No Standard Documentation.......................
Different companies may have different standards for what documentation they create
in order to assist and guide a game’s development. Though they may have different
names for the documents than those I have used above, I think these categories cover
the vast majority of documents that companies will create. Some teams may split the
design document into two documents, one containing only gameplay information and
the other containing only story and level progression descriptions. Some development
teams may create only a design document, having no need for a story bible. Some pro-
gramming teams may find that they do not need a technical design document. Some art
directors may make it through a game’s development without a formal art bible. Some
teams working on multimillion-dollar projects may even get through them without any
documentation at all, though this is increasingly unheard of as publishers demand docu-
mentation so that they have some idea of exactly what game they are financing.
Furthermore, publishers like to have some tangible proof that the development team
has a good idea of what it is doing. Usually, how much documentation a publisher
requires is inversely proportional to how trusted and experienced you and your team
are as developers. The newer and more unproven your team, the more assurances the
people funding your project will want to make sure you are not throwing money away.
The Benefits of Documentation.......................
Beyond making the suits happy, good documentation really can help make your game
better, regardless of whether you are developing it alone in your basement or with a
team of thirty other developers. I have listed a number of separate documents above,
and over the course of the project it may become difficult to keep them all straight,
organized, and accessible to the team members who need them at any given time. To
assist with this, some developers have started using Wiki, a web-based system for
organizing documents and allowing members of the team to easily modify or update any
document, all while maintaining version control and history for each file. Though not
without its drawbacks, a Wiki system will allow you to keep your documents organized
while also allowing them to be kept up to date as the project changes and evolves.
As a game designer, you should be involved and interested in the creation of all of
the documentation described above. As a lead or senior designer, the creation and
maintenance of the design document, story bible, and script are all your responsibility.
Each document may be written by an individual or worked on collectively by a number
of people. For example, you may not actually write the script yourself if there is a writer
available more qualified to compose compelling dialog. Yet as the lead designer, you
must still be concerned that the story, script, and gameplay all fit together. Making sure
that all of the documents are consistent with one another and are in line with the vision
and focus of the project is something the designer needs to take very seriously.
Chapter 17: Game Development Documentation 319