Has anyone ever made a GDD for their RM games?

[kerbonklin]

GDD stands for Game Design Document, which is a leading combination of 3 types of documents.

1. The One-Sheet, an overview of your game that is read throughout the dev team and publishers. Contains things like game title, intended system, target audience, ESRB rating, summary of game's story with more focus on gameplay, selling points, and competitive products
    
2. The Ten-Pager, known as the 'spine' of the game where you describe most of game without going into too much detail. Page topics are:
   Title Page
   Game Outline
   Character
   Gameplay
   Game World
   Game Experience
   Gameplay Mechanics
   Enemies
   Cutscenes
   Bonus Materials
    
3. The Beat Chart, a map of the structure of your game's progression, mostly focusing on everything level-design + environment + story/progression that relates
    
4. Combine numbers 1-3 to make a full dead-on GDD.(the final document) Some professional games can average at 300 pages of GDD material.

NOTE! There is no specific format of any kind when making these types of documents! Do it however you want, as long as it is organized and legible to yourself and those who you present it too. (like Publishers)

Time to restate the question - Has anyone ever made a GDD for their RM games?

 

[Engr. Adiktuzmiko]

For RM nope, but when I was working on a project in wc3 in which I was part of a team composed of members from different parts of the world... our lead makes documents like that...

For RM (I have no finished project actually), I usually only have the storyline documented

 

[hiromu656]

I just write out the storyline in a notebook and take notes all around the pages. After that, I do basic concept art and write down certain systems that I feel I should flesh out on paper before actually jumping into the engine. But I've never gone anywhere close to 300 pages (or even 100) for any of the game's I've made/cancelled.

 

[Jesse - PVGames]

I made such a thing for Aleph. Quite a good tool really. The more information you have about your game before delving into making it, the faster you will be able to actually make it. But when it is one person making the game, the value of the GDD diminishes since that person (theoretically) already knows everything about the game. The GDD really starts to shine when you have more than one person working on the project, as it makes sure that everyone is pretty much on the same figurative and literal page.

 

[Indinera]

I never have, I usually write notes along the way instead. I find GDDs a bit constraining (similar to administration work) and I'm doing this job partly because I enjoy the freedom of it (yes, the indie life! ).

 

[Lorenze]

Yeah, I've done all four for pretty much all my current project, but just the one/ten-pager for shorter games.

To combat the constraint that Indinera talked about, I don't write out absolutely everything, so I can have a little

breathing room and be able to come up with stuff on the spot.

I believe the largest GDD I've done was about 50 pages for the game, 200 if the game's script was included as well.

It definitely makes development go a little smoother, that's for sure.

 

[Andar]

I usually do, but not exactly in a formal way - just some tables to compare data and help with balancing, and as a checklist of what I've already done and what I still need to do.

 

[Probotector 200X]

I used to use lots of spreadsheets for characters, weapons, monsters, items, etc. It helped a lot with balancing skill power, enemy strengths, etc.

I usually just jot down information on paper, index cards, or the computer notepad. I tend to...do things as I go along. Not the best method, I'm sure, but it works...well enough, and allows for more whimsical design. Could be one reason I haven't finished anything, but I like to attribute that more to me being easily distracted.

You know, I've actually tried to organize a small group project before, but...it fell flat, I think mainly due to...me. I wasn't...organized. I think a Game Design Document for that kind of thing would help immensely, and I'll try that (not 300 pages probably) next time I try a group project.

 

[PixelLuchi]

Nope, never. RPGMaker is meant to be a proto-typing tool of sorts ( I take the same approach when mapping ). While I do have my ideas/articles/research in a folder ( for HEIM, the folder is over 100mb in size ) I prefer 'going with the flow' of things. I don't like to be constrained and I know exactly what I want when making my game. I visualise entire scenes in my head while doing something other than RMing, then when I come back to my project, I just type it all out. =) Mind you, it still took me around two months just to do 20 mins of the game.

 

[EternalShadow]

That actually sounds fun to do in terms of publicizing and teaching about your game, but I'd only ever do it AFTER finishing the game as it is a solo project, and there's nobody to 'show' it to before the game finishes. As Indinera said:

I never have, I usually write notes along the way instead. I find GDDs a bit constraining (similar to administration work) and I'm doing this job partly because I enjoy the freedom of it (yes, the indie life! ).

 

[Tai_MT]

I...  Do not.  I do horribly annoying paperwork all day long for my REAL job.  I prefer to just throw all my ideas onto pieces of paper and notecards and just keep them in a notebook somewhere.  I reference the idea material when it's time to bring it into the game.  As for story aspects and such, I tend to do all of that "on the fly", as I write much better that way than if I planned out every piece of minutia.  Mind you, I took the same approach to my English class and tended to get 96s or above for the writing portions and then get 70s and below for presentation.

Put simply, this is more of a hobby for me and not some kind of aspiration.  My goal has never been to "create video games".  My goal has been to "tell great stories".  Though, I cannot deny that I love creating the "systems" and "features" inside the video games.

