Design documents

#1 How 'bout some screenies? I'm to lazy to go install software just for a cursory look.

Plus, design is considered "boring" or "work" by many, so showing your kick-ass gui might motivate some (me) to go check it out. Just an idea.

#2 Kind Sir, I think this very well be the best thing since sliced bread for Professional Indie Developers. I think lot's of Indies are not passionate enough about their craft and produce unnessecary garbage. Indie Gaming as with anything else should be well thought out and this software is what is needed. Especially if you intend to pitch your idea to a company.


Kawaii :0)

#3 I found the concept interesting for sure... but the deliver of information and capabilities of this software is not only lacking but incredibly misleading. I am not a Microsoft employee. I wouldn't call myself an Office enthusiast either...but I am versed in the capabilities of their software. So I thought I would share little bit about the Comparison Chart.

At the top of the list you state that Microsoft Word does not have Version History. If you open Microsoft Word, click the File menu and select Versions... you will see otherwise. You continue with your comparison to show that Word does not offer PDF Exporting. Although this may be the case in general, you should consider your audience. Many game designers, including and especially the multitasking indie designer, have a working version of Adobe that installs an export to PDF pluggin. Not to mention those that don't should know, as they are incredibly resourceful, that free PDF software exist that allows you to Print to PDF.

You move on to say in the Communications section that Word only allows you SOME "Graph, Table, and Diagramming Tools (Flowcharts, UML Diagramming)" and NO "Timelines and Storyboards". This is hardly the case as you can effectively, although some learning curve may apply, create nearly any chart, timeline or diagram you desire in word.

As far as "Word/Phrase Glossary" I simply don't see the need as we move into the next category of controversy, Data Retrieval. Once you have successfully fumbled through your first interactive Table of Contents (TOC) you will find that Word can do all of the functions in this category. That is with the prime exception of "Automatically Generated Table of Contents". If you have been wondering how to do this with Word you will find the online tutorial extremely helpful. I suggest you save a working template for future reference and move on from there. There is nothing special about annotating your document really... simply click the Insert menu and select Comment.

Ultimately you have offered a pricey ($149.99) solution that only augments the omnipresent Word, with a few automated wizards, some toolbar features and a small amount of project management control. Of which by the way you mention nothing of managing my source code. If it is simply a bug tracker and feature list then it is simply another file or program that I have to manage manually.

I certainly didn't mean to offend if I have. I just thought I should dispel the illusion of increased productivity in comparison to Word. Perhaps I have missed something in your sales pitch as I have perused through the limits of your site.

#4 Word does suck, and everything in unintuitive and hard to do. It would be more appealing to me to market an interface geared toward the process of creating design documents, ie. actually LACKING features of Word that I don't want or need for the purpose, and an enhanced interface for the stuff that does matter.

It seems to me that that's what you're selling. I mean seriously, telling me that your program has more features than Word is a huge turnoff.

#5 You all are making a mistake in thinking that we're competing against MS Word as a word processor. This is a tool designed to develop and manage video game design documents, so you have to view it under the auspice of that particular category. In terms of the comparison chart that is a mistake, word does have version comparison. What it doesn't have is an out-of-the box Export to PDF converter. With time, and a little creativity, you could probably do many things in word, but the ability to insert storyboards or linked scripted text and then be taken to all of these elements instantly simply doesn't exist. Everyone knows (and apparently Lee Latham does especially) that the Table of Contents and referencing tools in Microsoft Word are a joke. And as such, Video Game Design Pro's greatest strengths are it's referencing capabilities which you dismissed as "not seeing the need for". Yet these are the most critical features for game development projects. No one reads design documents from beginning to end like a novel, they're reference materials, and while MS Word will obviously beat Video Game Design Pro as a word processor, in terms of managing a game's design documentation there's simply no comparison. The chart also makes very clear the fact that VGDP is completely extensible with MS Word, thus allowing some users to augment, rather than replace the office programs that 9 out of every 10 developers probably already have on their computers anyway. You also have to understand that this is a tool aimed at hobbyists, designers, indie developers, and academics, and as such we won't compromise the intuitive features and instructional support like the wizards. Lee Latham hit the nail on the head, the reason Redmond changed the office toolbar in 2007 is precisely because it offered powerful functionality that no one knew how to use or where to find, it's still too cumbersome for something as specific as the development, management, and reference of game design documents. Why are we discussing source code? Game design documentation, not asset management, the claim for that functionality was never made. I love the criticisms of the program by the way because it helps make future releases better.

#6 "You all are making a mistake in thinking that we're competing against MS Word as a word processor"

Erm, if we're making that mistake, it's because YOU are, aren't you? Since that is the comparison chart you made.

#7 What I meant is that the comparison chart was meant to provide an overview of the features and functionality of Video Game Design Pro as a tool for developing and managing game design documents in relation to wikis and word processors. But I do understand your concerns and you all make some really valid points.

#8 Could a document produced by this program be used to copyright a game before a single line of code is written?

#9 Nope. You have to have a "work" to copyright it. No work, no copyright.

If i wuz you, i'd worry more about actually getting stuff done than any silly documents like that.

#10 First, planing and story writing is alot of work.

Second, You have to know what you are doing before you can do it.

Besides people copy right books all the time. How is this any different.

#11 You can file any content that you create. You can protect the actual content. However, the idea is not protected. The individual characters, places, and pieces of the story are protected, but the theme and the throughline are not.

#12 Well, I was answering your question precisely. You can't copyright the game before you make it. Sure, you can copyright the game design document. You can copyright almost anything you create, but that doesn't make it worth the effort.

What I'm trying to say is that copyrighting the game design document != copyrighting the game.

#13 Yes. That is very true.