thoughts in order, especially when I first start my ideas for a new game. I will think of a setting and story, and while I am fleshing that out my brain starts churning out ideas for game play mechanics. There I am already scattered, creating so many ideas and models that I will forget important details if I don't write that down. That is my main reason to keep a game design document for every game I create. It can be a tedious process, but without the document, I could lose my ideas that make that game a blockbuster.

     Creating a game design document with a team of people is even more reason to make sure it is fleshed out as well as possible. I really like the analogy used in the article, you don't read a phone book, you use it or refer to it when you need certain information. This lets the team continue to work using the documents for reference and keeping the number of conferences, phone calls, and emails to a minimum, which in turn increases performance and efficiency I believe. Only going to another team member or head designer when you can't refer to the design documents alone will save a lot of stress on everyone working on the game. There is rarely a time when you wont need to create a design document for your game, and even then you will only benefit from taking the time to create one.