Well, lets face it. Writing a design document is difficult, and very time consuming. On the projects that I've worked on, I've used this PDF made by the kind guys at CONJURE, (which I believe is the best one available, at least freely, to the community).
===
THIS IS ADVISED ONLY TO BE USED FOR INDIE GAMES AND FULL CONVERSION MODIFICATIONS DUE TO THE SHEAR SIZE AND DETAIL OF THIS DOCUMENT.
The Game Design Document is your main design document - this is the time consuming beast that will explain exactly what you're putting into your project, and how the game will work. This includes asset lists, time management.. its all in here, and worth reading through.
Bear in mind - some sections may not apply, or some areas may repeat themselves. I
I'd advise doing the Game Concept Document first - it may in fact be all you need for your project, but for full projects you really need to create something like what has been set out in this template document.
You can find that at this link:
Moddb.com
Have fun!
Great stuff squiggers, thanks for the template. (it's so difficult to find accessible information on game design documents)
I think this template may be larger than needed for smaller, meaning most indie projects. Although I prefer using my custom document (workin on first indie title, so what can I say?!) as it simply fits to the project (a template can't do that), this has all the little details requested for a design document you can find spread all over the web, and saves tons of time searching all these things.
To come to a point: Great work!! :)
Well, I had uploaded a shorter version (termed the Game Concept Document) that is a greatly reduced version of this.
For some reason its not been authorised however, as it might be better for smaller groups, or when you just need a brief explanation and don't have 2 weeks to sit down and type out that monster document. :P
I'll try and get the other document authorised, its a bit of a pain in the backside it not being authorised.
"THIS IS ADVISED ONLY TO BE USED FOR INDIE GAMES AND FULL CONVERSION MODIFICATIONS DUE TO THE SHEAR SIZE AND DETAIL OF THIS DOCUMENT."
s/SHEAR/SHEER/ -- wrong word there.
This comment is currently awaiting admin approval, join now to view.