Games GDD 

Level graphic production. source: Shutterstock

Game Design Documents (Click here)  (GDD) are very important to both the creator and for the reader. It is a good thing to start writing everything down at the early stages of your game ideas as you can easily forget your solutions and plans that you thought of weeks ago. It is important that you keep the document clean and easy to understand. If you get too technical it may start looking like an IKEA instruction manual...Keeping it simple and to the point with some illustrations to guide the reader is a good start!

  "Game Developers article" explains how to write a good GDD. Gonzalez talks about how it is very important to how your plan of your vision in front of you before jumping in the production of your game. He discusses how you should keep your Project Description short and sweet but it's important to include your type of game, for example, " a Hardcore Puzzle game". If your game involves Characters, you need to introduce them in your GDD. We can think of this like a novel in some sense. When we read a book we are always introduced early on to the character(s) so we can get a feel about them and understand who they are in the storyline. Of course if you game idea doesn't include characters, you can go forward to the Gameplay section of the document.

BenderWaffles video about "Using a Game Design Document" will be one hundred percent beneficial when I have to write my own formal GDD. He describes in detail, with the aid of actually sharing his own document how to go about different sections. In my opinion, this is the best way to learn how to start a task that you are unsure to do as it is a visual guide on how and where to start.

Game Design Document is a space where "you plan as much as you can". There is no really 'set' way to go about writing a GDD, but it is important to keep to your target and not to go overboard with your details. But making sure you don't leave out the important stuff!

Another YouTube video I came across was "Should you make a Game Design Document?" on Code Monkey's Channel. If you are working in a team in designing a game, It is VERY Important but it can get more tricky when it isn't just you...how? Well for example, if one designer was to explain a part of a game, but that person forgets it never was truly implemented into the production, that can lead the other members into a state of confusion and panic. Word of advice for this would be make sure you only write in the document of what you are actually going forward with. Use a separate brainstorming tool for possible techniques etc.