Game Design Document (GDD)

For your Capstone Game

The primary purpose of this document is to act as what Will calls a “living memory” for yourself
and your team. No game idea should live and die in your brain. You should use a GDD as soon
as you can to record all your design decisions, especially early in the process.

In some cases, you can use this document to explain your game to potential stakeholders. If
future team members, publishers, or investors are interested in the project, you can build a
presentable version of this document and pass it along to them.

Developing a GDD is not a formal process. Write in it as often as you feel inclined. Delete
categories from this template that aren’t relevant to your game, and add those that are necessary.
Include images wherever they do a better job explaining than words. This document will
eventually grow long and messy. You can always keep a presentable version on hand to share
with interested parties outside the team.

Table of Contents

1. GENERAL GAMEPLAY*proofed
a. Concept
b. Logline
c. Key Features
d. Player Experience
e. Mood
f. Audience
g. Core Mechanics
h. Elevator Pitch

2. TECHNICAL
a. Platform
b. Engine
c. Saved Data
d. Revenue Model

3. ART
a. Visual Aesthetic
b. Aesthetic References
 c. Concept Art
d. Font Guide
e. Color Specifications
f. User Interface Atlas

4. SOUND DESIGN
a. Audio Aesthetic
b. Audio References
c. Music

5. NARRATIVE
a. Plot Overview
b. Player Characters
c. Other Key Characters

6. PRODUCTION
a. Team Roster
b. Development Timeline
c. Budget
d. Changelog
e. Archived Features

GAME TITLE
Game Design Document
 GENERAL GAMEPLAY

Concept
An in-depth description of your game concept that touches on player experience, game mood,
genre comparisons, market position, and any core mechanics that define the game.

Logline
One or two sentences describing the core experience of your game.

Key Features
A description of the primary game features creating your experience, with references to other
games if necessary.

Player Experience
A qualitative description of the emotions, motivations, successes, failures, and overall impact
your game will generate for players.

Mood
A subjective description of the atmosphere created by the aesthetics, gameplay, and narrative
within your game.

Audience
A demographic and psychological description of the player base your game plans to reach.

Core Mechanics
Description of the primary mechanics and systems creating your game experience, with
references to other games if necessary.

Elevator Pitch
The shortest possible description of your core game experience.

TECHNICAL
Platform
The hardware your game will run on and why you’ve chosen it. Options include: PC, mobile,
and various consoles.
Engine
The software you’ll use to build and run your game, and why you’ve chosen it. Options include:
Unity, Unreal, Game Maker Studio, Twine, Godot, RPG maker, HTML5, etc. Also note the exact
version of your software, and describe how patches have affected the game over the course of
development.

Saved Data
General listing of data saved locally versus any data saved on a server.

Revenue Model
The system and method of payment players will use to purchase your game. Describe the
technical aspects of collecting payment, as well as any impacts your model will have on
gameplay.

ART
Visual Aesthetic
A written description of the visual style you are trying to achieve in your game.

Aesthetic References
A collection of images gathered during research that, in aggregate, evoke the visual style of your
game as described in the section above. Pinterest.com is a good tool for this section, and you
can add a link to a shared board here.

Concept Art
Design sketches of the primary characters, enemies, and environments in your game.

Font Guide
Names of any fonts used in your game, with examples and written justifications.

Color Specifications
Specifications of key colors used in User Interface or other key icons within your game
including, possibly, CMYK and RGB values.

User Interface (UI) Atlas

A description of your user interface focused on how your player will use it to navigate the game
world. Include images in this section of key design elements and objects from your UI.

SOUND
Audio Aesthetic
A written description of the audio style you are trying to achieve in your game.

Audio References
A track list of songs that evoke the design, narrative, or experience of your game, as well as a
list of games or films whose sound design is influential to your project.

Music
A description and track list of the original music in your game.

NARRATIVE
Plot Overview
A beat by beat description of the story in your game, including a timeline if necessary. For some
games, it will be beneficial to draw out a chart with the rising action, climax, and denouement of
your narrative.

Player Characters
Images and descriptions of the main characters in your game.

Other Key Characters

Images and descriptions of other characters who populate your game world.

PRODUCTION
Team Roster
A list of your team members and their responsibilities on the project. If your team is large
enough, divide the list into departments and add a reporting hierarchy. Add a brief bio of each
team member, including their history on the project.

Development Timeline
A task list with dates of hard deadlines for specific features in your game. Many studios use
online project management software such as Trello or HacknPlan*proofed to manage their
development timeline.

Budget
A spreadsheet of costs and revenues. Balance this monthly to reflect the current finances of the
project.

Changelog
Make notes here on any major changes in the game design document itself. Provide links out to
older versions for the sake of posterity.

Archived Features
Features, narrative, or any other material your team has removed from the current version of
the game. This material often shows up in future games, including expansions and sequels.