does not refer to the visual style of the
game but the actual game play
mechanics themselves.
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is key to capturing your idea down
before actually coding.
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is a multi-page document that contains
the general concept of a game, its core
mechanics. At the very least it should
give the reader a clear idea of how the
game will look, work and feel.
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a term borrowed from the film industry
and represents a “what if” scenario. When
drafting a GDD I use a high concept to
outline what the game is, its scenario and
list any games that may already exist to
draw inspiration from.
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games are very visual by nature; most
people get bored out of their minds
reading a 15-page or more design
document with no indication of the
artistic style you are envisioning for the
game.
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Art by Iñaki Diaz @designatius
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Art by Iñaki Diaz @designatius
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cover how things work and how they will
interact with each other. Go into as much
detail as possible around actions such as
how combat works, leveling up, stats,
rewards, etc.
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include things like what properties a
game actor may have such as life,
weapon values and more. This will be
incredibly helpful when you go into
development as a point of reference.
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Art by Iñaki Diaz @designatius
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Art by Iñaki Diaz @designatius
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its always better to start big and scale
down as needed. The last thing you
want to do is limit your imagination or
creativity.
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MOST IMPORTANT THING
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HTTP://BIT.LY/11MVGWR
SAMLE GAME DESIGN DOCUMENT
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some game devs create elaborate
sketches to work out their ideas while
others simply use sticky notes. There is
no right or wrong way to go about this as
long as you find a good system for jotting
down your ideas.
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look back through the history of video
games, you will see a natural evolution of
one game picking up or modifying
another game’s mechanics.
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doing a small code example or trying to
solve a development problem can
really get your brain going and help
you be way more creative when you sit
down to finally code your own game.
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this goes hand in hand with the daily
code warm up. I like to pick game
systems or interesting mechanics then
try to reproduce them or make them
better.
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by Raph Koster. This is a great book
that attempts to answer the question
of “What is fun?” and more
importantly “What is a game?” It’s an
easy read with absolutely no code and
all theory.
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by Scott Rogers. If you are interested in
understanding the technical side of
game design as in how to build a game
design document, pitching games and
more practice than theory then this is
the book to read.
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by Katie Salen and Eric Zimmerman.
The book is very high level and tries to
approach the questions of game design
from a very academic point of view.