Game Design Document (GDD) Examples

As game designers, the process of creating a game design document can be the most painstaking or the most stressful. The many different templates can be a bit daunting for beginners like me, but understanding the purpose of GDGs takes all the fear away.

Game design documents are the documents that explain the game to all stakeholders within the team and sometimes outside the team. Many elements such as the game's features, artistic style, main story plot, target audience, etc. are conveyed by the game designers to the rest of the team in this document.

A game design document for games is almost the same as a business plan for a tech startup. Therefore, the purpose of GDDs is to describe the general structure of the game, introduce the features needed to create the game and be iterative throughout the process. Below I list some game design documents that you can use for inspiration:

1. Monaco Game Design Document
2. Silent Hill Design Document
3. Dirty Bomb Game Design Document
4. Apocalypse Now Game Design Document
5. Azrael’s Tear Game Design Documents