GAME TITLE GOES HERE

GAME DESIGN DOCUMENT (GDD)

version 1.0

# Date Version Description Initials

3/5/05 1.0 Started Document, revision history, title, description and A.I.
purpose

Game Positioning

Title
Include a title that is descriptive but also “snappy”. See if you can come up with something that will attract
players to your game.

Description/feature set
Provide a short description of your game, along with a bulleted list corresponding to your “feature set”
(features of your game that make it unique and compelling including gameplay, technology, story,
characters, visuals, sound, interface or mood).

Purpose/application
What is the game’s purpose? What is the learning problem? What is the learning goal? Discuss the
purpose(s) of your game and how you expect the game will be used by the players. What learning outcome
do you anticipate?

Premise/high concept
Include your 1-2 sentence premise (also known as a “high concept”) here. Address the player directly (2nd-
person voice), and describe the mood and unique "hook" of the game. Think of the premise as something
that will be used on posters and on the front of the game's packaging, near the title.

Genre
Include your genre here. Use an accepted genre, a hybrid or make up your own!

Platform
Discuss your primary platforms here. Is this going to be a PC game? Console? Mobile? Combination? Etc.

Player mode
Indicate whether this is a single-player, two-person or multiplayer game. Be specific about minimum and
maximum players. If two or more, will it be played locally, through a LAN or online?

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Time interval
Turn-based, time-limited, player-adjusted, or real-time?

Audience/market
Discuss your target audience here. This is the portion of the game-playing audience that will be most likely
to play your game. Make sure you include a specific age range. The target audience will also tie into the
game's genre.

Rating
Indicate what the expected target ESRB rating for your game will be, and why.

Competitive analysis
Choose 3 game titles currently on the market that could be considered competitors of your game. Describe
each of these titles (1 paragraph per title), and discuss why your game can attract the same audience and
establish a competitive edge over the other titles.

Game Design
Backstory
What happens before the game’s action begins? After the game gets started, how does the present action
tie in with the backstory?

Character descriptions
Describe the characters in your game. For each character, provide their name, describe their physical
characteristics, personality characteristics, and how the character ties in with the game’s story. Include
sketches if possible.

Rules
In this section, describe the following (even if you’ve already mentioned some of this earlier in the
document): Number of players, approximate length of time to play, victory & loss conditions, gameplay (step-
by-step), scoring, game end.

Challenges
What types of challenges and obstacles do players have to face or overcome during the game? Some
examples might be powerful monsters/bosses, locked doors, puzzles, mazes, riddles, trivia questions, or
flying potatoes. Be specific about the challenges that tie in with your particular storyline.

Strategies
Discuss 3 strategies that players must use during the game to overcome the game’s challenges. Examples
might be collecting, exploration, resource management, social interaction, direct vs stealth combat, hiding,
quick reflexes, knowledge application (intrinsic or extrinsic), spatial navigation, pattern recognition, color
matching, or quick reflexes.

Theory/game balance
What type of game theory elements are you using in the game? How are you maintaining game balance?
Some examples might be transitive vs. intransitive relationships, perfect vs. imperfect information, Prisoner’s
Dilemma or tragedy of the commons scenarios (cooperation/non zero sum games), dominant strategies, skill
vs. luck (randomness), and difficulty levels.

Perspective/game view
Describe the game environment and the objects within it. Will you be using a 1st or 3rd person perspective?
Will the game view be aerial, isometric or side-scrolling? Include a sketch if possible.

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Art and Audio
Style
What will your game look like? Bright colors and cartoony graphics like Mario? Dark and grungy with
realistic 3D models? What moods will your style evoke?

User interface
How will people be able to play the game? Discuss the manual and visual user interfaces that will be
available to your players. What interface items will be active vs. passive? How will the interface make the
gameplay straightforward, usable and accessible? Include a sketch if possible.

Audio
Will you be incorporating audio in your game? What type of audio (e.g., music, sound effects, voiceover)?
Will you use looping or adaptive audio?

Production
Team
Imagine that your group has formed a game development company. A game publisher is interested in
possibly funding your game. What kind of employees and managers will you have to hire? Describe the
roles and responsibilities of each major team member. Include the number of people who will be fulfilling the
same role. (For example, how many designers will be on your project team?) Make sure you also
differentiate between outsourced and in-house staff. (You do not have to include distribution or marketing
staff
we are going to assume that the publisher will handle these tasks.)

Schedule
Create a project schedule and include a timeline with a list of tasks that you will need to complete ant the
dates on which you will complete those tasks before going “gold” (p. 339). (You do not have to include
distribution or marketing tasks in your schedule.)

Milestones
Choose at least 5 milestones for your project. Why is each milestone important to the project? Why have
you divided the project up in this way?

Risk analysis
Discuss 5 risk areas associated with your game. You might want to tie these in with the unique features you
introduced in your feature summary. Can you think of ways to reduce the risk?

Budget
Create a preliminary budget that details the costs involved in making the game. (Just include the costs of
making the game and delivering the final product to the publisher
assume that the publisher will take care of the marketing and distribution.)

Summary/future updates
Conclude your plan with a summary of the unique features and requirements associated with your project.
Elaborate on the description/requirements you listed at the beginning of the document. Discuss any future
updates you might make to the game including platforms, manual interfaces, enhancements to gameplay,
story/character expansions, and massively multiplayer versions.

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