more TDDs. Whether that TDD ends up being followed or not is another issue. In part
to help fix the problem of useless TDDs, many developers avoid writing a massive and
highly detailed TDD at the beginning of the project and write more of an outline or
framework document up front. Then, as development progresses, they write smaller
TDDs as each feature of the game is about to be implemented.
As I have mentioned, technical design documents are used primarily by the pro-
gramming team. Nonetheless, it is very important that a designer with any sort of
programming experience (or even one without any) look over technical design docu-
ments for his project, since they will certainly contain general descriptions of how AI
and other algorithms will function, along with other information critical to the
gameplay. Just as looking through the art bible is important for a designer to do, reading
through the technical design document or documents, even if he cannot understand all
of them, will give the designer a chance to make sure the programming team is on the
right track.
Schedules and Business/Marketing Documents ............
I include these in my list of game development documents in order to emphasize that
schedules, budgets, and marketing projection information does not belong in the design
document. On many occasions, I’ve read design documents that had whole sections
about how the game might be sold. Indeed, some so-called design documents are little
more than dressed-up marketing plans. Such business-oriented information is neither
appropriate in the design document, nor does it belong in any of the other documents I
have discussed here, except for the concept document. The design document is about
the game’s functional design, not how it will be advertised or sold at retail. It is best to
separate out such marketing plans and business data into distinct documents, where
the people concerned with such information can best review it.
When working on a large-budget project that hopes to at least recoup its capital
investment, it is important to have well-thought-out marketing projections, budgets,
schedules, and any number of other documents that will assist press relations people,
sales representatives, and advertising artists when they are working on your project.
The lead designer on a project should offer his services to help in the creation and main-
tenance of these documents in whatever way he can, though the writing of these
documents usually falls on people more attuned to selling and managing rather than
creating. Often it is the responsibility of the game’s producer to develop and maintain
these documents. Still, it is the designer’s moral responsibility to make sure that the
people funding the project know what sort of a game they are getting. This makes them
less likely to become upset down the road when the game is done and it fails to match
the advertisements and box art they have already spent large amounts of money creat-
ing. And when the suits understand what makes your game good, they are far less likely
to demand changes or, even worse, cancel it. If the business people are really happy
with the finished product, they are much more likely to be enthusiastic about promoting
and selling the game, which can only mean more people will end up playing it.
318 Chapter 17: Game Development Documentation