programming and the design doc
by Logan Bender · in Game Design and Creative Issues · 02/05/2002 (4:26 pm) · 1 replies
I'm working on a design doc for our game, and a smy background is the graphics and animation side, I have a pretty solid idea about what sorts of assets the art needs to have laidout in the spec.
What I don't know as much about is the programming side of things. What sort of programming related things need to be laid out in the spec? I already have a high level descrition of the game play, controls, types of interactions, object behavior etc. Beyond this superficial end result description, what sort of things will the programmers need to know?
What are some common omissions in game specs regaurding programming?
what are some crucial things to include?
What I don't know as much about is the programming side of things. What sort of programming related things need to be laid out in the spec? I already have a high level descrition of the game play, controls, types of interactions, object behavior etc. Beyond this superficial end result description, what sort of things will the programmers need to know?
What are some common omissions in game specs regaurding programming?
what are some crucial things to include?
Torque Owner Arch Stanton
Annatomy of a Design Document, Part I
www.gamasutra.com/features/19991019/ryan_01.htm
Annatomy of a Design Document, Part II
www.gamasutra.com/features/19991217/ryan_01.htm
I think they require a free membership now. A little bit of a pain, but they won't charge you anything, and they have very good articles. Plus, you can get sent their magazine for free.
Alternatively, Wavelength started a series on design document creation a long time ago, that wasn't as good, and was never finished, but still can be a usefull reference. You'll find it under their design section