Gamasutra - The Art & Business of Making Games 5 Alternatives to a Game Design Doc « Gravity Ghost If you're building a game with a team, communicating the design vision in a clear manner is essential. So what does a game design look like? The most well-known way to describe a game's systems is by writing a Game Design Document. But I much prefer to work visually, so here are 5 ways you can communicate your vision without resorting to long blocks of text. Few things can sum up your goal like an illustration of the desired result. Pencil sketch, plus a Photoshop pass for color and contrast. Even if you've embraced the philosophy of rapid prototyping and iteration, at each stage you need a goal to iterate towards. What if your game needs moving parts to explain what's going on? The final presentation had nearly 70 slides illustrating steps in the gameplay. If you're lucky, a series of mock-ups like this can do more than explain your goal: it can energize and inspire the team to do their best work. This is an activity I have all my game design students do.
Indie-Resource.com Features - Designer's Notebook: Designing with Gameplay Modes and Flowboards Before I start this column, I have two announcements. First, it's about time for another edition of my "Bad Game Designer, No Twinkie!" columns. (See my previous installments for game misfeatures, design errors, and personal annoyances covered in the past.) If you've got a game design gripe you'd like to get off your chest, send some E-mail to notwinkie@designersnotebook.com. Second: if you are the chunky, dark-haired fellow with a maroon shirt and an Armenian last name who chatted with me on the mezzanine of the San Jose Convention Center at the Game Developers Conference, and accidentally left behind a signed copy of Richard Rouse's book Game Design: Theory and Practice, I have it for you -- drop me a line. One of the questions I get asked a lot is, "How do you start designing a game?" A central idea at the heart of most videogames is the concept of the gameplay mode. When a player plays a videogame, he experiences three things directly: Give it a try!
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