diary and badges
chimchooree
4 years ago
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<h1>writing a game design document </h1>
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may 27, 2021<br>
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#gamedesign #gdd #worldbuilding <br>
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<br>
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A game design document (GDD) is a detailed document used to communicate the vision for a videogame. They are used internally by AAA game developers to keep hundreds of people on the same page, but it's worth considering keeping one as a small team or individual. I'll share how I organize mine. <br>
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<br>
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<h2>why keep a GDD if everyone's already on the same page? </h2><br>
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Even small games are complex pieces of software requiring a broad skillset spanning computer science, design, art, music, creative writing, and marketing. The development process can take years, too. A GDD can serve as a single place to collect your thoughts and document the evolution of your design over time. Even as a single person, it's been helpful to give every aspect a little thought as I fill it out. Also, whenever I need to refer back to something, it's a boon to have an organized GDD instead of random notebooks and files. <br>
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<br>
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Of course, writing a GDD isn't developing a game. Barely anyone shares their GDD outside of their team, so unless your team or publisher has extra requirements, they only exist to facilitate game development. If you can't keep the document up-to-date with development or it would never be referenced by anyone, consider alternative forms of documentation. Sometimes a GDD is more effective as a game prototype, a mood board, or merely a thought in your head. If you're keeping scattered notes like I did, though, consider compiling them into a single word document or keeping them all in a binder. <br>
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<h2>download the GDD template </h2><br>
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Download my <a href="/download/DesignDocumentTemplate.docx">GDD template</a> and make a copy every time you have a new game idea so you never forget any! Obviously, it's just a template. If some parts aren't suitable for your genre or development process, swap them out for something better. <br>
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<h2>worldbuilding bible </h2><br>
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I feel it's easier to keep some parts in a different format from my GDD. For worldbuilding, I use a modified version of <a href="https://ellenbrockediting.com/worldbuilding-bible-template/">Ellen Brock's worldbuilding questionnaire</a>. I keep her headings and delete the detailed bullet prompts for less clutter. In general, I try to write my own prompts so they are closely tailored to my fantasy world. If I don't even know where to begin, though, her prompts are a great starting point. <br>
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<center><img src="/static/img/ent/gdd_worldbuilding.png" alt="(image: Ellen Brock's worldbuilding questionnaire.)"></center> <br>
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Every nation in my game gets their own copy that's written from their perspective, since different people groups can have different experiences or explanations regarding the same world. <br>
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<h2>story + dialog </h2><br>
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The pacing and direction of game narratives are dependent on the player's actions, so the stories are less like monolithic pages of text and more like a series of events strung together. For that reason, I don't keep the story or major events in my GDD. I keep an outline of the story and each scene in individual flowchart documents instead, so I can move the pieces around and connect them freely. <br>
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<br>
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<center>
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<a target="_blank" href="/static/img/ent/gdd_diagram.png">
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<img src="/static/img/ent/gdd_diagram.png" alt="(image: event diagram with an unnecessary amount of choices)" width="500" height="313">
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</a></center><br>
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<br>
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To make my flowcharts, I open diagramming software like <a href="https://wiki.gnome.org/Apps/Dia">Dia</a> and make a box for the title and one for the goals of the scene. Then, using color coding to separate character dialog, conditional statements, stage directions, and emotes, I write the event box-by-arrow-by-box. <br>
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<br>
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Every time I have an idea for a scene, I scribble it in a flowchart to keep with my GDD. Some of them are dumb, but it's never bad to have a giant pile of potential game events. <br>
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<br>
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<h2>backing up your GDD </h2><br>
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Finally, there's no point to keeping everything together in one place if the hard drive loses them. Try to keep a current copy in about 3 places. I have a GDD folder that contains an individual folder for each game. That way, it's easy to push all my GDDs to git at once. Better safe than sorry! <br>
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<br>
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Last updated May 26, 2021 <br>
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<!--210501,210701-->
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<h1>may 2020: mostly GDD and CSS</h1>
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june 1, 2021<br>
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#diary <br>
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<br>
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<h3>wednesday, may 5 </h3>
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<ul>
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<li>Still trying to find a nice way to organize my GDD (game design document). There's also a lot of random notes scattered across notebooks and my computer, so I'm also trying to move them all into one place. </li>
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<li>I have a general GDD, but I also have a worldbuilding folder for documents about countries and characters and an events folder for outlines, events, and dialog. </li>
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<li>My GDD is a 100 page document with the pitch; roadmap; notes on inspiration; a mock store page summary; default controls for the game; notes on art, color, and sound direction; the core loop, the main game mechanics, a philosophy and style guide for the design; a style guide for coding and development; notes on the UI, characters, classes, skills, items, method of progression, social aspects of the game (like Persona character interaction), factions, and the world; and notes on key art, trailers, social media, conventions, contests, and other marketing and opportunities. I also have a reading list with books with themes that complement my game, and (because I can't help myself) a list of easter eggs I want to tuck away in my game. Obviously, the characters, world, and story sections are quick overviews and more focused on technical aspects, since there are separate documents for the designs. </li>
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<li>I loosely use <a href="https://ellenbrockediting.com/worldbuilding-bible-template/">Ellen Brock's template</a> and make one per country in my game. Basically, I keep the headings and add my own subheadings relevant to my design with a succinct description. If there's a bullet that fits, I use that as the subheading. If I don't even know where to begin, I can use the bullets to get inspired for what to design next. </li>
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<li>My characters aren't very structured, but I keep a text document for each for now. If anything occurs to me, I can jot it in there. </li>
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<li>I also keep a research document with the worldbuilding section. If I study something that seems cool for my game but doesn't necessarily fit anywhere, I keep it in here. It uses the same headings from Brock's template. </li>
