Ensure Practical Value

When creating any form of documentation, it is essential to ensure that it serves a practical purpose. The game design document is no exception. You may be inclined to include as many ideas as possible in an effort to preserve the results of your extensive brainstorming sessions. However, this approach can compromise the document’s usability.

Above all, the game design document should be clearly structured and should include only the ideas that are essential to the design of your game. Avoid investing time in describing every single detail, as this may lead to an excessively lengthy document spanning hundreds of pages. Keeping the document concise—ranging from a few pages to several dozen—will provide the reader with sufficient insight into how the game will function and appear, without requiring an extensive time commitment. The reality is that very few individuals are willing to read overly long documents. Additionally, a concise document is easier to navigate, and since it requires less time to produce, you will be able to devote more time to developing a functional prototype.

A well-structured document should be organized into clear sections and subsections, and it should make use of numbered and bulleted lists. These elements significantly enhance readability and allow any reader to quickly locate the specific information they need. With regard to the document’s content, the following guidance outlines what your game design document should cover.