1. Game Design Concept Paper (One-pager)
Executive Summary (Game Treatment)
Design Document
Technical Document
Production Document
Design Journal
Post-mortem

2. Design Document Description of entire project
Acts as a script; it should be giving every other professional involved with the product a more than firm idea of what they need to know to implement their portion of the product.
Story, characters, features, user-interaction, look & feel, assets, etc.
Living document
Good design not only about ideas, but it's also about the implementation of those ideas.

3. One-pager from http://www.gamasutra.com/features/19991019/ryan_02.htm
Introduction
Background (optional)
Description
Key features
Genre
Platform(s)
Concept art (optional)

4. Common Mistakes
The concept is totally off base or inapplicable to the company's current plans.
In terms of resources, the document asks for the moon.
The document lacks content.
The game isn't fun.
The game-concept document employs poor language and grammar.

5. Design Questions (adapted from Tim Huntsman - Lead Designer for Acclaim‘s WWF Franchise)
What are current trends?
What do people want?
What tools/assets/technology do we have access to?
What has been done and how was it done?
How does the front-end flow?
What options or mods should we allow?
How is the pacing?
How difficult are the levels?
Cut scenes vs. run-time movies?
Replay value?

6. Development Ladders Chief Technology Officer Director of Technology
Lead Programmer
Senior Programmer
Programmer
Junior Programmer
Art Director
Lead Artist
Senior Artist
Artist
Junior Artist
Audio Director
Audio Lead
Senior Sound
Sound Eng./Comp.
Junior S.E./Comp

7. Design/Production Ladders
CEO
VP of Production
Executive Producer
Producer
Associate Producer
Assistant Producer
QA Testing
Chief Creative Officer
Creative
Director
Lead Game Designer
Game Designer
Level Designer/
World Builder

8. Design Considerations
Cooperation, Conflict, Confusion
Formal Abstract Design Tools (Church ’99)
INTENTION
Making a plan in response to the current situation in the game world and one's understanding of the game play options.
PERCEIVED CONSEQUENCE
A clear reaction from the game world to the action of the player.
STORY
The narrative thread that binds events together and drives the player forward towards completion of the game.

9. Design Dos (Adapted from Tzvi Freeman)
Describe the body AND soul
Make it readable
Prioritize
Go into details
Demonstrate
What AND how
Provide alternatives
Make it “living”
Info should be locatable
Make it look important

10. Design Don'ts Never overcomplicate a game if you can help it
Never make the same mistake twice
Never take control from the player if you can help it
Never forget the controller or I/O device you will be using to play the game
Never assume the player knows what you're thinking.

11. Design Don'ts
Never break the established rules unless you TELL the player
Never assume technology can fix bad design.
Never assume the license is all you need
Never cheat the player
Never design morality.

12. Design Document #1: Overview
- recap and revision of the original concept paper
The User Experience
Genre, Type
Compelling aspects
The Platform
The Users
Time
Game-play time
Product life

13. Design Document #1: Overview
Basic Concepts
Navigation Chart
Scenes and Action
List of Resources

14. Design Document #1: Basic Concepts
- feel for the game, why things are the way they are, and what the essential, indispensable elements are
Storyline
The background story
Storyline or object of the game play
Rules of the game
Heroes and Villains
biographical information and descriptions.
Novelties and Compelling Features
This is your chance to state the things you could not bear to see disappear from this project, and justify your emotional attachment to them.
Navigation Chart
(An illustration of how parts of the game link to each other.)
Entry and exit Main menu
Level movement
Access to preferences and credits
Global Behaviors
(Ensures that your game will have a consistent feel to it, avoids serious run-ins with the programmers.)
Run through all the standard elements of your project (sprites, buttons, life-bars, input devices, and so on) and describe their behaviors in every circumstance you can imagine. Your programmers will shower you with wreaths for this one. Later, you can go change things on them - as long as the objects remain consistent, and everything is justified.
Illustrate the motion of each animation, at least in stick form. For 2D scrollers, fighters, and the like, you'll want to describe things cel by cel. With other projects, rough sketches of general movements and their approximate duration in microseconds may be enough.
If you are relying on a specific input device, justify your button-mapping and button-combination decisions.
Scenes and Action
(In an adventure game, this will take up most of your document.)
Include preferences, credits, and main menu.
In subchapters, lay out consistent behaviors of local elements.
Very often, a storyboard (that is, a series of panels illustrating each scenario) is provided. In many projects, however, this is clumsy and impractical.
Lists of Resources
You'll have to go over this with a fine-tooth comb to make sure it's thorough. Leaving out even a few items, or failing to describe them clearly, could prove a major source of exasperation later on.
This section comprises detailed lists of animations, sounds, music, narration, sprites, backgrounds - everything that needs to be created besides code.

15. Design Document #1: Navigation Chart
- An illustration of how parts of the game link to each other.
Entry and exit Main menu
Level movement
Access to preferences and credits
Global Behaviors
Ensures that your game will have a consistent feel to it.
buttons, life-bars, input devices, etc.
animations, at least in stick form.

16. Design Document #1: Scenes and Action
- In an adventure game, this will take up most of your document.
preferences, credits, and main menu.
In subchapters, lay out consistent behaviors of local elements.
Optional Storyboard

17. Design Document #1: List of Resources
- should be thorough. Leaving out even a few items, or failing to describe them clearly, could prove a major source of exasperation later on.
This section comprises detailed lists of models, animations, sounds, music, narration, backgrounds, etc.

18. Design Document #2 Revised game concept doc Market analysis
Technical analysis
Legal analysis
Cost and revenue projections
Art

19. Design Document #3: FEATURE-ORIENTED
Goals are broken down into doable bits.
1 FEATURE HEADING
1.1 Contact
1.2 Goals
1.3 Implementation
1.4 Impact
1.5 to 1.8 Tasks & Questions for:
Designers, Programmers, Artists, Sound

20. Design Document Resources