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<li>For game events, I use <a href="https://wiki.gnome.org/Apps/Dia">Dia</a> to make a flowcharts for overall outlines, individual events, and dialog. I keep an outline for the game arcs from beginning to end, along with side arcs. Any time I have an idea for an event or conversation, I write it as its own flowchart, noting goals for the scene at the top. Color coding keeps emotes, conditions, stage directions, and different characters obvious at a glance. <br>
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</ul>
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<h3>thursday, may 6 </h3>
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<ul>
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<li>Filling out GDD folders. </li>
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</ul>
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<h3>friday, may 7 </h3>
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<ul>
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<li>Bringing data out of my personal wiki into my GDD. As much as I love wikis for taking study notes and keeping personal journals, they're too scattered for designing and developing a game. Curding and slowly accumulating loosely connected articles doesn't really match my thought process here. It's much easier to pull out a well-structured word document, jump to the section I want, and see at a glance which sections are incomplete or overly detailed. </li>
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</ul>
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<h3>saturday, may 8 </h3>
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<ul>
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<li>More GDD work. </li>
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<li>Maintain website. </li>
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</ul>
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<br>
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<h3>sunday, may 9 </h3>
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<ul>
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<li>More GDD work. Removed the slime again from Blessfrey, but I don't feel like working on it today. </li>
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</ul>
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<h3>wednesday, may 12 </h3>
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<ul>
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<li>General website maintenance. </li>
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</ul>
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<h3>thursday, may 13 </h3>
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<ul>
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<li>Got my second COVID shot. The first one just caused some soreness, but this one felt like the flu for a week. Glad that's over with for now. </li>
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</ul>
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<h3>friday, may 14 </h3>
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<ul>
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<li>One of the prettiest lolita dresses popped up on Lace Market, <a href="https://lolibrary.org/items/ap-raffine-op">Angelic Pretty's Raffine OP in Navy</a>. Despite being made for Japanese girls, I figured the sizing would work since plenty of average-sized and even plus-sized western women wear AP online. The measurements actually are a little comfortably loose for me, except for the shoulder measurement of 35cm. Sheesh. My shoulders are at least 36cm, so it'd be so uncomfortable if I could move my arms at all. I looked up what other girls do, and they salvage the bows or bring in a similar fabric and expand the dresses that way. What a mess. I guess that's why they always wear JSKs. </li>
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<li>Broke the diary entries into smaller pieces in the Bottle script, so they can be styled with CSS. I'm doing more of the HTML and CSS on the server instead of directly adding it in my articles. </li>
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<li>Updated the look of the navigation bar. I want it to look more like an RPG skillbar with the nav buttons resembling skill icons. </li>
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<li>Updated the look of the diary page with new art assets and CSS. I also am finally pulling the tags from articles into the snippets. </li>
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<li>Finally cleaned up the footer copyright. I enjoyed the precision of counting the moment down to the zeptosecond, but it looked pretty ugly. </li>
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</ul>
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<h3>saturday, may 15 </h3>
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<ul>
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<li>I'm so done with only having 2 pairs of pants that are appropriate for fall/winter temperatures and aren't dress pants. It wasn't so bad before COVID because I didn't feel the need to wash clothes after every use, but I really should have at least a week's worth of clothes for the colder seasons. I have beautiful fabric for pants just sitting around, too. It's time to get back on the wagon with sewing. </li>
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<li>Update the appearance of the diary page a little more. </li>
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</ul>
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<br>
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<h3>sunday, may 16 </h3>
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<ul>
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<li>Drawing character art. </li>
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</ul>
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<br>
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<h3>friday, may 21 </h3>
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<ul>
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<li>Added an item spawner to test move-to-pickup. Fixed some item bugs. </li>
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</ul>
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<h3>saturday, may 22 </h3>
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<ul>
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<li>Drawing some more. Also add some more ideas in the GDD of a different game. </li>
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<li>Automoving to an item or skill target was handled slightly differently than the other movement in the game. I'm addressing this to bring all movement together. My design for movement doesn't support following a moving target, though, so I figure I'll address it after I'm happy with the general design for movement. </li>
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<li>The player spawner acted more like its own room, so the player could be spawned anywhere. I'd rather a room be a room and a spawner be a spawner. This means the Character Creation screen is now technically a room, just so it can display the player character. </li>
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</ul>
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<h3>sunday, may 23 </h3>
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<ul>
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<li>Drawing character art. </li>
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</ul>
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<br>
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<h3>monday, may 24 </h3>
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<ul>
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<li>My high school economics teacher showed us a Dave Ramsey video on how you can invest a few hundred dollars a month (I think he even called that our "daily Starbucks" lol) into money market funds and soon be able to buy new cars every year with the interest. I must not understand this well. My investment service's money funds all have a 7-day yield between .01% and .03%. You'd need hundreds of thousands if not a million dollars locked away just to get a $20000 car annually. I don't go to Starbucks anyways, but that's a millenium's worth of talls. </li>
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<li>General website maintenance.
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</ul>
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<br>
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<h3>wednesday, may 26 </h3>
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<ul>
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<li>So busy. </li>
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<li>Today, I'll push out my CSS update to go along with tomorrow's article. </li>
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</ul>
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<br>
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Last Updated: May 26, 2021 <br>
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