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or some years, while I was still an aspiring professional designer, I wanted some-
one to tell me what the official format for a design document was. I knew that
Hollywood screenplays had a very precise format, and I figured there must be
something comparably rigorous for design documents. What sort of information is it
supposed to include? How should it be laid out? What format should it use? Only
recently, after numerous years as a professional, did I figure out the big secret, and it is
one that I am happy to pass on to you in this book. Yes, here my years of experience in
the gaming industry will impart on you this precious information.
There is no format! Everyone who writes a game design document just makes up
their own format! Have you ever heard of anything so incredible? Whenever I have
asked people what format I should be using for a particular document, they invariably
answer, “Well, you know, the standard format.” No one really knows what this mythical
“standard” format is, yet all refer to it. In the end, as long as it communicates the nature
of the game effectively and in sufficient detail, whatever you hand over to the people
who will review your document will be regarded as the “standard” format. There is def-
initely a certain type and quantity of information that belongs in a design document and
which must be included for it to be useful, but there is no standardized form you must
use in documenting that data.
Certainly within some companies, especially large ones, there may be an
agreed-upon format that all of the in-house designers must use for their documents.
Your design document will end up standing out if it diverges too much from other design
documents in the industry. It makes sense for you to get your hands on every official
design document you can, just as you might seek out practice exams before taking
major standardized tests. Optimally, you will be able to obtain some documents that
were used for games that were actually published. Or, at least, you will want to review
documents written by designers who have completed and shipped games. This is hard
to do, since gaming companies are fanatical about protecting their intellectual property
and do not want to reveal how chaotic their internal development may be, but see what
you can find. TheAtomic SamandThe Sufferingdesign documents included at the end
of this book are good ones with which to start.
A design document is all about communicating a vision for a game, for mapping out
as much information as possible about how that game will function, what players will
experience, and how players will interact with the game-world. Organizing and struc-
turing all of this information into appropriate sections is one of the key challenges in
writing a good design document. Again, many companies may prefer their documents
in a format different from what I describe here, and you should certainly organize your
data in the form desired by the people for whom you are writing. If the development
team is familiar with navigating design documents written in a specific format, you
should mold your data to fit that format. Remember, the design document is not the end
result of your efforts; the game is. As such, the format of the design document is rela-
tively unimportant. As long as the format allows for the effective communication of the
pertinent information, the design document will be a success.

356 Chapter 19: The Design Document