Research, Planning, and Game Design Documents

his week, we'll start to look at a few different concepts. We'll start the week by taking a top-down look at the early stages of game design and how to best plan for your game. We'll look at approaches to strategizing an approach, researching concepts and ideas, and developing concise documentation to start your development. We'll take a look at some Game Design Documents (GDDs) along the way, some for games you've probably heard of... Game Design Documents are a way to get your ideas in one place and create a concrete vision for your game, for you and your team members. These documents are a necessary evil in Game Design, and help prevent scope creep by defining goals, restraints, and mechanics. GDDs are also a place for research and a way to structure your planning and resources. Oftentimes, GDDs will feature schedules and charts to account for design and development time.