Game Design and Production
Assignment : Game Design Documentation
This is a group assignment; you will work in teams of 3-4 students (from the same tutorial group). Your task is to produce detailed design documentation for an original game. You will (typically) work in the same teams as for the concept pitch and on the same game idea (unless instructed otherwise).
Design Documentation
You will document key aspects of your game design. Those key aspects will vary from game to game. There is precise format required for the documentation; instead choose a format that suits your project. Regardless of the format, the documentation should be:
• Brief and to the point: it should not contain more information than necessary, or more detail than necessary. Developers should be able to read the document quickly and understand the concepts. It should allow developers to understand the intention of the designers, but not stifle their own imagination (and hence miss an alternative or better implementation). On the other hand, developers should rarely have to return to the designer for clarification. There is no page limit, but it is expected that 10-20 pages of text and 10-20 pages of diagrams will be sufficient.
• Well organized: all stakeholders should be able to find what they are looking for quickly and be able to easily direct other readers to sections of interest. Sections should have titles and be outline numbered; page numbers (or copious hyperlinks) should be included. You should include an overview similar to parts of your concept document as an introduction.
• Consistent and correct: the document should not contradict itself. It should be kept up-to-date at all times and should therefore be up-to-date at the time of submission.
• Readable: the document should be easy to read and should not contain spelling or grammatical er-rors that make the meaning ambiguous or difficult to understand. Diagrams (preferably black and white) should be used appropriately to help explain concepts, and should be accompanied by a caption and explanatory text. Any format (pdf, docx, html, wiki) is OK, but it must be easily printed (by the marker) and readable in printed form.
Documentation should also include:
• Credits and/or references: for art, models, sounds, music, animations, textures, scripts, tools, tem-plates, testers, etc. etc. This should include sources such as websites (e.g. Unity website, 3DSMax website, wikis and tutorials, Gamasutra, model and texture archives, sound repositories,etc.), class mates and other individuals, anything or anyone who helped in any way. Please provide links or contact details if possible. The more the better, this is a sign that you have utilized all resources available to you.
• An appendix detailing any clarification that you think will assist the marker. For example, the components of your submission that should be assessed.
• An appendix containing the testing plan.
• A clear indication of who wrote each section.It is expected that everyone will contribute to the documentation, but there should be one person nominated to collate, format and maintain the documentation. The primary author or authors for each section should be clearly indicated.
No template is provided because the best template would be different for every game. Some teams will choose to structure their document by game levels, other teams will structure their document by game entities, other teams will choose a combination of both - or some other scheme.
It is suggested that you write a document that suites your team first and foremost; with all of the information that you think is important, structured in a way that you think is appropriate. Then check the marking scheme below to see if you have missed anything - adding it to the correct section or creating a new section as appropriate.Do NOT just have a section for each item in the marking scheme!
Assessment
Your documentation will be assessed under simulated real world conditions. A design document is not something that is ever likely to be read from cover to cover, it is a reference document for your team.
The marker will use the following process:
1. Read the introduction to familiarize themselves with the game concept
2. For each section:
a. Imagine a few questions that a member of the development team (programmer, artist or designer) might ask before or during work on this aspect of the game
b. For each question:
i. Search for the information in the document
ii. Judge whether the information provided is sufficient without being overly prescriptive
For example, when assessing game mechanics, a question might be: "How do I implement the jumping mechanic?" The markwill be an indication of how difficult it was to find that information and the quality of the information itself.
This means that it is unlikely that your entire document will be read, although parts of every section will be.
Assignment : Game Design Documentation
Synopsis of the task and its context
This is a group assignment making up 15% of the overall unit assessment. The assessment criteria for this task are:
1. As a team, develop a game design document.
2. As a team, document (some of) the following aspects of your game design:
a. Game world
b. Characters
c. Story
d. User Interface
e. Gameplay
f. Game mechanics
g. Level designs
3. As a team, develop a prototype of the game. You will:
a. Choose the scope of the prototype
b. Develop art assets
c. Implement level designs
d. Communicate the style and atmosphere of the game
e. Demonstrate aspects of gameplay and game mechanics