design documents

#1 I start with a one page explanation, and try to find a one-liner that describes the game (at least sort-of). From there I'll expand on everything I wrote down on the first page - stuff like name, type of game, mission/continuous style, user interface basics, and maybe the storyline if I have space (I'll usually have that written out somewhere else)

Hope that helps...

#2 I t does help, cheers. I am doing the design and the programming though so I was wondering if you could tell me how much detail your design goes into. Is it a good idea to list everything down to the procedures and their function, or just what you want the player to be able to do in the game?

#3 http://www.ihfsoft.com/

Here you go. I remembered Monolith had released their design document for "Claw" so I searched for that and this site came up. Looks like a whole database of Design Docs.

#4 I had a look at that site - just what I needed, thanks! :)

#5 Very cool site. You should post it as a resource and rate it high.

Jeff Tunnell GG

#6 Ah, ok.....Looks like Tim already posted it. I'll do that next time I find something like that.

#7 Hey everybody,

I new here. I too searched far and wide for design doc templates, in trying to learn to design better. Aside from the the Monolith CLAW doc, there is also a good template doc by Chris Taylor. I think you can
find it at gamedev or flipcode. Also if you are willing to spend the money check out the book Game Design:Theory and Practice by Richard Rouse III. It has a small, tight, and useful doc in it, and you can learn more about design to boot.

Nick