I cannot imagine limiting myself so much by creating massive design documents and then trying to stick with them.  I much prefer the reams of ideas that I can pick and choose from as I go along.  It also makes discarding things much easier.  It also tends to simplify "balance" for me a lot.  I know my characters, their skills, their stats, I just tailor the monsters and such around that.  Test Play also helps with that as well.

Actually, I know what my issue with these "design documents" is.  It's that I much prefer to be getting my hands dirty and getting messy instead of spending that same amount of time planning how I'll get my hands dirty and how I'll best avoid get messy.  I like to tell myself that I can clean up later 'cause getting dirty is fun right now.  I'll let others stick to the "Try not to get all messy so as to avoid cleaning up later" method.

 

[Archeia]

I do except I used to make them in MS Excel but now I use articy:draft (edited to avoid spoilers). I do have a 10,000 pages worth of game design documents (I had to do them into parts) because I want to write my GDDs in Tabletop RPG Format or a Comic Storyboard Screenplay thing, without the dices and...not exactly like the format presented in the OP. Flowcharts are fun to make too. But that's more like a Sandbox universe. I like making up rules and how they are going to be translated to gameplay mechanics or other things. It's very fun to make your own languages too and then the custom alphabets. I have too many stories, character relationship dynamics and chess inspired gameplay brewing in my head that they just had to be documented. Or else I'd forget about them.
 
I don't think GDDs are limiting. They're limited if you want them to be limited IMHO. I find them more as a reference guide and usually to allow myself have more continuity or if I want to throw in a bunch of Easter eggs. Plus it's really fun switching around what happens on what scenario and then get an alternative better scenario or what if universes.
 
They're pretty useful but it depends on how you want to present your game, I guess :'o
 

Nope, never. RPGMaker is meant to be a proto-typing tool of sorts.

I strongly disagree with this. It's an ENGINE. But I'm not going to start a debate, lol.

 

[Espon]

I use game design documents but nothing that big.  I prefer to just put down the exact details and not add any unnecessary fluff.  Maybe if I was working on a big production title it would 300+ pages, however for a short RM game I doubt I'll get past more than 20-30 pages.

 

[EvilEagles]

I made GDDs for every single project of mine, even though most of them eventually died out. I'm an organization-oriented person, so I enjoy the planning and preparation phase very much. And they're useful. Sometimes when new ideas pop, but you're unable to fully concentrate on designing an aspect of the game due to whatever reasons, and you can't incorporate those ideas into the existing core elements of the game and make sense of the linkage, you'll need something made and organized specifically for the game's design - to note it down and get back to it at a later point. 

Also I think, depending on the kind of gameplay and mechanics of the game, the type of GDD varies. There's no set of premade GDD formats of any sorts. Personally I often use spreadsheet for statistical data and a word document for basic storyline, settings, core functions, explanations, random ideas and so on. In some other particular genres such as horror or action, I do make use of quick sketchy mockups for key sequences, to make sure they will be able to convey the right atmosphere and emotions.

 

[WNxTyr4el]

For my first game I didn't but for my new game which I have started working on, I've just been writing out the story in Word and I plan on using Excel later on to plan out classes and actors in my game.

 

[Gilsev]

If a design document for a RM game exceeds 40 pages there is probably a bit of filler in it. Having written a total of about 300 pages of GDD in my time on a major game, I can say that a document that takes 10+ pages to give a basic overview of the game and functionality is potentially overly complex. A GDD should be clear, concise, and give only the necessary information for the people reading it. Any more than that will confuse the reader. There is no magic formula for a GDD, as the doc for a programmer would be different than one for a writer. Know who will read it, and tailor your onfo for them only, that will give you a strong GDD.

 

[Touchfuzzy]

I have tons and tons of notes, but nothing as formalized as a GDD. My opinions on them are very mixed. I think they can be useful to some people, but hindering to others, because they spend all their time planning, and never get on to the doing.

I also find their general usefulness on the whole is highly related to the number of people working on the project.

In general, I'm pro-planning, anti-GDD.

 

[Ocedic]

GDDs are a good way to get your thoughts on paper, but people can get caught in a cycle of trying to work on the GDD and make IT perfect rather than spending that effort on the game. Don't get hung up on the GDD, keep it simple and keep it free form. Game development should be a dynamic process.

That said, GDDs are a good way of keeping track of your game's features (to prevent feature creep as development progresses) and if you're smart, a way to critically examine your goals and how realistic they are. If you're having trouble forming a GDD of your game, chances are actually making it will be nigh impossible.

 

[Indinera]

I have tons and tons of notes, but nothing as formalized as a GDD.

I'm a note addict too. Somehow I regret I didn't keep them since I started making Laxius Force (or even Laxius Power back in 2001), I would have had enough to fill up a whole room, I'm sure.

 

[Jonnie91]

I used to use a mini GDD, but in the end broke outta that format for quite a while until I also, like Archeia found Articyraft. that program is just heaven on earth, means I can basically have everything setup and ready to go, as someone who is stickler for Visual Learning, I remember everything easier using Articy!

Before that however I did use One Note for all my information, which was setup in a similar way to a GDD!