Hey,
I'm just wondering.. Do you write design document before you begin developing your game?
I'm a control freak so I need to know what needs to be done and what not. It's also easier to work when you have a goal in sight aswell. I'm in the middle of pre-production in my over-ambitious project and I constantly find myself banging my head in the monitor screaming "is this reaeaally necessary?!?!?"..
Lol, sometimes i do a brief outline of what im going to do or what id like to be down either by typing it up ion a text file or writing it down on a pad, Planning i think is nescessary in a certain way, most times you wont need to at all but it does help alot, if you plan ahead most likely the game will turn out better.
i just slap a bunch of ideas on a piece of paper. hardly a design document but it definitely works...
"Say you're hanging from a huge cliff at the top of mt. everest and a guy comes along and says he'll save you, and proceeds to throw religious pamphlets at you while simultaniously giving a sermon." - Dustin G
For RPGs, I always write design documents. I cover the storyboard, characters, enemies, sidequests, and many other things in the designing process.
Right now I'm working on an RPG. During design, it's a good idea to try to come up with characters first and a general plot. Then you can make sprites for the characters and put them into the battle system. It's always good to have the battle system 100% complete before doing anything else(except for a test dungeon). This way you can just copy and paste battle levels for different dungeons and not have to change everything in all the battle system levels when you make a change in one.
Crap, I'm gonna start talking in a whole bunch of techie mumbo jumbo sooon!
I've been in the process of writing the storyline for my RPG for quite some time now. If I have worked on the game it's usually the sprites or battle system.
It's ok to write a design document, in fact you probably have to if your game is large and complex. Just don't get to carried away with it and spend more time writing your design document then you do making your game.
99 percent chance that the above post is 100 percent correct.
When I'm board in Globle Studies I do. Then I go to Science class, blow my teacher away because I'm the only studient who can made games. Then take it too math, get help on some of my math for the game. Then go to Activity peroid, sleep & go home.
I draw the charachters/objects to paper usually when starting to make a game.
Beware, be alert, prepare to defend yourself, or just run for your lives(!), because
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Typically as a "design document" I will make a mock screenshot of the game in action... then build it from there. As long as it ends up looking like/better than the screenshot then I must be doin' OK. The only time I ever "write" stuff down is when there is character dialogue or storyline stuff involved... that way I can read it 24 hours after it was written to see how stupid it is and fix it.
Having said that, there is a LOOOOOOOOONG term project I have been working on with a design document that would sink a battleship or 5. Check it out if you want... it's forum based so you might have to sign up to view it, but it's all nicely organised etc etc and all "posts" are on topic.
http://eclipse.massimmolation.net/
To answer my own question three years later (one of which I've worked professionally in the game industry) I don't think design documents are necessary unless you're either in a storydriven project or in a stats-heavy project (rpg). Generally writing a design document is good practice(I was obssessed with them back then) but for small fun projects they are.. often more in the way than anything.
I usually have a good sense of level progression in my head that I could twist the story arcs without the need of pen and paper.
I usually have just a document with all the names of the characters, levels and very short descriptions. Dialog is on the fly nowadays.
I clicked your profile and found an old (but interesting!) topic!
Yea, if its something small then I don't see a need but if its something that will take a while then it's good to plan out things in 1 sitting. Make it all consistent and that.
Lol. Design document? Pfft.. I have design FOLDERS.
Actually, you're right in a sense. Design documents are useful in a stats-heavy project more than anything. But I think most games underestimate how much stats they're using. Something like Counter-strike hardly needs it.. but if you're making anything that can spiral out of balance, you should make one.
I actually wrote half an article on this on my desktop than scrapped it and started a group heavy on game design when I realized that 90% of the games in the community don't need any design at all
Disclaimer: Any sarcasm in my posts will not be mentioned as that would ruin the purpose. It is assumed that the reader is intelligent enough to tell the difference between what is sarcasm and what is not.
Originally Posted by Mr. Muz Lol. Design document? Pfft.. I have design FOLDERS.
Actually, you're right in a sense. Design documents are useful in a stats-heavy project more than anything. But I think most games underestimate how much stats they're using. Something like Counter-strike hardly needs it.. but if you're making anything that can spiral out of balance, you should make one.
I actually wrote half an article on this on my desktop than scrapped it and started a group heavy on game design when I realized that 90% of the games in the community don't need any design at all
I'm writing stuff down for my new one, and it sure as hell helps!
Muz, do you usually know the entire outcome of your game and write it all down before coding? (like say how a book is laid out before they make a movie out of it). For now I'm writing down all the stats and variables, but all I have is a general idea of what's going to happen. I wonder if writing the complete story with a beginning and end is the best way?
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